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Alternative Medicine: Homeopathy

It isn't cruel for someone to make money off something that helps to heal someone. It's what doctors do.
 
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It isn't cruel for someone to make money off something that helps to heal someone. It's what doctors do.
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Thta's rather disingenuous. Doctors don't sell placebos, they prescribe clinically tested and proven medicine. Homeopaths aren't trained in clinical diagnosis. They can be, and often are, a danger to their "patients".

There's also quite a difference between issuing a placebo for backache and one for lung cancer.
 
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Imagination and plecebos....hmmmmm. surely you mean suggestion and gullibility? The only imagination is the symptoms initially. Homeopaths... quack quack. I can't see the argument. Karl asked a serious and logical question to someone. If you personally believe in pseudo-science, then why kick off when someone 'grins'?
 
Did you hear about the homeopath who fell off a boat and into the ocean? He died from an overdose. :D
 
Assuming that your 'argument' ever actually took place, the fortean thing to do would be to ask the lady concerned if she had had any previous experience of homeopathy. Perhaps if you really wanted to talk about homeopathy you would have wondered what it is about the human imagination which can make seemingly impossible and irrational things work. There might even be a book in it for you. :roll:
 
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Dr_Baltar said:
You're not seriously suggesting that a belief in the efficacy of quack medicine and having an imagination are in any way conditional upon each other?
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Not at all. I know nothing about homeopathy whatsoever.

My reply was to KarlD; you got in before me.
 
its true that I am interested in why people believe the things that they do, and why some people believe irrational things. I do understand that homeopathy appeals to people who are desparate for a cure when coventional medicine has failled, as is the case with most other quack cures, but I was thinking more along the lines of what do the practitioners believe?

So I can understand the patients of homeopaths in a way and I even understand why people who like to think of themselves as 'alternative' don't like it when people question their beliefs ... , but the real question is does someone wake up one day and think 'Hmmm all this homeopathy makes sense to me and I can see how it all works, or is it, as seems more likely, they have no idea why it could possibly work and rely and hand waving to explain it.
 
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Boots: 'we sell homeopathic remedies because they sell, not because they work'
Boots, the high street chain that sells homeopathic remedies, has admitted that the products do not necessarily work.
By Ben Leach
Published: 7:32AM GMT 26 Nov 2009

Paul Bennett, professional standards director for Boots, told a committee of MPs that the pharmacy chain stocks such items for no other reason than that they are popular.

"There is certainly a consumer demand for these products," he said. "I have no evidence to suggest they are efficacious.

"It is about consumer choice for us and a large number of our customers believe they are efficacious."

His comments recall Gerald Ratner's infamous admission in 1991 that one of the gifts sold by his chain of jewellers was "total crap". 8)

Mr Bennett made his comments to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, which is investigating the scientific evidence behind homoeopathy.

The committee also heard from scientists and doctors who said that giving homeopathic remedies to patients on the NHS is unethical and a dubious use of public money.

The treatments, which are licensed by the government and offered through several NHS hospitals, have insufficient clinical evidence to support them, they said.

"If you prescribe a drug to patients that you know has no efficacy, on a basis which is essentially dishonest with a patient, I personally feel that is unethical," Dr James Thallon, medical director at the NHS West Kent primary care trust told MPs.

A £40 million industry in the UK, homeopathic remedies claim to be able to prevent yellow fever, typhoid, polio and even leukaemia, as well as cure symptoms ranging from toothache to hearing loss.

But there are growing concerns over whether the homeopathic remedies have any effect. Homeopathists differ from herbalists, who use a variety of plants to combat diseases, because their treatments are heavily diluted. There can often be as little as one millionth of the original ingredient in a homeopathic remedy.

Since 2006, manufacturers have been allowed to claim their products can treat specific ailments, as long as they can prove the treatment is safe.

The committee also heard there is little evidence the remedies work other than as a placebo. But Robert Wilson, chairman of the British Association of Homeopathic Manufacturers, told the committee that there is "strong evidence" that homoeopathy works.

"Boots are a very important retailer, they sell a great deal of these products. If these products don't work beyond the placebo effect, why do people keep buying them?"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... -work.html
 
So it doesn't cause ODs.


