Some critics of alternative medicine are focused upon health fraud, misinformation, and quackery as public health problems, notably Wallace Sampson and Paul Kurtz founders of Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine and Stephen Barrett, co-founder of The National Council Against Health Fraud and webmaster of Quackwatch. Grounds for opposing alternative medicine include that: Alternative therapies typically lack any scientific validation, and their effectiveness either is unproven or has been disproved. It is usually based on religion, tradition, superstition, belief in supernatural energies, pseudoscience, errors in reasoning, propaganda, or fraud. Methods may incorporate or base themselves on traditional medicine, folk knowledge, spiritual beliefs, ignorance or misunderstanding of scientific principles, errors in reasoning, or newly conceived approaches claiming to heal. Research on alternative medicine is frequently of low quality and methodologically flawed. Treatments are not part of the conventional, science-based healthcare system. Where alternative therapies have replaced conventional science-based medicine, even with the safest alternative medicines, failure to use or delay in using conventional science-based medicine has caused deaths.
some critics of alternative medicine are focused upon health fraud misinformation and quackery as public health problems notably wallace sampson and paul kurtz founders of scientific review of alternative medicine and stephen barrett co-founder of the national council against health fraud and webmaster of quackwatch grounds for opposing alternative medicine include that alternative therapies typically lack any scientific validation and their effectiveness either is unproven or has been disproved it is usually based on religion tradition superstition belief in supernatural energies pseudoscience errors in reasoning propaganda or fraud methods may incorporate or base themselves on traditional medicine folk knowledge spiritual beliefs ignorance or misunderstanding of scientific principles errors in reasoning or newly conceived approaches claiming to heal research on alternative medicine is frequently of low quality and methodologically flawed treatments are not part of the conventional science-based healthcare system where alternative therapies have replaced conventional science-based medicine even with the safest alternative medicines failure to use or delay in using conventional science-based medicine has caused deaths