Hundreds of members of the BMA have passed a motion denouncing the use of the alternative medicine, saying taxpayers should not foot the bill for remedies with no scientific basis to support them.
The BMA has previously expressed scepticism about homoeopathy, arguing that the rationing body, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence should examine the evidence base and make a definitive ruling about the use of the remedies in the NHS.
Dr Tom Dolphin, deputy chairman of the BMA’s junior doctors committee in England told the conference: “Homeopathy is witchcraft. It is a disgrace that nestling between the National Hospital for Neurology and Great Ormond Street [in London] there is a National Hospital for Homeopathy which is paid for by the NHS”
Full Story: Telegraph
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I am glad to see the power of reason is finally outdoing hysteria and superstition and returning Homoeopathy to where it belongs, as the exercise of crackpots and those wishing to make a dishonest buck
I’m glad this guy is not my doctor, I’d let him look at my car.
Dr Tom later showed even more class by offering an apology (to witches) for any offence his comparison might have caused:
“Homeopathy is not witchcraft, it is nonsense on stilts. It is pernicious nonsense that feeds into a rising wave of irrationality which threatens to overwhelm the hard-won gains of the Enlightenment and the scientific method. We risk, as a society, slipping back into a state of magical thinking when made-up science passes for rational discourse and wishing for something to be true passes for proof.”
I think I may have developed a slight man-crush for Dr Dolphin…
I’ve used homeopathy myself in a spirit of open-mindedness. It didn’t work. Some other friends have also used it. It didn’t work for them either.
damn! i wish people would stop slamming witches! couldnt they find any better disparaging remarks? :/
Roz, while the followers of certain neopagan religions have chosen to designate themselves ‘witches’, and it was originally a term for ‘wise one’ or a similar concept, you must admit that its common use for centuries has been to refer to the mythological evil magical women. I don’t think, for instance, that the three witches in Macbeth were Shakespeare’s attempt to demonise either the ancient pagans or the not-yet-formed neopagans.
In other words, witchcraft is a term that refers to arcane ritual magic. Nothing to do with slamming pagans.
Sticking pins into people to ease their pain, I guess this is part of the ‘rising wave of irrationality’ as well.
“Water has memory! & while it’s memory of a long lost drop of onion juice is infinite, it somehow forgets all the poo it’s had in it”
Tim Minchin “Storm”
Says it all really
Interestingly accupuncture (or sticking pins into people
) is one of the few (possibly the only) ‘alternative’ treatments which has been proven to work to some degree. Specifically in head and back pain.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/alternative_medicine/article6623351.ece
One of the qualities of a good skeptic is to be able to accept proof when it is presented. I don’t particularly want to believe that accupuncture works because, well, it’s silly. How could it possibly work? But I am happy to defer the judgement to those who, it seems, are sound in their testing.
Luckily the same researchers have not given any creedence to the magic potions of homoeopathy so there’s no need for us to give up on it all and become chicken farmers just yet
I had rheumatic fever when I was 5. I used to have bad convulsions because of the high body temperature. My doctor prescribed me an injection to be taken every month, maybe for the rest of my life + antibiotics pills. After a few months of treatment I refused to take any injections as it was really painful. My mother took me to a homeopathic doctor and after hundreds of tests I started the treatment. I remember taking sugar pills a couple of times a day. I loved them! I never had any convulsion since. I did a blood test when I was 20 and I was clean from the disease. Was it a placebo effect? Maybe I was so glad for not having to take those horrible injections again that my mind healed my body. If this is the case, it shows our body can heal itself (with the help of a healthy diet).
(cont.) I rarely get ill, but when I do, I only use alternative medicine as I believe mainstream medicine isn’t good for you. It fixes one thing and damages others, and It should be used only in some cases, but the best cure is still the prevention.
BTW do you remember when doctors used to prescribe cigarettes?
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1848212_1777633,00.html
Hi
Glad to see this story still has some legs.
I did actually get a letter from a witch, threatening to report me to the GMC for a combination of misogyny and religious intolerance (I think – it was hard to discern). Thus my later apology to witches for accidentally causing offence to Wiccans, when I was originally referring to witchcraft in the sense of practitioners of hocus-pocus, muttering and incantations, beguilement and mind-tricks – in other words the fairy-tale witch, not the modern Wiccan.
At the BMA’s annual meeting, when the apology was offered, there was actually a protest outside the main entrance on the morning that this was debated, made up of about 25 homeopaths and their patients, waving placards and politely urging us to vote against the motion!
Regards
Tom Dolphin
Ya know my mum started using all herbal remedies and essential oils and things, we have loads of bottles of stuff in the kitchen. And actually some of it is very effective. Do you know, since i’ve been having this special drink she makes in the mornings sometimes, I haven’t have a cough, a cold, a bug or the flu for about 2 years! And she hasn’t been ill for…..even longer than me, haha. I would rather use NATURAL things that can soothe or acts as an anti-biotic or clears your sinuses or gets rid of a headache without having to put harmful chemicals into my body thank you very much. Cold, bunged up nose, bad sinuses….eucalyptus. Cold or flu, hot lemon and honey…or peppermint tea. Torn or damaged ligaments, lemongrass. Its all better for you.
