"TOWNSEND LETTER FOR DOCTORS, a nationally recognized wholistic health professional journal."

The question becomes, recognized by whom? For what reasons?

I don't wish to seem unpleasant or unreasonable, or contrary for the sake of being contrary. It's just that to me, it seems that the words "wholistic" and "alternative" have become buzzwords with little real meaning.

Just tonight, I was discussing the alternative "medicine" of homeopathy with a good friend. He is more "open-minded" on the subject, but I am convinced that any research will show the falsity of its claims. Homeopathy, being unregulated as a study discipline and a commercial enterprise, has become a very fuzzy term. I have seen non-homeopathic "remedies" labeled as homeopathic because the makers know that the average person likely has no idea what homeopathy is, but probably think it means "herbal" or "natural". Their consumers are credulous. These are comfort terms for those with deep suspicion, even hostility, to conventional science.

To learn what homeopathy really is, go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z1QFZcnAi4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWE1tH93G9U
You make not like the 'messenger' in the video, but he tells the truth.

To read an unbiased examination of the claims of homeopathy, go here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2002/homeopathy.shtml

Homeopathy makes a claim that water has "memory". This is a fuzzy metaphorical label, but it has achieved some respectability in recent years due to the claims of a late Dr. Jacques Beneviste. Beneviste's lack of credibilty is well-established.

Saw this quote on the web about homeopathy that made me laugh.
"I had a friend who was into homeopathy once. Until he drank a glass of distilled water, and died of an overdose of everything."

Remember, that even though the placebo effect is real, it is not a "cure" for disease, or of truly lon-lasting efficacy.