National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health

[[File:US-NIH-NCCAM-Logo.svg|thumb|right|165px|Dumb, dumb, dumb.]]
{{Altmed}}
{{cquote|NCCAM has spent more than $1.3 billion in grants and has nothing to show for it.|||[[Robert Todd Carroll]]<ref>[http://skepdic.com/NCCAM.html National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)], The Skeptic's Dictionary</ref>}}

The '''National Center for Complementary and [[integrative medicine|
Quackademic
 Integrative Health]]''' ('''NCC
Q
IH'''),<ref>"[http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2014/12/18/congress-polishes-the-turd-that-was-nccam/ Congress Polishes the Turd that was NCCAM], David Gorski</ref> formerly the '''National Center for [[CAM|Complementary and Alternative Medicine]]''' ('''NCCAM''') and, before that, the '''Office of Alternative Medicine''' ('''OAM'''), is a [[U.S.]] agency under the control of the National Institute of Health. NCC
Q
IH serves as a granting agency for research, [[education]] and [[propaganda]] for "alternative therapies" in [[medicine]]. With over $120 million of annual [[tax]]payer money,<ref>https://nccih.nih.gov/about</ref> it is the largest public supporter of 
[[quack]]
 integrative medicine 
and [[pseudoscience]]
 in the world. If you could find any [[government]] agency that [[RationalWiki]] would advocate cutting ''immediately'', this is it.

It was created in 1991 at the instigation of former Senator [[Tom Harkin]] ([[Democratic Party|D]]-[[Iowa|Laa-laa-land]]), a 
[[woo]]
 integrative medicine believer. He was voted "[[Chiropractic]] Champion of the Year,"<ref>[http://www.dynamicchiropractic.com/mpacms/dc/article.php?id=39522 We shit you not.]</ref> even before he [[shoehorning|shoehorned]] clauses into [[Obamacare]] that are being exploited by 
quacks
 integrative practitioners in an attempt to get chiropractic registered as a primary care profession, among other jaw-dropping credulity-stretching, drivelling, incontinent idiocies.

The mission of NCC
Q
IH is threefold:<ref>[http://nccam.nih.gov/about/ataglance/ Facts-at-a-Glance and Mission], NCCAM</ref>

*Explore complementary and alternative healing practices in the context of [[Sound science|rigorous science]].
*[[Lulz|Train]] complementary and alternative medicine researchers.
*Disseminate [[Bullshit|authoritative information]] to the public and professionals.

In truth the "research" is mediocre at best and borderline fraudulent for some of the worse cases.{{fact}} NCC
Q
IH has also expanded a great deal on the second and third planks of their mission and become a [[propaganda]] mill for unproven and disproven therapies.{{fact}} They have also moved away from being a third-party player and have started to actively "train" practitioners in the art of [[scam]] medicine.{{fact}} 

In an era where [[scientific]] funding for agencies such as the NIH is stagnant, NCC
Q
IH is a major blight. Discussions on tactics for defunding the agency occasionally pop up on blogs, but the likelihood of much progress in the near future is slim.<ref>[http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/nccam.html Why the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) Should Be Defunded], Quackwatch</ref><ref>[http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/02/the_national_center_for_complementary_an.php The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM): Your Tax Dollars at Work], ScienceBlogs</ref>

When NCC
Q
IH ''does'' run proper tests, it finds a string of "no better than [[placebo]]."<ref>[http://nccam.nih.gov/research/results/spotlight/ Research Results by Date], NCCAM</ref> Harkin is annoyed by this as he created NCC
Q
IH to prove [[magic]] worked. Bwahaha.

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Alternative medicine]]
[[Category:Alternative medicine promoters]]
[[Category:Government incompetence]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience promoting organizations]]
[[Category:United States government]]

Categories: Alternative medicine, Alternative medicine promoters, Government incompetence, Pseudoscience promoting organizations, United States government