Atheist Age

Singh Downunder: ‘ban homeopathy’

Simon Singh is a name I’ve come to know recently. For some time now colleagues, fellow heathens, infidels and skeptics along with most lecturers or presenters who generously give their time to free thought have raised that name. The reason is that Simon is being sued for libel by The British Chiropractic Association.  He described chiropractic as ‘bogus’ and such a reckless glove slap demands satisfaction Sir! So, they challenged him to a duel at dawn and rang the lawyer.

Matt Kirshen from Rooftop Comedy:

Now, I didn’t hear that conversation, am not privy to privy stuff but might hazard a guess that as the legal minds walked the neck cracking minds through the idea of legal responsibility over burden of proof, some jaws dropped. Either way, an urgent letter to all snap-whap-it’s all crap practioners to remove not this or that claim, or legal blunder or ambitious advertisement. Nay dear reader ’twas to remove entire sites. “Run Away!”, Monty Python style.  Scroll down to Further Urgent Action Required.

There’s more at play here than first glance suggests.  It’s vital to challenge unsubstantiated claims and the inherent risks are not insignificant. A video below includes some of Simons input on evidence, claims and Alternative Medicine.

Thanks to Nick Miller from The Age; July 10th, 2009.

HOMEOPATHY is unproven and its products should not be sold, a visiting critic of alternative medicine says.

British physicist Simon Singh, who was sued by the British Chiropractic Association for saying their therapies for children were bogus, said yesterday it was “obvious” that homeopathy “shouldn’t be allowed” and couldn’t be regulated by a code of ethics. “I take a fairly hard line,” he said. “If anyone is making claims that can’t be supported by evidence, these claims should be halted and these practices should be prevented.”

He said recent cases showed that homeopathy — which relies on the principle of “like treating like” and diluted ingredients — can be dangerous.

Two weeks ago in the US a homeopathic remedy called Zicam, which claimed to treat the common cold, was withdrawn from sale after it was discovered the zinc it contained may have caused more than 900 people to lose their sense of smell.

Critics said the over-the-counter product’s side effects had gone unnoticed because of less strict rules for marketing alternative medicine.

Last month a Sydney couple whose baby daughter died after they treated her with homeopathic remedies instead of conventional medicine were found guilty of manslaughter.

“Some homeopaths won’t encourage parents to vaccinate children because they take other views on immunity,” Dr Singh said. “You would think that homeopathy should be safe because there’s nothing in it, but the indirect side effects can be severe.”

In an investigation in Britain, he found homeopaths willing to let people travel to West Africa, where malaria is endemic and can kill in days, with only unproven homeopathic protection. “I don’t think people recognise that the vast majority (of homeopathic remedies) is devoid of any active ingredient. It’s seen as exotic, traditional, alternative in a lifestyle sense. Celebrities use it. But 200 clinical trials over 200 years later, there is still no good evidence (that) it works.”

Dr Lesley Braun, vice-president of the National Herbalists Association of Australia and research fellow at Monash University, admitted that she “didn’t get” homeopathy.

But she said complementary medicine was regulated for safety in Australia, and she heard of “the odd person that gets fantastic results (from homeopathy)”.

The Australian Homeopathic Association admits that “if a homeopathic medicine is analysed, a pharmacologist would say it consists of water, ethanol and sugar” — but it claims it can treat a range of chronic and acute illnesses.

It estimates that 300,000 homeopathic consultations were made by registered homeopaths in 2004, an estimated 20 per cent increase since 1996.

The Australian Government plans to create a register of natural and alternative medicine practitioners to standardise qualifications.

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Tags: Alternative medicine, General, Harm Reduction, Homeopathy, Medico-legal