I have been concerned that Wikipedia is not an unbiased source of information. There are people who watch vigilantly over certain pages that I am aware of (in spiritual healing and holistic health) who have systematically and vigilantly purged any entries that contradict their views - which are grossly biased against wholistic healing.

I am not the only one to have observed this. Recently, it has also been discovered through clever internet sleuthing who are some of the special interests involved in this activity.

On the suggestion of a colleague, Eric Leskowitz, MD, and encouraged by the recent disclosure of systematic editing in Wikipedia - that I figured would make at least some of these vigilantes more cautious, I made another entry in the section on Alternative Health.

Previously, a positive statement that was without a substantiating reference was routinely deleted - despite the fact that it was nestled amongst numerous negative criticisms of Alternative Health that were equally unsubstantiated. 

Now, the following statement and reference remain in place for an unprecedented 26 hours:

Alternative medicine appears to be safer than conventional medicine. In an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Lazarou and colleagues found an incidence of 6.7 percent serious adverse reactions, and 0.32 per cent fatal reactions in hospitalized patients. They estimated that in 1994 there were 2,216,000 serious adverse drug reactions in hospitalized patients, with 106,000 deaths. This make adverse drug reactions the fourth most common cause of death. It is rare for Alternative Medicine to cause serious negative effects and almost unheard of that it should cause fatalities.

Lazarou, J. Pomeranz, BH. Corey, PN. Incidence of adverse drug reactions in hospitalized patients: a meta-analysis of prospective studies, J of the American Medical Association 1998, 279, 1200-1205.

WHEE - MD Observations

Assuming it's not just the fact that this was Saturday night to Sunday, now may be a good time for those interested in promoting awareness of Wholistic Healing to make substantiated edits in Wikipedia!

Blessings

Dan Benor