[lailer75]

good, move to france. can`t say you`ll be missed

[BigM555]

Originally Posted by Jongpil Yun

Bullshit. Absolute and utter bullshit.

And BigM555, come on, you can't find a better place to look than a chiropractic website? Chiropractors are a group of quacks, frauds, and charlatans who are so numerous and publicly accepted for no good reason that they're bordering on being legitimate.

Call bullshit if you like but it's my opinion based on the barrage of pharmaceutical advertisements I'm subjected to any time I turn on the idiot box.

Levitra, Prilosec, Bonica, Celebrex, Ciallis, Crestor, Valtrex, Nexium, Paxil, Plavix, just to name a few. There is pretty much a pill for anything that ails you isn't there?

Let's see now.....diseases that have been eradicated....

smallpox;1979


polio......oh, wait.....not just yet....but close, 2000 worldwide cases in 2006.

Diseases slotted for eradication/elimination by the CDC;

DRACUNCULIASIS (GUINEA WORM) - Yeah there's a popular one. Must be making the drug companies millions.

LYMPHATIC FILARIASIS - Pretty popular everywhere other than NA and Europe but again one that is not likely to impact the bastions of the pharma-industry I was referring to.

ONCHOCERCIASIS (RIVER BLINDNESS) - Yup, another real popular one.

CHAGAS' DISEASE - Pretty much a disease of the poor in South America. Nope, not much economic threat there.

HANSEN'S DISEASE (LEPROSY) - Ditto

Perhaps this is a better reference.
http://www.hhs.gov/asl/testify/t980520a.html

I'll be the first to agree that I'm not a doctor but I have a hard time swallowing the fact that a few more "big name" diseases haven't met with more success.

As far as your objections to the chiropractic profession, I tend to agree that there are some real quacks in the bunch. I used to whole-heartedly share your view until just a couple of years ago when I had a rather debilitating case of sciatica. My Doctor could do nothing but recommend pain relievers. I was mostly unable to move and was in pretty severe pain. Anyone who has suffered from it I'm sure will share these sentiments. With nothing really left to lose I chose to make an appointment with a Chiropractor. I had been severely restricted in movement for nearly two weeks and was not getting any better. Within two days of visiting my (that's right I now said "my") Chiropractor she had me walking almost normally. After a succession of visits adjustments were no longer necessary. I may have stopped treatment prematurely (in no small part due to my prior bias against chiropractics) and did have relapses. These were generally short because I quickly made appointments to go back. My own experience, despite my doubts, convinced me of their legitimacy. When applied to muscular-skeletal issues I think they have great value. Certainly more than pain pills.

Chiropractic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As for the original 'reference', yes, I knew it was weak but I hadn't intended it to be anything more than a humorous link. Not really a reference.

BigM has been without a relapse of sciatica for over a year now......and will make an appointment at his Chiropractor if and when he does.

[technomancer]

Originally Posted by ukfswmart

You say that as though it's a mitigating factor; why do you think they're more obese? If the average diet in the US was similar to that of France or Italy, a vast number of these preventable deaths would dealt with

All this, and the CEO of Krispy Kreme is sacked due to flagging profit margins...

Actually I say this because it demonstrates there are also cultural factors at work that are simply not taken into account. The average populace of France for example seems to have more of a concern with personal fitness and well being than the average population of the US. This makes a HUGE difference in the results of the study, but it seems to have not been considered. The same can be said about workplace stress.

Originally Posted by ohio_eric

Most research is still coming from universities and not the big pharmaceutical companies. Sure they buy it up and sell it like crack. But real advancement would happen even if there wasn't the big greedy animal that is corporate medicine.

Knowing people that actually work in this field, from what I've seen you're simply not correct. The priority of researchers at commercial institutions is to develop something usable. The priority of University and non-commercial research labs is to get their grants renewed. One leads to actual treatments, one leads to small progress that always needs more work. Occasionally the two will overlap, but not very often.

[TheMissing]

Originally Posted by technomancer

Medicine - Capitalism = no advancement

We might not have free healthcare, but all the big "Miracle drug" companies and treatment centers are in the US.

It's kinda a win/lose situation.

[BigM555]

Originally Posted by technomancer

The priority of researchers at commercial institutions is to develop something usable SALABLE.

FTFY

[Jongpil Yun]

Originally Posted by BigM555

Call bullshit if you like but it's my opinion based on the barrage of pharmaceutical advertisements I'm subjected to any time I turn on the idiot box.

Levitra, Prilosec, Bonica, Celebrex, Ciallis, Crestor, Valtrex, Nexium, Paxil, Plavix, just to name a few. There is pretty much a pill for anything that ails you isn't there?

Let's see now.....diseases that have been eradicated....

smallpox;1979

polio......oh, wait.....not just yet....but close, 2000 worldwide cases in 2006.

We HAVE had new vaccines developed. The reason that only polio is close to being eliminated is that polio is a homogeneous disease, and the vaccine has a high enough success rate to actually work. We have vaccines for influenza, but you need a separate vaccine for each different strain in the shot, AND the success rate is around 75% in elderly patients. Add to that all the superstition surrounding the vaccines in the 3rd world ("If you let them give your son the shot his testicles will fall off") and you have an alarmingly high rate of people avoiding it out of fear.

Anyways, I'll work on the rest of it later, as it's almost time for my first class.