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>I expect that many will agree with my reply to the following message.
>Medicine is not an exact science.  From what I've seen, it is a guessing
>game, and the books often disagree (most are probably right- sometimes).

Excuse me, but would you kindly outline the clinical trials that were
performed on the plant medicines for all those thousands of years?
Quackery has been around for a long time, and some (if not most) of the
homeopath/naturpath "remedies" fall right in that category.  In the U.S.,
there is a large government agency dedicated to making sure that
pharmaceutical companies complete thorough scientific studies proving the
safety and efficacy of their products.  It's high time they started
cracking down on these homeopath/naturpath vendors and demanded scientific
proof (as in double blind clinical trials) of their safety and efficacy.
Contrary to what you wrote, MOST drugs and compounds developed by
pharmaceutical companies never make it to market because they cannot meet
the stringent criteria set by FDA.  Healing is an art; that doctors
PRACTICE.  As in all human endeavors, some doctors are better at it than
others.  Medicine doesn't pretend to have all the answers.  I, and many
others on this list, will continue to trust the medical profession to tell
us how to take care of ourselves to the best of their knowledge, which is
quite a bit more substantial than some of the snake oil schemes that are
touted through the "health food" industry and various books and web sites.
In case you're wondering, I spent fifteen years working on clinical trials
in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry.  Only one product I saw
through clinical trials (and I worked on more than 20) ever got marketing
approval from FDA.
In good health
Chris in CA
MoM to Eileen, Anna, and Laura