TheEconomist:POLL::Should Alternative Medicine be taught in med. schools?

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http://www.economist.com/economist-asks/should-alternative-medicine-be-taught-me\

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The Economist Asks

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Should alternative medicine be taught in medical schools?

Alternative therapies have long had powerful supporters. King VI helped

to ensure that homeopathy would be part of Britain’s newly created National

Health Service (his grandson, Prince , is also a fan). Royal Copeland, an

American senator and homeopath, saw to it that the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act

of 1938 authorised homeopathic products. Sixty years on another senator, Tom

Harkin, helped to set up the National Centre for Complementary and Alternative

Medicine (NCCAM) at the world’s leading medical-research outfit, the National

Institutes of Health (NIH), which has hitherto received $1.5 billion from

taxpayers. In 2009 Mr Harkin said it had “fallen short” (and bemoaned its focus

on “disproving things” rather than approving them). There are plenty of similar

outfits. The Consortium of Academic Health Centres for Integrative Medicine now

has 50 members, some offering master's degrees.

In Britain and Australia, horrified scientists are fighting hard against the

teaching of alternative therapies in publicly funded universities and against

their provision in mainstream medical care. They have had most success in

Britain. Some universities have been shamed into ending alternative courses. The

number of homeopathic hospitals in Britain is dwindling. In 2005 theLancet, a

leading medical journal, declared “the end of homeopathy”. In 2010 a

parliamentary science committee advised that “the government should not endorse

the use of placebo treatments including homeopathy.” So, should alternative

medicine be treated on a par with the traditional sort and taught in medical

schools? Cast your vote and join the discussion.