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Homeopathic remedies often contain few or no active ingredients - A third of NHS trusts still fund homeopathy despite repeated calls for them to stop, an investigation has found.
Officials have dropped charges against pharmacies alleged to have advised people to take homeopathic remedies to protect them against malaria instead of anti-malarial drugs. The General Pharmaceutical Council's decision has been described as "shabby and irresponsible" by some who helped bring the case against the pharmacies.
Prince Charles's favourite alternative pharmacy has been attacked by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society for suggesting that homeopathic remedies can be used to prevent serious diseases such as typhoid, polio and malaria. The Society told Newsnight they are shocked that anyone would suggest using those products instead of vaccinations and drugs which have been proven to work.
BBC 13/9/2010 Doctors condemn homeopathic vaccinations - Samantha Poling
Doctors have condemned the practice of offering homeopathic vaccinations instead of conventional ones, warning it could leave patients vulnerable to potentially fatal diseases. A BBC Scotland investigation has found alternative practitioners who admit to giving patients a homeopathic medicine designed to replace the MMR vaccine. One also claimed she could protect against other diseases including Polio, Tetanus and Diptheria.
BBC 13/9/2010 Doctors warn over homeopathic 'vaccines' - Samantha Poling
Many homeopaths believe that remedies can help lessen the side effects of conventional vaccination Homeopaths are offering "alternative vaccinations" which doctors say could leave patients vulnerable to potentially fatal diseases, a BBC investigation has found. Three practitioners admitted giving patients a homeopathic medicine designed to replace the MMR vaccine...
Paul Bennett, professional standards director and superintendent pharmacist at Boots, is questioned by the House of Commons science and technology committee about whether homeopathic remedies work. This clip was taken from the start of a one-off evidence session on homeopathy.
The NHS should stop funding homeopathy, MPs say. The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee said using public money on the highly-diluted remedies could not be justified. The cross-party group said there was no evidence beyond a placebo effect, when a patient gets better because of their belief that the treatment works...
Homeopathy sceptics have staged a mass "overdose" of homeopathic remedies, in a bid to prove they have no effect. Protesters ate whole bottles of tablets at branches of Boots in places such as Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, London, Leicester, Edinburgh and Birmingham. They have asked the pharmacy chain to stop selling the remedies, which they call "scientifically absurd".
The mind naturally creates illusions and superstitions at times of stress - and this could be adding to the global financial crisis, say scientists. US researchers say feeling "out of control" makes us more likely to misinterpret information as we search for signs of order...
People with conditions such as HIV, TB and malaria should not rely on homeopathic treatments, the World Health Organization has warned. It was responding to calls from young researchers who fear the promotion of homeopathy in the developing world could put people's lives at risk...
Listening to the right kind of music can slow the heart and lower blood pressure, a study has revealed.
GP prescriptions for homeopathy have nearly halved in two years, figures show. The number of prescriptions dropped from 83,000 in 2005 to 49,300 last year, GP magazine Pulse reported. It comes as the overall number of prescriptions in England is on the rise...
BBC 25/6/2008 Could water really have a memory? - Simon Singh
The news that the number of prescriptions for homeopathic medicines written by GPs in England has nearly halved in just two years coincides with the 20th anniversary of a seminal scientific paper on the subject. Twenty years ago, in the summer of 1988, the science world was rocked by one of the most controversial research papers ever published in the highly-respected journal Nature...
Cosmetics chain Neal's Yard has dropped the sale of a homeopathic drug after watchdogs said customers were being misled that it could treat malaria.
Pet owners should seek the advice of a vet before paying for alternative therapy, according to the British Veterinary Association (BVA).
Mothers who fear their babies suffer from food allergies or intolerances are largely wrong, research has found...
NHS primary care trusts are slashing funding for homoeopathic treatment amid debate about its efficacy and the drive to cuts costs, a study has suggested. More than a quarter have stopped or cut funding for such services, research by the GP magazine Pulse has found...
Doctors and health charities have expressed concern about a conference which will examine the role of homeopathy in treating HIV. The event includes discussion of what have been described as "healing remedies" for HIV and Aids...
Health bosses have recommended that NHS funding for a homeopathic hospital in Kent should be stopped. West Kent Primary Care Trust has been conducting a review of all its funding...
Patients will be put at risk by a new regulatory system being brought in for homeopathic medicine, critics say. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is introducing rules to allow remedies to specify the ailments for which they can be used...
A group of vets has said they are concerned by European Commission proposals to legitimise the use of homeopathic remedies for animals. In an open letter to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, the group says there is no clinical evidence that homeopathy works...
Vets and academics have expressed concern to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons over the use of homeopathic treatments for animals. They are unhappy that homeopathic treatments do not undergo the same rigorous checks as scientific medicines...
Some of Britain's leading doctors have urged NHS trusts to stop using complementary therapies and to pay only for medicine "based on solid evidence". The group raised concerns that the NHS is funding "unproven or disproved treatments", like homoeopathy...
