Homoeopathic medicine: Just the tonic or plain quackery?

PRINCE Charles is a staunch ambassador and millions of people swear by it. However, most UK doctors consider homoeopathic remedies to be little more than superstition and a waste of money.

We know that many people believe in the benefits of complementary medicines and we aim to offer the products we know our customers want

That's according to the Merseyside Skeptics Society, anyway. Indeed, so convinced are they themselves, of the inefficacy of products made by the multi-million pound homoeopathy industry, that later this month they are planning a mass overdose.

Up to 300 sceptics plan to stand outside branches of Boots in cities and towns the country over and swallow whole bottles of homoeopathic potions in a bid to prove their worthlessness.

The action day, next Saturday, January 30, will see sceptical ranks coming together on the high streets of Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh, Bristol, Glasgow, Birmingham, Southampton and London, with sympathy protests in Australia, Canada and the United States.

A sceptic might wonder where this stunt - the British Homoeopathic Association's word for it - might get anyone.

But Martin Robbins, Merseyside sceptics spokesman said: "Homoeopathic remedies themselves may not be directly harmful, but there is a real danger in misleading customers into thinking that homoeopathy is somehow equivalent to real medicine.

"Patients may believe that they are treating themselves or their children adequately, and delay seeking appropriate treatment; or they may receive dangerous advice after consulting with homoeopaths rather than their GPs."

The Merseyside Skeptics Society, a group of rationalist thinkers who set up their highly popular pub group on a Liverpool barstool or two around a year ago, got themselves so het up about the issue that they started the 10:23 Campaign which “aims to raise awareness about the reality of homoeopathy” and pledging to inform people “how it can be proven not to work, why homoeopaths' claims are impossible, why you should care”.

Boots, chemist and pharmaceutical giant itself, sells a wide range of alternative medicines alongside the conventional. It says while it supports the call for more research into homoeopathy it believed in giving consumers a choice.

“We know that many people believe in the benefits of complementary medicines and we aim to offer the products we know our customers want.” said a spokesman.

But in an open letter to Boots, the sceptics urged the retailer to take the products off their shelves: “As you are aware, the best and most rigorous scientific research concludes that homoeopathy offers no therapeutic effect beyond placebo, but you continue to sell these products regardless because "customers believe they work". Is this the standard you set for yourselves?”

Just to get you in the mood for all this, the Mersey sceptics are staging an event this Thursday night (21 Jan) at the Vines pub (The Big House) on Lime|Street with a high profile speaker.

Science journalist and one-time Tomorrow's World producer Simon Singh (MBE) investigated the evidence for and against alternative therapies and published his conclusions in “Trick or Treatment?”, a hard-hitting examination and judgement of more than 30 of the most popular treatments.

Singh will discuss how and why he got involved in writing about alternative medicine. In particular, he will discuss the origins, philosophy and testing of acupuncture and homoeopathy, two of the most popular forms of alternative medicine. Singh, who is currently being sued for libel by the British Chiropractic Association, will also comment on his ongoing legal battle and the impact of libel laws on scientific journalism.

*Simon Singh, “Skeptics in the Pub” at the Vines in Lime Street, this Thursday, 21 January 2010, 18:30 – 20:30.

*Mass Homoeopathic Overdose, Boots, everywhere. 10.23am, Saturday 30 January.

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