“The purpose of this post is to reveal a few samples of things that are taught on a homeopathy ‘degree’ course. The course in question was the “BSc Hons homeopathy course at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN). Entry to this course was closed in 2008 and, after an internal review, UCLAN closed almost all of the rest of its courses in alternative medicine too. The university is to be commended for this .
The purpose of making public some of what used to be taught is not to embarrass UCLAN, which has already done the sensible thing, but to make it clear that the sort of thing taught on such courses is both absurd and dangerous, in the hope of discouraging other courses.
There was a lecture on HP3002 called “A Homeopathic Approach to Cancer (Ramakrishnan methodology [sic])”.. Click the link below to see the 10 slides from that lecture. It is illegal to claim to be able to cure cancer under the Cancer Act 1939. If a homeopath were to make claims like these in public they’d be open to prosecution, not to mention in breach of the SoH’s code of ethics. If cancer is not a “named disease”, what is?
This lecture alone strikes me as a cruel (and possibly illegal) hoax perpetrated on desperate patients. Of course a true believer might get some solace from taking the sugar pills, but that is not sufficient justification.
Read the full article with more slides over at DCScience
I want a homoeopathic bank manager.
One who will accept a fiver to pay off a £10,000 bank loan – because less is more.
Totally agree, if used wrongly homeopathy can be very dangerous!! Some time ago, I came across a patient that sadly developed a severe cardiomathy because of wrongly administered “Chinese Homeopahtic Medications.’
I personally don’t believe in Homeopathy, but I am sure that the doctors and nurses at the Homeopathic Hospital in London and elsewhere are doing a great job. Homeopathic medicines should only be prescribed by properly trained people.
I think TIm Minchin sums it up best, two quotes from him for you:
“If you open your mind too much, your brain will fall out”
and
“The majority of alternative medicine has either not been proven to work, or has been proven not to work. Do you know what alternative medicine that has been proven to work is called?
Medicine.”
Alternative medicine is fine if it’s complementary to Traditional medicine, and if the practitioner is under no false pretences that it is no more than a placebo.
It’s when people either shun traditional medicine and then die from the lack of proper medical treatment, or when desperate people are lied to and tricked into buying expensive hokum as a last resort, that’s when it becomes dangerous and irresponsible.
@Melanie, why does “water” needs to be subscribed by trained people?
We are talking literally about water. Our municipal contains more traces of for instance, lead or copper than you will find in a homepathic treatment against copper oxide poisoning or lead poisoning.
I think these “colleges” should be banned by law. It’s ludicrous you can get a Bachelors degree in something like “witchcraft”. Certainly when you think about the fact that we learn in secondary school how to delude substances in chemistry.
I am not saying homeopathy should be banned but it should not be taught in schools because that’s just teaching rubbish our schools should teach applicable knowledge.
If you wanna take a water treatment it’s up to you but I stay away from that over priced water.
Melanie – you know that homeopathic ‘medicine’ is water, surely? You think that water should only be prescribed by properly trained people?
@Melanie your statement is correct – but it is not the homeopathy that caused the problem but the “Chinese Homeopahtic Medication”. In pharmacy we often read throughout the year cases of patients suffering adverse effects from Chinese medicines. This is often due to the case that many of these herbal/homeopathic treatments contain conventional medicines when tested.
A case of a miraculous chinese cream to help with paediatric eczema was made big news but on testing was found to contain a high steroid content – not recommended for young skin!
True homeopathy is not at such risk an infact a friend of mine undertook the BSc course in London and I understand she is now practising. It is massively diluted pillules and my science brain does not agree with it. But some folks do and if it gets them through along with convential medicine..
“Alternative medicine is fine if it’s complementary to Traditional medicine, and if the practitioner is under no false pretences that it is no more than a placebo.”
Surely if it’s *known* as a placebo it won’t even deliver the placebo effect? I think that it should be taught in schools – taught that homeopathy and irrational reasoning are a load of bollocks and to be more wary of hoaxers. The lesson could also encompass dodgy emails from wealthy heirs and watching this video on homeopathy from That Mitchell & Webb Look. Classic http://j.mp/AHk2x via @Nero
i think that law had good intentions, but…it’s illegal to claim to be able to cure cancer in an ADVERTISEMENT. so even sloan-kettering couldnt claim to do it in an ad…altho some cancers can be cured.