Sceptics stage homeopathy 'overdose' to discredit drugs
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8489019.stm

Homeopathic pills
Boots said homeopathy was recognised by the NHS

Homeopathy sceptics have staged a mass "overdose" of homeopathic remedies, in a bid to prove they are worthless.

Protesters ate whole bottles of tablets at branches of Boots in places such as Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, London, Leicester, Edinburgh and Birmingham.

They have asked the pharmacy chain to stop selling the remedies, which they call "scientifically absurd".

The Society of Homeopaths called it a "stunt". Boots said it followed industry guidelines on homeopathy.

'Placebo effect'

Supporters of homeopathy say it is a system that uses very highly diluted substances to trigger the body to heal itself, but critics argue there is no evidence they work.

HAVE YOUR SAY

I believe herbal remedies can help various ailments but I'm very sceptical about the preparations that are sold

Hope_Full, Birmingham
Send us your comments

The demonstrations were organised by the Merseyside Skeptics Society (MSS).

Michael Marshall, from the MSS, said: "We believe that they shouldn't be selling sugar pills to people who are sick. Homeopathy never works any better than a placebo. The remedies are diluted so much that there is nothing in them."

Mr Marshall said demonstrations were also planned in Canada, Spain, the US and Australia.

The Society of Homeopaths said it did not expect the protesters to suffer any adverse reactions from taking large quantities of the remedies.

'Ill-advised stunt'

The society's chief executive, Paula Ross, said: "This is an ill advised publicity stunt in very poor taste, which does nothing to advance the scientific debate about how homeopathy actually works."

Paul Bennett, professional standards director from Boots, said the company follows advice from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain on the correct selling of complementary medicines.

He said: "Homeopathy is recognised by the NHS and many health professionals and our customers choose to use homeopathy.

"Boots UK is committed to providing our customers with a wide range of healthcare products to suit their individual needs, we know that many people believe in the benefits of complementary medicines and we aim to offer the products we know our customers want.

"We would support the call for scientific research and evidence gathering on the efficacy of homeopathic medicines. This would help our patients and customers make informed choices about using homeopathic medicines."
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My penny's worth on homeopathy:- it isn't just humans and animals that respond to it, but plants too.
I bought some Bach Rescue Remedy and used it on some seedlings of plants that often don't survive transplanting, in this case zinnias and pumpkins. I had raised them in pots so they would have to be planted out, and gave half of each species Rescue Remedy in the water they were settled in with and half without. Equal numbers of both species were planted out on two sites next to each other to eliminate environmental variations.
With both zinnias and pumpkins about two thirds of the Rescue Remedy seedlings grew on to maturity while nearly all the zinnias and two thirds of the pumpkins in the Bach-free half just sulked or died.
Maybe the surviving zinnias amounted to slightly less than two thirds, but with such a strong aversion to transplanting as they have it's still a remarkable result.
 
Homeopathic society 'misled' MPs in inquiry
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/ ... uiry/print

• BHA misrepresented science, say researchers
• NHS spent £12m over three years on remedies


Vials containg pills for homeopathic remedies

Scientists have cried foul, saying their reviews were wrongly quoted as supporting homeopathy. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

The British Homeopathic Association has been accused of misrepresenting scientific evidence on alternative medicine in documents it gave to a parliamentary inquiry.

The organisation claimed several scientific reviews offered support for homeopathy in material submitted to the cross-party science and technology select committee, which is holding an investigation into the products. Robert Mathie, a researcher at the BHA, said the reviews found evidence for a difference between homeopathic remedies and sugar pills, which contain no active ingredients.

But the claim has dismayed some of the scientists who wrote the reviews and angered MPs on the committee who are in the final stages of writing their report.

One review cited was written by Edzard Ernst, a scientist who investigates complementary medicine at the Penisula Medical School in Exeter. He said the BHA's interpretation of his study was "grossly misleading" because they failed to mention important caveats published in the study. Another review, by Jean-Pierre Boissel at the Hospitals of Lyon and University Claude Bernard in France, was quoted as evidence that homeopathic treatments differ to placebos. Boissel said his conclusion was that homeopathy tended to fare worse in the best-designed studies.

