| From: | Fade <runefo@***.UIO.NO> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Herb medicine vs. modern medicine (Was: Re: FTL Travel) |
| Date: | Sat, 20 Sep 1997 14:12:23 +0000 |
> poison, concentrating and feeding it to people in tablets or
> syringes the way God meant? Have you *seen* some of the stuff
> that they're using for medicines these days (especially in the
> treatment of cancer)? If it's not a deadly poison in its own
> right, nobody's interested.
Pray tell, just how should a medicine destroy a disease if it was not
some sort of poison? (some on that later) Most 'cures' work by
killing the disease with targeted poisons. Of course this can have
effects on the patients. But not as bad effects as letting the
disease run its course. As for surgery, that's carpentry work. I've
seen shots of how they implant an artificial knee. It's with hacksaw,
screwdrivers and glue. But how else could it be done? It works.
The result is far better than the untreated knee.
Being a little in the know in how recent medicine advances,
things are looking more and more interesting. The AIDS research has
led to huge advances in knowledge in how the immune system works,
and medicines which use this knowledge will soon start to appear.
Also, genetics advance at a rapid rate. These two areas of research
will lead to a lot of cures people might have considered impossible -
genetic based diseases can be cured *IN ADULT PEOPLE* (That's new),
viruses can be targeted and destroyed, ways to boost the immune
system so the body fights off disease better on its own, sudden ready
availability of donor organs and blood extractions (insulin, factor
VIII, IX, blood cells, whatever).. not unlikely immortality. The
leonization and gene therapy stuff in Shadowtech is way overpriced;
also with the recent advances in neural regeneration there is little
reason why there's still an 'upper limit' on time. The truth is,
medical science has, these last ten years, advanced at a shocking
rate. It's only that due to the demands on testing, quality control
and so on it will take a while for the advances to become usable.
Also, the recent 'cloning' scare was a setback. (Did you know that
the Norwegian government proposed a law a few days after 'dolly'
making cloning of life illegal in Norway? Pathetic.
Anyone out there can say *WHY* they tried to clone Dolly?
Remember, a clone will be born and grow up normally, develop its own
personality and so on. The only special thing is that it has an
identical DNA as someone else.
I guess anyone can come up with horror scenarios. The least savory
example I can think of is rich people which clone themselves so that
when the clone grows up, coinciding with their old age, they have a
ready source for spare parts. No worry for biorejection or
immunosupressives.. GREAT!. (Nice SR PC background/run idea.. you
were made for spare parts, fled the clinic.. and Dad wants you
back!).
The reason for cloning dolly was something else entirely. Animals,
especially sheep and pigs, are fairly similar to humans. With genetic
modification, a sheep can produce almost any biological fluid instead
of milk - insulin, factor VIII, or other hard - to - get blood
derivates. And it would be very, very pure. Now, genetically altering
a sheep to produce this stuff is difficult, takes time, and is
expensive, especially considering lifespan. But if you can clone it,
then the process suddenly becomes not only viable, but cheap. (By the
time they manage to pull it off, at least). The other big theory is
to alter pigs so that their organs (which is allready extremely
similar to human organs) become so called 'universal donors' - the
human system does not reject them. Today, if you transplant an organ,
you are doomed to a lifetime on immunosupressives. If you have an
immune system, it *will* attack the transplanted organ. So you have
to go on nasty stuff to kill the immune system, and then on a few
other nasty stuffs to make sure you don't die from not having an
immune system either. And even then the body might reject the organ
as foreign if the match isn't close enough. (And availability is real
low). With an universal donor readily available, there will be
neither any biorejection or a need for immunosuppressives... and it
would be readily available. (Not particularily cheap, but a *LOT*
better and cheaper than today).
Okay.. Herb medicine. It might work better than medicine..
but then again, it might not. Conventional medicine goes through a
lot of testing to make sure it does not have any surprise ill
effects. (If it had, the medical company would be sued to hell and
back). I do not like medicine, no matter if it is in herb form or
pills. If I am sick, I shrug it off without medicine as long as it
doesn't get too much in the way of work. If I do put something in me,
I make bloody sure I know what it's going to do to me. I can't do
that with herb medicine. So I don't take it.
There is another thing about herb medicine. Some of it is definitely
snake oil. Some of it is harmful. And most of it simply has no effect
beyond that of common placebos. The more straightforward herb stuff
is ok though; laxatives, drugs, and other stuff which is fairly easy
to notice that has an effect.
Enough.
--
Fade
And the Prince of Lies said:
"To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell:
Better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven."
-John Milton, Paradise Lost
