Abstract
This paper addresses the teaching of pharmacotherapeutics as a first line of treatment and coins the term 'pharmacodoxy' to describe that approach. It challenges the wisdom and validity of the approach, on the basis of Hippocratic and Darwinian-evolutionary principles, and suggests that doctors make themselves familiar with the large corpus of published knowledge which indicates that nutrient deficiencies, toxic challenge and food intolerances, as well as other factors, can give rise to a whole range of clinical conditions that fall into all medical specialties. It states that adherence to pharmacodox principles in the face of less hazardous therapeutic interventions may be a violation of the prime principle of ethical clinical medical practice, which is 'First do no harm'.