Homoeo Info

Britons spend £130 million a year on complementary therapists, and the figure is set to reach £200 million over the next four years, as we grow ever more dissatisfied with conventional medicine.
The cost of sessions depends on the type of therapy, your location and also the practitioner, but it can run into hundreds, or even thousands, of pounds for regular customers. The first session is usually the most expensive because it involves a consultation.
If you are lucky, you might find a therapist who is not in the industry purely to make money, but more because he or she wants to help people. These magnanimous souls can charge as little as £20 an hour, rarely impose cancellation fees and will even let you pay less if you are hard-up.
Whether you pay £25 or £125, you are entitled to expect treatment from a trained and qualified therapist. The problem is that not all are.
There are plans for a new voluntary code for complementary therapists, which will act as a quality guarantee for the public. Some alternative therapies, such as homoeopathy and osteopathy, are already regulated.
However, in the absence of full regulation, anyone considering a visit should always check that the therapist belongs to a governing association and is listed as a practising therapist with relevant qualifications.
Times Online, UK - Feb 1, 2008

Labels: UK

AS doctors urge suffers of the "winter vomiting virus" to stay away from surgeries and hospitals - homeopaths in Islington have seen an increase in calls for help.
An estimated 100,000 people a week across Britain are catching the norovirus and many Islington residents are turning to alternative medicine for a solution.
Islington homeopath, Alex Christie, is based at the Barnsbury Clinic in Belitha Villas, Islington.
She said: "The effects of the bug, which causes diarrhoea and vomiting, with some people also suffering from fever and flu-like pains, can be eased with homeopathic remedies and the process of recovery speeded up.
"In homeopathic medicine, the symptoms as they are experienced by the individual are taken into account to help find the best remedy. How the patient feels in themselves is also taken into account."
Because remedies are non-toxic, they are suitable for use by people of all ages, including babies and pregnant women.
Homeopathy is patient-centred and remedies are prescribed to suit the particular individual and their set of symptoms.
Islington Gazette, UK - Jan 30, 2008

Labels: UK

Over a fifth of NHS hospital trusts have cancelled or reduced funding of homeopathy in the past two years, after a campaign by leading scientists to remove the alternative therapy from the NHS.
In two open letters to primary healthcare trust managers in May last year, the scientists lambasted homeopathic remedies because they lack a robust scientific basis: "We must consider the cultural and social damage of maintaining as a matter of principle expenditure on practices which are unsupported by evidence."
Homeopathy remedies involve diluting active substances so that there is not a single molecule of the original chemical left. Practitioners refer to a "memory" left in the water. But the signatories - which included a Nobel prize winner and six fellows of the Royal Society - say there is no convincing evidence that homeopathy works any better than a placebo. A survey by Pulse magazine has found that 22% of PCTs have reduced or cancelled spending on homeopathy in the last two years. The Royal London Homeopathic hospital is facing difficulties after eight trusts cancelled contracts over the past year and a further six reduced referrals.
Michael Baum, emeritus professor of surgery at University College London, who signed one of last year's letters, described homeopathy as "cheap and nasty medicine" and a "cruel deception". James Randerson, science correspondent/Guardian Unlimited, UK , Jan 30, 2008

Labels: UK

NHS-funded homeopathic services are on the decline in the UK, it was reported today.
They have been hit hard by the government’s plans to increase the cost-effectiveness of NHS resources and many trusts are cutting their funding.
Only 37 per cent of 132 primary care trusts now have contracts for homeopathic services, an investigation by the journal Pulse found.
Homeopathy remains popular in general practice, being the second most used complementary treatment after acupuncture in a survey last year.
Nevertheless, the controversial treatment has been stopped or reduced in more than a quarter of trusts in the past two years.
Homeopathy suffered a blow in May 2006 when a group of experts told directors of commissioning that the treatment caused "cultural and social damage" and was "unsupported by evidence".
But there is also a danger that patients denied homeopathic treatments on the NHS might take risks by consulting non-medical homeopathic practitioners, warns Dr Tim Robinson, a GP who provides a local homeopathic service in Dorset.
The deputy editor of Pulse, Richard Hoey, commented: "Homeopathy is a highly controversial treatment with all sorts of doubts over its evidence base, but it is popular with patients and has traditionally always had a place in general practice.
StaffNurse.com, UK - Jan 30, 2008

Labels: UK

There is definitely a place for homeopathy in general practice. Not only that, but I hope in future there will be increased opportunity for its provision.
I have been offering homeopathy at my own GP practice for 12 years, with great effect.
I audited my homeopathic consultations over a 12-month period and scored and analysed the outcomes. My study showed a wide variety of conditions were treated homeopathically and three-quarters of patients had a positive clinical response.
In order to defend homeopathy I want to start by sharing just three of the many cases I have treated successfully using it.
In one case, a nine-year-old girl presented with a three-year history of nightmares, causing her to wake four out of seven nights each week.
Three doses of one homeopathic medicine brought relief lasting about three weeks. After a further three doses she was almost completely free of nightmares – as she was when reviewed three months later.
My second case involves a 41-year-old man with a two-year history of alopecia since his mother’s death.
I treated him with two homeopathic medicines and reviewed him two months later. His alopecia was clearing – one patch had disappeared and the other was shrinking significantly.
In the third case, a 33-year-old woman came to the surgery with a four-year history of persistent diarrhoea, rectal bleeding and IBS, following Giardia infection.
She had been extensively investigated by a gastroenterologist, diagnosed with post-infectious IBS and prescribed antispasmodics that were ineffective.
I prescribed a series of homeopathic medicines and reviewed her three times. She was delighted to find that her bleeding settled and her bowels returned to normal.
Dr Tim Tobinson, a GP in Beaminster, Dorset, and lecturer at Bristol Homeopathic Hospital/Pulse, UK - Jan 29, 2008

Labels: UK

Put not your trust in princes, especially not princes who talk to plants. But that's what the government has decided to do. The Department of Health has funded the Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health to set up the Natural Healthcare Council to regulate 12 alternative therapies, such as aromatherapy, reflexology and homeopathy. Modelled on the General Medical Council, it has the power to strike therapists off for malpractice.
This is perplexing. How does a regulator decide what is good practice and what is charlatanry when none of it has peer-reviewed, scientific evidence that it works? The prince's foundation says the new council will only register those who have qualifications from their "professional" bodies. That will encourage the burgeoning number of degrees and diplomas in complementary therapies offered by universities, such as the Thames Valley, Westminster or the University of Wales. Normal academic standards have been set aside for attracting new students. Legitimate fears that this gave a phoney scientific aura to humbuggery of all kinds are now proved right.
Official state sponsorship for setting up this council, whose terms and conditions were drawn up by the distinguished Professor Dame Joan Higgins, gives non-science new authority. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has already changed its rules to allow homeopathic remedies to be sold for the first time with labels advertising the diseases they are supposed to cure. This was despite strong objections from the British Pharmacological Society, some of the Royal Colleges and the Royal Society itself. Professor Michael Baum protested that "this is like licensing a witches' brew as a medicine so long as the batwings are sterile".
Acupuncture, herbal medicine, osteopathy and chiropractic already come under existing laws as potentially more powerful and invasive treatments: needles can hurt or infect, and herbs can poison. But these next 12 therapies step further into fairy realms. Just to give you a flavour, the Natural Healthcare Council will register reiki. It means "universal life energy", claiming "when spiritual energy is channelled through a reiki practitioner, the patient's spirit is healed, which in turn heals the physical body". What is the exam?
They may not do much harm. Sniffing aromas never hurt anyone, nor did homeopathic medicines. What's more, these remedies help believers. The placebo effect is therapeutic, and big green sugar pills work better than small white ones. Double blind trials, where the homeopathic practitioner examined the patient and then prescribed remedies but had no idea which patients were given the real thing or a sugar pill, detected no difference. I defer to the reasoning by Dr Ben Goldacre in the Guardian of November 16. No one has yet claimed the $1m that US debunker James Randi offers anyone who can produce random control trial proof of the efficacy of homeopathic remedies.
Polly Toynbee/Guardian Unlimited, UK - 7 Jan 2008