"It is extremely disappointing to be fed misrepresentations of science, whether it's deliberate or incompetence," said Evan Harris MP, science spokesman for the Lib Dems and a member of the parliamentary committee.

Homeopathic treatments are usually made by diluting a substance so much there are no molecules of the original ingredient left. In November the chief pharmacist at Boots, Paul Bennett, told the inquiry he had no evidence that homeopathy works. At the weekend, hundreds of people took part in a "mass overdose" of homeopathic pills outside branches of Boots to protest against the company selling the products.

The row emerged as a survey for the medical journal, Pulse, found 80% of GPs want the Health Department to stop funding homeopathy on the NHS. Only 14% were in favour of the health service continuing to provide the treatments. According to figures released last year, homeopathy cost the NHS £12m over between 2008 and 2008. Peter Davies, a Halifax GP, said: "If patients want to try homeopathy and pay for it themselves, that is fine. In terms of evidence-based medicine, homeopathy doesn't get a look in. It is something the NHS should not fund."

In a statement, Mathie said: "The BHA's evidence to MPs did not misrepresent the clinical research evidence in homeopathy; it is an accurate and reasonable summary of the facts, with a series of recommendations for future research … We need more and higher quality clinical trials."
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Protests over herbal remedies planned here
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/hea ... 47715.html

AT 10.23AM on March 23rd, Irish science graduate Jennifer Keane is hoping to stage protests against homeopathic products at every Boots outlet in Dublin. Ms Keane took her lead from a similar event in Britain recently, when hundreds of protesters staged mock ‘overdoses’ of homeopathic remedies to prove the substances in them were ineffectual.

Their argument is that a trusted source of medicine such as Boots Pharmacy has no business stocking the alternative remedies. Homeopathy and alternative medicines have faced something of a backlash in recent years, but in Ireland, the products appear to continue to enjoy popular appeal and growing market share.

Ms Keane says she wants Boots to remove all products from its stores in Ireland and hopes to spark more widespread debate on the supposed healing properties of the products.

She will consume a cocktail of products outside the Boots outlet on Grafton Street to prove her point. “For a long time now, I have been interested in the way people will believe the lies about homoeopathy, despite the empirical evidence which says that it does not work,” she said. “I am interested to see if any believers will be convinced by a physical demonstration of its non-efficacy.” A website has been launched and Ms Keane has written to Boots asking it to withdraw the products in advance of her protest. She is hoping for more than 100 protestors at her first event. “These products get an easy ride in Ireland. We’re hoping to change that.”

For details, www.zenbuffy.com/ten23
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NHS money 'wasted' on homeopathy
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8524926.stm
By Nick Triggle
Health reporter, BBC News

Advertisement

BBC health correspondent, Branwen Jeffreys, went to the Young Scientist Centre at the Royal Institution, to show what homeopathy is

The NHS should stop funding homeopathy, MPs say.

The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee said using public money on the highly-diluted remedies could not be justified.

The cross-party group said there was no evidence beyond a placebo effect, when a patient gets better because of their belief that the treatment works.

But manufacturers and supporters of homeopathy disputed the report, saying the MPs had ignored important evidence.

It is thought about £4m a year is spent on homeopathy by the NHS, helping to fund four homeopathic hospitals in London, Bristol, Liverpool and Glasgow and numerous prescriptions.

Homeopathy is a 200-year-old system of treatment that uses highly diluted substances - sometimes so none of the original product is left - that are given orally in the belief that it will stimulate the body's self-healing mechanism.


HOMEOPATHY
Homeopathy involves giving people very dilute amounts of a substance that in larger amounts might produce symptoms similar to the condition being treated
For example, one remedy which might be used in a person suffering from insomnia is coffea, a remedy made from coffee

Homeopathy: Your views

Supporters believe the remedies help relieve a range of minor ailments from bruising and swelling to constipation and insomnia.

But the MPs said homeopathy was basically sugar pills that only worked because of faith.

In medicine it is recognised that some people will get better because they believe the treatment they take is going to work.

The MPs said the NHS should not fund treatments on this basis.