Some of Britain's leading doctors have urged NHS trusts to stop using complementary therapies. They argue there is little firm evidence that techniques such as homoeopathy work. And they say it is wrong that complementary methods are not subject to the same vigorous tests as orthodox medicines.
A leading medical journal has made a damning attack on homoeopathy, saying it is no better than dummy drugs. The Lancet says the time for more studies is over and doctors should be bold and honest with patients about homoeopathy's "lack of benefit"...
A report commissioned by the Prince of Wales into the cost of complementary medicines has sparked controversy. Prince Charles, an enthusiast for alternative medicine, asked an independent economist to work out how much such therapies could save the NHS...
A study at Bristol Homoeopathic Hospital shows over 70% of patients with chronic diseases reported positive health changes after treatment. More than 6,500 patients took part in the six-year study with problems such as eczema to menopause and arthritis...
Complementary therapies should be given a greater role in the NHS, a report commissioned by the Prince of Wales has said...
A report commissioned by the Prince of Wales into the cost of complementary medicines has sparked controversy. Prince Charles, an enthusiast for alternative medicine, asked an independent economist to work out how much such therapies could save the NHS...
Dr Mark Porter gives listeners the low-down on what the medical profession does and doesn't know. Each week an expert in the studio tackles a particular topic and there are reports from around the UK on the health of the nation - and the NHS...
Weird and wonderful inventions will be on show during a debate on medical "quackery" at London's Science Museum...
A third of European cancer patients are using complementary and alternative therapies, a survey of 1,000 suggests...
A majority of people believe complementary medicine is as valid as conventional treatment, a survey says...
The Prince of Wales has officially opened a women's clinic offering both conventional and alternative therapies in the model village he helped design. Prince Charles, a long-standing supporter of complementary medicine, opened the Poundbury Clinic, on Middlemarsh Street, Poundbury, Dorset...
Complementary therapies can be dangerous. Patients want to discuss complementary medicine with GPs but many do not as they are embarrassed, research shows...
1:38 min video news item featuring Peter Fisher and Edzard Ernst (RAM file)
Acupuncturists and herbalists will have to comply with tough new rules if they want to continue to treat patients, under government proposals...
A BBC science programme puts homeopathy to the test. Includes links to the BBC transcript.
Everyone should have access to complementary medicine, according to the Prince of Wales...
Homeopathic remedies are no better than a placebo at improving the quality of life of asthmatic children, a new study has said...
One of the biggest health fads to hit the consumer market in the 20th Century is homeopathy. Dubbed a 'home remedy', homeopathy is considered a branch of holistic medicine, and is all about curing an illness or a disorder by treating the whole person rather than merely concentrating on a set of symptoms...
Research conducted by the BBC has shown that alternative medicines are becoming increasingly popular. Yet their effectiveness is yet to be proven to the majority of medical practitioners in the UK and there are concerns over safety as many of the treatments remain untested...
A family doctor let her faith in alternative medicine cloud her medical judgment, the General Medical Council (GMC) has found. Dr Michelle Langdon risked the health of an 11-month-old girl and failed to get proper consent before using homeopathic medicine, the GMC's professional conduct committee decided on Thursday...
The American illusionist James Randi offered a million dollars to anyone able to prove that homeopathic remedies can really cure people. The producer of the BBC's Horizon programme explains why he took up the challenge...
Homeopathy is not an effective treatment for asthma, a study suggests. The research team identified 242 asthmatic people allergic to house dust mite and gave some a homeopathic treatment and others a placebo. However, they found no improvement in lung function or quality of life between those treated with placebo and those who received homeopathic therapy...
The origin of the word 'quack' comes from the Dutch quacksalver, literally meaning 'chatter salve' or someone who prattles or boasts about the efficacy of their remedies. The practice of quackery has existed for as long as mankind has been feeling ill. In the 1700s, microscopes were a relatively new invention, and the most popular methods of treating a patient were bloodletting, blistering, and purging...
Every GP practice in the country is to receive comprehensive information on complementary medicine to encourage doctors to embrace unorthodox forms of healing...
A homeopathic expert has warned further tragedies such as the death of baby Cameron Ayres could happen unless traditional and alternative medicine develop closer links. An inquest in London on Tuesday recorded a verdict of death by natural causes on six-month-old Cameron, who died of a treatable disease after his parents refused to allow him to be given conventional medicine...
It's terrifying what chemists recommend when asked for 'a natural remedy'. ... the Science and Technology committee of the House of Commons met to conclude its inquiry into Alternative Medicine. Its members were courteous, polite even to a fault, a far cry from the aggressive made-for-TV grandstanding of the equivalent Congressional bodies in the US; but by the end of a few brief sessions, they had reduced to intellectual rubble the multi-million pound pseudo-medical lobby known as homeopathy – and left equally ragged the regulators and ministers who connive in its skilful mystifications of the public...
