Homeopathy Awareness Week: Is this the homeopaths' last stand?
It's Homeopathy Awareness Week, but the alternative medicine may be
about to face a final deadly assault from critics, writes Edzard Ernst
* Edzard Ernst <http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/edzardernst>
* guardian.co.uk <http://www.guardian.co.uk/> , Monday 14 June 2010
16.53 BST
*
* [Tubes of granules used in manufacture of a homeopathic remedy]
*
* Tubes of granules used in the manufacture of a homeopathic remedy
for flu. Evidence that homeopathy works better than placebo is
unconvincing. Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex Features
British homeopaths are celebrating Homeopathy Awareness Week
<http://www.homeopathy-soh.org/whats-new/latest-news/haw.aspx> , yet it
seems to me there is very little for them to celebrate.
Earlier this year, a report from the Commons Science and Technology
Committee
<http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-archive/science\
-technology/s-t-homeopathy-inquiry/> concluded that the principles of
homeopathy <http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/homeopathy> are
implausible and that the evidence fails to show that it works better
than placebo. The MPs also criticised homeopaths for trying to mislead
the public by providing inaccurate information
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2010/feb/04/homeopathic-associat\
ion-evidence-commons-committee> . Their recommendation to government was
to stop funding homeopathy on the NHS.
Then the Prince of Wales's Foundation for Integrated Health, a staunch
supporter of homeopathy in the NHS, folded in the midst of a police
investigation for fraud and money laundering
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/apr/30/prince-wales-health-charity-fr\
aud> .
Last month, the British Medical Association described homeopathy as
"witchcraft" <http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=4126047>
and called for an end to all funding on the NHS.
A streak of bad luck? Not really. Homeopathy's fortunes have been
crumbling for quite some time. The evidence to suggest that it has
effects beyond those of a placebo has become less and less convincing.
In 2005, The Lancet even pronounced "the end of homeopathy"
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2005/aug/26/health.medicineandhealth3\
> .
As a result, one of the five NHS-funded homeopathic hospitals had to
close. After assessing the science, its NHS trust found that the
evidence did not justify any further funding.
Faced with increasing criticism, UK homeopaths become more and more
desperate. My team has found that the Society of Homeopaths
<http://www.homeopathy-soh.org/> even appears to have been in breach of
its own code of ethics in attempting to promote homeopathy. On the
society's website, numerous statements about efficacy were made that
were not backed by science and so were not allowed under its own
regulations.
The society's chief executive commented at the time, in November 2009,
that she was grateful to me for highlighting these issues and that the
society would investigate and make amendments where appropriate. The
website has since changed but many, perhaps even most, members of that
organisation continue to make claims that violate their society's
ethical standards.
This is not a trivial or academic point. Recently Simon Singh
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/simon-singh> won the libel case that
the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) had brought against him.
Singh had alleged that the BCA made unsupported claims. When the case
was brought, several bloggers and sceptics then went through the claims
made by UK chiropractors with a fine tooth comb
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/mar/01/simon-singh-libel-case-ch\
iropractors> and subsequently reported around 600 of them to their
regulator for violating the rules that regulate their practice.
These are serious allegations that cannot be swept under the carpet.
Perusing this number of complaints in an orderly fashion will be
extremely costly. The expense could turn out to be unaffordable for
chiropractors and thus bankrupt their organisations.
So even as homeopaths celebrate their "awareness week", bloggers and
sceptics enthused by their success on the chiropractic front
might already be considering action against any unsubstantiated claims
made by UK homeopaths. This could truly be the end of homeopathy.
Edzard Ernst <http://sites.pcmd.ac.uk/compmed/ernst.htm> is professor
of complementary medicine at the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter
