Last week, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a guideline that requires all homeopathic products to have a label that says they don’t work.
Specifically, the FTC states that homeopathic products – which are, to be absolutely clear, nothing more than water or sugar pills – “must be substantiated by competent and reliable scientific evidence” or the label must say “there is no scientific evidence that the product works.”
This is a ridiculously sensible move. Homeopathy, a practice meant to treat disease symptoms through non-existent doses of substances that (allegedly) produce similar symptoms, has become a multi-billion dollar industry, is one of many popular complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) products that have been thoroughly and consistently debunked.
There is no credible evidence that homeopathy works for any health condition. More important, homeopathy is scientifically preposterous .
Bottom line: Homeopathy doesn’t work and there is no way it could work, at least beyond producing a placebo effect. It is pure quackery.
If we believe that science should play a role in how health providers and products are regulated, than the new FTC policy is simply a long overdue application of a logical policy. For the FTC to do otherwise is to allow manufacturers and CAM providers to lie, explicitly or implicitly, about the efficacy of a product.
Unfortunately, this kind of deception (and, given the well-known state of the science, this can only be described as either the conscious deception of the public or self-delusion on the part of the proprietor) is all too common in Canada.
In fact, it has been institutionalized.
Due to Health Canada’s relatively lax regulations, many pharmacies sell homeopathic products that make claims of therapeutic benefit that would clearly infringe the new FTC policy.
Indeed, a recent study led by my colleague Ubaka Ogbogu found that a significant number of pharmacists recommend homeopathic remedies.
In addition, provincial governments have done much to facilitate the spread of unscientific CAM services. In Ontario, for instance, there is a College of Homeopaths – an entity created and surreally legitimized by provincial legislation. In addition, homeopathy is one of the most common services provided by naturopaths, a CAM practice that has enjoyed a recent uptick in provincial support.
A quick scan of websites for Canadian naturopathic clinics finds numerous examples of misleading claims about the efficacy of homeopathy and other bogus services. Worse, many of the claims made on these websites relate to the use of a homeopathic product as an alternative to vaccination.
Let’s reverse this trend. Let’s take steps to ensure that the Canadian public gets scientifically accurate information about the healthcare products and services they are buying.
There are numerous regulatory tools that can be used, right now, to help curtail the spread of misleading health information.
In Canada, informed consent law demands an honest disclosure of the relevant evidence. This is something a reasonable person in the patient’s position would want to know, a standard that applies to physicians, pharmacists and many other healthcare professions.
Profession regulators – such as the provincial colleges that govern healthcare professionals – have the ability (and, I would argue, the stated mandate) to sanction providers that offer evidence-free products, such as homeopathy. If a physician, a nurse or, even, a naturopath ) use misleading language to advertise an unproven therapy or product, that individual should be sanctioned.
Finally, as highlighted by the new FTC policy, truth-in-advertising laws and policies can be used to set and enforce a science-informed standard of disclosure.
To be fair, it seems doubtful that the step by the FTC will have a dramatic impact on the uptake of homeopathic remedies by those who already believe they are efficacious.
History tells us that it is very difficult to convince people to change their views about CAM health. Research has shown that evidence that demonstrates a lack of efficacy rarely has an impact on consumer behaviour. And, as noted by Alan Levinovitz, author of The Gluten Lie: And Other Myths About What We Eat, the FTC disclaimer may not be enough to dissuade believers, particularly those who buy into Big-Pharma-and-the-government conspiracy theories.
Still, I like the FTC move. Long term, it seems the only way forward. The public should not be actively deceived.
Of course, there are many other CAM procedures that fall into the same scientifically-preposterous category occupied by homeopathy, including energy healing practices like Reiki and the idea that you need to (and can) detoxify your body. But targeting homeopathy is a darn good start.
So, Canada, let’s all follow the FTC lead and stop the tolerance and facilitation of homeopathic bunk.
The comments section is closed.
If it is just water and sugar it isn’t bringing harm to anyone. Along with that, even if it is just simply the Placebo effect, then it seems pretty powerful. People aren’t stupid- if it isn’t working for them they’ll eventually stop but for the people that see how effective it is, let them use it. Maybe homeopathy hasn’t been proved by science, but people must have seen its effects which is why it still exists today. Besides, most people that say it is not effective, have never tried it.
Do you believe in GOD or SOUL? If you do, then you believe in HOMEOPATHY. Homeopathic medicines are simply an energy which works at cellular level. It triggers your immune system and makes it strong enough to combat and cure uncurable diseases. Does science believe in GOD or SOUL. Just like our soul inside the body, homeopathic energy is inside the sugar pills or water. Science cannot prove homepathy because there is no technology yet. You cannot see energy by microsope or any camera. The microsopes can only see germs, bacterias, viruses, cells but nothing beyond that. Build me a camera which can see a human soul or anything which our eye cannot see. The truth is homeopathy works like a magic, which can never be seen. It is beyond medical science and this is one of the main reasons why so many people do not believe in homeopathy.
