[lbo-talk] putting quackery to the test

[joanna]

Interesting you mention leeches. They are synonymous with medical 
quackery in most everyone's minds, but the New Yorker ran a terrific 
little article last year about how medical science is discovering that 
it has absolutely nothing to beat the ability of leeches to 
clean/cauterize and help heal wounds of a certain type.

Some guy is doing a thriving business in breeding leeches for 
western/modern/hi tech medical use.

Joanna

Andy F wrote:


> On 8/11/06, joanna <123hop at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> quinine for malaria is one thing that comes to mind, aspirin is another.
>> There are many, many more. I just can't figure out how to google it.
>
>
> I've never heard of aspirin held as triumph of modern medical
> research. Googling "aspirin origins" comes up with a mess of pages
> that mention both its ancient origins and the modern versions. Even
> the original patent holder for the modern version, Bayer, mentions use
> by the Greeks.
>
> Nowadays it seems to pose a problem for pharma industry -- they try to
> come up with redundant replacements (such as the aforementioned Vioxx)
> that are patented and don't come $0.99 per 100 pills.
>
> Stories of quinine I found tend to trace back to the Spanish in South
> America (with faint mention of how they might have found out), but
> we're still talking about something in use in Europe in the 1600s
> along with the leeches for black bile -- not exactly a treatment
> developed by "western science".
>