Page 49 - Standard Indicators for the social appropriation of science

How can CAM be risky when it is based anxiety, but it can also cause liver damage. A
on nature? Can we harm our health using good practice would be to discuss alternative
CAM without consulting with specialists? treatments with your physician.

Certain alternative medicine practices have What about the placebo effect in animals?
been studied and have been deemed to be Because the tests that are done in
safe, and even effective. Others have not been homeopathy are also done on animals and
heavily studied – and some have even been babies.
found to be harmful. However, the main risk is
to drop out one’s current treatment in serious Contrary to popular belief, there are no strong
diseases to use exclusively CAM. research results backing the placebo effect on
animals.
In addition, just because something is
“natural” does not always mean it is safe. A
prime example is the herb kava kava (Piper
methysticum); this herb is often used to treat

Online resources

1. Safety issues in the preparation of homeopathic medicines, World Health
Organization

2. Snake oil or science? Homeopathy in Europe, Euronews

3. Lecture Youyou Tu. The Nobel Prize Foundation.

4. The efficacy of herbal medicine –an overview, Fundamental & Clinical
Pharmacology

5. The placebo effect: Amazing and real, Harvard Medical School

6. The Placebo effect in animals, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical
Association

7. Alternative, or Integrative Health: What’s In a Name? US National Center for
Complementary and Integrative Health Complementary

8. Complementary and Alternative Healthcare: Is it Evidence-based?
International Journal of Health Sciences

9. Why Alternative Medicine Cannot Be Evidence-based, Academic Medicine

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