WHO Lays the Smack Down on Homeopathy
August 22nd, 2009
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Finally, the World Health Organization has made a very clear statement on their position when it comes to homeopathy, and it seems they’ve chosen the correct one! The statement by the WHO was apparently prompted by a letter from the Voice of Young Science Network asking the WHO to “condemn the promotion of homeopathy for treating TB, infant diarrhea, influenza, malaria and HIV.”
In a letter to the WHO in June, the medics from the UK and Africa said: “We are calling on the WHO to condemn the promotion of homeopathy for treating TB, infant diarrhoea, influenza, malaria and HIV.
“Homeopathy does not protect people from, or treat, these diseases.
“Those of us working with the most rural and impoverished people of the world already struggle to deliver the medical help that is needed.
“When homeopathy stands in place of effective treatment, lives are lost.”
Dr Robert Hagan is a researcher in biomolecular science at the University of St Andrews and a member of Voice of Young Science Network, which is part of the charity Sense About Science campaigning for “evidence-based” care.
He said: “We need governments around the world to recognise the dangers of promoting homeopathy for life-threatening illnesses.
“We hope that by raising awareness of the WHO’s position on homeopathy we will be supporting those people who are taking a stand against these potentially disastrous practices.”
Dr Mario Raviglione, director of the Stop TB department at the WHO, said: “Our evidence-based WHO TB treatment/management guidelines, as well as the International Standards of Tuberculosis Care do not recommend use of homeopathy.”
The doctors had also complained that homeopathy was being promoted as a treatment for diarrhoea in children.
But a spokesman for the WHO department of child and adolescent health and development said: “We have found no evidence to date that homeopathy would bring any benefit.
“Homeopathy does not focus on the treatment and prevention of dehydration – in total contradiction with the scientific basis and our recommendations for the management of diarrhoea.”
Well, it’s about damn time!
The World Health Organization is the medical branch of the UN and is responsible for promoting good science-based medicine around the world. One of the biggest concerns of the WHO has long been the conditions in third world countries, where local health authorities range from ineffective to non-existent. In many of these areas, quackery is a huge problem and dishonest practitioners and snake oil pushers will take the few pennies that the poorest can scrape together.
Areas like rural India have become infested with quacks and traveling scam artists. The combination of desperation and lack of education and well established medical systems can make such areas especially attractive to homeopaths. These scammers do not only defraud the poor, they also have undermined efforts to improve medical care by international groups like the WHO. The homeopathy movement has allied itself, in many circumstances, with movements like the anti-vaccine interests. The spread of superstition and false claims of dangers from modern science-based medicine has turned out to be one of the biggest hurdles that groups like the WHO face. Indeed, vaccine fears and claims of alternative methods of treatment have managed to set back progress in the worldwide effort to eradicate polio considerably.
Not surprisingly, there is a response from one of the liars in question:
However Paula Ross, chief executive of the Society of Homeopaths, said it was right to raise concerns about promotion of homeopathy as a cure for TB, malaria or HIV and Aids.
But she added: “This is just another poorly wrapped attempt to discredit homeopathy by Sense About Science.
“The irony is that in their efforts to promote evidence in medicine, they have failed to do their own homework.
“There is a strong and growing evidence base for homeopathy and most notably, this also includes childhood diarrhoea.”
The UK’s Faculty of Homeopathy added that there was also evidence homeopathy could help people with seasonal flu.
Dr Sara Eames, president of the faculty, said people should not be deprived of effective conventional medicines for serious disease.
But she added: “Millions die each year as those affected have no access to these drugs.
“It therefore seems reasonable to consider what beneficial role homeopathy could play. What is needed is further research and investment into homeopathy.”
So there is evidence? Well lets see it! (remember, just citing the existence of evidence or “studies” doesn’t cut it here. You actually have to name the names of the studies and not make vague statements that they’re out there.)
One thing that the WHO would probably not disagree with Eames on is that there is indeed a worldwide problem with getting the proper drugs and treatments to everyone who needs them. However, homeopathy offers no benefit, and can make this effort more difficult. Every dime spent on homeopathy is one that is not spent on good science-based medicine and even worse, those who are lead to believe there is anything to homeopathy may not seek out legitimate medicine, believing they are receiving effective treatment.
There may be some circumstances where using old standby treatments or traditional remedies may have some value. For example, traditionally the chemical quinine was used to treat malaria. Quinine is derived from the bark of the cinchona plant and was used for malaria treatment well into the 1960’s. Today it is no longer considered the best treatment for malaria and the WHO no longer recommends it as the primary treatment method if other drugs such as artemisinin are avaliable. However, it is still fairly effective in most cases and certainly better than nothing, so if you’re stuck in the badlands with malaria and quinine is all you have to treat it, you certainly should use it.