They argued the effectiveness was often unpredictable and involved a deception by the medical establishment.

They also warned it could lead to a delay in diagnosis if symptoms were cured but the underlying reason for them was not tackled.

The MPs also criticised the drugs regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, for allowing medical claims to be made.

The bar for licensing for homeopathic remedies is not set as high as for medical treatments, partly because they have been used since the NHS was set up in 1948 before the current system of regulation was brought in.

Committee chairman Phil Willis said this approval and the fact they were funded by the NHS in the first place lent the remedies "a badge of authority that is unjustified".

But the report acknowledged there was a public appetite for homeopathy with surveys showing satisfaction rates of above 70%.

But the report was disowned by one of the committee's MPs. Labour's Ian Stewart said he was dissenting from the report because the MPs had refused to take into account that homeopathy worked for some people and he also said he was concerned by the "balance of witnesses".

'Disappointed'

Paul Bennett, superintendent pharmacist at Boots, on homeopathy

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said the government would give a full response to the report in the coming months.

But she added: "In the meantime we would reiterate that we appreciate the strength of feeling both for and against the provision of homeopathy on the NHS.

"Our view is that the local NHS and clinicians, rather than Whitehall, are best placed to make decisions on what treatment is appropriate for their patients - this includes complementary or alternative treatments such as homeopathy."

Robert Wilson, of the British Association of Homeopathic Manufacturers, said he was "disappointed" by the findings.

He said the MPs had ignored evidence that homeopathy was effective.

"There is good evidence that homeopathy works, for example in animals and babies, neither of which experience placebo effects."

And Dr Michael Dixon, medical director for the Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health, set up by Prince Charles to promote complementary medicine, disputed the findings, saying homeopathy still had a role in the NHS.

"We should not abandon patients we cannot help with conventional scientific medicine.

"If homeopathy is getting results for those patients, then of course we should continue to use it."

The British Medical Association said it was concerned about NHS funds being used on homeopathy and called for an official review into its effectiveness.
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Evidence Is Clear That Homeopathy Is Not An Effective Treatment, Australia
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/185866.php
19 Apr 2010

Current evidence showing that homeopathic medicines are ineffective treatments is not biased against homeopathy, as some homeopaths have argued, according to a review published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Prof Edzard Ernst, Director of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter, UK, writes that about 150 controlled clinical trials have been published on homeopathy - a therapeutic method that often uses highly diluted preparations of substances that, when administered to healthy people, create the same effects as the disorder in the unwell patient.

Prof Ernst said in situations where the results of these trials were neither all negative nor all positive, some commentators resorted to "cherry picking" those findings that fit their own preconceptions.

"The problem of selective citation is most effectively overcome by evaluating all reliable evidence, an aim best met by systematic reviews," Prof Ernst said.

He searched the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews - generally considered to be the most reliable source of evidence - in January this year for reviews that had the term "homeopathy" in their title, abstract or keywords. Of the six articles that met the inclusion criteria, none provided compelling evidence for the effectiveness of homeopathic remedies.

"Homeopaths have argued that systematic reviews that fail to generate positive conclusions about homeopathy are biased," Prof Ernst said.

"However, as most of the reviews I appraised were authored by homeopaths, it seems unlikely that they were biased against homeopathy. In fact, one might argue that they were biased in favour of homeopathy.

"For instance, one reviewer [not a Cochrane author] deliberately set out to select only the positive evidence and omit all negative evidence."

Prof Ernst said some homeopaths argued that the controlled clinical trial was not suited for the study of homeopathy and that observational data, which appeared to suggest that homeopathy was effective, demonstrated the true value of the method.

"A more rational explanation would be that the positive outcomes of observational studies are caused by the non-specific aspects of homeopathic treatments, while the controlled trials demonstrate that homeopathic remedies are placebos," Prof Ernst said.

The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.