Cin, although I’m happy to hear you had a positive outcome which you attribute to homeopathy, it’s pretty meaningless without any real evidence.
There are other people who, like you, have beaten serious illnesses whilst taking homeopathic medicines, but as there is no independant evidence whatsoever that homeopathy has ever cured a serious illness we can only assume that their cases are simply a matter of coincedence.
Your case taken in isolation is not evidence. It would be interesting to find out the statistics of how many people have fought off illness when using homeopathy measured against the number who have not fought off their illnesses. But the problem is, the homeopaths never mention those cases.
Homeopaths are, I’m afraid, charlatans. They make claims which they cannot backup.
Acupuncture is one of many ‘alternative’ practices that today are edging mainstream, if we had this conversation 10, 20 or 30 years ago they would quite possibly(probably) have induced the same reaction as Dr T does here. These practices worked (for some) then without the backing of science was it ‘witchcraft’ or ‘nonsense on stilts’. Some of the techniques used by DB such as NLP and Hypnosis not that long ago would be the preserve of witch doctors – spellcasting, bewitching, trances or magic. I think we should keep an open mind to areas we don’t maybe yet understand. Anyway if a placebo cures your dis-ease is that bad medicine? We don’t know why it worked ‘yet’ but surely target is the good health of the patient.
Argument from ignorance is an oft-cited defence when the evidence fails to back up extra-ordinary claims. But, to paraphrase Dara O’Briain, just because science doesn’t know everything that doesn’t mean you get to fill in the gaps with whatever fairy tale you fancy.
There is an ethical issue when it comes to lying to your patient about the treatment you offer. By the same token there is a massive ethical issue when it comes to advising that patients ignore proven treatments and instead rely on the placebo effect in order to treat potentially life-threatening diseases.
Homeopathy ignores the germ-theory of disease, which puts them in very much the same camp as AIDS denialists and the anti-vax movement.
Please Don’t confuse herbalism with homeopathy. Herbalists, who study 3 years at degree level, to become qualified are fairly miffed when people draw comparisons between the two as homeopathy is,basically, snake oil. Some types of herbal medicine have been proved (& I emphasize the SOME”) we know tea tree oil is good for spots, Passiflora & valerium are good for nerves, chamomile makes a good sleeping draught. But none of it & I do mean NONE of it is as effective as modern medicine. Do you really think anyone in China uses chinese herbal medicine when they have a headache? Course they don’t, they take a bloomin paracetamol like the rest of us!
Sorry rant over
Homeopathy is a load of rubbish. I make my own herbal medicines, discarding recipes that don’t work, and keeping ones that do, and it’s brilliant, but homeopathic medicine is just a few drops of flowery oil in water! Glad the guy apologised for the witchcraft remark, because we’re not that stupid!
(Just kidding. I do think us Wiccans and Pagans can take others using the term ‘witchcraft’ casually a little too seriously, but it’s just frustration at the fact we’ve all been branded hippie idiots. People shouting “BURN THE WITCH!” at me, however, I will take offence to 
)
So you ‘believe’ a primitive data collecting system created by humans in the last two hundred years has total authority over the the idea that perhaps natural substances created by a vast and complex Earth system cannot heal a natural organism called the human body/mind?
James
“Homeopathy is witchcraft”.
Why its almost as demonic as chewing the bark of a willow tree, to ease pain and headaches.
alan: It would be, if the willow bark didn’t contain any trace of medicinal compounds like salycylic acid. I think homeopathy is more akin to drinking a glass of water or eating some milk sugar to ease pain and headaches.
Seriously, I can see willow bark (or quina bark, for that matter, which through the allergic symptoms it induced in Hahnemann caused his unfortunate misunderstanding of medicine) being used to make a case for herbal medicine, but ritually shaking dilutions can be seen as little else but a magical ritual.
The brilliant James Randi has made an interesting comment on homeopathy http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-skeptics-homeopathy-01052011,0,2326137.story
I can’t say I agree with what you’re saying as homeopathy DOES work for some people. So what’s the harm in it?
I am sure that you will find this latest research on Homeopathy incredibly beneficial as there needs to be more proof out there that homeopathy DOES work and WHY it works. Then perhaps there wouldn’t be such prejudice against those who do believe in it.
This new research is about the property of water, and discoveries that prove very simply how homeopathy works. It may come surprise to you, to discover, that it is nothing whatsoever to do with chemistry but it is all to do with the unique properties of water and vibrations.
Anyhow, have a look at the website at http://www.blindedbyscience.co.uk. The chapters are free to download so start off with ‘Water’
Harry