The Huffington Post posted this seemingly even handed article about Homeopathy on 27 September 2017
http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/09/27/homeopathy-the-alternative-medicine-used-by-millions_a_23224475
It sadly is an example of "balance" that softens the actual facts about Homeopathy, Homepaths and their patients. I have purposely ignored logical inconsistencies to focus on the accommodations made by a reporter.
That Homeopaths are unregulated dispensers of sugar pills, alcohol solutions and other substances that contain no medicinally effective ingredients is appalling. Calling this practice "medicine" is an affront to medicine. Calling their ridiculously diluted substances "remedies" is an illogical dodge. That the practice has existed for 250 years and even proponents cannot demonstrate how their product works is ridiculous.
I got very angry. The crossout and red are mine.
Steve.
Homeopathy: The Alternative Medicine Used By Millions
http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/09/27/homeopathy-the-alternative-medicine-used-by-millions_a_23224475
It sadly is an example of "balance" that softens the actual facts about Homeopathy, Homepaths and their patients. I have purposely ignored logical inconsistencies to focus on the accommodations made by a reporter.
That Homeopaths are unregulated dispensers of sugar pills, alcohol solutions and other substances that contain no medicinally effective ingredients is appalling. Calling this practice "medicine" is an affront to medicine. Calling their ridiculously diluted substances "remedies" is an illogical dodge. That the practice has existed for 250 years and even proponents cannot demonstrate how their product works is ridiculous.
I got very angry. The crossout and red are mine.
Steve.
Homeopathy: The Alternative Medicine Used By Millions
27/09/2017 1:39 AM AEST | Updated 27/09/2017
1:39 AM AEST
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Millions of people use
homeopathy around the world, despite it being advised against by various
medical and science bodies.
Most recently, the European Academies’ Science
Advisory Council (EASAC) issued a damning report on the
so-called benefits of homeopathy.
The council said
claims for homeopathy are “implausible” and “inconsistent with established
scientific concepts”, warning that promoting homeopathy may pose harm to
patients who delay medical treatment in favour of an alternative cure.
It has since called
for greater regulation of homeopathic products.
What is homeopathy?
Homeopathy is an alternative form of
medicine unproven practice, that
is not medicine, used to treat both acute and chronic conditions - Homeopathic treatments, Homeopaths
call them "remedies" can be given as pills, capsules or tinctures (liquid extracts
made from herbs, animal
parts, bodily excretions, minerals, poisons, venom, or even starlight.).
It is based on a series of pre-scientific,
implausible ideas developed in the 1790s by a
German doctor
called Samuel Hahnemann. One of the utterly incorrect main ideas is
that ‘like cures like’, so any
substance which could produce symptoms in a healthy person
could cure similar
symptoms in a person who is sick.
For example, onions
make your eyes water and your nose burn when you chop them. So, if you’re
experiencing hay fever - where the symptoms are watering eyes and a burning
nose - many homeopathy websites argue that a treatment made from onion
could (in theory) relieve it. This
is course, is patently ridiculous and proven false.
Another provably
incorrect idea from Hahnemann is that highly diluted substances are
better for
treating ailments. Homeopaths
and their subjects and proponents believed giving
the smallest amount of medicine can prompt a better
healing response in the body, with
fewer risks of side effects. This
is false and ignores the century of testing and careful dose
monitoring that
medicine and science have shown to work.
To
be seen to be fair, The British Homeopathic
Association says: “The holistic nature of
homeopathy means each
person is treated as an unique individual and their body, mind, spirit and
emotions are all considered in the management and prevention of
disease. Taking all these factors into account, a homeopath will select
the most appropriate medicine based on the individual’s specific symptoms and
personal level of health to stimulate their own healing ability.”
That homeopaths treat
patients with actual medical disorders and there is no legal regulation of homeopathic practitioners
in the UK currently is
a disgrace. They are not doctors, yet they are permitted
to behave as therm.
What do people use
homeopathy to treat?
According to the NHS,
homeopathy is used for an extremely wide range of health conditions. Some of
the most common conditions include: asthma, ear infections, hay
fever, mental health conditions, allergies, dermatitis (an
allergic skin condition), arthritis and high blood pressure.
What evidence is
there to suggest it works?
There’s no credible evidence surrounding supporting homeopathic treatments and whether
they work. EASAC said homeopathy most
likely causes a “placebo
effect” in individuals - where the person believes they feel better because of
their trust in the treatment rather than the treatment itself.
The NHS Choices
website says “there is no good quality evidence that homeopathy is an effective
treatment for these or any other health conditions”. Despite this, there
are two NHS hospitals which provide homeopathy and some GP practices also offer
it.
Meanwhile the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE),
which advises the NHS, has issued advice on the use of homeopathy in three
areas. It does not recommend using homeopathy to treat otitis media with effusion (OME) or
for treating lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in men. It
also said women should be advised against using homeopathy for induction of labour.
Cristal
Sumner, chief executive of British Homeopathic Association (BHA), told
HuffPost UK the EASAC findings are “little more than a rehash of previously
published negative studies and reports, carefully selected from the wider body
of homeopathic research to exclude any quality evidence supporting the efficacy
of homeopathy”.
BHA said there’s a growing body of published research showing that
homeopathy has a positive effect. One study from 2005 reported that
70% of 6,544 patients with a wide range of chronic conditions
reported positive health changes following homeopathic intervention.
This was however, an observational study,
but is based solely on “how the participants felt”, rather than actual
outcomes.
What does the
report mean for the future of homeopathy?
EASAC has called
for regulatory requirements to ensure all products for human and veterinary
medicine are based on verifiable and objective scientific evidence. It
said in the absence of evidence backing up health claims, a product should
not be approved for wider use.
The council concluded that
advertising and marketing for these products and services should be accurate
and clear. In short, they should not be making any bold claims without the
evidence to back it up.