Source
Medical Journal of Australia
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Evidence Is Clear That Homeopathy Is Not An Effective Treatment, Australia
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/185866.php
19 Apr 2010

Current evidence showing that homeopathic medicines are ineffective treatments is not biased against homeopathy, as some homeopaths have argued, according to a review published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Prof Edzard Ernst, Director of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter, UK, writes that about 150 controlled clinical trials have been published on homeopathy - a therapeutic method that often uses highly diluted preparations of substances that, when administered to healthy people, create the same effects as the disorder in the unwell patient.

Prof Ernst said in situations where the results of these trials were neither all negative nor all positive, some commentators resorted to "cherry picking" those findings that fit their own preconceptions.

"The problem of selective citation is most effectively overcome by evaluating all reliable evidence, an aim best met by systematic reviews," Prof Ernst said.

He searched the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews - generally considered to be the most reliable source of evidence - in January this year for reviews that had the term "homeopathy" in their title, abstract or keywords. Of the six articles that met the inclusion criteria, none provided compelling evidence for the effectiveness of homeopathic remedies.

"Homeopaths have argued that systematic reviews that fail to generate positive conclusions about homeopathy are biased," Prof Ernst said.

"However, as most of the reviews I appraised were authored by homeopaths, it seems unlikely that they were biased against homeopathy. In fact, one might argue that they were biased in favour of homeopathy.

"For instance, one reviewer [not a Cochrane author] deliberately set out to select only the positive evidence and omit all negative evidence."

Prof Ernst said some homeopaths argued that the controlled clinical trial was not suited for the study of homeopathy and that observational data, which appeared to suggest that homeopathy was effective, demonstrated the true value of the method.

"A more rational explanation would be that the positive outcomes of observational studies are caused by the non-specific aspects of homeopathic treatments, while the controlled trials demonstrate that homeopathic remedies are placebos," Prof Ernst said.

The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.

Source
Medical Journal of Australia
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Stuff the studies, I no longer care. It seems conflicting results can be found in almost all fields of medicine alternative or otherwise.
I had amazing and long lasting results with Homeopathy & I was hugely skeptical of it having any effect.
If ever I should have another health problem I would consider homeopathy as an option again.
 
Last year I took my son to a trip to Germany to visit relatives.

I got a bit of a cold and runny nose so I went to the local Pharmacy for some medicine. They recommended this little bottle, so I bought it (nearly 20 bucks for a tiny little 125ml bottle! :x ).

Once he'd taken it, I asked if it was helping. He said it had no effect at all.

I read the label and lo and behold, it was homeopathic - and the people in the pharmacy didn't even tell me! So I had to go back and by some more "proper" stuff which did help. At the end, I'd left nearly 50 bucks in that shop for some harmless kiddie panadol.

What a rip off! This whole homeopathic thing is just a con if you ask me.
 
MsQkxyz said:
Stuff the studies, I no longer care. It seems conflicting results can be found in almost all fields of medicine alternative or otherwise.
I had amazing and long lasting results with Homeopathy & I was hugely skeptical of it having any effect.
If ever I should have another health problem I would consider homeopathy as an option again.
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Yeah. Don't pay any attention to all of the Homeophobic comments bandied about on the FTMB, just drop me a wodge of cash and I'll send you a bottle of my amazing patent cure-all.
 
ArthurASCII said:
MsQkxyz said:
Stuff the studies, I no longer care. It seems conflicting results can be found in almost all fields of medicine alternative or otherwise.
I had amazing and long lasting results with Homeopathy & I was hugely skeptical of it having any effect.
If ever I should have another health problem I would consider homeopathy as an option again.
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Yeah. Don't pay any attention to all of the Homeophobic comments bandied about on the FTMB, just drop me a wodge of cash and I'll send you a bottle of my amazing patent cure-all.
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:) I don't need it thanks cos I'm never sick for more than a few hours.
May I add that I do think it's important for people to do much research on both their health issues and the remedies and people they choose to treat them. No going to any old Dr or any old Homeopath or other health care practitioner for me 8)
 
What I'm waiting for is a study that compares Homeopathy with say modern conventional anti depressants which have results LESS than the placebo effect.

And maybe another stude of how many people die while under conventional medical care compared to those recieving homeopathic treatment. 1 person who uses 'alternative medicine dies oit's all over the press, while in the same period thousands die recieving conventional medical treatment (but no paper reports that.

