Alternative Medicine Stands Strong

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 Alternative Medicine Stands Strong

While the NHS drastically reduced its alternative medicine referrals, it seems that public interest in the industry is only getting stronger. Consumers are taking their healthcare into their own hands, contributing to an alternative medicine industry worth an estimated £200 million1. For many, vitamins, herbal supplements and alternative treatments seem to be as necessary as going to the hair-dresser. With herbal prescriptions often being cheaper than those on the NHS, and growing concern about what we are putting into our bodies, the popularity of herbalism, homeopathy and other complementary medicine can only continue to grow. 

The new paperback edition of Napier’s History of Herbal Healing, Ancient and Modern offers an insightful and informative historical perspective on the ongoing debate between conventional and alternative medicine. Following the journey of herbalism in Scotland from its crude Celtic roots to today’s booming health industry, author Tom Atkinson details the evolution, practices and philosophies of contemporary complementary medicine. 

 

A previously overlooked chapter in Scotland’s past is brought to life in this engaging combination of history and popular science, with excerpts from Duncan Napier’s own diaries. The fight between alternative and conventional medicine may rage on with increasing budget cuts and accusations, but the popularity and economic boom of complimentary medicine does not appear likely to decrease. At the very least, Napier’s History of Herbal Healing, Ancient and Modern will certainly add to the ever growing interest in this fascinating industry.

“I am confident that we will see what was once an age-old divide between doctor and herbalist vanish altogether”  DEE ATKINSON

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

 

 

Author profile – Tom Atkinson was the founder of Luath Press, among a multitude of other jobs. He was also the author of several guidebooks on his beloved Scotland. His main interest was in herbal medicine. This interest was first aroused when his long-standing ulcer was dramatically cured by a herbalist in Wales, and grew through his daughter Dee’s practice at Napiers and his younger daughter’s similar practice in Vancouver.

Dee Atkinson qualified as a Medical Herbalist in 1988 and has been running Napiers Herbal Dispensaries and Clinics and practising as a Medical Herbalist since 1990. She built Napiers up from one small clinic into the UKs largest Complementary Medicine Clinic. Dee is a council member for the College of Practitioners of Phytotherapy (CPP) and has represented the CPP on the Department of Health consultation into registration of herbal practitioners. Dee is currently on the UK Herbal Forum working on UK and European legislation regarding the sale of herbal products. She has been voted by Tatler magazine as one of the top 250 UK private doctors in both 2006 and 2007.

Napiers – Established in 1860 by Duncan Napier, the Herbal Shop and Clinic at Bristo Place in Edinburgh is Scotland's oldest and only remaining Herbal House. Napier believe in Herbal Medicine as part of a complementary approach to total health care and strive to increase public awareness of the benefits of herbal medicine and to improve community access to complementary health care.

Notes - 1 The Daily Mail, Homeopathy ’nothing more than a placebo’?, August 2005    

Trade Order hotline – please call HarperCollins Book Distribution Centre on 0870 787 1730. Mail order – please call Luath Direct on 0131 225 4326 [24 hours] (fax 0131 225 4324)ISBN– 1905222017, Napiers History of Herbal Healing, Ancient and Modern by Tom Atkinson, £8.99, paperback

 

Contact: Angela Audretsch
Phone: 0131 225 4326
Fax: 0131 225 4324
Email: angela.audretsch@luath,co.uk
Website: http://www.luath.co.uk

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