07 July, 2009

A&E Homeopathy Style

2 comments:

Anna Sethe said...

That made me laugh :)

But seriously: My father was a surgeon before he retired and he did send some people to doctors working with homeopathy. To be honest mostly when he believed they mainly suffered from psychosomatic illnesses. Doctors at a hospital simply don't have the time to deal with that. And if it works it doesn't really matter if you call it placebo or homeopathy.

rhiggs said...

Yeah in instances where it seems to work it still does no better than placebo, so it is clearly physcological.

The problem lies in the practitioners who claim it does work and who make money of what is essentially bogus.

Plus the fact that there are loopholes for homeopathic remedies to bypass FDA safety requirments. They are supposed to be diluted down ingredients, but studies have found active ingredients in homeopathic remedies, meaning they are not 'homeopathic' at all. This means any quack can make a remedy, claim it is homeopathic, and sell it without proper safety tests.

Such as this case where Zicam, a nasal spray, was marketed as homeopathic although zinc is an ingredient. Without proper safety approval the drug led to cases of loss of smell...