First off on an earlier post I make a mistake in calculation, I had listed the minimum dilution factor 10E 60 molecules of water for 30C dilution I didn’t account for the serial dilution being a factor of (100-1) ^ 30, so the actual minimum dilution factor is equivalent to the original sample being diluted into 11,119 Solar Masses of water not 15,003, but if you think that is a saving grace for 30C you’re way off. This is 11,119 times the Mass of the Sun of water that the 1 millilitre of sample is being diluted into, the dilution factor would have been ridiculous enough even if it was only a swimming pool’s worth of water. To give some context all the water on earth is approximately 0.0000000006784 Solar Masses. We’re already at the point where the numbers involved are difficilt to wrap your head around, but homeopathy goes even further than this, and one of the posts has a person talking about the benefits of 200C. Staying in term of molecules of water it takes 4.3832E+122 molecule of water to fill the entire Observable Universe with water, this is in the 62C range. For a full 200C dilution the dilution factor is equal the original sample diluted into to 6.973713E+153 Observable Universes filled with water and again this is in terms of molecules of water which makes it the Minimum dilution factor. If the exponents are a problem then in long form your dilution factor is the original sample diluted into 6,973,713,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Observable Universes filled with water!!!. If you want to believe in homeopathy then fine that’s up to you, but don’t waste anyone’s time claiming that those who challenge it don’t understand science, you’re not only showing your ignorance you’re demonstrating how proud you are of being ignorant. You are clearly the one’s who don’t understand science or mathematical scale. To those of you who talked about your kids, I disgusts me that you would expose your children to this kind of threat.
correction to that last – it disgusts me – not I disgusts me
Ironically, T. Caulfield published an article in an alternative medicine journal BMC Complementary (A systematic review of how homeopathy is represented in conventional and CAM peer reviewed journals) where he admits that orthodox scientific journals tend to reject more manuscripts reporting evidence in favor of homeopathy, and accept more those with negative results, thus having a bias against homeopathy.
I have been using homeopathy or 50 years for myself and my family. I cannot adequately express my debt of gratitude to the system. In a typical Indian style, I took a picture of Hahnemann and keep it along with a number of Hindu gods. I generally use 200c potency, generally in a single dose, and rarely failed to get a result. Animals cannot underestand microscopic knowledge. So called ratioanlists cannot understand beyond-microscope. A true scientist searches for explanations of observed phenomenon rather than rediculing what science- at-the-moment cannot explain.
If you have a truly scientific experiment do this simple experiment on yourself and your family and friends: Do rigorous exercise – more than normal – say 3 times more. (not meant for those with health complicatons). When you get a raw, rough, beaten down sensation, take just one dose of ARNICA 200c and see the result for yourself.
Hey Timothy Caulfield,
Let’s stop your lie about homeopathy.
I took a homeopathic remedy prescribed by a professional homeopath. For a numbness I received as a work related injury 20 years ago. I thought it was permanent. After I took the remedy it went away. You need to research homeopathy. It helped me. So I don’t believe you. You are just ignorant of none scientific methods.
A placebo has no impact on an actual cancer, the danger lies in the time delay caused by false hope. Many people who could have been saved delayed seeking real medicine in favour of quackery and died because they went past the point of no return. As for the tylenol, that is largely from people not following the instructions on safe dosages and destroying their livers as a result.
How can plain water harm people or 5 sugar pills harm people when there is nothing in it???
Why are you so worried about it .it does well and in an increadable way seeing patients well for the first time I n their lives is so rewarding .it also works well on animals ,they know nothing of the placebo effect .open your mind you will be amazed. You are missing out big time try then you can comment .i feel very sorry for you and hope one day you will have an awakening. Blessings
So I suppose that it could be the placebo effect, which in itself can be incredibly effective. If a relatively cheap and harmless substance helps that person, there has been no harm done. Unlike tylenol, which causes hundreds of thousands of deaths each year.
As quack as you think homeopathy is. I’m a patient who had the beginnings of ms and through a homeopathic prescription which I did for 6 months religiously my neurologist from St Michael’s hospital was surprised!!! The legions in my brain almost completely disappeared. He asked what I was doing and taking.
Another the flu busters, are amazing, my self and my kids have seen the remarkable results.
The problem is that it’s mathematical quackery. The serial dilution scheme used for 30C dilution means means that the minimum dilution factor is 10 to the power of 60 molecules of water, described another way that if 15,000 Solar! masses of water, that is the scale of the dilution. You could take several Earth masses of Fentanyl, Methyl Mercury, Arsernic, each and dilute them into that much water and it would be perfectly safe to drink, in fact you might struggle to find detectable quantities. Do you seriously believe that a few grams of the raw homeopathic, or any real, medicine diluted into that much water could have any effect? If you’re your one of these people who believes in water memory being a real thing then please note that all life on this planet would have died millions of years ago from poisoning due to the accumulated urine memory.
