Re: [DIYbio] Re: Political work: DIYbio vs. "alternative 'medicine'"

There are many potent, biologically active, compounds that are found in foods and plants.  So many obvious examples: nicotine in tobacco, caffeine in coffee, or alcohol & resveratrol in red wine.  

The main issue is the way supplements are regulated.  Any "natural" supplement can be sold with almost no regulation so long as it is not a specifically banned material (like a steroid or illegal drug).  The supplement companies can sell beeswax lip balm for $20 a tube, but cannot legally advertise that beeswax lip balm cures dry lips better than any other moisturizer -- or that it is effective medically in any way.  That does not stop the internet and blogs and facebook from propagating completely false information that makes people believe its true.  I think it is a scientist or medical doctors job to let people know the truth and point them in the direction of the existing efficacy studies.  If they still want to pay to have a feel good moment that's up to them.

On Tuesday, February 16, 2016 at 9:30:16 PM UTC-5, Mackenzie Cowell wrote:

Can the claim be falsified? Can you design a clever, economic/DIYable experiment to test the claim?

If yes to both, I say put it to the test!

Honeysuckle as natural antiviral? http://www.nature.com/cr/journal/v25/n1/abs/cr2014130a.html

On Tue, Feb 16, 2016 at 8:57 AM jrd210 <jrd...@netidea.com> wrote:

As an MD, I can tell you it is probably the most frustrating part of all practice. To comprehend "Alternative Medicine" love affairs would need deep anthropological studies, but then some people still believe in God you know, so to expect scientific medicine to the ultimate standard is naive and we ourselves have to admit there is still definitely an "Art" to being an effective physician, maybe 75% science and 25% "Please believe me this is what is best for you" Individual doctors try harder and harder to comply with Evidence Based medicine but it is not always easy. Sometimes all we can say is "Ok if you think snake oil will work--go for it" and try to check important side effects and interactions with real drugs. 

On Thursday, February 11, 2016 at 5:39:57 AM UTC-8, Open BioLab Graz wrote:

I guess most of us are aware, that "alternative medicine" aka esoteric bullshit is a plague that influences many peoples lifes in a negative way and spreads a false view of chemistry, medicine, molecular biology - mostly in the name of making cash.

So how do you react when you're confronted with esoteric stuff, especially when it sells itself under the pretext of science? Is it our mission as a movement to fight against such lies actively?
Or do you think that biohackers should be passive and just focus on their stuff?

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