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Alternative Medicine Under Pressure
Narda G. Robinson, DO, DVM, MS, FAAMA
 Alternative medicine’s free ride, where claims of cures run fast and loose, may be running out of gas.1 The hope and hype that fueled consumers’ fervor also took their money, robbed their time and left them stranded. Even the Food and Drug Administration cannot keep count of how many “natural” products tainted with prescription drugs have entered the marketplace.2
To help staunch the bleeding of billions of dollars each year on fraudulent products and devices, the FDA has posted “Tip-offs to Rip-offs” on its “How to Spot Health Fraud” Web page. It decries so-called “revolutionary innovations” sold with meaningless medical jargon and sales pitches imbued with paranoid accusations of a medical establishment conspiracy to suppress holistic cures.3
Fortunately, in some circles at least, the tolerance for this has waned considerably, with voices from both public and professional arenas calling for accountability.4-11
Blurring the Lines
The veterinary profession has faced pressure from groups advocating alternative healing for decades, with a national organization now applying for entry into the AVMA House of Delegates.4 While alternative medicine may always exist, legitimizing modalities and lay presenters by promoting the teaching of “energy medicine” and “animal chakras” can lead to unintended consequences.5,6
The lines between science-based practice and lay holistic healing blur when veterinary colleges invite non-veterinarian practitioners to teach metaphysics.7,8 Energy healers, human acupuncturists and massage therapists may then wield their new-found authority as “animal therapy experts” and decide to challenge veterinary practice acts.
Close Call in Colorado
Case in point: In Colorado, the “Provider Choice” bill, HB07-1296, sailed through the House of Representatives two years ago.
This bill, had it passed the state Senate, would have removed the need for veterinary diagnosis, referral or supervision if animal owners sought holistic care of any sort on their own. It then narrowly failed in the Senate Agricultural Committee on a 4-3 vote.
A legislative session report wrote, “[T]he Colorado Veterinary Medical Assn. and other livestock groups had concerns over the fact that the bill would give people the right to ‘practice veterinary medicine without a license.’ Someone might be providing massage or acupuncture services to an animal that was seriously injured or might even have a transmittable disease, and that person might not know how serious an animal’s condition was without having the consent or diagnosis of a veterinarian.”9
Protecting veterinary medicine against corruption from within and invasion from without demands that veterinarians remain actively vigilant in terms of state legislative activity and the quality of the courses they attend. Those sitting in holistic seminars need to be on the lookout for unsupported claims, undeclared conflicts of interest, opinions presented as facts, belief-system based mechanisms, testimonials and instructors who claim to be a “master.”10
Sometimes the red flags are obvious, as in approaches involving a surrogate (often the client) where the practitioner tests the strength of the client’s deltoid muscle to determine which supplements she needs to buy for her dog, cat or horse. While science has not yet proven surrogate diagnostic methods such as applied kinesiology, they do serve as highly effective supplement-selling tools.11
Radionic Healing
Another approach warranting suspicion involves anything to do with “radionic healing,” including Rife frequency generators. A 2006 trial performed at the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cambridge, England, compared the effects of radionic healing with anthelmintics on fecal egg counts in horses.12 Set on “homeopathic mode,” the radionics device (a “box of resistors”) issues an “energy beam” said to connect to the patient “no matter where the patient is.”13
Distance between the patient and the box means nothing because “Radionics is a form of spiritual healing or radiaesthetic facility, in which the practitioner brings the patient ‘to mind’; at this level of consciousness distance does not exist. … A ‘witness,’ comprising a spot of blood or more usually a snippet of hair, is used in the instrument to link the practitioner and the patient. The practitioner, with patient ‘to mind,’ then asks questions. … Answers to the questions may be translated in various ways: by a specially designed pendulum designating answers or a pad to which the practitioner’s fingers adhere when potentiometers reach the appropriate diagnostic setting. … The practitioner can also analyze ‘charkas’ [sic], which are major force centres that lie along the cerebral spinal axis and the points at which energy flows into the human/animal system.”
