Is Alternative Medicine Really ‘Medicine’?
29:05 minutes
In Do You Believe in Magic? The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine, Paul Offit takes aim at the $34-billion-a-year alternative medicine industry, which he says peddles treatments that are unproven—and sometimes deadly. Victoria Maizes, of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, agrees that some alternative treatments can harm but argues that others are beneficial and have a place in modern medicine.
Segment Guests
Paul A. Offit
Paul A. Offit is the author of Do You Believe in Magic? The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine (Harper, 2013) and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Victoria Maizes
Victoria Maizes is executive director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine and a professor of medicine and public health at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona.
Meet the Producer
About Christopher Intagliata
@cintagliataChristopher Intagliata was Science Friday’s senior producer. He once served as a prop in an optical illusion and speaks passable Ira Flatowese.