Labels: UK

A range of complementary therapies such as homeopathy and aromatherapy are to be regulated by a new body.
The Natural HealthCare Council is due to begin work in April. Currently, anyone can offer a complementary medicine service.
The watchdog will set standards and have the power to strike off those deemed incompetent, although membership of the body will be voluntary.
The Patients Association said the move to regulate was "welcome and overdue".
A spokeswoman for the charity, which provides patients with a forum to share experiences of healthcare, said the fact that anyone can provide complementary medicines and treatment had been a "a source of concern".
"Patients will feel more secure as a result of this new body and they will know who to contact if they are unhappy with their treatment," she said.
A lack of regulation has prompted calls for a body to monitor conduct and standards among complementary health practitioners.
Britons spend around £130m a year on treatments like aromatherapy and reflexology.
Those who practice the therapies will be able to register with the new governing body which is being set up by the Prince of Wales's Foundation for Integrated Health.
Spokesman Ian Cambray Smith explained that regulation was necessary to provide "public confidence".
BBC News, UK - Jan 5, 2008

Labels: UK

So-called "alternative" therapies, mostly derived from ancient healing traditions and superstitions, have a strong appeal for people who feel left behind by the explosive growth of scientific knowledge. Paradoxically, however, their nostalgia for a time when things seemed simpler and more natural is mixed with respect for the power of modern science (Toumey 1996). They want to believe that "natural" healing practices can be explained by science. Purveyors of alternative medicine have, therefore, been quick to invoke the language and symbols of science. Not surprisingly, the mechanisms proposed to account for the alleged efficacy of such methods as touch therapy, psychic healing, and homeopathy involve serious misrepresentations of modern physics.
Homeopathy, founded by a German physician, Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), is a relative newcomer. Homeopathy is based on the so-called "law of similars" (similia similibus curantur), which asserts that substances that produce a certain set of symptoms in a healthy person can cure those same symptoms in someone who is sick. Although there are related notions in Chinese medicine, Hahnemann seems to have arrived at the idea independently. Hahnemann spent much of his life testing natural substances to find out what symptoms they produced and prescribing them for people who exhibited the same symptoms. Although the purely anecdotal evidence on which he based his conclusions would not be taken seriously today, homeopathy as currently practiced still relies almost entirely on Hahnemann's listing of substances and their indications for use.
Natural substances, of course, are often acutely toxic. Troubled by the side effects that often accompanied his medications, Hahnemann experimented with diluting them. After each successive dilution, he subjected the solution to vigorous shaking, or "succussion." He made the remarkable discovery that although dilution eliminated the side effects, it did not diminish the effectiveness of the medications. This is rather grandly known as "the law of infinitesimals."
Hahnemann actually made a third "discovery," which his followers no longer mention. "The sole true and fundamental cause that produces all the countless forms of disease," he writes in his Organon, "is psora." Psora is more commonly known as "itch." This principle does not seem to involve any laws of physics and is in any case ignored by modern followers of Hahnemann.
By means of successive dilutions, extremely dilute solutions can be achieved rather easily. The dilution limit is reached when the volume of solvent is unlikely to contain a single molecule of the solute. Hahnemann could not have known that in his preparations he was, in fact, exceeding the dilution limit. Although he was contemporary with the physicist Amadeo Avogadro (1776-1856), Hahnemann's Organon der Rationellen Heilkunde was published in 1810, one year before Avogadro advanced his famous hypothesis, and many years before other physicists actually determined Avogadro's number. (Avogadro showed that there is a large but finite and specific number of atoms or molecules in a mole of substance, specifically 6.022 x 1023. A mole is the molecular weight of a substance expressed in grams. Thus, a mole of water, H2O, molecular weight 2 + 16 = 18, is 18 grams. So there are 6.022 x 1023 water molecules in 18 grams of water.)
Modern day followers of Hahnemann, however, are perfectly aware of Avogadro's number. Nevertheless, they regularly exceed the dilution limit -- often to an astonishing extent. I recently examined the dilutions listed on the labels of dozens of standard homeopathic remedies sold over the counter in health stores, and increasingly in drug stores, as remedies for everything from nervousness to flu. These remedies are normally in the form of lactose tablets on which a single drop of the "diluted" medication has been placed. The "solvent" is usually a water/alcohol mixture. The lowest dilution I found listed on any of these bottles was 6X, but most of the dilutions were 30X or even, in the case of oscillococcinum, an astounding 200C. (Oscillococcinum, which is derived from duck liver, is the standard homeopathic remedy for flu. As we will see, however, its widespread use poses little threat to the duck population.)
What do these notations mean? The notation 6X means that the active substance is diluted 1:10 in a water-alcohol mixture and succussed. This procedure (diluting and succussing) is repeated sequentially six times. The concentration of the active substance is then one part in ten raised to the sixth power (106), or one part per million. An analysis of the pills would be expected to find numerous impurities at the parts-per-million level.
The notation 30X means the 1:10 dilution, followed by succussion, is repeated thirty times. That results in one part in 1030, or 1 followed by thirty zeroes. I don't know what the name for that number is, but let me put it this way: you would need to take some two billion pills, a total of about a thousand tons of lactose, to expect to get even one molecule of the medication. In other words, the pills contain nothing but lactose and the inevitable impurities. This is literally no-medicine medicine.
And what of 200C? That means the active substance is sequentially diluted 1:100 and succussed two hundred times. That would leave you with only one molecule of the active substance to every one hundred to the two hundredth power molecules of solvent, or 1 followed by four hundred zeroes (10400). But the total number of atoms in the entire universe is estimated to be about one googol, which is 1 followed by a mere one hundred zeroes.
This is the point at which we are all supposed to realize how ridiculous this is and share a good laugh. But homeopaths don't laugh. They've done the same calculation. And while they agree that not a single molecule of the active substance could remain, they contend it doesn't matter, the water/alcohol mixture somehow remembers that the substance was once there. The process of succussion is presumed to charge the entire volume of the liquid with the same memory. Is there any evidence for such a memory?
Skeptical Inquirer - Jan 4, 2008

