October 16, 1998

With healthcare alternatives blossoming, everyone needs information with which to shape decisions. Head to the National Institutes of Health's Office of Alternative Medicine http://altmed.od.nih.gov/ for a start; look under the "Information Resources" heading for advice on assessing non-traditional therapies. Meanwhile, the more colorfully named Quackwatch http://www.quackwatch.com, a nonprofit organization, combats health-related frauds, myths, fads and fallacies. At its site, you'll find descriptions and evaluations of hundreds of topics, from acupuncture to wild yam cream, including positive and negative factors and footnote references.
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Gabriel Goldberg gabe@acm.org