Comments on Wellbeing Matters: The Quackbuisters

They were reported to their "professional organisa...

2008-11-15T17:26:00.000Z

They were reported to their "professional organisation" and guess what? Nothing whatsoever happened. It has been documented repeatedly that members of the Society of Homeopaths breach their societies code of ethics repeatedly and nothing ever happens. There can be no better example of the failure of "self-regulation".

Well perhaps it is not quite right to say that nothing happened. The Society of Homeeopaths took legal action against a web site that pointed out the wickedness of pretending that homeopathy can prevent malaria. I suppose that lacking the slightest rational reasons to believe they are right, paying lawyers to harass their critics was all that was left to them.

I think there is a danger here of throwing the bab...

2008-03-29T15:45:00.000Z

I think there is a danger here of throwing the baby out with the bath water.

I think that there will always be a few unscrupulous individuals in any profession. Rather than stamping out the whole profession, they should be reported to their Professional Association whose responsibility it is to enforce its Code of Ethics, as is done by the BMA.

It isn't quite that simple, I think. Homeopaths o...

2008-03-23T22:51:00.000Z

It isn't quite that simple, I think. Homeopaths often say that conventional trials can't capture their elusive success, thereby admitting that empirical evidence is very weak, You surely can't pretend that the empirical evidence that homeopathy works is in the slightest way comparable with the empirical evidence that general anaesthetics work.

As you must also know, there are many (not all) homeopaths who recommend against conventional treatments (one of them was recently suspended by the GMC for withholding proven treatments). As with many irrational areas of human activity, there are almost as many different views as there alternative practitioners.

Arguably none of this is too important while you are treating colds and bruises, but I would be very interested to hear your views about the ethics of treating malaria and AIDS with homeopathy alone. It is now common knowledge that many homeopaths do this. It is not only me who gets angry about claims like that. So does Peter Fisher, the clinical director of the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital (what's left of it).

In my view, claiming to be able to cure malaria with homeopathic pills amounts to culpable manslaughter. What is your view?

Thank you for your comments and for proving my poi...

2008-03-23T22:14:00.000Z

Thank you for your comments and for proving my point.

To paraphrase you, just as in the case of anaesthesia, nobody is sure how homeopathy works at the molecular level, but it undoubtedly does.

It still holds true that not being able to prove something merely means that it can't be proved, not that it is untrue.

Personally, I don't know any therapist who thinks that conventional approaches are 'wicked'. All complementary therapies work alongside 'allopathic' medicine.

Aha I think you got hold of the wrong end of the s...

2008-03-11T08:33:00.000Z

Aha I think you got hold of the wrong end of the stick with the bee analogy. What matters above all is empirical evidence, and anyone can see that bees fly. For example, nobody is sure how general anaesthetics work at the molecular level, but they undoubtedly do work. Furhermore I doubt that many homeopaths opt to have their appendix remeoved without an anaesthetic, even if it is wicked "allopathy".