here, I share and annotate a 1993 news.google.com archived article by J.L. Eng regarding naturopathy [see 001., below]:
001. the Spokesman-Review shares J.L. Eng's report "Natural Medicine Not For Quacks Anymore" (1993-01-10) [vsc 2012-03-08] which states [my notes are in unquoted bold]:
“'Natural Medicine not for Quacks Anymore' [...] James L. Eng, Associated Press [...] The Spokesman-Review. Sunday, Jan 10, 1993. Spokane, Wash. [...]";
ah, so it's almost 20 years since this was first published. And lots o'money has been exchanged in those two decades!.
“[patient] Natasha Puffer [...] turned to a naturopathic physician [...] at the Natural Health Clinic in Seattle [...] naturopathy or the practice of natural medicine [...] most naturopathic physicians think of themselves as family doctors [...]";
ye old "physician" / "family doctor", "natural health", "natural medicine" labels.
"naturopathy [is] a drug-free, holistic approach to medicine that emphasizes the healing power of nature [HPN] to prevent and treat illness [...]";
here's where it gets interesting: if "drug-free" then why the recent push towards prescriptive rights?; if holistic [truly! -- a rather undefinable junk word, by the way, overall - IMHO], then why the ignorant sectarian belief system that IGNORES so much modern knowledge...like...the scientific ejection of naturopathy's archaic belief in a vital force / animistic force that actually is what HPN is to naturopathy? That is science-ejected HPN [and science-exterior sectarian supernaturalism!!!] stated as vital force and able to survive scientific scrutiny at a school this article mentions!
"their therapies [...include] acupuncture and homeopathy [which is] treating a disease by administering tiny doses of a remedy that would in a healthy person produce symptoms of a disease [...]";
and HERE WE ARE, at the guts of the naturopathic 'things-they-do'. Quackupuncture and homeopathic nonsense.
"naturopathic physicians [...] in Washington, they can't treat cancer [...]";
that was then. Now they're oncologists, of their own title-crafting.
"John Weeks [was then] executive director of the Seattle-based American Association of Naturopathic Physicians [...says] 'it's time to acknowledge the real value that profession has' [...]";
ye old AANP. Still at it: labeling nonsense as science [vsc 2012-03-08]. Valuable? Professional? Nope.
"Bastyr College [...] president Joe Pizzorno [...says] 'many of the things they were calling quackery 20 to 30 years ago, they're now coming to say, 'Gee, these are right' [...]";
actually, at the heart of naturopathy IS QUACKERY, still. Not right, wrong. Here's Pizzorno's own article labeling the science-ejected as science-based.
"Ron Hobbs, director of admission at Bastyr [...says] 'over the last 100 years we've really focused on technology and really separated our connection with nature [...] this kind of medicine is basic, common-sense medicine. It's low-tech. It's connected with nature. It's a lot of things that this culture has forgotten";
well, surely "nature" is that vitalistic science-ejected context they keep falsely engaging in trade upon! Yet, in almost twenty years of researching naturopathy I've yet to see the "common-sense" in falsely labeling nonsense sense, and particularly the common-sense and professionalism of labeling absurdity "science-based".
as history illustrates: the naturopathillogic MARCHES ON, adding to its ranks.
