General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Neil DeGrasse Tyson Tells Bill Maher That Anti-Science Liberals Are Full of Shit Too [View all]Humanist_Activist
(7,670 posts)mainly describing stuff that has been shown to not work, and is generally misrepresenting science. It was coined by James Randi for this purpose. A catch-all term to describe things such as psychic phenomenon, homeopathy, quantum "theory" of consciousness and other bullshit.
In addition, no one on the pro-vaccine side has ever said that "all Vaccines are safe for everyone" that's the strawman. We are well aware that they aren't, that's why we are so for mandatory vaccination programs that do not allow non-medical exemptions, or at least I do. Those people who can't take vaccines should be protected as much as practical through herd immunity. Less carriers/vectors, less exposure to disease.
In addition, I would outright reject the idea that gathering plants and animals for medicinal purposes is, in itself, "alternative medicine", indeed, alternative medicine is really just bullshit quackery that attempts to make itself legitimate. How do we know which plants and animals have beneficial medical effects on our bodies? Through science, we are also able to figure out the proper dosages so they don't kill us(dosage makes the poison, after all), and find ways to synthesize them so we don't harvest organisms to extinction. The issue is those practitioners of "alternative medicine" are opposed to scientific examination of their techniques, some go even so far as to say examining the techniques or materials is impossible, misconstruing the observer effect, etc. That makes them magic or miracles, take your pick, but it isn't science and it isn't effective.
Also, I looked it up, there's an association between long term PPI use and kidney damage, however its still too early to tell if its actually the cause. Its worthy of more examination, but the key is that we wouldn't be asking a Reiki healer to do the examining.