David Killawee
North Bay, Ontario
Canada
homopethic medicine should be bann because its very harfull medicine.my mom expired two month ago .she took homopethic medicine atlest three year.Doctor name is Deepak sreen in kapurthala punjab india.if we take regular one year homopethic medicine then too much side effect.my mom took homopethic medicine at least 3year after that my mom liver totally damage. so homopethic totally banned. its very haramfull.
If it does not work for you please don’t use homeopathy. It has worked for me so please I should have the freedom and choice to use it. If you any talents, please find a cure for COVID-19 using your modern big pharma fraudolacy and leave homeopathy alone.
Homeopathy is a form of energy medicine – that’s what people miss here. Like Reiki or Sound Baths or even Flower Essences – it’s not about how much plant matter is in the remedy – it’s about the energy signature being in the carrier. That might sound like magical thinking to some people but really it’s just an old method of the new physics. My experience is that it absolutely does work for some things – coughs, colds, headaches. I use homeopathic arnica for bumps and bruises with my kids and it works just as well as any other form. When my baby was teething I used homeopathic remedies with great success so – I think, all ‘science’ aside the reason it’s a billion dollar industry is because the people who use it know it works for them. Otherwise it would have died out a long time ago. I think this is a continuing smear campaign against natural medicines and it’s unfortunate that authors like this would seem to want to take away people’s right to choose what works for them and their families.
After several years of working at a health food store that sold homeopathic remedies, I personally witnessed these remedies work on babies, children, and pets. If we were talking about adults, one could claim the placebo effect, but those babies and pets didn’t even know that they had taken a remedy. These remedies work, period. I witnessed it dozens of times. They worked reliably and predictably. We can’t say for sure how they work, but recent developments in the field of nano science have shown that homeopathic remedies are biologically active, and work is being done to further understand their effectiveness. I also want to add that the statement that no study has ever shown homeopathic remedies to be effective is simply false. Many have (over 100, in fact), you can google it and come to your own conclusions. The best advice I was ever given is to independently investigate everything you believe to be true. You’ll often be surprised.
Yes I absolutely agree and have had the same experience with homeopathy and my kids. I’ve used it twice (under the guidance of my naturopath) to cure pneumonia in my son, which meant not having to use antibiotics. I notice that it works best in conjunction with other therapies like naturopathy and herbals.
Thank you.
compare static of Canada the most advance country in treatment and Pakistan total population is 250000000
total mortality only about 1200 total population who prefer homeopathic treatment in Pakistan is 20 % and 50 % people had experience good evidence with homeopathic medicine no lie can long last remember this law of nature compare the population of other country latest available allopathic treatment and mortality and realize the facts do not make public trapped
Hello there! Absolutely pseudo science, and the homeopaths don’t stop going gaga over ‘science’ behind its application. I m a homeopath from India and utterly disgusted by the way my friends back in India practice and swear by ‘good results’ . General public there is in dark about the ‘nil’ingredients in their sugar pills. What works is psychological manipulation and collective delusion of 2lac practitioners,who are convinced that diluted substance left its spiritual foot prints in water molecule. And through their ‘pseudo psychotherapeutic’ case taking they are supposed to reveal fundamental conflicts, childhood traumas, personality and relationship issues. Since govt medical care is completely lacking in India, private care is costly and psychotherapy is almost unheard of…these ‘spiritual workers’ with a mission and delusion are filling in a gaping hole in health care system, they are compassionate psychotherapists and give ‘safe’ pills and save ppl from chemicals. They are opportunists to jump to encash in pandemics, lifestyle disorders, mental health problems, chronic illnesses. They can ‘prevent’and ‘cure’ almost any illness under the sun, be it congenital anomalies to HIV to Cancers to mental health problems to Covid. Their scope of practice is God’s scope of practice as their pills are spiritual in nature. However they don’t have guts to tell ppl that their methods are not backed by science. Total liars and cheats.
Just read Lynn Mctaggart
The Field Updated Ed: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe Paperback – Jan 2 2008
This book has a whole lot of science. I believe Homeopathy is possibly a precursor to energy medicine,
it may not be perfect. I may not be inclined to use Homeopathy for an acute or emergency situation as
I believe that western allopathic medicine is probably the best choice for emergency, life threatning and infectious
situations. Does every pharmaceutical work?, absolutley not. You see ads on tv listing possible side effects those are not
side effects they are major effects. Does all Homeopathy work probably not but I am more inclined to take a do no harm route and try other options. Watch the movie: Placebo cracking the code interesting facts. I believe that science is self evident as long as it fits in the box of science. It is clear that Newton was correct in his observations but Einstein came along and basically said there is more here than Newton could possible see and now we have quantum physics which may be the harbinger for Homeopathic success or lack there of .