Not surprisingly, the radionics treatment failed to reduce the fecal egg counts of equine strongyles. Nonetheless, similar devices are currently being marketed heavily to the veterinary profession. They dispense pulsed light frequencies based on radionics concepts and Rife frequencies designed to deliver the vibrational qualities of homeopathic remedies without the homeopathic; they purportedly cure a wide range of disorders. According to Quackwatch (Quackwatch.org), “[R]adionics devices have no value for diagnosing or treating anything.”14
What’s Next?
Has the veterinary profession seen enough yet?
Guidelines instituted by human physicians’ continuing medical education oversight body, the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), no longer allow for unscientific or unproven content. ACCME rulings state, “All the recommendations involving clinical medicine in a CME activity must be based on evidence that is accepted within the profession of medicine as adequate justification for their indications and contraindications in the care of patients.”15
Treatments advocated in CME coursework “must be more than firmly held beliefs or hopes for efficacy” and based on scientific research that “must conform to generally accepted standards of experimental design, data collection and analysis.” Providers whose “recommendations, treatment or manners of practicing medicine” are known to be ineffective or have risks or dangers that outweigh benefits are not eligible for ACCME accreditation.
Time to Step Up
Even chiropractors, worried that some still consider them an “unscientific cult,” are being urged to maintain a watchful eye on their profession and to “heighten awareness of our ethical practices and denounce those within our profession who do not uphold professional and scientific standards.”16
When and where will the veterinary profession draw the line?
Narda Robinson, DVM, DO, Dipl. ABMA, FAAMA, oversees complementary veterinary education at Colorado State University.
This article first appeared in the November 2009 issue of Veterinary Practice News
FOOTNOTES:
1. Angell M and Kassirer JP. Alternative medicine – the risks of untested and unregulated remedies. NEJM. 1998;339:839-841.
2. Weissmann G. The Atlanta Falcon and Tono-Bungay: Dietary supplements as subprime drugs. [Editorial] The FASEB Journal. 2009;23:1279-1282.
3. Kurtzweil P. How to spot health fraud. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Obtained here on 09-16-09.
4. American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association 2009 Blog. Obtained here on 09-13-09.
5. A quote coined by Feyerabend. Cited in Happle R. The essence of alternative medicine. A dermatologist’s view from Germany. Archives of Dermatology. 1998;134:1455-1460.
6. Ohio State University Veterinary Continuing Education Program. Introduction to Animal Reiki for Veterinary Professionals course. 2 CE hours. Brochure downloaded here on 09-12-09.
7. Ohio State University Veterinary Continuing Education Program. Introduction to Animal Reiki for Veterinary Professionals course. 2 CE hours. Brochure downloaded here on 09-12-09.
8. Tufts University E-News. East-West synergy. Obtained here on 09-12-09.
9. Williams D and Locke L. Letter to the Colorado Horse Council on the End of the 2007 Legislative Session Report. Obtained here on 09-12-09.
10. Johnson C. Keeping a critical eye on chiropractic. [editorial]. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2008;31:559-561.
11. Barrett S. Applied kinesiology: phony muscle-testing for “allergies” and “nutrient deficiencies”. Obtained here on 09-12-09.
12. Lloyd S and Martin SA. Controlled trial on the effects of radionic healing and anthelmintics on faecal egg counts in horses. Veterinary Record. 2006;158(21):734-737.
13. Chesney CJ. [Letter to the editor] Radionics and repeatability. Veterinary Record. 2006; 158(24):839-840. Comment on Lloyd S and Martin SA. Controlled trial on the effects of radionic healing and anthelmintics on faecal egg counts in horses. Veterinary Record. 2006;158(21):734-737.
14. Barrett S. Rife machine operator sued. Obtained here on 09-12-09.
15. ACCME. Validation of the Clinical Content of CME. The ACCME Expectations of Providers and of the Accreditation Process. Obtained here on 09-12-09.
16. Johnson C. Keeping a critical eye on chiropractic. [editorial]. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2008;31:559-561.
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