Even after thimerosal [the alleged, offending substance] was removed from infant vaccines, the autism rate has continued to climb" (Vaccine, 2008, CNN). Attributing illnesses to conventional medicine is often based upon anecdotal and emotional evidence, little else. Conventional medicine takes a preventive perspective as well, stressing proper diet and nutrition, but a more realistic fashion and thus yield more appreciable results. Furthermore, studies suggest that eating real food, as opposed to alternative supplements or following fad diets, elimination diets, or diets that do not contain an entire group of food (such as meat or carbohydrate) are more health-promoting and sustainable over the long-term (Parker-Pope 2009).

Conventional medicine is empirically tested. Many alternative therapies have no scientific support other than heresy and simply take advantage of frightened people. They have also proved deadly, in the case of people who have abandoned conventional medicine for the treatment of severe, yet curable illnesses: "The slim evidence that exists suggests that most patients have had at least some conventional treatment before deciding to try an unconventional course, and many have had full courses of mainstream treatment. In some cases, however, people reject what could be curative conventional treatment in favor of the unconventional, either for themselves or for their children. Some cases have come to light when parents have made that decision for a minor child and legal proceedings against the parents have ensued. A highly publicized case in the late 1970's of this type involved a child with potentially curable...

18). If alternative care does work, it is only because it is used as a supplement, not as a replacement to conventional medicine, and alternative medicine, even then, may simply have an enhancing placebo effect.
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Parker-Pope, Tara. (2007, November 5). The case for real food. The New York Times.

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Unconventional cancer treatments. Office of Technology Assessment. U.S. Congress.

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Vaccine case draws attention to autism debate. (2008, March 6).CNN. Retrieved July 4, 2009 at http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/03/06/vaccines.autism/index.html

What is CAM? (2009). National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

(NCCAM). National Institute of Health. Retrieved July 2, 2009 at http://nccam.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/overview.htm