Safety

Critics contend that people have been hurt or killed directly from the various alternative practices or indirectly by failed diagnoses or avoidance of conventional medicine. Proponents counter that harm from conventional medical practice, known as iatrogenesis, is a major cause of death and injury.Deaths have been reported due to the use of alternative medicines such as colloidal silver. Colloidal silver was used before 1938 as an antibiotic, resulting in an "alarming increase" in cases of Argyria. Since 1995 it has been promoted as an alternative medicine, sparking heavy critique from a victim from the 1940s: "Colloidal silver (CSP) is not a new alternative remedy. It is an old, discarded traditional one that homeopaths and other people calling themselves "alternative health-care practitioners" have pulled out of the garbage pail of useless and dangerous drugs and therapies, things mainstream medicine threw away decades ago."
Alternative medicine critics agree with its proponents that people should be free to choose whatever method of healthcare they want, but stipulate that people must be informed as to the safety and efficacy of whatever method they choose. People who choose alternative medicine may think they are choosing a safe, effective medicine, while they may only be getting quack remedies. The use of Grapefruit seed extract is an example of quackery, since multiple studies demonstrate its universal antimicrobial effect is due to synthetic antimicrobial contamination