Labels: UK

One of the most significant but widely misunderstood phenomena is the placebo effect. Research shows that the placebo effect can be greater and is far more ubiquitous than commonly thought.
If it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't.
-Tweedledee, in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass
One of the questions that skeptics are asked most persistently is to explain how acupuncture, homeopathy, faith healing, Qigong, and other treatments work. Skeptics often use the placebo effect-a response to the act of being treated, not to the treatment itself-as an answer, but usually to no avail. I believe that's because most people, both logical and fuzzy thinkers, don't truly understand what the placebo effect is.
Spontaneous remission and the placebo effect, which are known as nonspecific effects, are significant phenomena that have great impact on consumers and health-care professionals. Recovery from illness, whether it follows self-medication, legitimate treatment, or avant-garde therapies, may lead one to conclude that the treatment received was the cause of the return to good health.
A common saying is that if you treat a cold it will last a week, but if you leave it alone it will be gone in seven days. Even serious diseases have periods of exacerbation and remission; arthritis and multiple sclerosis are prime examples. There are even cases of cancers inexplicably disappearing. The major logical error in plotting disease progress is: post hoc, ergo propter hoc ("after it, therefore, because of it"). This common fallacy credits improvement to a specific treatment just because the improvement followed the treatment.
H. K. Beecher's seminal paper "The Powerful Placebo" (Beecher 1955) is among the most frequently cited and was undoubtedly responsible for the double-blind study design having been adopted as the universal standard. Beecher reported on twenty-six studies and arrived at an average placebo response rate of 32.5 percent. From this figure comes the often cited statement that a fixed fraction (one-third) of the population responds to placebos. But this is a myth. A recent paper (Roberts et al. 1993) concluded that "under conditions of heightened expectations, the power of nonspecific effects (placebos) far exceeds that commonly reported in the literature."
John E. Dodes/Skeptical Inquirer - 4 Jan 2008

Labels: UK

Aromatherapy, homoeopathy and other popular complementary therapies are to be regulated for the first time under a government-backed scheme to be established this year.
The new Natural Healthcare Council – which is being backed by the Prince of Wales – will be able to strike off errant or incompetent practitioners. It will also set minimum standards for practitioners to ensure that therapists are properly qualified.
Patients will be able to complain to the council about practitioners and the new body will be modelled on the General Medical Council and other similar statutory bodies.
Millions of Britons currently spend £130 million a year on complementary treatments and it is estimated that this will reach £200 million over the next four years. Among the practices to be covered by the scheme would be aromatherapy, reflexology, massage, nutrition, shiatzu, reiki, naturopathy, yoga, homoeopathy, cranial osteopathy and the Alexander and Bowen techniques.
Research also shows that more than two thirds (68 per cent) of people in the UK believe that complementary medicine is as valid as conventional treatment.
However, there have been long-standing concerns over its regulation. At present anyone can set themselves up as an acupuncturist, homoeopath, herbalist, or other complementary therapist. However, a poll for The Times found that three quarters of people assumed that anyone practising complementary therapy is trained and registered by a professional body.
Nigel Hawkes/Times Online, UK - Jan 4, 2008

Labels: UK

According to the headlines this week, NHS homoeopathy is in sharp decline. Only 37 per cent of NHS trusts provide any sort of homoeopathic service, and more than a quarter have stopped or reduced funding over the past year. This threatens the survival of those homoeopathic clinics that remain.
If the NHS withdrew funding for all treatments that had no evidence base to support them, there would be some considerable holes in conventional medicine services. We should be clear that this debate is not about whether homoeopathy works or not. It is about resources.
The area of allergy exemplifies exactly why homoeopathy needs to take a back seat in the face of competing priorities. This week, the medical director of the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital justified NHS funding for homoeopathy on the basis that it produced “a fairly large improvement” in 50 per cent of children with eczema.
There are millions of people with allergies, but only a handful of specialist NHS clinics, and pitifully little training for GPs in this area. There has been a sevenfold rise in hospital admissions for life-threatening allergy attacks over the past decade, and these could be prevented by specialist assessment and treatment, which simply doesn’t exist owing to lack of investment.
The relative few that are helped by homoeopathy have to be balanced against the needs of a much larger group currently with little or no services, some of whom will die without them. There is no question in my mind what health planners should do in these circumstances.
Vivienne Parry/Times Online, UK - Feb 1, 2008

Labels: UK

Scientists and doctors who declare that homeopathy is bunk because of the dilution effect don’t understand the qualities of water, a leading chemist has claimed.
Rustum Roy, research professor of materials at Arizona State University, says that water does indeed have a ‘memory’ and can contain elements of an original substance, even after it has been diluted one million times.
For most scientists, this is an impossibility, and one that defies all scientific laws. But, says Prof Roy, that’s because they haven’t made a special study of water. For those who have, such as Prof Martin Chaplin of the South Bank University in London, the debunkers seem to merely hold to the position that they simply don’t believe it. “Such unscientific rhetoric is heard from the otherwise sensible scientists, with a narrow view of the subject and without any examination or appreciation of the full body of evidence, and reflects badly on them,” he says.
Prof Eugene Stanley at Boston University has catalogued 64 “highly anomalous” property changes in pure water, which, according to materials science, means there must be the same number of different structures in water, or ‘polymorphism’, as he calls it.
The Guardian, December 19, 2007/What Doctors Don't Tell You, UK - Dec 20, 2007

Labels: UK

The BBC's Today programme and the Daily Mail have been attacked by the Government's chief scientific adviser.
Sir David King criticised the two news outlets for their coverage of genetically-modified food and the MMR vaccine.
In one of his final public appearances before stepping down from his post, he also warned that homeopathic medicine was putting lives at risk.Speaking before the Commons Innovation, Universities and Skills Select Committee, Sir David said Britain's failure to embrace GM crops had cost the economy up to £4billion.
Singling out John Humphrys, the main presenter of Radio Four's Today for particular criticism, he described coverage of the controversial issue as "a massive shot in the foot for the UK economy".
He said there was no evidence homeopathy did any good. Rather, it is a danger to health, because patients may mistakenly believe it can cure or treat serious illness.
"There is not one jot of evidence supporting the notion that homeopathic medicines are of any assistance whatsoever," he added.
"They are a risk to the population because people may take them expecting they are dealing with a serious problem."
Sir David steps down on December 31.
Fiona MacRae/Daily Mail, UK - Dec 07, 2007

Labels: UK

Doctors and health charities have expressed concern about a conference which will examine the role of homeopathy in treating HIV.
The event includes discussion of what have been described as "healing remedies" for HIV and Aids.
One of the speakers believes that the treatment, involving flower essences, can be used to halt the Aids epidemic.
But the event, which marks World Aids Day, has been criticised by doctors who say the treatment is not effective.
About 80 homeopaths and workers from HIV projects are gathering for the workshop in south London today.
It will include discussion about a remedy for HIV and Aids which is said to have been used in Africa for five years.
Medical charity Health Watch has criticised the event.
Its chairman said the number of Aids cases in Africa had been exacerbated by a refusal to accept scientific knowledge about the condition.
The Terrence Higgins Trust, which campaigns on HIV issues, said homeopathic remedies alone could not reduce the activity of the virus, nor halt the onset of Aids.
BBC News, UK - Nov 30, 2007

Labels: UK

Doctors and health charities have expressed concern about a conference which will examine the role of homeopathy in treating HIV.
The event includes discussion of what have been described as "healing remedies" for HIV and Aids. One of the speakers believes that the treatment, involving flower essences, can be used to halt the Aids epidemic.
But the event, which marks World Aids Day, has been criticised by doctors who say the treatment is not effective.
About 80 homeopaths and workers from HIV projects are gathering for the workshop in south London today.
It will include discussion about a remedy for HIV and Aids which is said to have been used in Africa for five years. Medical charity, HealthWatch, has criticised the event.
Its chairman said the number of Aids cases in Africa had been exacerbated by a refusal to accept scientific knowledge about the condition.
The Terrence Higgins Trust, which campaigns on HIV issues, said homeopathic remedies alone could not reduce the activity of the virus, nor halt the onset of Aids.
BBC News, UK - 30 Nov 2007

Labels: UK

It is important to realise that the current vogue for alternative medicine is not really about alternative medicine at all - it is about us. The whole point of alternative medicine is that it doesn’t change; the techniques of alternative medicine were developed several thousand years ago and you are meant to stick with the procedure as a fixed entity. Relative to scientific medicine, which is constantly attacked by scepticism and the proposal of newer and better procedures, alternative medicine is a closed shop. Alternative procedures are what they are and they are not open to development and change: they work because they work, end of story. So if alternative medicine is becoming more popular, then it is clearly not because of any changes in the practice of alternative medicine; it is because of changes in us.
Three things have changed. Firstly, we are physically much healthier. In all corners of the world, except in the former Soviet Union, life expectancy is rising and people are physically healthier for longer stretches of time during their lives. Many factors have contributed to this happy state of affairs, including improved living and working conditions and the rise of scientific medicine that has yielded vaccination programmes, antibiotics, steroids, radiotherapy, anti-viral medicines, and so on (2).

