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Homeopathic medicine – con or cure?

By Elle Blakeman on Tuesday 26 January 2010

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Homeopathy - Health News - Marie Claire

Once merely the preserve of eccentric individuals who rejected western medicine, homeopathy is now enjoying a surge in sales as Britons fight to stay healthy in the recession.

The market has grown by 18% since 2008, and is now worth a staggering £213 million a year, with experts expecting a rise of up to £282 million by 2014.

Homeopathy, or alternative medicine, includes a wide range of treatments from Echinacea, said to boost the immune system, to arnica, said to help prevent bruising.

Many believe the recession is responsible for the surge with 25% of adults admiting to using some form of alternative therapy over the past year, due to an increase in stress and depression, combined with a reluctance to take time off work.

However not everyone agrees with the claims of alternative medicine. Hundreds of homeopathy sceptics are planning a ‘mass overdose' of alternative remedies in order to prove their ineffectiveness.

More than 300 people have volunteered to take part in the protest, which will take place in high streets across the country at 10.23 on January 30th.

Organising the stunt is a group called ‘10.23' who are using the protest as a way of lobbying the government to reduce the 4 billion spent on homeopathic medicines every year.

They are now targeting chemist chain Boots, accusing the store of profiting from what is an ‘unscientific and absurd pseudoscience'.

Paul Bennett, Boots' profession standards director, said: ‘we know that many people believe in the benefits of complementary medicines and we aim to offer the products that our customers want.'

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Tuesday 26 January 2010

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I have been using Homeopath for years and it DOES WORK if taken properly. The proper dosages make all the difference.The skeptics will prove nothing with their massive overdose. Overdoses DON'T work!
Comment by Ned on January 26 12:30

The skeptics (i.e. us) are not trying to prove that it doesn't work. We are raising awareness of the fact that it doesn't work. It is a publicity stunt, and nothing more.

And why don't overdoses work? If you dilute it too much, can it kill you, being too potent? If you taken many pills, is that making it weaker or stronger? If one pill is one dose, and one bottle is one dose, is not the only possible value of "dose" 0? Is taking 0.1 pills ALSO one dose? Please explain what "the proper dosage" is.

And if homeopathy has to be "done right" to work, presumably tailored to each person individually, based on their symptoms (moods as well, apparently)... then why are Boots selling them en masse, without personalisation? Surely you'd ALSO be against Boots, because they are supplying useless homeopathy, which has not been tailored to the customer.

Thanks,

Ian
Glasgow Skeptics
Comment by Ian M Scott on January 26 12:55

I think you need to be careful to distinguish between Homeopathy and the rest of alternative medicine.

The point of the 10:23 campaign is that homeopathic medicines are so diluted that the chances of finding even a molecule of active ingredient is pretty remote, so it's safe to take a whole bottle of the pills.

This is different from other types of alternative medicine, eg herbalism, where the pills and potions often do contain significant amounts of active ingredients - you could make yourself quite ill by taking too much St John's Wort, for instance.

It would be bad and perhaps dangerous if your readers got these two mixed up.
Comment by Gypsum Fantastic on January 26 12:58

Homeopathy only works as a placebo. There is nothing in a homeopathic remedy (not to be confused with herbal medicine) - nothing that can actively heal you, and hence nothing you can overdose on.
Comment by Sven on January 26 13:12

Why do Boots get away with selling something which is proven not to work? If I bought a stereo from Comet and they knew it didn't work before selling it to me then they'd get into trouble with trading standards.

People trust Boots, it's a shame they're using this trust to exploit people for money by selling things that are proven not to work.
Comment by Pauline B on January 26 13:42

Thank you for raising awareness of the campaign, Marie Claire!

I would agree with the poster above: homeopathy should be left to homeopaths and should not be sold over the counter.

Another thought for the day: since homeopathic medicines are diluted, a 25 ml bottle of 200C remedy (apparently very strong) requires nearly 5 LITRES of water to manufacture* - the vast majority of which is then thrown away. Even a more "normal" 30C remedy takes nearly 3/4 of a litre of water.

It might be alternative, but it's certainly not particularly environmentally friendly.
Comment by Ed B on January 26 17:59

Hi oops a typo in the article I think!! The amount spent by NHS on alternatives each year is approx Â£4 million not Â£4 billion!!!
So - really a tiny amount relative to the total budget which is 90ish billion!
Comment by Jayne on January 26 18:06

These skeptics are a sad sad lot. They misunderstand homeopathy, and they try to spread their misinformation. Their next stunt will be to "overdose" on acupuncture by using NAILS, instead of needles. Yeah, they are "unclear on the concept."
Comment by Dana Ullman on January 27 00:24

Homeopathy is complete nonsense and works no better than placebo, as as been shown time and time again. But beyond that, homeopaths have proven themselves to be ignorant of basic scientific principles, and outright deceptive and manipulative.
Comment by Paul on January 27 10:33

Homeopathic remedies is more than placebo. Conduct a simple test like Darwin did:

1. go to a garden centre and buy a sundew plant (drosera rotundiflora). It has to be fresh.
2. Buy a bottle of liquid ammonium carbonicum 6C (that is one in hundred six times).
3. Drop some tap water on the leaves of the plant and wait - nothing will happen.
4. Drop a few drops of the ammounium carb.ï»¿ 6C on the same leaves and wait a few seconds - the same leaves will react and close.
Comment by L.H. Olavius on January 27 12:58

The correct spending figure is approximately Â£6 million per annum on homeopathic care in the NHS, and the homeopathic drug bill is Â£152,000 per annum out of a total drugs budget of Â£11 billion. If in doubt check testimony of Health Minister Mike O'Brien.
Comment by Cristal Sumner on January 27 16:59

Homeopathy is a science and it is so much ahead of its time that so many people can not understand how it works. It is a very difficult to prescribe using homeopathic remedies. there are many homeopaths who just should not practice as they do not take enough time to analyze the patient, sometimes they just can not make the right connection. Homeopathy works by storing the energy of the original substance. You can take the whole bottle of remedy and if it is not indicated then it will not work and it will not harm you. This is the beauty. I heal every health problem for myself, my family and my dog. It works and not as a placebo. This science is amazing and that is why it is growing, making money, helps people and takes they away from pharmaceutical drugs. So that is the real problem here. You can not stop something which works, you know that.
Feel sorry for those people who protest outside of Boots. What a shame....
Comment by Kayla - Jean Rockerfeller on January 31 16:22

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