Home > Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine > Environmental Therapy

Definition

Environmental therapy, also known as environmental medicine and formerly called clinical ecology, is the diagnosis and treatment of conditions caused by environmental factors.

Origins

The founder of environmental medicine was Theron G. Randolph, M.D., who was a trained specialist in internal medicine, immunology, and allergies. Several decades ago, Randolph became concerned with chronically ill patients who had symptoms of allergies and immune system disorders, but didn't respond to conventional medical care. Randolph believed that patients were getting sick from environmental substances and pollutants that allergy specialists could not determine or did not recognize as causing illness. Conventional allergy specialists in Randolph's time believed that allergies could only be detected by measuring the response of...