Why European Traditional Medicine?
Traditional medicine (TM) is a large comprehensive term generally used to refer to
systems such as traditional Chinese medicine, Indian ayurveda and Unani medicine,
and to various forms of indigenous medicine, but also in Europe there is a very long
history of traditional medicine that has a respectable historical and scientific dignity,
and many European citizens still rely and trust in it for resolution of many minor
and sometimes severe diseases. For all these reasons we decided to organize a congress
based on the concept of European Traditional Medicine (ETM).
In Europe the dominant health care system is based on allopathic medicine, and also
when TM has been partially or fully incorporated into the public health care system
like in Tuscany, TM is still termed and considered “complementary”, “alternative”
or “non-conventional” medicine.
Interconnections between Traditional and Conventional Medicines
In Europe the pharmacopoeias of folk practitioners as well as professional medical
health care providers contain thousands of medicines made from leaves, herbs, roots,
bark, animal, mineral energetic substances and other materials found in nature like
in Chinese, Ayurvedic, Unani and other systems; like many practices still based on
energetic or traditional belief, so the aim of this congress is to explore and survey,
very old and modern traditional based therapies and treatments curing the principles
of scientific medicine (1). Discussions of the links between ETM and other traditional
medicines therefore are mandatory, particularly when considering the importance of
traditionally based therapies that are still a source of primary health care to about
70 percent of the world's population. Connections between traditional medicine and
human health have been addressed and commented upon by many national and international
political and sanitary bodies because: a) the good health of populations requires
enlightened management of our social resources, economic relations, and of the natural
world, and b) that many of today's public-health issues have their roots in lack of
scientifically sustainable holistic approach to the patient c) many socioeconomic
inequalities and irrational consumption patterns that jeopardize the future economic
sustainability of health.
In the same context the conventional biomedical approach to health is based on methods
of diagnosing and treating specific pathologies: one pathogen = one disease, an approach
that does not take into account connections between diseases, humanity, and some psychological
aspects of suffering, and other socioeconomic factors such as poverty and education,
and even the connections between disease and the environment in which sick people
lives (2,3).
Two examples of recently developed drugs, one from a plant and one from an animal,
deserve special mention (4). The story of taxol and the Pacific yew (Taxus baccata)
illustrates how we may be losing new medicines before species have been analyzed for
their chemical content. The commercially useless Pacific yew was routinely discarded
as a trash tree during logging of old growth forests in the Pacific northwest region
of the United States or just used as a decorative plant in gardens until it was found
to contain the compound taxol, a substance that kills cancer cells by a mechanism
unlike that of other known chemotherapeutic agents: it prevents cell division by inhibiting
the disassembly of the mitotic spindle. The discovery of the complex molecule taxol
and its novel mechanism of action has led to the synthesis of several taxol-like compounds
that are even more effective than the natural compound, which illustrates how a clue
from nature can lead to the discovery of a new class of drugs that could have been
extremely difficult to discover in the laboratory. Experimental and clinical studies
have later shown that taxol may be one of the most promising new drugs available for
the treatment of advanced carcinoma of the ovary, adjuvant treatment of node-positive
breast cancer, non small-cell lung cancer, and second line treatment of AIDS related
Kaposi's sarcoma.
The other example that deserves mention is the peptide compounds in the venom of cone
snails, a genus of predatory snails numbering about 500 species that inhabits tropical
coral reefs. The diversity of these compounds is so great that it may rival that of
alkaloids in higher plants and secondary metabolites in microorganisms. Some of these
peptide compounds, which have been shown to block a wide variety of ion channels,
receptors and pumps in neuromuscular systems, have such selectivity that they are
becoming important tools in neurophysiological research and of great value to clinical
medicine. One voltage-sensitive calcium-channel blocker, ω-conotoxin MVII-A, binds
with great specificity to neuronal calcium channels, and from it has been developed
ziconotide a new very potent analgesic substance non-opioid, non-NSAID, non-local
anesthetic used for the amelioration of chronic pain.
Connecting Traditional Medicine with Scientific Care
Traditional medicine was the fundamental method used by humans to preserve their health
and avoid diseases since the dawn of time. And it is not alternative or complementary
for those who live far from medical facilities, in places where there are no physicians,
or where physicians and drugs are too expensive. And even where there are good physicians
and therapies are inexpensive, people still take the lead in their own health care.
And their search for alternative medicine and therapies can also be defined as the
continuity of traditions, religious beliefs, and even quackery that nonspecialists
practice in many ways to treat people, not rarely for severe diseases like cancer.
Ordinary people not rarely thinking to be provided with clear and simple information
try to prevent and to treat many common health problems in their homes, which can
stop diseases earlier and provide cheaper treatment; but this self treatment can give
rise to side effects, drug interferences, uses of wrong substances, delay of diagnosis
or treatments.
Complementary and traditional medicines are popular with patients, but physicians
obviously do not feel comfortable with this situation because in the university students
have been taught to give patients only scientifically proved substances and therapies
and … primum non nocere. Their fear is based on the right perception that some TM
practitioners have dubious qualifications and competence, and that too little is known
about the efficacy and safety of many complementary therapies. It follows that research
is needed not only in the interest of the patient, but also of the professional health
caregiver, and the modern relationship between patient and medicine based on the concept
of “cure and taking care”. So the point is which type of research? Strictly based
on the principles of mainstream medicines? Sometimes it is impossible. So is mandatory
to deal with these scientific and methodological issues and problems to find the way
to fully connect traditional medicine in mainstream medicine, remembering that as
in all areas of science, there can be no short cut to rigorous research.
ETM 2007 – European Traditional Medicine – is the first international Congress to
discuss together ethnomedicine of European Countries in search of clinical evidence.
The quantity and quality of research in Traditional Medicines and Complementary and
Alternative Medicines has largely increased over the last decades in parallel with
the ever-spreading demand by patients; so is growing a need of expertise for evaluating
this challenging field and to improve a correct relationship between patients and
health caregivers. The ETM Congress can give you the opportunity to hear the latest
results of leading researchers, representing a wide range of different therapies and
study designs in the emerging field of Traditional Medicines. In addition to research
data, new ideas on mechanisms, strategies, ethical issues and methodological approaches
will be discussed in plenary lectures.
The Center of Natural Medicine of Empoli Hospital is proud to host this outstanding
event. Many thanks to Prof. Edwin L. Cooper, Editor in chief of ECAM Journal, for
his meaningful cooperation.