Double Standards - Part the First

A constant and repeating pattern of criticism of the alternative/complementery/natural medicine field from the like of Edzard Ernst et al. is that it's largely based on anectdotal evidence and poor science. Leaving aside the fact the empiricism is, of itself, a valid theoretical model and that much of Ernst's work is based on anaylsis of the research of others( so-called meta-anylsis), not original work, have we not just spent upwards of $3 billion and 15-20 years to build the largest detector of a theorectical particle, the Higgs boson? Interestingly, even if they fail to find said miniscule item this will be considered money well spent. Absence of evidence is, as they say, not evidence of absence.