Alas, "preaching to the choir". As Mark Twain said, "You can't reason someone out of something they weren't reasoned into." One function of the AMA and other lobbyists is to attempt to point out such things to our congresscritters, but resistance is that of a nuclear-war bunker.

As MedPundit points out, one sub-class of the followers of "alternative" medicine is that of the terminal cancer patients: many, by the time they turn that way, are quite well aware intellectually that ground-up peach pits are not really going to help, but in their position I might well join in myself.

More perturbing, to me, is the co-worker with a bad headache who would not take an aspirin because "it is not natural." But the watch on his wrist is? Knowing the case to be as Twain stated, I did not have the courage or patience to even attempt an arguement of the point.

I admire and support [most of] those who continue educational efforts, and hope thay are actually swaying those who are not fanatically anti-establishment.

You're expecting a "but" here, aren't you? No, not really. Even I, as discouraged as I may be, do sometimes attempt to engage in discourse on the subject - it is too important to simply avoid. Lives are at stake.