Should China abandon Chinese medicine?

[Guest guest]

http://www.saukvalley.com/articles/2006/11/14/features/health_and_medical/292809835983434.txt#blogcomments

Scholar tries to move China forward on medicine

 

Wire Services

 

SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE

 

BEIJING - In the space of a few weeks, Zhang Gongyao has gone from a little-known scholar of medical history to one of China's most notorious intellectuals.

 

Once accustomed to a low-key life at a provincial university in southern China, he now feels he must avoid the news media and is nervous even about walking the streets in case he is recognized.

 

It's all because he dared to question one of his country's most cherished beliefs: Chinese traditional medicine.

 

Zhang's comments have provoked a storm of protests and a national debate. He has been cursed on Web sites, denounced as a traitor and subjected to scornful attacks by the Chinese government.

 

This is a country where traditional medicine has become a patriotic symbol. It is enshrined in the country's constitution, taught in universities and protected by government agencies. It has become a $10-billion industry - representing a quarter of the entire medical system - with an estimated 300 million customers every year

 

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Jagannath Chatterjee wrote on November 16, 2006 2:13 AM:"I am from India. While the Chinese are debating shifting from Chinese medicine to Western medicine, we Indians are seriously contemplating shifting from Western medicine to our own herbo-mineral mix, ayurveda. Never in history has India been so besotted with health problems as it is now under almost eight decades of largely Western medicine. Chemical drugs, antibiotics, vaccines, chemotherapy, radiation, ART drugs are playing havoc and there is rarely a person left untouched. Diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular problems, lung disease, asthma, eczema etc have taken epidemic proportions. Children are falling prey to autism, ADHD, PDDs, infantile diabetes, cancers and are the sickest in known memory. I would caution the Chinese to think twice before abandoning their ancestral medicine chest. Science is good for machines but bad for man and nature as the whole world is waking up to today."

[Guest guest]

Should China abandon Chinese medicine? I am not so sure it matters

at this point in time!

 

Western medicine has the best ability with diagnostic tools for

seeing into the body to see the damage… Its pathology can be very

helpful too! But it is its prescribed treatment where the biggest

down fall lies… Prescriptions drugs can mask the symptoms and cause

serious side affects, but as one wise person once said don't throw

out the baby with the bath water… There is no doubt about it, that

Western medicine needs reformed, {which is slowly happening right

now} and the millions of drugs out there, need to be revalued for

there use, but there are drugs that have saved a lot of lives, and

stopped a lot of suffering for some people. So don't condemn the

whole system, but take the good from it, and leave the bad.

 

One of the biggest problems in the Western culture is "to be

impatient"… We want quick fixes and we want it now! Most people

prefer to take a pill and go back to work; you know, the all mighty

dollar… Ayurveda is the best preventative medicine on the planet but

it is no quick fix… it is about life style changes. The biggest

change is about a change in conscience. If people really want to be

health then you have think health, and remain at ease, verse living

in a dis-ease state! This cannot happen until one can see divine

orchestration and the spirit of God in all things.

 

At this point in time it would seem more important to worry about

ones salvation then ones health. If all the money and effort that is

being put into wars is not put into trying to save this planet real

soon, then we all would be better off just praying all the time and

not worrying about our health. Sorry to be such a pessimist today,

but we are on the eve of a massive change… Try to see God in all

things and who knows? It might be a good thing! …Noel…