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Herald Washington Bureau, November 6, 1997 by Brigid Schulte
Acupuncture endorsed by U.S..... health panel WASHINGTON — A panel of scientists at the National Institutes of Health confirmed something Wednesday the Chinese have known for thousands of years and many Americans are discovering: Acupuncture can work. The panel, which included doctors who practice acupuncture and some scientists who were skeptical, agreed that acupuncture clearly works to treat several conditions, including nausea and vomiting after chemotherapy and surgery, the nausea of pregnancy, and post-operative dental pain. The NIH panel also found "intriguing but incomplete scientific data that acupuncture may also help stroke rehabilitation and relieve addictions, headaches, menstrual cramps, a variety of muscle pains, carpal tunnel syndrome and asthma. "This is a pretty dramatic finding," said Dr. David Ramsey, president of the University of Maryland Medical Center and an initial acupuncture skeptic who chaired the NIH panel. "Acupuncture has fewer side effects and is less invasive than many of the other things we do in conventional Western medicine. It's time to take it seriously." The 12-member group's decision will undoubtedly bring the ancient Chinese art of sticking needles into specific points on the body into mainstream Western medicine, Ramsey said. The panel's "consensus statement" recommends integrating acupuncture into standard medical practice, calls for further study into how acupuncture works, and urges Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance companies to begin payong for acupuncture treatments. Though the recommendations aren't legally binding, they carry great influence in the medical community. |
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