I know of people that have been cured from numerous issues. So why not? Also, I know so many people that are on
so many meds that I’m sure they don’t need. It’s a money grab to say the least. Huge companies making huge money. What did people long ago do?
They died, a lot of people died.
Hello industry paid witch hunter. Apparently you are more learned thyan the late Dr, Stephen Hawking who said the answer to why homaeopathy works lies in Physics, particularly nano Nano physics. Dr Suzanne Humphries, MD, Internist and Nephrologist is but one of thousands of MD’s, MD/PHD’s who researched and support Homaeopathy, and, researched for years and support the alarm bells about vaccines. NASA has researched and employed Homaeopathy principals in the health rehabilitation of returning astronauts since the 1980’s. I insinuate they are as well informed as you who achieved a Bachelor of Laws, still a junior certificate in the UK. My point, there are mules for profit in all professions. Anyone who sets himself up as ,” the,” knower of the only truth is as dangerous, IMHO, as the so called charlatans he wishes to save my lesser brain from being duped by.
I always suss out and paper trail the authors of all papers of ,” fact,” and opinion, including the attention seeking pseudo intellectual gastronoms.
There has been an increase in negative propaganda against homeopathy lately – Big Pharma must be worried that it’s profits might go down…
Hey Canada, let’s stop the Big Pharma lie –
– that drugs ‘cure’ things – they don’t, they just hide the symptoms and create side effects which require more drugs, which create side effects, which require more drugs…. ad infinitum
– that allopathy has anything to offer chronic disease
– that hospitals, pharma drugs and doctors don’t kill and maim people for life at astonishing rates. There have been several incidences in different countries where during hospital closures or strikes, death rates go down!!!!
– that Big Pharma is not heavily invested in negative propaganda against anything that potentially competes with its profits
– that Big Pharma gives a damn about people’s health and well-being
Yes, let’s see an article on that…
I agree. We’ve been brainwashed by Big Pharma. If there is a better way, let’s try it. What can it harm.
Before you disclaim Homeopathic check the statistics on how many people die from big Pharma drugs as well as from chemo and surgeries. Check how many people have died from Homeopathic treatment. I’m 82 years old and have been using Homeopathic remedies as well my children all my life since I was born in Germany were there was nothing available during the War accept alternative healing. Check the history of Homeopathic it’s older then the poisoning of big Pharma drugs. So get your facts. Are you in the money pockets of the big Pharma.
I have been in chronic back pain..crippling for 2 years…tried a variety of things, from chiro to pyscio to canabis oil(cbd) I decided to see a natorpathic dr. He started me on a few formulas…day 2 I was almost pain free. I had stopped the meds the regular dr gave me. each time I start to get a little worse and then I return and I get a new formula and I get better. He used acupuncture too which I am pretty sure western medicine poo poo’ed for a long time. I am almost painfree now
Knowlwedge is power and without it, its sheer nonsense. Resource yourself positively and rewrite this article in 2 years from now. Ciao.
Homeopathy works even on people who does not believe in it. I have seen a prove of it. Why someone who disagree with homeopathy would write an article about it? Only if someone have interest to shut down competitor. Known tactic!
Homeopathy much ahead of its time, the world is changing
Another word that bothers me is “holistic” I went to a pet food store to buy some food for a rescued feral kitten Iand they said they only sold “holistic” products. (in other words twice as expensive.) I went home and tried to look up the word in a few dictionaries. Could NOT find the word. ANYBODY????
This seems a rather aggressive and heated commentary. I think there are “roots” of pharmacotherapy that are derived from nature, therefore logic states there must be something to supplements. I believe we could also debunk mainstream meds if the average person understood number to treat.
And, in closing, if s placebo affect makes someone feel better… is that not better than using a drug with side effects?
If you aren’t being disingenuous, you don’t know the difference between naturally-derived remedies and what homeopathy actually is, which is ritual magic from 1796 cloaked in flim flam and ‘natural’ marketing.
You are so far off base, there are many homeopathic products that work. One example is arnica. It is a topical cream for bruises, sore muscles etc…. Recently after a sports injury I applied this and it has amazing results.
Most sheep like the author of this article will go out and buy some chemical &^#@! storm cream made from big pharma.
One of the problems with Homeopathy is it is not being used correctly, it needs to added to water to work more effectively and in certain doses.
It is a huge conflict of interest that big pharma now funds 75% of Health Care Canada’s budget and the media we are getting is so biased like this guys article as well many natural remedies are being banned by health Canada which really means big phama is threatened.
Don’t be a sheep Timothy and are you being funded through big pharma?