Secondly, and relatedly, having resolved many serious illnesses that blighted lives right up to the middle of the last century, scientific medicine is bumping up against harder problems associated with mechanical wear and tear, ageing and the existential distress of living in ‘a world without meaning’ (3). Although physical health and longevity both trend in a positive direction, there has been a swathe of new problems that are defined by the subjective report of symptoms rather than the objective signs of disease or damage (4). These are disorders such as non-specific low back pain, fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome – illnesses of the ‘worried well’, or, more precisely, the ‘worried sick’, encouraged by a combination of people being healthy enough to be concerned about symptoms that are unlikely to indicate ill-health and being constantly bombarded with messages about ill-health. It is a rare individual who is unaware of the apparent need to reduce caloric intake, watch their units of alcohol, stay out of the sun, eat five fruit and veg a day, exercise, self examine and heed the occasional twinge as a potential harbinger of disease and death (5). When the banalities of everyday life - eating, drinking, catching the occasional ray of sunshine - are perceived as potential threats to continued life, it is little wonder that people are worried and flock to their GP to parade symptoms without illness.

Thirdly, medicine can be horribly impersonal. Doctors are not much interested in your existential concerns. In fact, your doctor is probably pretty keen to look straight through you to find the disease process lurking below. Of course you are more than your illness and a good doctor will at least attempt to engage you as he or she seeks the source of your sickness. In something like Britain’s National Health Service system, however, which is driven by political and economic targets, the good doctor has no time to see you and barely has enough time to see your illness. It’s much nicer to see an alternative practitioner who takes the time to get to know you, and prepare a treatment that is apparently tailored just for the kind of person you are and the illness or problem you are carrying.
Spiked, UK -Nov 28, 2007

Labels: UK

Last week, novelist Jeanette Winterson published an intelligent and lucid account of why she believes homeopathy works. Three days later, along came Ben Goldacre, who gave us a longer piece showing us all the errors of Winterson's ways. Yesterday, Tom Whipple reiterated several hoary, tired, and inept anti-homeopathy arguments in order to condemn the 206 MPs who signed an early day motion in support of NHS homeopathic hospitals.
Goldacre's article was laden with his usual sarcasm. In it, he paraded his superior knowledge and accused homeopaths of "killing patients" and being "morons". As a fellow sceptic I understand where he is coming from; I identify with his pro-science stance, and have as little time for unscientific nostrums as he, but I came away from this piece with a feeling of embarrassment, a conviction he doesn't know what he's talking about, just like Whipple.
His ignorance is most grossly displayed in the preface to his piece:
"Time after time, properly conducted scientific studies have proved that homeopathic remedies work no better than simple placebos."
What utter hooey. There has never been a proper trial of homeopathy. There have been countless trials based on the methodology applied to orthodox medicines, as if homeopathy is a form of orthodox medicine. Some have been positive, most negative. This proves nothing, because what they have tested was never homeopathy in the first place.
In orthodox trials, all patients in the "real" group are given the same drug for the same length of time. Homeopaths do not work like that. For one condition, they may select one of a dozen or more remedies, chosen after long and detailed interviews. They see patients repeatedly over the course of months or years, refining and changing prescriptions, and watching a steady development that follows a strong internal logic. It is a long process. But this is how homeopathy works: mangling it for the chance to jump on the clinical trial bandwagon is not science. No scientist of repute carries out tests of A by running trials of B. All the vaunted meta-analyses that proclaim the ineffectiveness of homeopathy are scientifically illiterate, as Ben Goldacre seems to be in this instance.
He must know something as elementary as this about homeopathy, yet he puts up an Aunt Sally, "proves" homeopathy does not work, and calls all homeopaths "morons". This is not science, and as someone who believes strongly in science, I would challenge the good doctor to prove that his vaunted trials had anything to do with homeopathy at all. It would be to his credit to come clean on this and to help design trials that would match the homeopathic way of prescribing. If he isn't willing to do that in collaboration with homeopathic doctors who know as much as he does about the science and are not morons, he is demeaning the very notion of scientific medicine.
Denis MacEoin/Guardian Unlimited, UK - Nov 22, 2007

Labels: UK

It was a joy to listen to The Lancet’s editor-in-chief Richard Horton during a recent debate on homeopathy on BBC Radio 4. “There are five homeopathic hospitals in the National Health Service, 40 per cent of GPs refer patients for homeopathic treatments,” he told listeners, “and there’s not one shred of evidence to support homeopathic efficacy for any disease.” After publishing a series of articles on homeopathy, the respected medical journal was coming out firmly in the “anti” camp.
However, there was still something about the debate he had with the homeopathic doctor, who was defending his own corner, that jarred. The homeopath accused some of his opponents of behaving like “playground bullies” and there seemed to me a suggestion that to be anti-homeopathy meant you were anti-caring.
It would be nice to see progress in the debate on homeopathy. The bottom line, and no homeopath with half an eye on the evidence can ignore it, is that homeopathic remedies are no better than taking a placebo. Homeopathy does not work. We should accept this and move on.
However, we must not dismiss the placebo effect as well. The placebo effect – where a chemically inactive treatment produces beneficial effects – is one of the most useful, consistent, cheap, and side-effect free medical treatments we have. The problem is rather that one of the main ways we distribute the placebo effect on the NHS – via homeopathic hospitals – is expensive and unfair as only a few can benefit from it.
This problem highlights one of the NHS’s main challenges: how to practise modern medicine while getting the best out of the placebo effect. Why should it be that only those who believe in homeopathy are allowed the benefits of the placebo effect?
Margaret McCartney/Financial Times, UK - Nov 23, 2007

Labels: UK

In a significant development, homeopathy – a favorite form of medical treatment among Indians that has been popular for nearly 250 years now, has now come under attack from the British doctors.
While the esteemed medical journal 'Lancet' has blasted the popular medical practice, widespread protests sparked off in Britain following the announcement of a seminar to be organized by the European Society of Homeopaths to discuss the role of homeopathy in treating HIV/AIDS on December 1.
Meanwhile, homeopath doctors who have been using this form of medicine to cure as well as enhance the quality of life of HIV/AIDS victims in India are gearing up to strike back at Baum’s report. They say that studies conducted in Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai have found that homeopathy greatly helps HIV patients by improving their nutrition, lowering their anxiety and improving their health. On the contrary, these medicos alleged that homeopathy is cheaper and easier to practice compared to other procedures and surgeries, many doctors in the West are becoming apprehensive about the future of their own income.
Chandan Das/News Locale, India - Nov 18, 2007

