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Alternative Medicine What is Alternative Medicine? How can there be an alternative to medicine? Is there alternative chemistry, alternative physics, biology? Alternative Medicine Defined Alternative has two possible meanings. Correctly employed, it refers to methods that have equal value for a particular purpose. (An example would be two antibiotics capable of killing a particular organism.) When applied to unproven methods, however, the term can be misleading because methods that are unsafe or ineffective are not reasonable alternatives to proven treatment. To emphasize this fact, we place the word alternative in quotation marks throughout this book whenever it is applied to methods that are not based on established scientific knowledge. Quackery Defined Quack originated during the Renaissance when quicksilver or mercury was a popular remedy for syphilis. Wandering peddlers known as quacksalvers sold mercury ointment. They would claim that their agents would cure all diseases. The term was later shortened to quacks, who became a symbol of evil medical practice. Dictionaries generally define quack as a pretender to special health-related skills. This definition implies an intent to deceive, which would not fit promoters of unproven methods who believe in what they are doing. Other Definitions Nontraditional incorrectly suggests that an unscientific method is innovative, while falsely suggesting that the scientific community is traditional (meaning staid, rigid and close-minded). Actually, science is an antagonist of traditional medicine as it destroys old myths and establishes new approaches to healing. Traditional is correctly used in reference to folk medicine. Folk healers, not scientific healers, are the traditional ones. A considerable amount of quackery stems from the commercialization of traditional folk medicine and ancient dogma. Other Definitions Complementary and integrative are claimed to synthesize standard and alternative methods, using the best of