Alternative juju

Unconventional remedies are ripe for journalistic inquiry, but are weeklies up to the job? Plus: The secrets of mosquitoes, Osama bin Laden's hiding place and Internet IPOs revealed!

By Jenn Shreve

Jul 2, 1999 | My theory that a well-made gin gimlet, a snort of coke, one screaming orgasm and handful of Prozac can cure any emotional or physical ailment is not too popular these days. Instead, seekers of healthier bodies, longer lives and socially acceptable dispositions are turning to echinacea, St. John's Wort, chiropractors, fasting, biofeedback, reusable maxipads, acupuncture, yoga, green tea, Shiatsu, Feng Shui, melatonin, aroma therapy, meditation, veganism, the Zone, blue-green algae, Tai Chi, visualization, accupressure, Reflexology, Rolfing, magnet therapy, gemstone therapy and that greatest of salves, colonic irrigation. It's an unfortunate trend that will hopefully peak soon.

In the oppressive meanwhile, there's no question that unconventional therapies have hit the big time. My own dear mother -- whom I use as a barometer for judging the consumer climate-shifts of aging, suburban boomers (thanks, Mom!) -- swears by green tea and a long list of vitamins I've never heard of. But this doesn't explain why three weeklies decided to publish packages on alternative treatments this week. Is it National Homeopathy Appreciation Week and somebody forgot to tell me? Did the makers of St. John's Wort suddenly announce a large-budget advertising campaign aimed at alternative-newspaper readers?

Of course, "alternative" medicine is an obvious beat for "alternative" media outlets to cover. While the dailies and newsweeklies regurgitate press releases sent by drug companies, tout the latest study -- broccoli causes cancer; cures heart disease! Viagra makes you horny, baby, but it'll kill you! -- and write the occasional gee-whiz, Fluffernutter piece on the herbalist next door, weeklies could be producing some groundbreaking reporting on a growing industry that is both helping and exploiting people without much accountability. Unfortunately, "could be" is the operative phrase in that last sentence. Most of the articles I read this week reveal a galling lack of insight, critical thought or journalistic skill.

Long Island Voice, July 1-7

"A few berries short of a smoothie" by Beth Greenfield

This article is the star of an otherwise worse-than-weak package on health-care alternatives. Supersleuth Beth Greenfield talks to employees of health food stores about their customers. "They recite tales of customers who shop with gloves on to protect them from germs, spend hours upon hours in the store as if at a lengthy cocktail party or obsessively rearrange items on the shelves like they are at home. Then there are the seekers who give gruesome accounts of their dietary afflictions to anyone who'll listen or who wear nose-and-mouth masks to protect them from scented products." Greenfield fails to mention that the prices as some of these health food stores are high enough to give anyone a breakdown.

Tanya Indiana's contribution to this package, "Old soldiers of the New Age," sadly seems to be lacking a point. It's purportedly about elderly people who use non-mainstream remedies, but the result is a few sloppy profiles, sprinkled with some unexplored skepticism and no unifying thesis.

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Detroit Metro Times [articles and issue not dated]

Special Issue: Alternative Health

The Detroit Metro Times takes the cheerleading approach to journalism with this package that's "meant to start you on your own journey to healing." Alternative treatments are simply assumed to be the way to go, and no effort is made to bring a balanced perspective to the table (unless you count self-declared skeptic Audrey Becker's recommendation that if you just try a few unproven therapies, you'll find one that works for you). Gretchen Van-Monette's article on "Hemp for health" quotes someone who sells hemp seed oil, the president of Hempola (another producer of hemp oil), a naturopathic doctor and one academic from Detroit's Wayne State University. This isn't journalism, it's boosterism. If I need to find the nearest algae enema provider, I'll check the Yellow Pages, thank you much.

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Village Voice, June 30-July 6

"Mind Body Spirit Summer 1999"

The Village Voice promises the "essentials for a healthy summer," but the online version of its package is as skimpy as a g-string. (My sources in New York apparently don't read the Voice, so I couldn't confirm this theory.) That said, the two and a half articles posted on the Voice's Web site did leave me wanting more. Debra Desalvo's "Is yoga therapy an oxymoron?" deftly reports on the complicated and fascinating problem of yoga instructors using stretches and poses to access student's encoded memories of trauma, which the teachers are then not equipped to deal with. "Growth spurt" by Christopher Reardon about a gym for tots was less interesting -- more about how yuppies spend money than health -- but well-written none-the-less.

Next Page: Mosquitoes: They suck, but this article doesn't! Plus: The Little People of America conference in Portland

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