Homeopathic society 'misled' MPs in inquiry

• BHA misrepresented science, say researchers
• NHS spent £12m over three years on remedies

Scientists have cried foul, saying their reviews were wrongly quoted as supporting homeopathy.

The British Homeopathic Association has been accused of misrepresenting scientific evidence on alternative medicine in documents it gave to a parliamentary inquiry.

The organisation claimed several scientific reviews offered support for homeopathy in material submitted to the cross-party science and technology select committee, which is holding an investigation into the products. Robert Mathie, a researcher at the BHA, said the reviews found evidence for a difference between homeopathic remedies and sugar pills, which contain no active ingredients.

But the claim has dismayed some of the scientists who wrote the reviews and angered MPs on the committee who are in the final stages of writing their report.

One review cited was written by Edzard Ernst, a scientist who investigates complementary medicine at the Penisula Medical School in Exeter. He said the BHA's interpretation of his study was "grossly misleading" because they failed to mention important caveats published in the study. Another review, by Jean-Pierre Boissel at the Hospitals of Lyon and University Claude Bernard in France, was quoted as evidence that homeopathic treatments differ to placebos. Boissel said his conclusion was that homeopathy tended to fare worse in the best-designed studies.

"It is extremely disappointing to be fed misrepresentations of science, whether it's deliberate or incompetence," said Evan Harris MP, science spokesman for the Lib Dems and a member of the parliamentary committee.

Homeopathic treatments are usually made by diluting a substance so much there are no molecules of the original ingredient left. In November the chief pharmacist at Boots, Paul Bennett, told the inquiry he had no evidence that homeopathy works. At the weekend, hundreds of people took part in a "mass overdose" of homeopathic pills outside branches of Boots to protest against the company selling the products.

The row emerged as a survey for the medical journal, Pulse, found 80% of GPs want the Health Department to stop funding homeopathy on the NHS. Only 14% were in favour of the health service continuing to provide the treatments. According to figures released last year, homeopathy cost the NHS £12m over between 2008 and 2008. Peter Davies, a Halifax GP, said: "If patients want to try homeopathy and pay for it themselves, that is fine. In terms of evidence-based medicine, homeopathy doesn't get a look in. It is something the NHS should not fund."

In a statement, Mathie said: "The BHA's evidence to MPs did not misrepresent the clinical research evidence in homeopathy; it is an accurate and reasonable summary of the facts, with a series of recommendations for future research … We need more and higher quality clinical trials."

It is total hokum! But it's hokum that works!

SWIM was just thinking about this...it seems like it would work...because an overdose of a chemical will cause the reaction that a homeopathic dose will cure'

so say LSD, DMT, psilo***, mescaline...all the rest...if made into homeopathic dosages...they could cure somebodies mental illness...such as schizophrenia

My "issue" with Homeopathic stuff comes down to physics, even if you accept all the stuff about "vibrations" of the active agent - transferring to the water molecules, and somehow thereby causing a homeostatic response from the body, there is the problem of "noise".

Whatever "signal" is contained within the original agent or water is in competition with the "noise" from all the other molecules in the water, and EMF "pollution" in the surrounding environment. Given that the signal is diluted almost out of existance - how is the body supposed to pick it up? It would be like trying to listen to AM radio from the other side of the planet....

Of course, if you know you are taking something that will make you better,
then you expect to get better...and often you do.

Wonderful how that works...?

Homeopathy needs to modernize. They need to keep the good aspects such as life style changes diet recommendations as well as a positive patient doctor relationship that tries to figure out what else could be causing a disease other then germs or what not.

But it really needs to get rid of the homeopathic remedies (meaning the diluted water). Why does homeopathy bother me? Because for me to get certain drugs to the market takes years of research and hard work but people can just sell placebo water and get away with it? If a legit drug company started selling pills that were nothing but some sugar and water as medicine they would be put on trial for fraud. The diluted water is an act of fraud. It has been proven to be nothing but water more then once with no more efficacy then placebo.

I am not sure what you mean by a homeopathic dose. Do you mean a lower dose?

Also many homeopathic remedies require consistent use. ...

also the reason why I believe in it..is because it has worked for me countless times!! many times when i was an infant. so to ME it is tested and it DOES work..even when i had no idea...now if you can tell me that my mother was the one that 'layed on hands' and healed me..then i might believe that too...but croup just doesnt go away! it likes to stick around..have you ever had it!? it lasts for days..and this was gone in ONE HOUR! have you ever had really really bad breath? even after your brush your teeth and your tongue? well if that happens i would give you a 30C Sulfur pill. Your bad breathe would go away in about an hour.

it works for me..so..i dont understand why you keep saying its ridiculous..how much first hand EXPERIENCE have you ever had with homeopathic remedies?

i think you are being RIDICULOUS..because it DOES work..it works for me..and it works for thousands and thousands of other people..have you ever seriously studied homeopathy? have you read the history on it? do you even understand how its supposed to work? it sounds like you just read the WIKI and became an expert...read a few books about it..practice it for awhile..test it out on yourself and family(it wont kill anyone, cant say that for the US Healthcare System) and then come back to me and say it didnt do a damn thing.




no deaths from homeopathic remedies!!

thank you fractal...i dont know how homeopathics work..but in my experience they have and continue to work..

and the argument that water comes in contact with every substance and that water should be a cure all based on that..well..if you stop drinking water...you will die...and whats the one thing that you SHOULD do when you are sick..you should drink water..to keep you hydrated and who knows what else it could POSSIBLY do for you..

i hate arguing about homeopathics...because neither side can win..because scientifically we dont know everything..i just know that they have worked for me, my family and my friends...so thats what i go by..not some argument saying that its impossible..

How did you come to this conclusion?