Childhood Vaccinations – Necessary or Overkill?

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Post the whole message from which you quotemined the out of context statement and you have a concise argument for the accuracy of the statement. If you disagree, it's up to you to refute the reasons given which you apparantly chose to ignore.

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I've read the post in question Message 114The claim is followed by the assertions that:
1) Antibiotics kill off "good" bacteria
2) They may promote yeast growth and have some other unspecified side-effects
3) Yeast growth may cause other unspecified problemsThat is it. There is no argument to support the assertion that antibiotics damage the immune system.So Dr. Adequate did not quote-mine, The quote was not taken out of context. There was no arguement for the accuracy of the statement. There were no reasons given TO be refuted.So all in all your post was untrue in every significant respect.

The issue is that the ND's so-called "natural" treatments have not been tested for effectiveness or safety to anything like the same extent as the methods of conventionaal medicine. If they have been tested at all.Now if you are saying that you want the right to waste money on ineffective or even dangerous treatments on the grounds that they are called "natural" or promoted with bullshit ideas about "toxins" then fine. But just remember that is what you are asking for.

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What leads you to believe they haven't been tested?

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The lack of any serious testing for your castor oil packs and the harmful effects of ephedra produced here look like good reasons. And Vitamin E is as much or more a part of conventional medicine.

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Misusing conventional medicine can lead to deaths just as misusing natural methods can.

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So can using "natural" medicine "correctly" instead of conventional medicine.

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William A McGarey, M.D. tested castor oil packs for 30 years in his practice. "The Oil That Heals, A Physician's Successes With CAstor Oil Treatments, by William A. McGarey, M.D."

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So a book published by the origanisation that sells a quack treatment claims that it works ? Or are these serious tests, with independant oversight and replication ? If so, please provide details.TOn doing some of my own research I find an association with Edgar Cayce - hardly reassuring. Have a look at This. Having failed to find that castor oil from the packs actually gets into the body they quote McGarey: Need I comment that this sounds like typical quackery ?And there this page on quackwatch looks relevant.

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Because Ephedra was misused doesn't negate it's correct medicinal use.

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You mean just because it has serious side-effects that the sellers of "natural" medicines apparently didn't know about. Remember it was intentionally sold to be "misused". And it provides a needed reminder that herbal medicines are not intrinsically safe and may have dangerous - or even fatal side-effects.Conventional medicine for all it's flaws is far more rigourously tested and far less prone to quackery than any "alternative" medicine. Remember that the "natural" madicines" that work, work in the same way as conventional medicines.

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Even in its infancy?

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If you're talking about ancient medicine it's hardly relevant. If you're talking about new treatments they aren't allowed in general use without testing.

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So McGarey doesn't have a good explanation as to why castor oil packs worked on his patients.

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It isn't that he doesn't have a good explanation, it's that he offers BAD "explanations". That's a hallmark of quackery. So is the wide range of conditions that the packs are supposed to treat.

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Move on to the next test. In Message 160 I gave the quotes on another test concerning lymphocyte counts.

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THat would be the test I asked for more details on - that you haven't given. The test carried out by Cayce-believers on one of Cayce's "treatments" - which they make money from promoting. Can you understand why I'm more than a little skeptical of this test ?

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I think there has been ample time for someone to prove him wrong.

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Exactly who would fund this work ? And why ? Come on, there's a reason why the drug companies have to fork out for their own testing. I'll suggest that if there are no reports of independant tests it's either because it's so unpromising that nobody is interested in trying it or because it was tried and got negative results.Come on, the hallmarks of quackery are all over it. Or is that information you DON'T want ?

Maybe if they were taking it orally it could happen. But given that the oil itself doesn't make it through the skin in any significant amount I have to say I don't think it likely that the ricin does either.

So what you're saying is that it doesn't matter if what they are claiming is true. We should just beleive it anyway. Did you want information, o did you want assuracnes that are probably false ?They say they've done a test but you can't turn up anything on the methodology or any sign of independant oversight or replication. So how do you know that the test is any good ?Look, I'm giving you real information - that the signs of quackery are all over the claims about castor oil packs. Unadulterated "woo" on the supposed mechanism - because there's nothing even remotely plausible for some of the claims. A whole laundry list of unrelated ailments it is supposed to be good for. Why insist that these people have annything going for them when even a mildly skeptical eye should be able to see that they're full offit ?

If you want information then why you disreafrd the information I give you ?

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What real information have you given me?

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THe information listed directly after the partial setence you quoted. If you're not prepared too even admit that those facts exist then you only prove that my interpretation is right. You don't want to know that it's quackery.If you really cared about information you would go looking for the details of this supposed test. Instead of just insisting that it must be valid because a quack reports it.And there doesn't seem to be anythign to discuss about the merits of castor oil packs. A quack says that they can do alll sorts of things. THat doesn't mean that they have any valid medical use whatsoever.