Just read Dr Bird’s books and you know all there is too know about it. Dr A. Vogel that is. Birds see a lot .. but do they see it all or just one prey …
To get in without triggering someone’s self asks for a disguise … the most minimal one …. once in you can get boosted by the body itself …
Normally it”s the self that wont make it work … regular medicine will take someone’s self down or will influence it .. wont heal quite often either .. wont get to the real cause ..
Not speaking about cancer or such in this area, just small things .. caused by other things … layers … The idea is quite good behind homeopathy … excellent in my opinion .. that’s the flaw in regular medicine ..
My favourite thing ever on homeopathy (because it’s as entertaining as it is true) is this little gem by James Randi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSKxz1BNU6s&feature=fvw
A lot of the strength of homeopathy, and any alternative medicine, I think, lies in the fact that these therapists take time and talk to their patients. I even talked to one of these alternate therapists who confirmed this to me: the very fact of taking time to talking to the patients brings them relief. The administered placebo just serves to heighten this effect. It is fraudulent behaviour, but then, the placebo would not work if you told the patient it was really placebo … It would seem that, if not accompanied by false claims, this combination of attention, psychology and placebo can actually complement conventional medical treatment.
Erm, so let’s get this straight… you require a professional degree course to dilute stuff to the point that there’s no actual working ingredients in it but water and sugar?
)
Even a work experience cleaner could figure that process out.
I would say that it takes 2 minutes to teach the actual techniques of the trade, and the remaining 3 years to teach students how to convince the public that it’s actually worth the money you’re charging for it.
(In that respect it’s exactly like my old fine art course
paraphrasing Nopke’s barely intelligible comments:
“just read one book, that’s all you need to know” [yikes, a recipe for ignorance. or brainwashing]
“homeopathy works because it’s like falcons and hawks” [good enough for me... *gulp*]
“medicine is useless when the body knows of its presence.” [more aptly, REASONING is useless when the brain is unaware of its ability]
“sneaky, insidious tactics are more effective” [well, THAT one's all too true]
Nopke – that’s the best example of ‘word salad’ I have seen in ages, thank you.
Interesting video of a debate about homeopathy at the Natural History Museum a few years ago:
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/life/plants-fungi/homeopathic-medicine/index.html
Ben Goldacre bravely fighting his corner while outnumbered by true believers. There’s an intriguing exchange in the discussion at the end where a homeopath offers to give Goldacre a remedy that will make him “very ill”, but Goldacre refused. I’ll take a sugar pill that’s supposed to make me ill, bring it on! Anyone else?
Nopke, how can you say that homeopathic thinking is good and that traditional medicine doesn’t work all the time?
Sure traditional medicine can fail when the wrong drug is prescribed, but those drugs have been tested to deal with certain specific problems. Where there’s ample proof that homeopathic drugs don’t do anything and aren’t tested at all.
Aren’t you confused with herbal remedies? Those do work and are the source of many traditional meds. Think about aspirin (acetylsalicyl) found in most roots. Certain plants can heal you or kill you when the applied wrongly but you are taking in massive quantities of a working substance unlike homeopathic drugs.
sometimes traditional medicine works TOO well–that’s the explanation for MRSA!
@Roz is it the antibiotics or the over usage of antibiotics that causes MRSA? I guess the latter.
But indeed MRSA is no joking matter and you’re not a happy camber when you get it and trust me all you homeopaths your “holy water” will not help when you drink it. No doubt it will help pooring it over the festering wound day after day after day. But regular tap water is just as effective and cheaper.
Best way to avoid MRSA is not to get into a hospital. So when you need a trivial opp like an appendix you may want to just do it yourself at home. Get some friends in make a saturday night out of it. As long as your friends know that the appendix is not the thing that pulsates every 0.8-1seconds then your survival rates at home maybe higher than in the hospital. At least more fun than playing Trivial Pursuit.
It’s great to see that people are starting to pay real attention to what homeopathy is (unscientific nonsense) – and what it really isn’t (medicine). For anyone who hasn’t seen yet, there’s a campaign gathering pace in the UK to raise awareness of the unscientific nature of homeopathy, and to appeal to Boots pharmacy to cease stocking these useless little sugar pills alongside real medicine. More information on the 10:23 campaign can be found at http://www.1023.org.uk
Thanks for putting this up guys.