Weil: alternative medicine growing in popularity

Jeffrey Williams Arizona Daily Wildcat Dr. Andrew Weil, director of the UA's program in integrative medicine, speaks in the Duval Auditorium of University Medical Center about his research of alternative therapy and herbal remedies. Weil is the author of the book Self Healing .

"I think the most profound reason that people are considering alternative therapies is a fundamental socio-cultural change all over the world in values and our relation with the universe," said Weil, director of the University of Arizona's Program in Integrative Medicine.

The Integrative Medicine program is based on a physician and patient partnership, using both conventional and alternative methods to stimulate the body's natural healing potential.

"People need to recognize that human beings are not simply physical beings, they are a combination of body, mind and spirit," Weil said to about 125 people in University Medical Center's DuVal auditorium.

Weil, joined by Rustum Roy, a chemistry professor from Pennsylvania State University, discussed the emergence of Integrative Medicine that has pushed its way into the lives of some Americans.

Weil said he feels the established scientific community disregards the evidence of alternative medicine.

"When data is not to their liking, they won't read it," Weil said. "I have a strong commitment to gathering data, but I also feel that one's life is evidence."

Weil said that one of the main problems facing alternative medicine is the difficulty of using botanical products in treatment while trying to satisfy the requirements of the FDA.

"There is no fingerprint of a botanical that will allow us to see exactly what we are working with here," he said, explaining that botanicals are complex natural substances.

"We are required (by the FDA) to produce one element that can be quantified, which we can't do," he said.

Roy said that science is going through an undetected upheaval.

"One problem with science is that we (scientists) observe a change in a physical system and we think that there has to be a physical cause," he said.

The most intriguing and interesting opportunities for science will be in Integrative Medicine, Roy said.

"If it is for real, you cannot stop it," he said about the growing field of alternative medicine. "If it isn't for real, don't worry about it."

Roy said he has never been treated personally in an alternative form.

"I've been on the fringes for a long time, but I have been motivated by enormous curiosity within the midst of our (scientists') belief system," Roy said, adding that many scientists are forgetting their true paradigms.

"Scientists must search for the truth, be open to new truths, and willing to abandon old paradigms," he said.

Roy said he feels that researchers should switch from abstract to real science.

"97.4 percent of Americans can't handle abstract science because it is not conceivable and not touchable," Roy said. "As one Harvard graduate said - 'who the hell cares?'"

Roy also pointed out what he calls the media's habit of worship for science.

"Every story about science is worshipful," Roy said. "One paper is played out by the media when many exist that disagree."

Roy points to the example of life on Mars.

"There was one paper that proclaimed life on Mars and there were 21 that said no life had ever existed," he said.

Roy said that scientists need to enlarge their way of thinking.

"The dominant scientific model is extremely materialistic," Roy said. "Drugs are still the archetypal cure of western medicine."

Many Americans are turning to alternative medicines more each day, said Tracy Gaudet, executive director of the UA's Integrative Medicine program.

"The main reason that people are trying out alternatives is that they see a consistency and parallel with the majority of their personal philosophies on life and health," Gaudet said.

Weil added that more people are seeing their connection with the natural world around them, but warned that people considering alternative medicines should approach the selection process with care.

"There is an enormous variation of quality among products," he said. "Regulators haven't yet dealt with herbs."