Alternative medicine has long been derided by the mainstream medical community. People who use it, or at least believe in its benefits, are called “oddballs.” Doctors even go so far as to tell curious patients not to worry about the alternative “madness,” claiming that only hippies and desperados use it. Doctors are entrusted with the lives of their patients on a daily basis, and if a doctor insists on one specific treatment and advises against another, patients are more than likely to do what they are told. But if a natural therapy has a positive effect on the disease, then why not use it? Why not keep patients informed on all fronts: offer details on every treatment that has shown promise, whether it lines the pockets of pharmaceutical companies or not. Many tests and laboratory experiments on alternative medicines based on animal and plant venom have proven promising. Some even prevented the spread of cancer cells or became painkillers. And that's not even the best part: Natural therapies aren't full of the chemicals so common in traditional medicine, making them safer. Yet these findings are stifled by the medical community, which is not only unethical, but potentially dangerous to those fighting disease. In some cases, the pharmaceutical-owned medical community goes so far as to sue or belittle doctors who practice alternative medicine, thus keeping their clientele safe in their hands. Lives are at stake and new ideas are stifled: in the United States. Other nations – European, Asian and Australian – are practicing and discovering the merits of alternative medicine. Yet the nation, so proud of its freedoms, is halting research into treatments that could save lives, all in exchange for money. Why nat... middle of paper... to find out if there is an unlikely downside, but also to find out if a poison can be used to combat multiple ailments. Plants contain minerals and vitamins that have also been proven to do the same. It may seem like a “miracle cure,” almost too good to be true, and it often is. Alternative therapies are safer: there are fewer, if any, chemicals involved in them. Radiation, for example, is a normal “fighter” against cancer, but it is poisonous, so isn't it madness to treat a weakened patient with it? Whether or not a treatment is popular among traditional medicine practitioners should not matter. What is best for the patient's well-being should be the deciding factor. And if the answer is to ingest inexpensive plants or take a vial of poison, then pharmaceutical companies should not interfere, for there is more at stake in the battle against disease than just money..