tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130830332820181818.post6385229712671258525..comments2024-03-27T13:13:25.164-04:00Comments on johnshaplin: The Era of Echinacea by Michael Spectorjohnshaplinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17618981988062495637noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130830332820181818.post-20470304454998560542010-01-05T07:21:11.893-05:002010-01-05T07:21:11.893-05:00Photo:
"Crumb's bearded guru is too unap...Photo:<br /><br />"Crumb's bearded guru is too unapologetic to be called a con man. Despite his renunciation of the material world, he's an unrepentant sybarite. His straight talk, while refreshing, can get him into trouble, as when he was kicked out of heaven for telling God it's "a little corny" in "Mr. Natural Meets God". Mr. Natural is chronically plagued by tight-ass neurotics like Flakey Foont and Schuman the Human. But he may be the only Crumb creation who is genuinely likable.[2] Mr. Natural's aphorisms such as "Keep on Truckin'" form a disconnect with his image as a sage, and his inventions are at once brilliant and crackpot."johnshaplinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17618981988062495637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130830332820181818.post-6395730873698387022010-01-05T07:10:56.837-05:002010-01-05T07:10:56.837-05:00Another paradox in this work: Whereas multivitamin...Another paradox in this work: Whereas multivitamins, antioxidants, various exotic supplements and fanciful treatment regimes such as homeopathy and chiropracticism show nothing in terms of the prevention, much less cure, for diseases or prolonging life and in some cases depending on the character and circumstances of their application may do harm, who is to say that they are completely ineffective with respect to the vague feelings of lethargy and unease which inspired Mr. Specter to consider them in the first place? In fact, the placebo effect (the positive power of wishful thinking) is a significant component of every kind of medical treatment and Mr. Specter does cite some studies which have been trying to isolate, define and understand exactly how it works with a view to maximizing its potential.( One problem is, of course, the ability of a placebo to generate sustained effects. The "new and revolutionary" is apt to become the "tired and convention" in short order.)<br /><br />This should not blind us to the massive fraud and waste which is attendant upon the world complementary and alternative medicine, which now consumes vast amounts of both the private and public monetary resources of the American people. My book on the subject, however, would focus on the what might be called the "moral displacement" that seems to be accomplished by all this. Americans have a deep-rooted sense of unease, that something is not right about the way they live their lives. Rather than address the real problems directly (unjust wars, economic inequality, environmental devastation, prejudice, bad education) they go after their own interior feelings as they might be controlled and manipulated through direct consumption, the presumption being "innocence".johnshaplinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17618981988062495637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130830332820181818.post-39798753224366252512010-01-04T18:10:44.593-05:002010-01-04T18:10:44.593-05:00Denialism; How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scienti...Denialism; How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives by Michael Specter; <br />Penguin Press, 2009<br /><br />Mr. Specter examines many of the conflicts and controversies between science and the popular imagination that have arisen in America in recent decades, including those surrounding vaccines and autism, organic food vs. genetic engineering , and other aspects of the 'conventional' vs complementary and alternative medicine.<br /><br />In some respects, however, Mr. Specter shares in the same faults and irrationalities. which is to suggest he invests too much promise into such expensive scientific enterprises as the genome project and synthetic biology. He could stand a bit more familiarity with the basics of evolutionary biology, - the innumerable weakly acting causes which determine individual destiny.A $10,000 or even a $500 test, ( which have cost hundreds of millions of dollars to develop) to discover an individual's genetic structure whose use has only managed to replace the simplest of clinical procedures or confirm risks factors which are common enough to be taken as tantamount to universal seems a bit absurd. Once again: a uniquely American idea of freedom: freedom to expect a miracle and pursue it far into the future ( like the colonization of distant planets) no matter what untended social difficulties in the present.johnshaplinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17618981988062495637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6130830332820181818.post-14665391537799875842010-01-04T18:09:04.345-05:002010-01-04T18:09:04.345-05:00According to the National Health Statistics Report...According to the National Health Statistics Report Americans spent $23.7 billion on dietary supplements in 2007, not including added dietary ingredients like fortified cereals and energy drinks which now seem to fill half the supermarket and health food stores shelves in the country. There were approximately 4,000 supplements on the market in 1994, when the industry was deregulated by Congress, which was accomplished by the seemingly unlikely alliance of Orin Hatch and Tom Harkin. Today the exact number is almost impossible to gauge but most experts say that there are at least 75,000 labels and 30,000 products.<br /><br /><br /> It would require Dicken's narrative skills and Kafka's insight into bureaucratic absurdity to decipher the meaning of most products for sale in American health food stores today. In the world of alternative medicine, words become unmoored from their meanings. As long as a company doesn't blatantly lie or claim to cure a specific disease such as cancer, diabetes, or AIDS, it can assert- without providing evidence of any kind- that a product is designed to support a healthy heart, or that it protects cells from damage or improves the function of a compromised immune system.<br /><br /> It's still against the law to claim a product cures a disease- unless it actually does. But there is no injunction against saying that a food or supplement can affect the structure or function of the body. Such claims can appear on any food, no matter how unhealthy. You cannot advertise a product as a supplement that "reduces" cholesterol, but you can certainly mention that it "maintains healthy cholesterol levels." It would be illegal to say that echinacea cures anything, since of course it has been shown to cure nothing. But its perfectly acceptable to say that echinacea is "an excellent herb for infections of all kinds," although no such thing has been proven to be true.johnshaplinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17618981988062495637noreply@blogger.com