Flu shots another scam, how many vaccines are they trying to shove down our throats – media and health Canada/big pharma.
“sheep” blah blah spelling error blah blah “sheep” blah blah “big pharma” “big pharma” blah blah “Flu shots” blah blah “vaccines” blah blah typo blah blah “big pharma”. “big pharma” used five times.
I hope that saved you some reading time. :)
I would say there is a far greater deception going on with science than there is with homeopathy. I have not taken a single prescription drug since the ‘science’ of getting me well, nearly killed me 36 years ago. I am perfectly healthy and free of any drug addictions because I choose to live a life with preventative care, using homeopathy.
I don’t believe in vaccinations! It is all bogus. “Science” has far too many side effects which only results in the use of more drugs to counter the side effects.
Keep your science to yourself and let me trust my homeopath, you crook you!!!
Showing once again you don’t know what science is.
Another similar take on the ‘science’ of homeopathy:
http://nonnocere.ca/2016/05/science-of-homeopathy/
Do Canadian consumers understand what homeopathy is? It’s a vitalistic belief that posits that invisible, intangible forces called “miasms” cause disturbances in an invisible, intangible “vital force” which leads to physical symptoms. And the remedies contain mystical spiritual energies that bring about healing. I could go on.
Individual homeopaths and manufacturers of homeopathic medicines rarely mention the mystical aspects of homeopathy. They mislead the public as a result.
You must be taking some kind of prescription drug to come to this kind of conclusion you sicko scientist. Drugs and science are only money making schemes, but seldom give good health results.
“You must be taking some kind of prescription drug to come to this kind of conclusion you sicko scientist. Drugs and science are only money making schemes, but seldom give good health results.” So says the anonymous snark who depends on the products of that science ‘scheme’ to propagate ad hominem attacks, distractions and baseless accusations.
“Homeopathy doesn’t work and there is no way it could work, at least beyond producing a placebo effect”
Ironically Timothy Caulfield was a second author of the review about of bias against homeopathy. In the review Caulfield
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1177924/
‘We found only 30% of those articles published in CAM journals presented negative findings, whereas over twice that amount were published in traditional journals. These results suggest a publication bias against homeopathy exists in mainstream journal’
Now, Caulfield show the same bias in the mainstream media with Evience Based Pseudoskepticism.
“Evience Based Pseudoskepticism” You can’t even spell your imaginary bogey-man correctly.
While you are at it, ban all chemicals we are convinced to inject into our bodies. Chlorine, flouride… bla bla bla. The point is the ‘ban all homeopathy’ as it doesn’t work also applies to so-called mainstream medicine..
“point is the ‘ban all homeopathy’ as it doesn’t work also applies to so-called mainstream medicine”
Thanks for your unsupported assertion. Care to provide evidence for it, or at least some kind of hypothesis that might convince the many millions who think that they were cured by mainstream medicine that they are, in fact, still sick, injured or actually dead?
While you’re at it, add the yearly flu shot to this list.
The flu shot has been proven as ineffective as placebo several times already, yet quacks still offer it up, year after year.
And your evidence is?
“Homeopathy, a practice meant to treat disease symptoms through non-existent doses of substances that (allegedly) produce similar symptoms,”
False, tipically the OTC homeopathic drugs are based on low dilutions below the Avogadro number. As example, the low decimal potencies as 1X, 3X or 6X may contain the original substante in minimal quantities:
1X = 1/10
3X = 1/1000
6X = 1/1000000
In the case of super avogadro dilutions, some physicochemical evidence reveals alteration in structure or water-ethanol homeopathic dilutions, under controled conditions. Examples:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1475491615000624
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167732215312277
Then, the “implausibility” of superavogadro dilutions is a tipycal propaganda based on the web opinions of pseudo-skeptics lobby groups.
How ‘tipycal’ of homeopathic bunk.
In this article, we have one man’s point of view bashing our right to choose; suggesting that you and I, haven’t the intelligence to research our way to resourced basic self-care. I am not intending to bash the conventional medical system, or promote homeopathy, but like any existing healing knowledge; each has its moments of brilliance and moments of limitation
Homeopathic remedies have been part of our global historical legacy for over two hundred years; botanical remedies for hundreds of years. If you are Aboriginal, Asian, or use Traditional Chinese Medicine, then you have a proven legacy of thousands of years of study and use. The real truth about healing is that our body is designed to heal itself. There are countless ways and means under the sun to support the body’s healing efforts; all of them having value under the right circumstances. With that in mind, when shopping for any product or service, I claim the right to choose what works best for me.
Well said Nelda! Thank you!
Yes, I agree. The pseudo skeptic (CSICIOP) pro paedophilia (False Syndrome Memory Foundation) and pro herbicides (Genetic Literary and Science 2.0) international lobbies want block all type of research, funding and knowledge of homeopathy.