Labels: India, UK

Publications like the Lancet are waging a "deliberate campaign" against homeopathy, it has been claimed.
Dr Bob Leckridge, former president of the Faculty of Homeopathy, accused anti-homeopathy activists of a concerted effort to remove the therapy from the NHS.
"Sadly it's not fair play because you only need to go to certain sites... blogs... and read the campaigners jumping up and down in glee like playground bullies when Tunbridge Wells' patients lose their homeopathic service," he said on this morning's Today programme.
"In fact the campaign involves going along to public meetings, infiltrating them not with local people, and attempting to persuade PCTs to not purchase homeopathy. It's not a level playing field, it's not open, it's not clear and it's quite devious."
Dr Leckridge reiterated the traditional argument of homeopaths that the therapy's focus on the individual rather than the illness provides a service the NHS cannot.
"Two-thirds of the patients who come to homeopathic hospitals on the NHS say the treatment relieves their symptoms. What are you going to do with patients who the so-called evidence based treatments have failed? You have to offer them something.
InTheNews.co.uk , Nov 16, 2007

Labels: UK

A two-part special report explains how homeopathy faces growing pressure in the UK, while it enjoys an remarkable boom in India.
The first part of the Special Report, written by Udani Samarasekera, The Lancet Senior Editor, writes about the anti-homeopathy movement which seems to have been gathering pace in the UK over the last couple of years. Anti-homeopathy campaigners are irritated by a symposium which will take place in London, on December 1st; it is looking at the role of homeopathy in HIV/AIDS treatment and is organized by the Society of Homeopaths.
Michael Baum, professor emeritus of surgery, UCL (University College London), a well-known critic of homeopathy, suggests that homeopaths are becoming overconfident.
Baum, and UCL colleague David Colquhoun, among others sent a letter to all Primary Care Trusts in the United Kingdom expressing their concerns about homeopathy gaining a footing as part of the NHS (National Health Service).
Surprisingly, and to the dismay of several UK doctors and scientists, homeopathy received some unanticipated support. The MHRA (UK Medicines and Regulatory Agency) decreed that manufacturers will only be required to provide safety evidence and data on what the homeopathic remedy is traditionally used for - this is not the case with conventional medicines.
Raekha Prasad, a journalist, writes about the booming homeopathy industry in India in the second part of the Special Edition. In India 100 million people depend exclusively on homeopathy for their health care.
According to SP Singh, Indian Ministry of Health, homeopathy has no side-effects. He added that a small amount of medicine can help a large number of people. He adds "Homoeopathy has a biological effect..all homoeopathic medicines are therapeutically proven." This is despite the fact that most evidence points the other way.
India is in a tiny minority in its recognition of homeopathy as a legitimate system of medicine.
Medical News Today, UK - Nov 16, 2007

Labels: India, UK

London: Even as homeopathy gains popularity in India, it is coming under pressure in Britain, with a proposed seminar on its role in the treatment of HIV/AIDS sparking protests.
The seminar, organised by the Society of Homeopaths and scheduled to be held here on Dec 1, has invited criticism from Michael Baum, professor emeritus of surgery at the University College London (UCL), according to the medical journal The Lancet.
The Lancet has also slammed the growing popularity of homeopathy in India.
'People say homoeopathy cannot do any harm but when it is being promoted for HIV then there is a serious problem,' Baum is quoted as saying in a two-part special report in the medical journal.
Baum and others had sent a letter last May to all primary care trusts in Britain to voice concern about homoeopathy treatment through the National Health Service (NHS).
Seemingly in response, one trust stopped NHS funding for the Tunbridge Wells Homeopathic Hospital, one of five that provide homoeopathy treatment on the NHS.
Despite this, says the report, homoeopathy remains popular with the public, with the 2007 market estimated to be worth 38 million pounds ($78 million). This figure is expected to rise to 46 million pounds in 2012.
Baum believes the public backs homeopathy in the belief that it is herbal medicine.
Several studies, including one by The Lancet, have shown that the clinical effects of homoeopathic remedies are placebo effects.
Earthtimes, UK - Nov 15, 2007

Labels: India, UK

Picture this. I am staying in a remote cottage in Cornwall without a car. I have a temperature of 102, spots on my throat, delirium, and a book to finish writing. My desperate publisher suggests I call Hilary Fairclough, a homeopath who has practices in London and Penzance. She sends round a remedy called Lachesis, made from snake venom. Four hours later I have no symptoms whatsoever.
Dramatic stuff, and enough to convince me that while it might use snake venom, homeopathy is no snake oil designed for gullible hypochrondriacs. Right now, though, a fierce debate is raging between those, like me, who trust homeopathy because it works for them, and those who call it shamanistic claptrap, without clinical proof or any scientific base.
There have been a number of articles in the press recently criticising homeopathic remedies as worthless at best, and potentially lethal at worst, if they are being taken instead of tried-and-tested conventional medicines for conditions such as malaria or HIV.
I have found myself cited, and drawn into this, because I am on record as supporting homeopathic practice in general, and in particular the Maun homeopathy project, a clinic in Botswana set up by Fairclough.
The organisation Sense About Science and journalists such as Ben Goldacre and Nick Cohen are targeting a symposium in London in December that will discuss HIV and Aids and the homeopathic response to such diseases. Of particular concern is a claim by the British homeopath Peter Chapel and his Dutch colleague, Harry Van Der Zee, that Chapel has developed a remedy, PC1, that can be used to treat the HIV virus.
As a patron of Fotac (Friends of the Treatment Action Campaign) that has been fighting President Mbeke's lunatic insistence that HIV sufferers just need Vitamin C and a good diet, I am dismayed by any claim that may deter HIV sufferers from taking anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs). And so is Peter Fisher, an NHS doctor, director of the Faculty of Homeopaths, and, incidentally, homeopath to the Queen. Good homeopaths know the value of conventional medicine and do not seek to undermine that value. Fairclough's clinic, and her talk at the symposium, concentrate on using homeopathy to support the ARV programme by alleviating the side-effects of ARVs, and boosting the patient's immune system so they are better able to fight off the opportunistic viruses that follow behind HIV, and the drugs necessary to suppress it. There is no suggestion that homeopathy can replace ARVs.
Jeanette Winterson/Guardian Unlimited, UK - Nov 12, 2007

Labels: UK

Homeopathy is one of the most hotly debated areas of alternative medicine. Yet its supporters point out that the numbers of those turning to homeopathic remedies is growing by around 20 per cent a year and last year 22 per cent of people in the UK bought remedies for a wide range of ailments.
It's estimated that around 30 million people in Europe visit homeopaths and here the therapy has had many high-profile supporters including the Queen, Sir Paul McCartney, Jude Law and David Beckham.
Homeopathic remedies differ from conventional drug-related treatments by using raw extracts from plants or animals, or powders of minerals and salts made into a `tincture' and mixed with alcohol.
Patients are given tiny diluted doses of something that causes symptoms similar to those they are already experiencing.
The theory is that a minute quantity will stimulate the body's own healing powers without side-effects.
But among the medical profession and scientists there are those who believe this theory flies in the face of science which follows the principle that the stronger the medicine - or the more concentrated a dissolved substance - the more powerful it becomes.
Homeopathy's outspoken critics include Prof Michael Baum, Professor Emeritus of Surgery at University College, London.
"There's a complete lack of clinical evidence to support alternative remedies," he says.
"Medicine is based on evidence. If a drug or surgical treatment does not pass stringent surgical trials, it is abandoned.
"The results of clinical trials are published whether they are favourable or not. Yet when it comes to homeopathy, the standards of evidence are highly questionable."
But Andy Kirk, chair of The Society of Homeopaths which is the largest body of professional homeopaths in Europe, points to its general acceptance within the National Health Service as it has been available since its inception in 1948.
He says: "Around 70 per cent of GPs feel complementary medicine should be freely available.
"Also, substantial savings could be made by introducing homeopathy into general practice."
There are around 3,900 registered homeopaths practising in the UK and five NHS-funded homeopathic hospitals.
Gabrielle Fagan/Manchester Evening News, UK - Oct 29, 2007

