Alternative Medicine
By Dr. Robina Coker
Monarch. 141 pages. £4.99
ISBN 1 85424 324 1
We are familiar with the phenomenal rise in popularity of alternative medicine, now used by 26% of our population. A Christian perspective of these practices is desperately needed, and Robina Coker's contribution assists discrimination between the sound and the dubious.
She describes some of the failures of orthodox and the attractions of alternative medicine. Her well-researched assessment of alternative medicine's risks is a startling revelation. Some herbal and Chinese herbal remedies have caused liver and kidney failure, sometimes fatally, whilst others, including homeopathic ones, have contained ingredients such as mercury, arsenic, potent steroids and pigeon droppings! She implies that herbal medicines in general provide a serious risk of poisoning, two such being valerian and skullcap. Most qualified medical herbalists would dissociate themselves from her criticisms, arguing that the majority of remedies are mild, well-labelled, free of side-effects, and tried and tested down through the ages.