Next time work in the moon landing hoax, the 9/11 inside job, Pizzagate, and the so-called ’round Earth’ conspiracy. You don’t want those belief groups left out of your mutual confirmation bubble and it’s feel good effects.
Occam Razor: What do you have to say regarding the false memory syndrome foundation being closed in 2019? In fact, the “scintific basis” for false memory syndrome are similar to the “Parental Alienation Syndrome”: both are propaganda. https://www.madinamerica.com/2021/02/false-memory-syndrome/
Point well made.
Does anyone wonder why some remedies has lasted through the decades and beyond? No they don’t because they can’t explain that something works without the science bias. Sometimes a remedy has many natural properties that are actually good for the body and creates no side effect.
Start ingesting the crap they call ‘scientifically proven for efficacy’ and we get sick!!
“Does anyone wonder why some remedies has lasted through the decades and beyond? ” Argument from tradition and antiquity. It’s predictable when there just isn’t any real evidence for it.
Nelda,
Such a great post. You are so right!!
Of course, someone would argue if science was not there to validate the claims of the remedies used for hundreds of years, it must be mystical.
I’m with you . . . We must fight for our right to choose and not let the scientist deceive us with their addictive bad drugs.
Argument from antiquity. Deliberately confusing homeopathy with herbal medicines.
“If you are Aboriginal, Asian, or use Traditional Chinese Medicine, then you have a proven legacy of thousands of years of study and use.” I’m Aboriginal, and all I see is an attempt to confuse and mislead. The only thing centuries of use prove is centuries of use. All your sentence means is that there is proof (debatable, at best) that some undefined traditions have had study (not defined) and use (not defined) over periods spanning thousands of years. It still doesn’t mean anything like evidence of effectiveness.
“Homeopathic remedies have been part of our global historical legacy” So was the explanation that lightning was the weapon of an angered Zeus.
Living in a world of “fadulous” science I think it very hard to tell the difference between legitimate research, purchased research and actual scientific (peer reviewed, reproducible results by non biased parties) is becoming more and more difficult. I think absolutely these should be label appropriately, that doesn’t mean all Naturopathy is fake, unhelpful or bad, if it makes you feel better do it so long as it is with full disclosure and consent who am I to judge. Most people are not like me I check how many time something has been researched, what was the sample size, who did it consist of and if the results were consistent and reproduced by other researchers.
Nice pursuit of the false equivalence there. Keep up the sowing of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.
Just kidding. Spare us.
I am tired of hearing the term “evidence based” research as being the backbone of what I should take for my illnesses. As a sufferer of Lyme Disease, I’m well aware of how the “evidence” can be skued and presented to “fit” the presenter’s objectives. In the case of Lyme, a vaccine that was supposedly researched and tested in advance was offered to the general population in the early 90s and very quickly removed because it caused more harm than good and one of the main researchers who set the guidelines for treating Lyme disease had then joined forces with a company who developed a test for lyme and was about to launch. Coincidence, I think not!
Medical researchers and Dr’s are pawns (all be it, in the medical field, well paid pawns) in the game of greed played by those tied to big pharma. Much research is not made public because it doesn’t fit pharmas or the powerful organizations such as AMMI and IDSA and CDC plans.
In the end, getting well, whether prescribed, drugs or naturopathic remedies is all a crap shoot. That was pretty much proven for me, two weeks ago, when my brother in law, was brought into hospital and diagnosed with an aggressive lymphoma. 11 expert medical consults were brought in, and, as it turned out 4 groups all had different ideas on what to do….each could cite their own reasons based on their evidence based research. My brother in law died 8 days later…so much for the experts and their research.
In the end, I am not tied to homeopathic remedies any more than I am for medical remedies. Like I said, its a crap shoot so I find, for me, and what I encourage the general public to do, is do their own research, do their homework and pick what they believe is best for them whether it be a medical solution or homeopathic. The end result may turn out to be good, bad or indifferent, but, at least, they wont be following blindly like sheep, those who really are only in it for the money.
I totally agree. There is so much coming out now that we all should question “evidence based” research as it is so skewed and presented in a way that isn’t accurate. You can make just about any study show what you want. I don’t use homeopathy but I really struggle with this push to regulate and take away the choices that the public want. Big pharma and conventional medicine is not and shouldn’t be the only option for the public. I personally am getting more and more nervous with the controlling “big brothers” out there whose main purpose is to make money.
Just be careful who you trust on either end of the spectrum
Shonda,
I agree with you. So much of the ‘evidence’ is bought by the big pharmaceutical companies. This is scary as they are, as you say, only interested in money. They are getting to be like the tobacco companies were in the 60’s and 70’s with not a pretty picture shaping up in the distance.
