Is Traditional Chinese Medicine for the Better, or Worse?

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Recommended: Compare and Contrast Traditional Chinese Medicine and Conventional Western Medicine

Everyday people hear natural is better, well it isn’t. A treatment for a disease with Western medicine sounds like it has more serious side-effects, but the truth is that Western medicine is just more upfront about it then Traditional Chinese Medicine, TCM. Mislabeling is just one of the many problems with TCM. Even though Traditional Chinese Medicine is more natural and has less side effects, TCM should not be used instead of Western Medicine because TCM is increasing the threatened and endangered species list, can be harmful to the planet by increasing pollution rates, and can be detrimental to humans.
There are many different theories of TCM. One of the main theories is the Yin-Yang Treatment, meaning the cause of the disease is an imbalance between their personal Yin and Yang, and to treat a disease, just regulate and adjust the Yin or Yang. A Yin illness is a cold natured illness, meaning to regulate the illness a person would apply the opposite, which would be heat. A Yang illness is a hot natured illness, and to regulate the illness a person would apply the opposite, which would be cold. Different tastes are considered hot or cold natured.(Nuwer) The tastes pungent, sweet, or tasteless, are cold natured, and the tastes sour, bitter, and salty are hot natured. (Wang) There are also different foods that represent Yin or Yang. Yin foods and drinks include sweet, sour,or hot flavors. They typically have a large open texture, and are usually the color green, blue, or purple. Yang foods are mainly animal products, cereals, and vegetables. They are mostly hard, dense, and are usually red, orange, or yellow.(Facklam)
When a doctor in TCM, or inspector, is diagnosing an illness they start the process with how the patient walks in...

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..., and Jinjian Lu. "Filling The Gap Between Traditional Chinese Medicine And Modern Medicine, Are We Heading To The Right Direction?." Complementary Therapies In Medicine 21.3 (2013): 272-275.CINAHL with Full Text. Web. 6 Apr. 2014.

Wong, Sun-Lin. "Study Asks If Tainted Chinese Herbs Are Harming, Not Healing." IHT Rendezvous Study Asks If Tainted Chinese Herbs Are Harming Not Healing Comments. New York Times Company, 25 June 2013. Web. 06 Apr. 2014.
Feng, Yibin. "Bear Bile: Dilemma of Traditional Medicinal Use and Animal Protection." Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. N.p., 12 Jan. 2009. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
"Medicines and Side Effects." Better Health Channel. State Government of Victoria, May 1999. Web. 04 May 2014.
"Traditional Chinese Medicine – Natural and Herbal Medicine." Web log post.Shards of China. Ed. Nicholas Kellingley. N.p., 2012. Web. 04 May 2014.

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