Science vs Nature... the dilemma that shouldn't be.

Here's the thing.  We are facing an apparent dichotomy these days between "SCIENCE" and "NATURE".  Let me explain.  I was on Twitter the other day, and someone tweeted about some truly horrific "naturopathy" practices.   I responded that it was horrible, but that this was the reason we needed laws and such about it.   Right now, "naturopaths" can claim anything.   There are no laws governing natural health, natural health practices, etc.    And some of the information being generated is genuinely anti-science, anti-health.   (Such as the idea that ALL VACCINES ARE EVIL).   Vaccines are wonderful.  And herbs, judiciously and carefully used, can be very beneficial.   Chamomile tea at night, or catnip tea for cramps.    My cousin's wife, who is a nurse practicioner, benefited from using fennel when she was breastfeeding.  Herbs and natural remedies can be gentler on a person than a scientific formula.  I know the only thing that ever got rid of my athlete's foot was tea tree oil.  

That being said, yes, there are some things that antibiotics truly help with.   But, unfortunately, due to overuse of said antibiotics, we are about to plunge into a post-antibiotic era.   EXCEPT.  Hey, there was an article a few months ago where they replicated a medieval formula which seems to kill off some of these antibiotic resistant things.  There is value in going back and looking at these older formulations, at some of the herbal preparations.  Many modern treatments do stem from herbal treatments which were refined and purified.    Digitalis, for one, is originally from a plant.

I live a balance, or try to.  I have endometriosis, for which the only effective "treatment" is surgery.   So I have gone to diet to try to manage it.   I use some herbs, cramp bark, for one, which are pretty efficacious for pain, and I don't run some of the risk that I do with taking too much Advil, for example.

But it isn't just herbs where we've gotten to this extreme of "MUST HAVE SCIENCE/MUST HAVE ALL NATURAL".  Its food too.   There's distrust of GMOs, which I understand.  It isn't the same as crossbreeding...crossbreeding has been done for millennia.   GMOs are spliced and manufactured to withstand poisons like Roundup.  Or are designed to carry poison within the seed.   But the problem lies that apparently there have not been long-term studies of many of these things.  The automatic assumption is that if it is "science" it must be safe.   But the opposite also applies...arsenic and lead are natural.   As I keep saying, balance.  

I just feel as if we have thrown ourselves into a very bad situation with the insistence on one side being better than the other.  The best is a balance.   We have toxins in plastics, products of science which are not going away anytime soon...   but there don't seem to be the eco-friendly products we need to go forward.   We need a balance.  We need doctors who are informed about science, but also herbs.  Not just the latest anti-depressant, but maybe awareness of sensitivity to food dyes.  

We need balance, balance, balance.  We need MRIs and chamomile tea.  Surgery and organic carrots...  we need to look to the past and to the future.