Labels: UK

On 1 December, faith healers will meet at Roots & Shoots in south London to discuss how to treat Aids with magic pills. They won't call themselves faith healers, of course, or shamans or juju men. They will present themselves as 'homeopaths': serious men and women whose remedies are as good as conventional medicine.
According to the advance publicity, Hilary Fairclough, a homeopath endorsed by no less than Jeanette Winterson, will describe the 'impressive' results from her clinic in Botswana. Harry van der Zee, co-founder of the Amma Resonance Healing Foundation, will say that 'in just a few days or weeks' African Aids patients he treated became 'symptom-free and able to return to their jobs and schools or to look after their children again'. All in all, the Society of Homeopaths promises to provide 'fascinating insights' for World Aids Day.
It can do no such thing. Of all the pseudo-sciences on offer, homeopathy is the most obviously spurious. Devised by Samuel Hahnemann in the late 18th century, it holds that the smaller the dose of a mineral or herb the more potent it is. Thus, if you go into a chemist and buy a homeopathic sulphur remedy marked 30C, the proportion of sulphur to inert packaging in a pill is 1 to 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. A glass of water is more likely to cure you.
Yet dismissing homeopathy as quackery given by and for the feeble-minded is surprisingly hard. Anti-elitism dominates our society and many feel uncomfortable saying that the six million people who take alternative medicines are foolish - to put the case against them at its kindest. They sincerely believe in phoney remedies and sincerity trumps sense in modern culture.
In rich and privileged societies where good health is taken for granted, homeopathy feels somehow natural when set against cold, conventional medicine. Today's audiences have no difficulty believing doctors and drugs companies are more villainous than their alternative rivals. Scrabbling around for a new plot after the end of the Cold War, John le Carre came up with The Constant Gardener, a story about drug manufacturers murdering Africans. 'Big pharmaceuticals are right up there with the arms dealers,' declares one character, who couldn't tell the difference between an antibiotic and a cluster bomb. Far from being dismissed as shallow, The Constant Gardener was a hit as a novel and a film.
You might have thought that the medical establishment would make a stand for science. After all, the reputations of the chief medical officer, Department of Health civil servants and doctors depend on their being able to say that they have tested their remedies in double-blind trials and understand why and how they work. But they happily go along with fake treatments that don't stand up to the most cursory scrutiny.
GPs use homeopaths as a dumping ground for hypochondriacs and the state pays for five homeopathic 'hospitals'. With the flood of money to the NHS about to be stemmed, Whitehall ought to close them and concentrate scarce resources on medicine that works.
However, any minister bold enough to argue for the effective use of public funds would face strong opposition. About 100 MPs signed a Commons motion asserting that homeopathic hospitals were 'valuable national assets' that could magic away conditions from eczema to irritable bowel syndrome. Well-known loons were joined by otherwise intelligent politicians who were content to have constituents conned.
Maybe they believed the standard justification for the homeopathy that the 'placebo effect' is a real psychological phenomenon. Patients suffering from minor ailments can feel better after taking a sugared pill. I've never liked the argument because there would be no placebo effect if patients were told the truth. To endorse homeopathy on the NHS is to endorse state deception. In his forthcoming Counterknowledge, Damian Thompson of the Daily Telegraph goes further and makes a persuasive case that what we tend to dismiss as harmless fads for Cherie Blair and her kind cause immense suffering in the wider world.
The NHS's backing for public homeopathic hospitals legitimises private homeopaths. An investigation by Newsnight showed 10 of them putting patients' lives in danger by rejecting anti-malarial drugs for pills containing infinitesimal quantities of garlic and citronella oil. But you have to turn to the Africa le Carre couldn't see to understand how the bugbears of people we think of as eccentrics can turn lethal.
Nick Cohen/The Observer, UK, October 28, 2007

Labels: UK

In the mid 18th century, British doctors were warning against "the faddish ... and dangerously Frenchified" practice of physical examination, regarding it as wildly inferior to the art of case history taking. Such conservatism is typical of medicine, but over the course of the next century, practitioners became seduced by an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the body's interior. The ascendancy of "biomedicine', as Bivins terms the western medical model, suited a populace under permanent threat of infectious disease. Move on another 100 years, though, and the patients' needs have changed. Chronic and degenerative conditions have risen inexorably as such terrors as smallpox, diphtheria and syphilis have been quelled or banished. Disenchantment with the perceived impersonality and ineffectuality of "industrial" medicine has set in, and patients have begun to seek out types of healing that take into account their subjective experience.
This is one of the many reasons Bivins gives for the current rise in popularity of alternative medicine. But alternative medicine is in itself a contentious term, as the question mark in the title suggests; 80% of the world's population are estimated to use non-western forms of medicine, yet the privileging of the biomedical model ensures that these often elegant and effective systems continue to be regarded as primitive and unscientific. The problem, as Bivins sees it, is that "biomedicine positions itself as possessing absolute knowledge - knowledge that is true for and of all bodies, everywhere, independent of culture." The only options available for other forms of medicine, from acupuncture to Aryuveda to homeopathy, are to set themselves in opposition, or to take up the subservient role implied by the term "complementary".
Though we tend to consider it a modern debate, this power-struggle is not new. Europeans have always had a taste for exotic forms of medicine, and Bivins is excellent at tracing these. In 1662, Hermann Busschof, a Dutch minister living in what is now Jakarta, reluctantly underwent moxabustion for his chronic gout. The technique, in which small cones of Artemisia vulgaris are burnt on the patient's body, will be familiar to anyone who has ever visited an acupuncturist. So efficacious was this remedy that Busschof published a pamphlet raging against "the carelessness and conceitedness of the Europeans".

The intolerance with which western medicine regards rival systems is rather more understandable in the case of mesmerism, invented in 1775, which resembled an act for the Victorian stage. The patient, typically a fashionable upper-class woman, grasped the handles of a large tub filled with water and metal bars. "These patients ... were fixed by the intense gaze, and sometimes stroked by the wand, of Dr Mesmer. If a "crisis" was produced, the individual might faint, cry out - perhaps with pleasure, perhaps in pain - or even fall into a fit."
It was the element of sexuality in Mesmer's showmanship that most troubled the medical professionals and the technique, despite its apparent efficacy as an alternative to anaesthesia, was eradicated. Since the 1960s, though, pushed by consumer demand, alternative medicine has been gaining in stature and legal status. Though the accusations of quackery have by no means subsided, Bivins finds evidence to suggest that biomedicine itself may not be immune to the lure of pluralism. A study of acupuncture-use in Norway revealed that 67% of doctors use at least one Chinese concept in explaining the technique to colleagues. The reduction in intellectual arrogance that this shift suggests is to be warmly welcomed.
- Guardian Unlimited BooksReview
Alternative Medicine? A History
by Roberta Bivins
238pp, Oxford, £14.99