Ah, conspiracy theory and fear mongering targeting the big bad corporation again. Your usual substitute for more than 200 years of no evidence for homeopathy.
“…they wont be following blindly like sheep…” Nice straw man you have there.
https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/355916
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27832158
I agree, Edzard Ernst is a big hoax and fraud. Ernst was catched in the act!
-Ernst is not a trained homeopath. He lied in a British Medical Journal review.
-Ernst change the assumptions about of evidence, this is called the falacy of goal post.
-Ernst is the classical “spy”. When he came in the homeopathic circles, was a loudly member of the James Randi Foundation (part of prodeophilia False Memory Syndrome Foundation lobby group). In 2011 was awarded with CSICOP prize, in 2015 was awarded with “Maddox prize” in collaboration of Nature Publishing Group and the UK lobby Sense About Science, pro lobby GMO and Big Sugar corporation. The big media promoted the Ernst viewpoints in strange manner, this media includes The Telegraph, The Guardian, Spectator Health and ElPaís.
More information:
http://powerbase.info/index.php/Sense_About_Science
About of James Randi paedophile trust:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17521989
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15327019eb0802_4?journalCode=hebh20
Your blatant smear job doesn’t bring you as much credibility as it may seem it does from inside your bubble of confirmation bias.
The researchers and scientists all over the world are trying to figure out how ‘super-Avogadro dilutions’ in homeopathy which contains extremely low concentration of active ingredients are able to stimulate biological activity (immunological and inflammatory reactivity) and pathways and restore the homeostatic mechanism?
Homeopathy is wholistic medicine. It agrees with the fact that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Homeopathic medicine is for the patient/sick person/individual not just for the disease
What the hell does this mean?
It means word salad is on the menu.
My son never once cried from teething and I gave him no medical pain killers, only Boiron homeopathy ampoules. I’m a chemist, but it doesn’t make me narrow minded. I tried it. It worked. Likewise with their flu remedies. I don’t get why others have this vitriolic hatred for some people using what works for them.
Pharmaceuticals harm lots of people. Homeopathy does not. What is your motive?
Here are 400 cases where homeopathy harmed people…
That took me 8 seconds of googling. Additionally, many insurance plans cover homeopathy, despite no evidence that it works. This means that you’re paying more in many cases for supplementary health insurance than you need to be. That’s also a harm, especially when taken in aggregate. That’s insurance coverage that could be going to evidence-based treatments that actually work.
Jason, you keep telling yourself that and see how you make out. Cheers!!
It takes less typing to just say ‘La la la la la’.
My four children also never cried from teething and I have the absolutely nothing – I tried it and it worked- it’s a miracle
That should be gave them nothing!!
Get your bottle of Dr. Razor’s Miracle Nothing here!
Thanks for this excellent post about homeopathy, and for your support for evidence based practice!
You’re full of crap too, Marilyn.
“You’re full of crap too, Marilyn.” This might be your most rational response yet. ;)
I agree that there is compelling evidence that homeopathy does not work any better than a placebo. However if you are able to cure/alleviate something with a placebo, why do for a drug therapy? We always look for nondrug measures to treat something minor, we don’t get antivirals for a common cold.
I am leaving my biases aside and presenting a fair point. I’d love to hear your views on it!
The worries here are not about someone feeling a bit sick from a cold and ingesting something thats does only a placebo effect, the person will feel better and everyone is happy (especialy the homeopath who sell sugary water to people seeking help without telling them its been proven to do nothing except make them feel better, say like water and sugar mixed at home); the real issue is for people who have illness that could be aviated or cured with known to work therapy and are targeted by alternative medecine pratictioner who don’t have their patients health in mind but their wallets. These people put their trust in the hand of those pseudotherapists and are failed, without any repercussion from anyone, because homeopath don’t have a regulatory body to make them accountable of their action, they don’t have to tell the gouverment that their patient who had cancer just died of neglect. And why don’t they have a redulatory body? Because if you test homeopathy, it failes everytime.
also, any illness that could of been cured or symptoms alleviate with a placebo and no medecine anyhow does indeed need not be treated with medecine as a responsable health pratictioner would suggest. It also implied that a good lemon tea, a hot bath and rest would work as well as the placebo. There is no need for people to give away their money for an illusion of care.
Hope this will help you!
With all respect,
Étienne
“Because if you test homeopathy, it failes everytime.”
False.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965229916302795
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0166340
Neither of those things are homeopathy.
Both of the studies you listed are naturopathic remedies.
They are completely different from homeopathy which always fails testing.
I suggest familiarizing yourself with the differences. People thinking homeopathic medicine is the same as natural medicine is actually very damaging to natural medicine.
‘Free choice’ is one thing, using taxpayer-funded institutions to lend credibility to bunk is a very different matter.
Who funded this article? Which lobby group made this happen? Could it possibly be one or many of the big pharma companies?