Harold Schippman, Beverley Allitt etc used conventional medicine to kil that is a fact so who is living in 'la la land'?
 
bowskill95 said:
Harold Schippman, Beverley Allitt etc used conventional medicine to kil that is a fact so who is living in 'la la land'?
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Surely that's the point though, they were only able to kill people because they medicines they used actually have active ingredients. The only way you could kill someone with homeopathic medicine is to hit them over the head with the bottle.
 
bowskill95 said:
What I'm waiting for is a study that compares Homeopathy with say modern conventional anti depressants which have results LESS than the placebo effect.
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Where are the clinical trials that show that antidepressants are consistently less effective than placebo? You're talking rubbish

And maybe another stude of how many people die while under conventional medical care compared to those recieving homeopathic treatment. 1 person who uses 'alternative medicine dies oit's all over the press, while in the same period thousands die recieving conventional medical treatment (but no paper reports that.
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Again total rubbish, there's regular reports of people dieing as the results of conventional treatment.

Harold Schippman, Beverley Allitt etc used conventional medicine to kil that is a fact so who is living in 'la la land'?
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I could kill you with natural herbal remedies if I put my mind to it. It's not possible to kill someone with a homeopathic remedy as it's basically water. A homepathic remedy can cause death, but only because the person hasn't received any actual treatment for a life-threatening condition.
 
Doctors call for NHS to stop funding homeopathy
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/10449430.stm

By Nick Triggle
Health reporter, BBC News Homeopathic pills Homeopathic remedies often contain few or no active ingredients

The NHS should stop funding homeopathy and it should no longer be marketed as a medicine in pharmacies, doctors say.

Medics voted on the issue at the British Medical Association's annual conference in Brighton.

They dismissed the highly-diluted remedies as "nonsense" and potentially harmful to patients as it can lead them to shunning conventional medicines.

Homeopathy is a 200-year-old system of treatment that uses highly diluted substances.

In some cases none of the original product is left. It is given orally in the belief that it will stimulate the body's self-healing mechanism.

The NHS is thought to spend about £4m a year on the treatment, helping to fund four dedicated homeopathic hospitals and numerous prescriptions.

Dr Mary McCarthy, a GP from Shropshire, said there was no evidence from hundreds of trials that homeopathy worked beyond the placebo effect - in which a patient gets better but only because they believe the treatment will work and their symptoms clear up because of the psychological boost.

She added: "It can do harm by diverting patients from conventional medical treatments."
Watery science

She was supported in the debate by a number of other doctors, despite dozens of supporters of the treatment gathering outside the conference centre urging them not to.

Dr Tom Dolphin, a member of the BMA's junior doctors committee, dismissed it as "nonsense on sticks".
WHAT IS HOMEOPATHY?
Continue reading the main story

* Involves giving people very dilute amounts of a substance that in larger amounts might produce symptoms similar to the condition being treated
* For example, one remedy which might be used in a person suffering from insomnia would be made from coffee
* Supporters believe homeopathy helps relieve a range of minor ailments from bruising to insomnia
* But critics say it is no better than sugar pills and people only get better because they believe the treatment will work - the so-called placebo effect

"We risk as a society slipping back into a state of magical thinking when made-up science passes for rational discourse."

Peter Bamber, from the BMA's consultants committee, added: "If you want to buy a bottle of water go to the supermarket."

However, other doctors spoke in favour of homeopathy.

Dr John Garner, a GP from Edinburgh, said: "This [a ban] would deprive patients who have had a benefit."

And Dr David Shipstone, a urologist from the East Midlands, said it would be unfair to pick on homeopathy as there were plenty of other treatments which were used by doctors despite a lack of categorical evidence they worked.

"What is valid scientific evidence? Academics can argue about it all day."

The call by doctors comes after the House of Commons' Science and Technology Committee in February called for a similar ban on NHS funding, saying it could not be justified.
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NHS 'should pull homeopathic hospital cash'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-11270781
By Samantha Poling Investigations correspondent, BBC Scotland

Vials containing pills for homeopathic remedies About half of Scotland's 14 health boards provided some funding for homeopathy

The British Medical Association (BMA) has told a BBC Scotland investigation that NHS Scotland should pull the plug on Glasgow's Homeopathic Hospital.