Olivia Laing/Guardian Unlimited, UK Saturday October 27, 2007

Labels: UK

The Queen is a fan, as is David Beckham, and people in Worcestershire are better placed than most to reap the benefits of the alternative medicine they swear by - homeopathy.
Last year, 22 per cent of people in the UK bought homeopathic remedies for a variety of ailments, and its supporters claim the number of people trying the therapy is growing by about 20 per cent a year.
There are almost 4,000 registered homeopaths in the UK, and Worcester is especially well-served by one of the few homeopathic pharmacies in the country, as well as a number of therapy centres and practising homeopaths.
Karen Runacres, a full-time homeopathic adviser at D L Ogle, in St John's, said: "The success of our pharmacy is demonstrated by the fact that many of our customers find when they move away they can't get the same level of care and choice of products which is avalable in Worcester. And that even goes for people who have moved abroad."
Homeopathy has been around for 200 years and at its heart is the idea that a condition can be treated with diluted doses of a substance which causes the symptoms. For example, coffee, which can cause sleep disturbance, can be used as a homeopathic remedy for insomnia.
It's even said to help household pets scared by fireworks. Karen said: "Nervous dogs fearful of fireworks can be settled with homeopathic granules shaken on the tongue."
Steve Husbands, who holds clinics at Worcester Natural Therapy Centre in the Tything, said: "People use homeopathy because they are looking for an alternative to drug therapies. I think people are more aware of the possible side effects of drugs and want something that helps their condition but avoids the side effects."
Critics, however, say that homeopathy has consistently failed to produce results in clinical tests which differ greatly from a placebo.
Supporters say homeopathy should not be compared directly with conventional medicine as its approach is completely different. It looks at symptoms of ill health as an expression of an underlying problem and suggests remedies to restore the balance so the symptoms will gradually subside.
It is often used with conventional medicine or as an alternative if other methods are not effective.
Karen said: "The question of how and why homeopathy works cannot be addressed sufficiently to satisfy some scientific minds. One reason for its popularity is that of patient choice. Patients want to be involved in their healthcare and many more are choosing holistic and natural treatments."
Steve said a homeopathic treatment always begins with a thorough consultation: "The first consultation is usually an hour or an hour-and-a-half and we go over how the symptoms are affecting them on every level. We try to get a broader picture then pick the remedies that suit them."
Homeopathy has been available on the NHS since 1948, and GPs in the area are increasingly willing to refer patients to registered homeopaths.
James Connell/Worcester News, UK - Oct 24, 2007

Labels: UK

Homeopathy is one of the most hotly debated areas of alternative medicine.
Yet its supporters point out the number of people turning to those homeopathic remedies is growing by 20 per cent a year and last year 22 per cent of UK people bought remedies for a range of ailments.
It's estimated around 30 million people in Europe visit homeopaths and in the UK the therapy has had high-profile supporters including the Queen, Sir Paul McCartney, Jude Law and David Beckham.
Homeopathic remedies differ from conventional drug-related treatments by using raw extracts from plants or animals, or powders of minerals and salts made into a 'tincture' and mixed with alcohol.
The theory is a minute quantity will stimulate the body's own healing powers without side effects.
But in the medical profession there are those who believe this theory flies in the face of science which follows the principle that the stronger the medicine - or the more concentrated a dissolved substance - the more powerful it will then become.
Homeopathy's outspoken critics include Professor Michael Baum, Professor Emeritus of Surgery at University College, London.
He says: "There's a lack of clinical evidence to support these alternative remedies. Medicine is based on evidence. If a drug or surgical treatment does not pass stringent trials, it's abandoned.
"The results of clinical trials are published whether favourable or not. With homeopathy, evidence is questionable."
Andy Kirk, chair of The Society of Homeopaths which is the largest body of professional homeopaths in Europe, points to its general acceptance within the National Health Service - available since its inception in 1948.
There are almost 3,900 registered homeopaths in the UK.
He says: "Around 70 per cent of GPs feel complementary medicine should be freely available. Savings could be made by introducing homeopathy into general practice."
Glasgow Daily Record, UK - Oct 22, 2007

Labels: UK

Homeopathy is one of the most hotly debated areas of alternative medicine.
Yet its supporters point out the number of people turning to those homeopathic remedies is growing by 20 per cent a year and last year 22 per cent of UK people bought remedies for a range of ailments.
It's estimated around 30 million people in Europe visit homeopaths and in the UK the therapy has had high-profile supporters including the Queen, Sir Paul McCartney, Jude Law and David Beckham.
Homeopathic remedies differ from conventional drug-related treatments by using raw extracts from plants or animals, or powders of minerals and salts made into a 'tincture' and mixed with alcohol.
The theory is a minute quantity will stimulate the body's own healing powers without side effects.
But in the medical profession there are those who believe this theory flies in the face of science which follows the principle that the stronger the medicine - or the more concentrated a dissolved substance - the more powerful it will then become.
Homeopathy's outspoken critics include Professor Michael Baum, Professor Emeritus of Surgery at University College, London.
He says: "There's a lack of clinical evidence to support these alternative remedies. Medicine is based on evidence. If a drug or surgical treatment does not pass stringent trials, it's abandoned.
"The results of clinical trials are published whether favourable or not. With homeopathy, evidence is questionable."
Andy Kirk, chair of The Society of Homeopaths which is the largest body of professional homeopaths in Europe, points to its general acceptance within the National Health Service - available since its inception in 1948.
There are almost 3,900 registered homeopaths in the UK.
He says: "Around 70 per cent of GPs feel complementary medicine should be freely available. Savings could be made by introducing homeopathy into general practice."
Glasgow Daily Record, UK - Oct 22, 2007

Labels: UK

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa: Many parents are left questioning how to safely administer cough, cold and flu products to in their children this winter. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently raised concerns over patterns of misuse leading to overdose. Although initial focus was centered on infants younger than 2 years of age, an FDA panel convened on October 18 to review safety for cough suppressants, decongestants and antihistamine agents in children younger than 6 years of age.
"Antihistamines cause drowsiness and dry mouth while decongestants may act like a stimulant. Suppressing the cough interferes with the body's way of clearing the lungs, and these medications should be used sparingly," writes Lauren Feder, M.D., in Natural Baby and Childcare (Hatherleigh Press, 2006). In her book, this Los Angeles general practitioner, whose patients primarily consist of children, recommends using homeopathic medicine as one of several safe treatment options.
Homeopathic medicines, which include over-the-counter (OTC) drugs for cough, cold and flu symptoms, are made of micro-doses of natural ingredients. This type of medicine is generally considered one of the safest choices for self-treatment. They do not contain any of the ingredients under question for use with youngsters that are commonly found in other OTC decongestants and antihistamines.
"They work in a different way," explains Dr. Feder about homeopathic medicines. "The principle is that the body knows what to do best for itself. Rather than suppressing symptoms, these medicines work with the body by sending it a signal to help rebalance itself. What I like about using a homeopathic medicine is that there is no risk of overdosing, nor does it interact with another medication."
For years, Dr. Feder has recommended Oscillococcinum(R), one of the best- selling homeopathic medicines in U.S. natural markets. With a safety record of 65 years in the French market and 20 years in the U.S. market, Oscillo(R), as it's also known, is supported by clinical studies and has no reported side effects. Dr. Feder says she's seen great results and has never seen a negative reaction in her practice.
"It's an OTC that can be useful for nearly everyone in the family household-from 2 to 102. Because homeopathic medicines are not body-mass dependent, there's no need to give more or less medicine depending on body weight," says Dr. Feder. "Oscillo works best when taken at the first sign of fever, chills and body aches. And there's no wresting with kids to take it either because they love the taste of Oscillo's melt-away pellets."
Oscillo is regulated as a drug by the FDA.(1) A 2006 survey of pharmacists through Pharmacy Times magazine ranked Oscillo as the number one pharmacist- recommended homeopathic flu medicine.
Boiron, PRNewswire/Earthtimes, UK, Oct 18, 2007

