Orthodox medicine is ineffective at both ends of the spectrum of ailments. At the more trivial end, orthodox medicine is largely ineffective in treating aches, pains and allergies, and, at the other extreme, it has yet to produce a cure for serious, life-threatening diseases such as advanced cancer and lupus. People turn to alternative medicine when orthodox medicine fails to help them and when it produces side effects that are unacceptable to them. One of the reasons alternative medicines is free of such side effects is that it does not have any effects at all.

If the statements above are true, which one of the following can be properly inferred from them?

(A) Practitioners of alternative medicine are acting in bad faith.

(B) There are some medical conditions for which no orthodox or alternative treatment is effective.

(C) There are some trivial illnesses that can be treated effectively by the methods of alternative medicine.

(D) There are no effective medical treatments that are free from unacceptable side effects.

(E) Orthodox medicine will eventually produce a solution for the diseases that are currently incurable.

The charge made above against alternative medicine is most seriously weakened if it is true that

(A) predictions based on orthodox medicine have sometimes failed, as when a patient has recovered despite the judgment of doctors that an illness is fatal

(B) alternative medicine relies on concepts of the body and of the nature of healing that differ from those on which orthodox medicine is based

(C) alternative medicine provides hope to those for whom orthodox medicine offers no cure

(D) a patient’s belief in the medical treatment the patient is receiving can release vthe body’s own chemical painkillers, diminish allergic reactions, and promote healing

(E) many treatments used for a time by orthodox medicine have later been found to be totally ineffective