Lee Daniel Crocker writes:
>Every careful double-blind study I am aware of for using accupuncture
>to treat various other ailments has found it no better than placebo
>(placebos are quite powerful on some things like pain). I am not
>aware of any such study on using it for weight loss or for smoking
>cessation, both of which I've seen advertised. Those sellers haven't
>seen any such study either, and that's what makes their actions fraud.
I don't know if this counts for anything, but HMOs in Texas were
covering (at 100%
coverage) acupuncture treatments for stopping smoking, at least a few years
ago.
The wily accountants at the insurance companies, at least, were convinced that
the long-term results gained via the treatments were worth the initial
outlay for
their HMO clients who smoked. I suggest that there must be some studies
somewhere
that convinced them of the economic validity of subsidizing acupuncture for
this
purpose.
I realize this doesn't address your primary concern about whether any
particular
advertiser of treatments is committing fraud, but wanted to share this tiny
factoid
about acupuncture & smoking.
Patrick Crumhorn patrik@io.com
http://www.io.com/~patrik/
"I am damn unsatisfied to be killed in this way."
--unknown Hong Kong movie
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jul 27 2000 - 14:11:42 MDT