FoIs revealed the Scottish NHS spends about £1.5m on homeopathy, almost a third of the estimated UK spend of £4m.

But the BMA said the money should be withdrawn until the Glasgow facility produces satisfactory evidence about the effectiveness of its treatments.

Homeopaths and their patients insist they see real benefits from treatments.

However, the BMA's director of science and ethics, Dr Vivienne Nathanson, said: "The funding of the homeopathic hospital should stop until and unless they can pull an evidence base to say which patients they are going to be able to help and where that help is more than the placebo effect."
Continue reading the main story
TV DOCUMENTARY

Magic or Medicine - Homeopathy and the NHS which will be shown on BBC One Scotland on Monday, 13 September at 1930 BST

When asked about the reaction of patients, she said there was no justification for treating patients with medicines the BMA believes have no evidence of efficacy.

She added: "If there's no evidence but they are being told that there is evidence, then the question is what is actually happening to those patients? Are they really having a proper choice?"

The programme, Magic or Medicine - Homeopathy and the NHS, has also uncovered evidence that the NHS in Scotland is spending far more per person on homeopathy than its English counterpart.

It found that GPs are prescribing at least 10 times as many homeopathic medicines per person as their colleagues in England.
'Not proven'

Freedom of Information requests for the programme revealed that NHS Scotland spent about £1.5m on homeopathy - almost a third of the estimated UK spend of £4m.

Dr James McLay, a pharmacologist in Aberdeen, has researched the extent of homeopathic prescribing and said the figures were very worrying.

He told the programme: "We are duty bound as doctors to use proven evidence-based medicine. Homeopathy is not proven and it's not evidence-based, and that is a concern."

Spending on homeopathy in the English NHS has been shrinking, with many funders withdrawing NHS cash altogether.

There is no indication that this is happening in Scotland. FoI requests established that about half of Scotland's 14 health boards provided some funding for the discipline.
'Worked for me'

Homeopaths and their patients point to the fact that the sums of money are small, and insist that they see real benefits from their treatments.

Carol Montgomery, a patient who was treated with homeopathy on the NHS, said it had cured her anxiety and other health problems

She urged other patients to give the alternative therapy a chance.

"It worked for me," she said.

"And I would say to other people if you have problems don't knock it, try it, because it won't do you any harm, if it doesn't do you any good."

Magic or Medicine - Homeopathy and the NHS which will be shown on BBC One Scotland on Monday, 13 September at 1930 BST.
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Doctors warn over homeopathic 'vaccines'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-11277990

By Samantha Poling Investigations correspondent, BBC Scotland
Some of the vaccines Many homeopaths believe that remedies can help lessen the side effects of conventional vaccination

Homeopaths are offering "alternative vaccinations" which doctors say could leave patients vulnerable to potentially fatal diseases, a BBC investigation has found.

Three practitioners admitted giving patients a homeopathic medicine designed to replace the MMR vaccine.

Inverness-based Katie Jarvis said she only offered "Homeopathic Prophylaxis" to patients who expressed an interest.

But the discovery has prompted a shocked reaction from doctors.

When asked about the practice, Ms Jarvis said: "The alternative that I would offer would be a homeopathic remedy made from diseased tissue, that comes from someone with that disease, and then made into potentised form so that is given in a homeopathic remedy.

"It can be given instead of, or as well as, the vaccination.
Continue reading the main story
TV DOCUMENTARY

Magic or Medicine - Homeopathy and the NHS which will be shown on BBC One Scotland on Monday, 13 September at 1930 BST

"I'm not advocating that they do not take the vaccination, I am providing support for those who choose not to by giving them an alternative."

When asked if the homeopathic remedy offered the same protection as the MMR, she replied: "I'd like to say that they were safer, but I can't prove that."

However, the BMA's director of science and ethics, Dr Vivienne Nathanson, said: "Replacing proven vaccines, tested vaccines, vaccines that are used globally and we know are effective with homeopathic alternatives where there is no evidence of efficacy, no evidence of effectiveness, is extremely worrying because it could persuade families that their children are safe and protected when they're not.