Labels: UK

Health bosses have recommended that NHS funding for a homeopathic hospital in Kent should be stopped.
West Kent Primary Care Trust has been conducting a review of all its funding.
Up until now, part of it has been paying for patients to be treated at the Tunbridge Wells Homeopathic Hospital, or at a clinic in Bromley.
Spokeswoman Emma Burns said the move was because "the NHS has to decide the best use of money on the evidence of clinical effectiveness".
Trust executives recommended to board members at a meeting that the £160,000 spent on treatments each year could be better spent elsewhere.
It follows a lengthy and extensive public consultation.
The clinic treats up to 1,000 patients a year, and is one of just five in the UK to provide homeopathic treatment on the NHS.
The hospital is run by the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust which will have to make a decision on its future, now the outcome of Thursday's PCT meeting is known.
The Homeopathic Hospital also houses community paediatrics and a child and adolescent mental health service, but it is just the homeopathy department that is under threat.
BBC News, UK - Sep 28, 2007

Labels: UK

Campaigners fighting to save a homeopathic hospital in West Kent have hit out at health bosses after it was revealed patients in the east of the county would continue to receive the service.
West Kent Primary Care Trust (PCT) decided to axe funding for the complimentary treatment after a lengthy public consultation and despite thousands of objections.
Lesley Herriot, chairman of the Campaign to Save the Homeopathic Hospital (CaSHH) in Tunbridge Wells, said: “It looks like a case of postcode lottery to us.
“It seems that our patients and friends could continue to receive homeopathic treatment on the NHS if they were to move to East Kent where homeopathy is funded and will continue to be funded.
“Kent is one county so why discriminate against us because we live on the wrong side of it?”
She said patients who could not take conventional medicines, many of whom cannot afford to be treated privately, were hugely concerned about what they will do next March when their current treatment end.
A spokesman for Eastern and Coastal Kent PCT said the trust had a contract with UCL Hospital in London and that GPs and consultants could refer their patients for homeopathic treatments.
CaSHH members swore to keep fighting after West Kent PCT’s board decided to stop spending £196,000 out of its £747 million budget on homeopathy.
Kent News, United Kingdom - Oct 13, 2007

Labels: UK

Patients will no longer be able to receive homoeopathy treatments at a specialist hospital because they are a waste of money and do not work, an NHS trust said.
Health bosses have decided that annual NHS funding of £160,000 for Tunbridge Wells Homeopathic Hospital in Kent could be better spent elsewhere. The hospital is one of five in Britain providing homoeopathic treatment on the NHS.
Times Online, UK - Sep 28, 2007

Labels: UK

Homeopathic remedies are taken by 30 million people worldwide – but what are they and how do they work?
Jemma Walton Spoke to one of the three homeopaths currently working in Peterborough to find out.
TO some people it's snake oil, while to others – like Prince Charles – it is a natural, effective way of treating illness. But what is homeopathy?
Homeopathy is one of those things, like acupuncture and reiki, that lurks in the pages of women's magazines. We have all heard of it, but we're not really sure what it is or whether it could do anything for us.
For the past few months I have been suffering from outbreaks of an itchy rash on my arms and legs that will come and go without warning. Doctors have said it was an allergy – to what, they weren't sure. And so it has just been a case of waiting and seeing what triggers the rash, if anything. Great.
The antihistamine Piriton gets rid of the rash, but it makes me sleepy, which isn't ideal as dozing is banned in the ET office, officially at least.
And so when I heard about Barbara Reid offering homeopathy from Broadway Chiropractic Clinic, I made an appointment to see her to find out more about homeowatsit – and whether she could stop the itchiness.
Barbara has previously worked as a lecturer in housing at London South Bank University, where she was interested in the link between quality of life and housing.
But she became even more fascinated by quality of life when a homeopath helped her to get rid of the migraines and period pains she had suffered with for years.
Barbara trained at the London School of Classical Homeopathy, is a member of the Society of Homeopaths, and has been seeing clients from her home in Newborough. From this month she will be offering consultations at Broadway Chiropractic Clinic.
Before I let her take a look at my lumps and bumps I asked her a few questions, like what is homeopathy? How does it work?
She said: "Back in 1796, a German doctor called Samuel Hahnemann discovered a different way of curing the sick that he called homeopathy. Homeopathy
is a complete system of medicine which can help people with all kinds of illnesses, from depression to arthritis, migraine to ulcers, it is safe and natural, and suitable for people of all ages."
Apparently, homeopathy works according to something called the "Law of Similars", which states broadly that a substance that can make someone sick, can also heal.
Jemma Walton/Peterborough Evening Telegraph, UK - Sep 25, 2007

Labels: UK

Roberta Bivins traces the chequered history of some of our favourite alternative health remedies
The founding father of homoeopathy was a German doctor named Samuel Hahnemann. In 1810 he was investigating the properties of a malarial medicine called cinchona bark, which is now known to contain the antimalarial compound quinine. He noticed that, when eaten, the bark gave him fever-like symptoms similar to those of malaria. So he came up with the concept that “like treated like”, becoming convinced that a natural treatment should elicit the same symptoms as the disease that it was treating.
Dr Hahnemann’s homoeopathic ideas soon became popular and spread across the globe. One of the reasons for this popularity was the DIY element to it; people could treat themselves by using a homoeopathy book and by picking up ready-made preparations from a homoeopathic doctor.

There was much rivalry in the 19th century between conventional doctors and the doctors who practised homoeopathy, as both at the time carried equal authority in the eyes of the public. The two schools of medicine became embroiled in a vicious war of words and, at one point, the American Medical Association stated that its doctors should refuse to see any patient who had admitted to using homoeopathy. This didn’t stop the rising enthusiasm for homoeopathic treatments, which continued into the 20th century. However, the battle was eventually won by conventional medicine and the last homoeopathic medical school closed in the 1940s.
The clincher for conventional medicine had been advances in surgery and antibiotics, as homoeopathy had nothing to match this. However, homoeopathy made a comeback in the 1970s and it is one of the world’s most-used alternative therapy. In India it is more popular than conventional medicine.
Times Online, UK - Oct 12, 2007

Labels: UK

I read with sadness the story of Luke Hatfield (Mercury, last week) whose seemingly ideal drug is on the 'red light' list of the Lincolnshire Primary Care Trust.
I suspect he is not the only person who has had this problem. As we are all well aware allergies of all sorts are on the increase, and the amount of money that the NHS has at its disposal is not infinite.
Hay fever starts for some when the oil seed rape comes into flower, or even before, for others it seems to be grass pollens and for others various tree pollens.
The main time for sufferers in my experience is from the beginning of May to the end of June, this of course is not only the time of year for weddings but also exam time for children from GCSE, though AS, A-levels and university exams and it spoils this time of year for them as well as distracting them from their studies.
I have been involved with children like Luke for many years as a homeopath. What I realise is that many families are not aware that there is an alternative to medication from their GP.
Research has been
done (Reilly, 2006) showing the effects of homeopathic treatment for hay fever, asthma and perennial rhinitis.
Not only did the hay fever improve in a significant number of cases but the general level of health also improved and the hay fever tended not to return.
Homeopathy is an ideal method of treating this problem as it individualises the sufferer's own problem and is so easy to take.
Annie Hall, North Street, Stamford/Stamford Mercury, UK - Oct 12, 2007

Labels: UK