But this is not the case with homeopathy. Unlike other treatments which may be obsolete in much of the world, but still of some value if they are all that is avaliable, homeopathy is 100% useless. It has no redeeming qualities and can do no good. It can only make the efforts to save lives and bring better medical care more difficult. No remedy or treatment should ever be sanctioned in any way unless it is at least better than doing nothing.
(also, homeopathy isn’t even traditional or natural. It was invented circa 1800 by a German guy.)
This entry was posted on Saturday, August 22nd, 2009 at 9:36 pm and is filed under Bad Science, Good Science, History, Paranormal, Quackery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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July 14th, 2010 at 3:11 am
Nisha Singh said:
Pathetic
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July 15th, 2010 at 8:59 am
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Quote Comment
July 15th, 2010 at 9:01 am
Close your eyes tight. Do not dare to see evidence.
Quote Comment
July 15th, 2010 at 9:30 am
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/nobel-laureate-gives-homeopathy-a-boost/story-e6frg8y6-1225887772305
Quote Comment
July 15th, 2010 at 9:32 am
Stop spamming.
Quote Comment
July 15th, 2010 at 9:35 am
Cristal Sumner, of the British Homeopathic Association, said Montagnier’s work gave homeopathy “a true scientific ethos”.
Cristal Sumner… Isn’t she also a porn star? Great porn name in any case!
Quote Comment
July 15th, 2010 at 9:36 am
Nisha Singh said:
Open your eyes… the evidence you think you see, is a fantasy… a dream of yours.
Quote Comment
July 15th, 2010 at 9:37 am
Nisha Singh said:
By now you must realize that nobody here gives a damn about ‘evidence’ supporting homeopathy, in homeopathic journals. You can site all the proof from those sources you want and they will all be dismissed for the rubbish that they are.
However the more interesting question is why do you bother to make these arguments on the back pages of a sceptic’s forum? Do you honestly think that those of us that still follow this thread will be convinced? The lead article reports that the World Health Organization has rejected homeopathy, is any argument you present here, to hard bitten sceptics going to change that? What do you expect to gain here? The more you post, the deeper we hold you in contempt. I can’t see the possibility of a win here for you any time soon.
Quote Comment
July 15th, 2010 at 9:46 am
DV82XL said:
Maybe he it trying to play this game? His problem is of course that he’s really lousy at it.
Personaly I think he’s just venting frustration of getting his faith doubted. Believers tend to have strong allergies against doubt, especially when the doubt is heavilly laced with scientific evidence.
/M
P.S: If you havn’t watched the rest of the movie “Thank You For Smoking”, do it. Absolutely brilliant.
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July 16th, 2010 at 12:40 am
I told you, its not that you cant see benefits of homeopathy but you are paid to write against. So you will deny everything that supports homeopathy. It was not lack of homeopathy all these years, it was lack of scientific development that working of homeopathy could not be proved. With better technology homeopathy is getting proved. And it is proved that you are paid insane criminal working against interest of humanity. But you cant kill truth just like you could not kill Jesus.
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July 16th, 2010 at 12:55 am
Nisha Singh said:
I get no money to write against homeopathy however if someone is interested in paying me to do so I would be pleased if you would drop me a note in comments on my page. You can get there by clicking my name above. My rates for short prose and essays are reasonable and accommodation can be made if you are offering regular work.
Obviously from the number of times I have been accused of being a paid shill in this subject and several other related topics, it can be plainly seen that my work is of commercial quality and is consistently of high standards. I look forward to hearing from prospective clients.
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July 16th, 2010 at 10:48 am
Nisha Singh said:
*sigh*
Not this **** again. No, I am not paid by anyone to write anything on this site. I’m sure that there’s no way I can prove that to the satisfaction of a committed enough nutball.
Nisha Singh said:
Well, first I’m not a Christian, but as far as proving homeopathy goes, I’ll point out a couple of things. The theory and rules behind how homeopathy supposedly works is patently absurd and only a few thought experiments are required to show that it has some insurmountable paradoxes.
However, that having been said, science does not require that you know *how* something works in order to know that it does work.
I can give an example. Lithium salts are the current standard for treatment of bipolar. For decades they have been shown safe and effective in stabilizing mood and having some anti-psychotic properties. We know this is the case thanks to volumes of high quality studies. However, we’re not entirely sure why the work or how the mechanism of action works. In the early years, it’s fair to say we had no idea why lithium salts worked so well. Today, we have some pretty good hypothesizes, but we’re still not entirely certain which mechanism of action is the important one.
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January 7th, 2011 at 1:31 am
Your malicious propaganda against homeopathy is set to die soon.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/IIT-B-team-shows-how-homeopathy-works/articleshow/7108579.cms
with technology becoming better, soon even idiots like you will be able to understand How Homeopathy Works.
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January 7th, 2011 at 2:50 am
Nisha Singh said:
No actually it doesn’t, all that really showed was that the dilutions homoeopaths claim to use can’t actually be reached.
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