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Strategies in the Medical War?

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Hi All, & Hi

 

I agree with most points in your note. Just a few comments.

 

..1 TCM WORLDWIDE must organise and work together ASAP.

1000 subs at 500$ is peanuts in a project to validate TCM. It takes

>200,000,000$ to develop a single drug! Most practitioners are not

noted for their willingness to part with cash for research or political

lobbying.

 

We must look for support wherever we can find it - Governments,

funding agencies, herbal and related industries, etc. Most of all, we

need wholehearted and widespread PUBLIC support. That support

need not be financial, but it is MOST important to reshape public

perception of TCM as a venerable, responsible, safe and clinically

effective (in many cases) and COST-EFFECTIVE therapeutic

system.

 

To achieve this public support will cost a LOT of money and time in

Public Relations. Also, we MUST be up-front about the strengths

and weaknesses of TCM. It CANNOT cure everything, and it is

probably less effective that allopathic med in many conditions.

 

TCM (IMO) will NEVER be able to be a " stand-alone " (truly

alternative) medicine in western societies. At its best, it could be a

most valuable therapy if Ithe best of TCM were to be NTEGRATED

with the best of WM.

 

FOCUSED RESEARCH: We cannot cover ALL research bases;

that would cost trillions of $. Therefore, we must focus/prioritise our

research efforts into the area of clinical research. ALL research

under this project should be to try to validate the safety and

efficacy of TCM in the AREAS MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED.

 

2. War is seldom about justice, righting wrongs, or the " good of

all " . In most cases it is simply about the desire to possess

something that the " enemy " has, or to head off a percieved threat

from the " enemy " to our own possessions. And War is seldom

fought with ancient chivalry and honour. Instead, today, most

Governments and armies use the " Dirty Tricks " brigades, sneak

attacks, demoralisation, terrorism, false propaganda, etc to great

effect. Luckily, we are unlikely to see the " suicide bomber "

mentality on either side in the Medical War.

 

The TCM/Holistic v Allopathic war is very real; it is about authority,

social status, political power and (fundamentally) personal

incomes. And we (TCM/Integrative side) are losing by the day. We

must fight NOW, or be wiped out soon.

 

Swords v bombs? Even if the " TCM Army " can find " State of the

Art " weapons, the size of the " Allopathic Army " puts us in the

category of David v Goliath. We CANNOT win that war on our own.

But if we bring the PUBLIC into our ranks, we have a very good

chance of having a " Mexican Standoff " - the Allopathic side do NOT

want to alienate the public.

 

please explain what you mean by:

> 4. address the red herring of drug/herb interaction...

 

How is drug/herb interaction a red herring?

 

Best regards,

Phil

 

PS. I agree 100% with you on the need for good research, but such

research is very costly. IMO, much of the (paltry) TCM funds

should be spent in PUBLIC RELATIONS, rather than research.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

 

I propose creating a membership based research foundation. The

> purpose would be solely to write grants, fund and coordinate

research in OM. This would be a non-profit organization with a

board of directors. The board would be comprised of individuals

who should command enough respect to garner the required support.

It would be ideal to get 1000 members to pay dues of $500 each

towards this end. Why so high? Why would anyone pay this? Well,

even if your motivations are more mundane, the question to ask

then is how a spate of properly targeted research would affect

your bottom line? If we could prove chinese herbs could safely

and effectively treat perimenopausal symptoms, for example. Not

to mention the good for society.

 

Research grants are only awarded to organizations that have

facilities and personnel to carry out the research. The schools

are the best example of this. However the schools do not have the

money, time, wherewithal to write the grants and coordinate the

research. Plus, with rare exceptions, I find much of the research

misguided, people's pet projects, rather than just straightforward

well-designed studies designed to serve the profession and public.

The OCOM endometriosis study is a prime example of what we should

be doing lots of. Lets do 100 studies of that sort. And lets

compare acupuncture head to head with conventional therapies for

neuromuscular problems. Let's determine whether integrative

therapy is sometimes better, worse or the same as either/or. A

research foundation could affiliate with schools and provide the

expert personnel necessary to carry out these projects.

 

But the main obstacle is money or lack thereof. Money to do the

pilot studies. Money to write the grants. Money to pay the

statisticians, etc. I personally think this would be the best way

to solve many of our dilemmas. Political rankling without

evidence on either side just makes me ill. Decisions made on this

basis are just sleazemanship of the highest order (yeah, I made

that word up).

 

Research would provide the actual ammunition to:

 

1. prove the clinical efficacy of OM on mainstream terms

 

2. generate more referrals by doctors and rational reimbursement

by insurers

 

3. prove the safety of OM in trained hands

 

4. address the red herring of drug/herb interaction

 

5. develop standards in diagnosis and treatment (such as dosage

and form)

 

6. demonstrate the importance of standardized terminology for

database searches

 

7. demonstrate how access to chinese source material is vital in

designing effective research protocols

 

Many of what are now philosophical and ideological debates would

be settled in the minds of many by actual evidence. Now I know

some of you dispute whether science provides evidence of anything

or just exhibits its own biases. But I would ask all of you to step

out of your philosophical boxes and try and think strategically on a

purely pragmatic, mundane level. Like we are going to war and our

survival depends on it. What weapons will we use to defend

ourselves. Will we use swords against bombs? The fact is

whether you like it or not, the vast majority of members on this list,

not to mention pretty much ALL the decisonmakers who affect our

day to day practices, believe firmly in the validity of science. I

would add my strong feeling that modern medicine has failed

because it is NOT scientific or evidence based, NOT because it is

TOO scientific.

 

If we can " prove " the items enumerated above, not only will it

dramatically affect public perception, insurers and MD referrals and

thus our practices, but it would also end several of the ongoing

political and academic debates in the field (such as language and

safety issues). Without such firm foundations upon which to rest

our various cases, we will be forever at the whim of politics on one

hand and the market on the other (having to sell oneself to the

public by smoothness and charm is also disgraceful for a medical

practitioner, IMO). Medicine should be beholden to neither politics

nor the market (nor philosophy or ideology, for that matter). In any

event, this foundation will not debate the validity of research. You

can do that here, if you like. It will begin with the premise that

research is good and everyone is free to give support or not. While

the naysayers will still ultimately benefit from the work such a

foundation will do, we should not let that stop us from shouldering

the burden anyway. It is the right thing to do. Todd

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Best regards,

 

Email: <

 

WORK : Teagasc Research Management, Sandymount Ave., Dublin 4, Ireland

Mobile: 353-; [in the Republic: 0]

 

HOME : 1 Esker Lawns, Lucan, Dublin, Ireland

Tel : 353-; [in the Republic: 0]

WWW : http://homepage.eircom.net/~progers/searchap.htm

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