Homoeopathy may not be as harmless as you think

Homoeopathy, long thought to be a harmless indulgence for middle class people of the hippy era is increasingly under fire, because it is becoming more and more apparent that it is costing lives.

Today, at 10:23 UK time, a group of people who are skeptical about homoeopathy, will give a public demonstration, as reported by R.C. Camphausen. Why are these people doing this? In order to fully comprehend their reasons, it is necessary to have an idea of what homoeopathy is. Click here for a short introduction, and come back when you have read it. Don't panic, I'll wait. When we understand what homoeopathy is, it should be clear as day that it is utterly safe. The only way for it to be dangerous or even uncomfortable to anyone would be if one is allergic or has an intolerance related to the fillers used in homoeopathic products. The most popular one is a form of sugar found in milk. Homoeopathic products usually use a refined version of this (lactose). Evidently, if you are lactose intolerant, these products won't sit too well with you. However, this is just about the only problem one should expect with homoeopathy. It is utterly safe. So then, why all the fuzz about this demonstration? Because homoeopathy can be very dangerous. How is this possible, if its administrations are so harmless? Think of it. If homoeopathic products are completely safe, and don't do anything, they also don't cure anything. Usually, this is not a problem, because the vast majority of our illnesses are self-limiting. For example, if you have a cold, you don't normally need medical attention. It will pass. There is actually a joke in the medical community which students are usually told in their first year or so: if you don't treat a cold, it can last up to a week. If you treat it, it'll last only seven days. Many other illnesses are temporary as well. Who hasn't had insomnia, a headache, an itch, nausea, indigestion... nearly all of these conditions are all but harmless and will pass. If you go to a doctor, he or she will usually tell you not to be scared, to go home, have a good rest, drink a lot and let it pass. If you insist, he or she may prescribe you something to temporarily alleviate the symptoms so you can function more normally until the condition passes on its own. Exactly the same is true for homoeopathy. The products won't do anything at all for you, but the condition will stop on its own with no harm done, except to your wallet, since visits to homoeopaths and the products they prescribe can be very expensive. But again, only your wallet will be hurt, not you. So then, what is the problem? The problem arises when you have a condition that requires genuine medical attention. If you are going to a responsible homoeopath (which is a bit of a contradiction in terms when you think of it), he or she will tell you a story about how your condition has deteriorated too much and that you must go to a conventional doctor. Unfortunately, a large number of homoeopaths have no medical training whatsoever and will not recognize a serious condition which means that you will continue to deteriorate until you decide to go to a real doctor. This can cost you your life. In other words, while the homoeopathic product will not kill you, homoeopathy can kill you by causing you to avoid treatment. Because homoeopathy operates on the borderline between legality and illegality, deaths (and serious conditions) as a result of homoeopathic practice are thought to be vastly under reported, but no one really knows how serious the problem is. This is an example of a tragic case in Australia: http://digitaljournal.com/article/273715 There are other ways that homoeopathy can kill or cause serious harm. Homoeopaths will often advise their customers to avoid genuine medicine, for example by advising people not to get vaccinated or not to vaccinate their children. The problem here is that we don't vaccinate people against trivial diseases, we vaccinate against diseases that are genuinely dangerous, such as measles, a disease that kills massive numbers of people, and that can cause severe brain damage in the survivors. Follow the advice of your homoeopath, and you may end up having to live with the guilt of having allowed your child to die or to have brain damage for the rest of your life. Sometimes, homoeopaths don't remain just passive. Instead of merely advising you not to get some treatment, they often happen to peddle treatments of their own. In the UK, homoeopaths seem to routinely prescribe homoeopathic anti-malarials, and the country is seeing an upsurge in malaria as a result. How can you stay safe? Stay away from homoeopaths. That's obvious enough. Think of it. Most homoeopaths don't have medical training. If you don't trust a real doctor, who has studied for years to earn her/his qualifications, what makes you think that someone without qualifications would know more? If the homoeopath boasts qualifications, check them out. Ask the ministry of Health, ask the ministry of education. What are these qualifications worth? Yes, but my homoeopath is also a medical doctor! That is obviously a lot better, because a genuine doctor will recognize serious conditions when they arise. However, you must remain vigilant and cautious. There are essentially three types of medical doctors who embrace homoeopathy: 1. One type does not really believe in homoeopathy, but is afraid to be seen as being narrow-minded if he/she does not embrace it. They see it as the harmless sugar pills it can be, and they switch to genuine treatments when the situation calls for it. One can question the ethics of knowingly prescribing products that don't work, since it is a paternalistic, demeaning way to look at patients, but there is not much harm done here. 2. Another type is using homoeopathy because it is very easy money. Why bother treating patients, trying to get to the cause of a problem and solve it, doing physical examinations and such, if one can make far more money listening to a patient, nodding once in a while and then prescribe some sugar pills that will not do anything? 3. The doctor has all but put aside her/his medical training and has bought wholesale into the homoeopathic idea. While such an irrational decision may sound almost impossible, it has been known to happen. Being treated by such a doctor can be just as dangerous as being treated by some store clerk who happens to have read the labels on the products. The homoeopathic problem is not limited to doctors, it affects most health-care professions. What about pharmacists, for example? These people are in business to make money. There is nothing wrong with that, but expecting them not to sell products that don't work but that offer huge profit margins is not very realistic. This is why the demonstration is going to be done in front of Boot's pharmacies. The company knows and admits that they have no evidence that homoeopathic products works, but they sell them anyway because their customers want to buy them. Some doctors and pharmacies opt for a middle-ground approach by telling their patients/customers what is known about homoeopathy and then giving them a choice. While not an ideal situation, it certainly better than blindly prescribing and selling products that are known not to work. A good example of this is the Canadian company Shoppers Drugmart. Read the warning on their website: http://www.shoppersdrugmart.ca/english/healthwatch/informed/healthcentres/naturalhealth/homeopathy.html