CAM products as therapeutic placebos: theoretical and bioethical reflections

In Germany as well as in many other countries the project of 'integrating' CAM interventions into conventional medicine is currently underway. It is a highly contested endeavour. One backdoor of justifying CAM interventions - even if, according to the scientific standards of conventional medicine, they have been proved to lack specific effectiveness - is their use as therapeutic placebos. In this paper we will first discuss general critical considerations regarding deceptive placebo use and then argue that in the specific case of CAM interventions used as placebos general ethical reservations are reinforced by the fact that their use is prone to promote a non- or antiscientific attitude among physicians and patients, which we consider highly problematic.