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David Marshall

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Did Rupert Sheldrake make a factual error?

An editor at TED seems to suggest that Rupert Sheldrake made a factual error in his talk "The Science Delusion" when he said governments "ignore complimentary and alternative therapies." She writes:

"Sheldrake says that governments do not fund research into complementary medicine. Here are the US figures on NIH investment in complementary and alternative medicine 2009-2010: http://nccam.nih.gov/about/budget/institute-center.htm "

http://www.ted.com/conversations/16894/rupert_sheldrake_s_tedx_talk.html

At the NIH link we find that the NIH invested $441,819, 000 in complimentary and alternative medicine in 2011.

But the total NIH budget is about $31,000,000,000 or $31 billion.

http://www.nih.gov/about/budget.htm

This means the NIH invested about 1.425% of its budget in complimentary and alternative medicine in 2011.

To what extent have other governments funded research in complimentary and alternative medicine?

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    Theodore A. Hoppe 200+

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    Mar 11 2013: I looked at the website again an found the these numbers or off in a major way.
    Its nor $441,819 but rather it says, "(Dollars in thousands)1"
    This means that the figure is actually $441 million dollars. Still a small percentage of the over all budget but a thousand times better than your calculation suggests.

    http://nccam.nih.gov/about/budget/institute-center.htm

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