We watched a health update on the “Today” show a couple of weeks ago that indicated a small but meaningful experiment has shown that one of the most effective ways to cure certain cancers may be utilizing healthy tissue in our own body rather than with harmful chemicals. It was promising news, indeed.

We spend billions in this country, and all around the world, for that matter, looking for cures for hundreds of ailments from the common cold to Alzheimer’s. The number of medicines available to us today is mind-boggling. In addition to what our doctor prescribes or recommends, we’re bombarded with advertisements trying to convince us to try products which promise to be the answer to all our problems.

What we find disturbing is the number of “cures” for various ailments which are sometimes prescribed for years before they suddenly disappear from the market because they’ve been found to be dangerous to our health. That’s when the lawyers appear on the scene via TV ads and suggest you sue if a medication has been prescribed for you and may have adversely damaged your body.

We must admit we don’t carefully review all of the contents in the bread we eat nor do we check medications for those with the most natural ingredients, but we do understand why so many people today pay attention to what goes into their body and ask questions. For years, we had an annual mammogram on the advice of our doctor, and never questioned its safety. While it’s still very controversial, some medical professionals are now concerned about the repeated dosages of radiation as well as the accuracy of the tests. The debate continues.

Recent cancer studies looking to the human body for answers to cures for this life-threatening disease make a lot of sense to us and we firmly believe that there are natural cures for much of what ails us. We laugh — although it’s not really a laughing matter — when we see TV ads for one medication or another which is followed by the possible side effects, as required by law. The list sometimes goes on and on, and by the time you’ve heard all the possible things that can go wrong, you somehow lose your incentive to try it.

Modern medicine has saved thousands of lives, but the time has probably come for us to carefully consider options other than prescription drugs for some of our ailments. Some of these natural cures that have been around for decades don’t have all of the dangerous side effects, and come with a much smaller price tag.