Phoenix Homeopathy

Two new studies claim that the infamous Lancet study which proclaimed “The Death of Homeopathy” was flawed: see New evidence for homeopathy on Eureka! Science News

After (rather inaccurately, in my view - click the research tag) announcing ‘the death of homeopathy’ recently, The Lancet is at it again, publishing another article that fails to give readers a balanced view of modern homeopathy. No wonder more and more people are asking: is this the latest in a series of attempts to repress homeopathy in the UK?

Here’s the Society of Homeopaths’ response to the Lancet article, which makes interesting reading:

Letter to the Editor of The Lancet

Dear Sir

We read your Special Report on homeopathy in Britain (Vol 370) with interest. For a publication that bills itself as the world’s leading medical journal, we were surprised that Udani Samarasekera’s report merely rehashes time-worn arguments, without presenting any new information to your readers.

As you know, we provided you with a six-page set of responses to questions posed in connection with this report. We find it fascinating that not one of those responses was actually printed.

To better inform your readers, we would like to point out that The Society of Homeopaths is the largest professional organisation registering homeopaths in Britain, representing more than 2,300 members overall. We are committed to fostering an integrated, patient-centred approach to health and wellness, treating each person’s symptoms as unique and each person’s care as an individual programme.

Society registered homeopaths have satisfied The Society’s educational and professional requirements and agreed to practise in accordance with The Society of Homeopaths’ Code of Ethics & Practice, the Core Criteria for Homeopathic Practice and the National Occupational Standards for Homeopathy.

We concur with our colleagues across the medical profession that proper regulation is essential to delivering integrated, patient-centred care and we welcome increased regulation of the homeopathy profession. In fact, it is something that we, as the leading professional organisation, have been advocating for years.

Kind regards,

Paula Ross
Chief Executive

Society of Homeopaths
11 Brookfield, Duncan Close, Moulton Park, Northampton NN3 6WL
Tel: 0845 450 6611 Fax: 0845 450 6622 Email: info@homeopathy-soh.org

Homeopathy has always been a controversial area of holistic or complementary medicine.

Those with an opinion about homeopathy tend to fall into one of two diametrically-opposed camps: some think it’s scientifically implausible or impossible for homeopathic remedies to work, while others know from their own experience that homeopathy does work, even though we don’t yet have a verifiable way of explaining how. The recent US medical school debate about homeopathy illustrates this perfectly.

There’s nothing wrong with being sceptical about things: in fact, scepticism can be extremely healthy. I just don’t think that it’s healthy to ignore evidence from hundreds of thousands of satisfied patients who are convinced that homeopathy was the treatment that helped them to restore their health.

After all, the healthiest of minds tends to be an open one.

Earlier today, the University of Connecticut Health Center in the US hosted a historic debate on homeopathy. The event marked the first time that a major US medical school has examined this subject in this depth. It also marks the first time that the clinical, historical and basic science data has been examined simultaneously.

Beginning with a speaker who argues that homeopathy is implausible, and continuing with a discussion of recent investigations into the nature of water, the debate continues with intelligent and articulate arguments for and against homeopathy, including a final presentation arguing that consistently-suppressed historical records demonstrate that homeopathy has been spectacularly effective in reducing mortality rates in epidemics of infectious diseases, including pneumonia and influenza.

You can view the recorded debate online.