If "alternative" medicine actually worked we'd just call it medicine.

[leeroysphitz]

BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — Ten years ago the government set out to test herbal and other alternative health remedies to find the ones that work. After spending $2.5 billion, the disappointing answer seems to be that almost none of them do.

Echinacea for colds. Ginkgo biloba for memory. Glucosamine and chondroitin for arthritis. Black cohosh for menopausal hot flashes. Saw palmetto for prostate problems. Shark cartilage for cancer. All proved no better than dummy pills in big studies funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The lone exception: ginger capsules may help chemotherapy nausea.

"You expect scientific thinking" at a federal science agency, said R. Barker Bausell, author of "Snake Oil Science" and a research methods expert at the University of Maryland, one of the agency's top-funded research sites. "It's become politically correct to investigate nonsense."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iVzCMf2-0G5bmxm0XCQdbHOS5gjwD98NU5FO0

After the last eight years why would R. Barker Bausell expect "scientific thinking" at any federal agency?