- Position‹3 of 3
- Alternative medicine can cause serious harm
- Argument‹4 of 4
Some alternative medicines are actively harmful
Alternative medicine can have negative interactions with prescribed mainstream medications people may already be on.
The argument
The risks of alternative medicine are not confined to the possibility that a therapy does nothing. Where an alternative therapy does have an active ingredient (as opposed to touch based therapies or homeopathy) that ingredient behaves pharmacologically, so it can easily interact with other remedies taken alongside it or with any conventional medication that is being taken, or stop another medicine working altogether. What makes this more dangerous than an ordinary drug interaction is that the prescriber often cannot see it coming: people often don't disclose use of CAM to their mainstream healthcare provider, so the clinician adjusting a treatment is working from an incomplete picture of what the patient is actually taking. Adverse effects and interaction, associated with herbal products and dietary supplements, are not uncommon, and the examples show how serious the consequences can be. St. John's Wort, a herb used to treat depression, can also reduce how effective some drugs are — among these are certain cancer medications, immunosuppressants, and antiretrovirals, which are precisely the treatments where a loss of potency is least survivable. Another is Kava kava, a herb often taken to ease anxiety, that can cause liver damage: harm from the remedy itself rather than from any interaction. High dose vitamin C — something often suggested as a complementary treatment during cancer treatment — can affect the effectiveness of chemotherapy and radiation therapies, so it may undermine the very treatment it is taken to support. Some of the herbal products used in Chinese and Ayurvedic Medicine may contain heavy metals, like lead or arsenic, meaning the harm arrives through contamination rather than through the intended ingredient at all. These are three distinct routes to injury — interaction, direct toxicity, and contamination — and each shows that some alternative medicines are actively harmful rather than merely ineffective. Alternative medicine can therefore cause serious harm.
Premises
Counter-arguments
A proficient alternative therapist would ensure the treatment offered does not interact with orthodox treatment being taken.
Rejecting the premises
[Rejecting P2] Alternative medicine is only harmful when taken irresponsibly.