Media Trashes Alternative Treatments in Spite of Facts: Health Blog

Media Trashes Alternative Treatments in Spite of Facts: Health Blog: "the facts make clear these things:

1. Prescription drugs are now the fourth leading cause of death in the US, just behind cancer, heart disease, and stroke.
2. Over two million people experience drug-related disabilities or serious drug reactions each year.
3. Deaths by pharmaceutical poisoning rose 62.5% between 1999 and 2004. (Ahh! But at least those drugs are untainted by lead!)
4. A recent Consumers Union study found that medical errors kill nearly 98,000 people in the United States each year and cost $17 billion to $29 billion a year. That figure hasn't improved in the past 10 years and shows no evidence of future improvement.
5. Most of those errors come from giving or prescribing the wrong drug, giving patients the wrong dose or giving the drug in the wrong way. Note that the drug needs to be capable of causing death in the first place, even if by improper prescription.
6. While prescription drugs kill about 140,000 Americans a year, herbs and nutraceuticals kill fewer than 100 (with most of those attributions being highly questionable).

Obviously, in spite of the "rules, guidelines and watchdog groups" that regulate and oversee prescription drug -- pharmaceuticals are among the most dangerous substances on the planet. While drugs sometimes can heal or ease symptoms, they often do no better than alternatives, and very, very often, they do far worse.