"And some of those children will go on to get the illness, and some of those children may go on to get permanent life-threatening sequelae, or even to die, and that's a tragedy when the family think they've protected their children."
Katie Jarvis Katie Jarvis said she had protected herself against flu with homeopathic treatments

Sequelae is a pathological condition resulting from a previous disease or injury.

The practice of replacing conventional vaccines with homeopathic alternatives has been condemned by the Faculty of Homeopathy.

It said there was no evidence for homeopathic treatments being able to protect against diseases, and said patients should stick to conventional medicines.

Replacements for vaccines were also dismissed by the UK and Scottish governments but many homeopaths believe that remedies can help lessen the side effects of conventional vaccination.

The BBC Scotland programme examined claims that members of a small organisation, the Homeopathic Medical Association - which has about 300 members across the UK - were offering replacement vaccines.

It approached the association's six members in Scotland. Three of them said they provided the MMR remedies to patients and said they would be happy to do so again.

Katie Jarvis also claimed she could protect patients against other diseases, like polio, tetanus and diphtheria. She claimed she had protected herself against flu with homeopathic treatments.

Magic or Medicine - Homeopathy and the NHS which will be shown on BBC One Scotland on Monday, 13 September at 1930 BST.
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Why dampness and homeopathy are key dangers in their fields

NEWTON EMERSON

NEWTON'S OPTIC: RESIDENTS OF Rush, Co Dublin, are right to be concerned by Eirgrid’s proposed new high-voltage underground power cable. But are they also aware of the high-pressure water main running directly beneath the town?

Water poses a variety of serious health risks, especially to children, vulnerable adults and unwanted kittens. It is a known carrier of diseases such as cholera and dysentery, while prolonged exposure can lead to chronic conditions such as trench foot and wrinkly finger.

However, it’s the hydromagnetic fields surrounding high-pressure pipes which are the greatest source of alarm. Hydromagnetic fields are made up of two components – dampness and homeopathy. The effects of a dampness field can be seen and even felt, mainly in bathrooms where the extractor fan has broken, although it’s probably just a blown fuse and you really should have a look at it.

Homeopathic fields are a far more insidious affair. Millions of people believe this powerful force carries the memory of certain molecules into the human body, delivering slight improvement for headaches and itching.

The same principle could easily apply to potentially harmful molecules such as cyanide, ricin or witch hazel.

Countless scientific studies on the safety of hydromagnetic fields have been unable to prove a negative, which in turn proves that science is useless.

Meanwhile, several studies have found a statistical link between human health and being hit with a pipe, which proves that pipes are dangerous.

Fingal County Council will only say that water occurs naturally in the Earth’s crust, and the impact of the water main is less than Rush’s general background dampness. This is an insult to the suffering of anyone who has ever taken a tincture of elderflower for dyspepsia of the colon. At the very least, it is clear that water may have unknown properties – and properties are very much on everyone’s mind.

As well as legitimate health fears there is also the threat of an accident to consider. A burst main can send water shooting several feet into the air, spoiling nice shoes and even rusting ungalvanised wheel arches. This prospect is simply too horrible to contemplate. Water can also catch fire and explode if split into hydrogen and oxygen.

So what can be done to protect the residents of Rush from the menace beneath their nice shoes? One solution is to run the water main above ground on overhead pipelines.

This is standard practice in permafrost regions like Alaska and Siberia, where it is notable that few cases of witch hazel poisoning have ever been reported. However, overhead pipes can leak and drip water onto people’s heads, which makes a particularly annoying sound if you are wearing a tin-foil hat.

The only acceptable answer is to run the water main around the edge of town by blasting a trench across the nearby protected estuary, laying a pipe along the bottom and filling it in with the carcasses of fish.

Residents have two options to bring this about. They can take direct action, otherwise known as violence, or alternating action, where they get whipped up into an occasional frenzy.

That just leaves the small matter of how to supply them with water once their campaign has succeeded.

Fortunately, the answer is obvious. The rest of us can carry it to them in shiny silver buckets.
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http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2010/0915/1224278896060.html
 
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