[Marxism] Explanation for excessive alt.med postings

[sabocat59@xxxxxxx]

I would like to apologize for using marxmail as a forum to discuss my perennial 
interest in alternative medicine, with the following caveat.   

This began with my posting an article from a mainstream american medical 
journal which expressed an interest in examining the Cuban medical model's 
methodology for the incorporation of alternative modalities. 

Artesian raised the issue of scientific rigour, which pushed me to explore 
various cross-blind studies. 

I was particularly taken by the positive results from the mass homeopathic 
vaccine developed by Cuba's Finlay Institute, which led to a dramatic reduction 
in infection there.     
Now I have no particular axe to grind on this issue. As a bodyworker I have 
always taken a conservative approach and adopted modalities which have proven 
their effectiveness over time. 

That said I find it disconcerting that marxists would dismiss out of hand such 
dramatic positive results, especially as the Cubans have repeatedly used 
scientific methodology in clinical trials before popular promulgation. Just 
because  
the therapeutic factors have not been satisfactorily explained must mean 
relatively little to the 2000 or so people who did not contract the infection.  

The Cubans have been rightly praised for their open-mindness and scientific 
curiosity, as well as for their scientific rigour. The two are not mutually 
exclusive.   

I would hope that a similar attitude would develop on this list as well. 

The development of effective popular medicine outside of the control of 
capitalist medicine and its pharmaceutical juggernaut is part of the 
revolutionary process and should be on the short list of every serious 
revolutionary. Discussion of said topic, I would think, should be of interest 
to us all.     

Greg McDonald
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: 
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40archives.econ.utah.edu