From Greg Blonder, Boston, Massachusetts, US
I share Clare Wilson’s scepticism of complementary medicine, “superfoods” and magical thinking, but the World Health Organization (WHO) summit on alternative therapies was justified. Two of Western medicine’s most important therapies, vaccines and analgesics, were first discovered by traditional healers. We shouldn’t pre-emptively reject these treatments, even if most of them lack efficacy (9 September, p 22).
However, in parallel, we must educate the public to be more cautious and to avoid conflating “natural” with safe and effective. The WHO should offer even-handed guidance.