Like drug companies claiming a drug works, only to find out later, the drugs side effects have worsened an individuals health, some people in homeopathy make false claims too.
Drugs were initially developed from herbology and homeopathic remedies.
This is clearly a financially based argument.
^ This comment is being funded by big homeopathy. Nobody listen to this person, she’s in the pocket of the ginseng farmers association.
That was a joke. This next part is serious: you should be more worried about homeopaths trying to profit off your worry than pharma companies. The pharma companies at least have to be able to prove their products work before they sell it. Natural/Homeopathic companies don’t have to do this.
As for the second statement, that drugs are initially developed from herbology and homeopathic remedies, you’re half right. Plants can be medicine, yes, but homepathy is not. Once herb-based remedies have been tested, and have been found to have a beneficial effect, they’re just called “medicines.” Doctors stop calling them “alternative therapies” and they just become therapies. The key step is testing; homeopathic remedies are NOT remedies, because they consistently fail the testing phase.
The lobby advocacy group is called pseudoskeptics sect.
USA:
-Comitte for Skeptikal Investigation (before CSICOP)
-False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF)
-Quackwatch lobby
-McArthur Foundation
-Center for Inquiry
India:
-Mumbai Rationalist’s Association
UK
-Nightingale Collaboration
-Sense About Science
Germany
-GWUP
Chilean
-AECH
Mexico
-SOMIE
Australia
-Friends of Science
Cuba:
-Rationalist group
Argentina:
-Círculo Escéptico Argentino
-Círculo Escéptico Argentino Posadas
Former Lobby blogs
-Science 2.0
-Genetic Literacy
-Science Based Medicine
-Edzard Ernst blog
-Zeno’s blog (Alan Henness blog)
External
a) USA
The Economist
b) UK
The Guardian
Spector Health
c) Spain
El País
ValenciaPlaza
Redacción Médica
d) Mexico
Milenio
Did you take that list of the ‘ones out to get me’ directly from the wall?
“Drugs were initially developed from herbology and homeopathic remedies.” Bollocks. You are confusing herbal remedies with homeopathy, a very different thing. Disagree? Then reference the specific modern medicines derived from homeopathy and outline the connection for each.
Everyone should post this article to their MP’s facebook page!
The abscence of proof that Homeopathy works does not proof that it doesn’t… in other words: how could you test an out-of-the-usual-dimensions therapy through conventional means???
You can test any therapy using conventional means. It’s not rocket science. Give X sick people the therapy, give X people a placebo, and use some form of statistical analysis to determine if there’s a significant difference. Even if the therapy were magic, a properly designed experiment would show that it’s beneficial, which has not happened in the case of homeopathic remedies.
Null hypothesis is presumed to be true until statistical evidence nullifies it. Use either probability-value or Odds Ratio. Both are complimentary of each other.
Homeopathy actually has been thoroughly researched through the kind of controlled trials that Colin mentions, and that research is proof that it doesn’t work. If you’re interested, you can find a summary here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20402610 or the research on specific medical issues here: http://www.cochrane.org/search/site/homeopathy.
Out of 164 high quality papers published between 1950-2011 (inclusive) on RCT in 89 medical conditions
1. 137 are placebo-controlled & 27 other-than-placebo controlled studies
2. 71 (43%) papers reported +ve findings, 9 (6%) were negative; 80 (49%) were non-conclusive; 4 (2%) contained non-extractable data.
3. Out of 137 placebo-controlled studies, 41 are on individualised homeopathy and 96 on non-individualised homeopathy
4. In 32 out of 89 disease conditions, there has been replicated research (2 or more RCT).
5. In 22 out of 32 disease conditions, the results of replicated research were statistically significant.
Check for 168 full text papers at http://drnancymalik.wordpress.com/article/scientific-research-in-homeopathy/
“…there has been replicated research” Whatever that means. If Beavis mimics Butthead, it doesn’t make it valid.
Vanessa,
Of course, link us to a “government” website which also tells us to get vaccinated. Did you know vaccinations have been declared as “unavoidably safe”?
How many homeopathic remedies have killed and/or disabled someone?
I’m not a homeopathic user but someone who has been doing some research and quite frankly, am skeptical of our conventional ways when it comes to health care.
Personally feel we are all in big trouble if research is not done.
Studies are performed on everything from chemo therapies to blueberry juice. There is always a comparison to no treatment or best known treatments or both. There is no lack of proof, there is very clear findings that show these products do NOTHING, and using them in place of effective treatment is putting peoples’ health at risk
You can test based on the effectiveness of what it is supposed to do. Homeopathy doesn’t work in most cases using proper scientific methods to measure it.
Thanks for this fine example of special pleading, a logical fallacy used by those who need special rules because their ideas don’t stand up to normal testing. It’s ‘Special Ed’ for concepts.