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The human league

BMJ 2001; 322 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.322.7279.178 (Published 20 January 2001) Cite this as: BMJ 2001;322:178
  1. Rhona MacDonald
  1. BMJ

    The pioneers of the integrated medicine movement include an author of bestselling self help books and a scientist and educator who views himself as an artist as well as a doctor


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    Andrew Weil

    Andrew Weil has been called many things—“America's favourite doctor,” the “serene rebel,” and, according to Arnold Relman, editor emeritus of the New England Journal of Medicine, a “manipulator” and a “zealot.” Whatever your point of view, there is no doubt that this Harvard educated doctor is a force to be reckoned with.

    His degree in botany (also Harvard) and training in alternative therapies in India, China, and on Native American reservations have also been put to good use, and in the United States he is generally viewed as the sane face of alternative medicine. A record breaking one million people a month log on to his website (http://www.askdrweil.com/), where he gives holistic answers to their health queries. His eight books on health and wellbeing—titles include Spontaneous Healing and Eight Weeks to Optimum Health, which is a programme designed to improve health through diet, exercise, and spiritual rejuvenation, have spent weeks at the top of the bestseller lists.

    His main objection to western medicine is that it is “too disease oriented” and “makes people believe they are helpless, when in fact they have an amazing …

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