TY  - JOUR
T1  - STudying complementary and alternative therapies
AU  - Offit PA
Y1  - 2012/05/02
N1  - 10.1001/jama.2012.518
JO  - JAMA
SP  - 1803
EP  - 1804
VL  - 307
IS  - 17
N2  - 
In 1992, with an initial budget of $2 million, Congress created the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM). Based on legislation sponsored by Iowa politicians Tom Harkin and Berkeley Bedell, OAM's mission was “to explore complementary and alternative healing practices in the context of rigorous science.”1 Senator Harkin reportedly believed that bee pollen had cured his hay fever, and Representative Bedell reportedly thought that cow colostrum had cured his Lyme disease.2 They hoped that OAM would prove that alternative therapies like theirs should be brought into the mainstream. Harkin and Bedell's efforts reflected the popular culture; about 50% of US residents use some form of alternative medicine; 10% use it for their children.3

SN  - 0098-7484
M3  - doi: 10.1001/jama.2012.518
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.2012.518
ER  -