Independent 22/2/10 Homeopathy is a waste of NHS money - Philip Hensher
We don't object to people spending their healthcare money on anything they choose. When I was very little – and you too, I dare say – sometimes I would fall over when running in the garden, in the local woods, or in the street. Usually, you run to your mother, don't you? And if you'd grazed yourself, or weren't actually streaming with blood from an open wound, she would say: "Oh dear – I tell you what, I'll kiss it better." And the odd thing is that a kiss from your mother, when you're three or four, does seem to make it better.
Independent 24/6/2008 So now we will have degrees in quackery - Dominic Lawson
What, really, is the difference between acupuncture and psychic surgery?
Guardian 29/6/2010 Ban homeopathy from NHS, say doctors - Sarah Boseley
Members of the British Medical Association call for homeopathic remedies to be taken off pharmacy shelves designated for medicines. Members of the British Medical Association said homeopathic remedies should be relegated to shelves "labelled placebos" and that NHS money should not be spent on treatments that are scientifically implausible.
BHA misrepresented science, say researchers. NHS spent £12m over three years on remedies 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.
'Choice' fetish spawns mind-meltingly stupid homeopathy policy. The UK government's rejection of a damning Commons report on homeopathy leaves Martin Robbins baffled and depressed.
Reporter Martin Robbins likens the NHS offering a choice to patients between real medicines and homeopathy to offering a choice between condoms and socks when deciding on contraception -
A sharp line has to be drawn between fact and fiction when it comes to spending public funds on alternative therapies. Put not your trust in princes, especially not princes who talk to plants. But that's what the government has decided to do. The Department of Health has funded the Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health to set up the Natural Healthcare Council to regulate 12 alternative therapies, such as aromatherapy, reflexology and homeopathy...
Guardian 23/5/2006 Homeopathy is bunkum - Sue Blackmore
If any money is going spare for the NHS, let's spend it on real medicine that actually works. A group of brave doctors has tried, again, to stop our precious NHS resources being spent on quackery. Oh yes, I'll get in trouble for saying "quackery"; I'll be told that alternative therapists are not quacks, that they are all kind, caring, open-minded people who help the sick and fight against the oppression of closed-minded scientists who don't understand the holistic nature of these truly spiritual human beings. But these poor doctors will have it worse. They will get hate mail from people who claim to be more loving and caring than them; they will be called "arrogant" by people who "just know" that homeopathy works...
Guardian 26/8/2005 As a fourth study says it's no better than a placebo, is this the end for homeopathy? Sarah Boseley
Homeopathy, favoured medical remedy of the royal family for generations and hugely popular in the UK, has an effect but only in the mind, according to a major study published in a leading medical journal today. The conclusions of the Lancet analysis are a body blow for proponents of homeopathy, which has been around for 250 years and has attained cult-like status among its aficionados
New Scientist 12/12/2005 Homoeopathic vets come under fire - Andy Coghlan
A SATIRICAL website poking fun at veterinary homeopathy has become the unlikely symbol of a global backlash by conventional vets against their homeopathic colleagues.
The "British Veterinary Voodoo Society" (BVVS) is a parody, but its creators say they are making a serious point: that the claimed effectiveness of homeopathic veterinary medicine has no more solid scientific evidence behind it than voodoo. They object to a decision by the UK's Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) to publish an official list of homeopathic vets, which they say undermines the credibility of conventional veterinary medicine.
The RCVS disputes this. It points out that the list carries a disclaimer declaring that the college does not recognise the major British homeopathic veterinary qualification. This is awarded by The Faculty of Homeopathy, a separate body that also promotes the development of homeopathy for humans.
Homeopathic vets are not laughing either. They see the site as ...
A form of substance abuse rampant in this country is rarely discussed publicly or privately. It involves abusing legally sold dietary supplements - vitamins, minerals, herbals and homeopathic remedies - all of which can be sold over the counter without prior approval for safety and effectiveness...
Read the letter sent by Professor Gustav Born urging NHS managers to cut down on alternative and homeopathic medicine...
The Government's chief scientific adviser has said he sees "no scientific evidence" that homoeopathy works, and has agreed to look into its funding as a treatment on the National Health Service. John Beddington, who also heads the Government Office for Science (GO-Science), made the commitment to MPs during a hearing of the Commons Universities Select Committee last week.
Times Higher Education 26/6/2008 Homoeopaths label scientists the 'new fundamentalists' - Zoe Corbyn
Clinical research 'inappropriate' to test alternative therapies, practitioners argue. Academics who rubbish the value of homoeopathy are peddling a "new fundamentalism" against the practice and seeking to apply "wholly inappropriate" clinical research methods to evaluate its worth. These were the claims heard by delegates at the inaugural "Scientific Research in Homeopathy" conference held by the Complementary Medical Association (CMA) at the University of Westminster last week. The conference, which was attended by about 100 homoeopathy practitioners, promised to give practitioners the "proof" they needed to counter arguments that their work is both ineffective and dangerous.
| History of RVM |
| The Best They Can Do |
| The Usual Suspects |
| How to look at evidence |
| CAM journals and evidence |
| Scepticism about homeopathy |
| Arguments |
| Acupuncture references |