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Submitted by hareyan on Jul 2nd, 2008
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Homeopathy is a form of alternative medicine first defined by Samuel Hahnemann in the 18th century. Homeopathic practitioners contend that an ill person can be treated using a substance that can produce, in a healthy person, symptoms similar to those of the illness.
According to homeopaths, serial dilution, with shaking between each dilution, removes the toxic effects of the remedy while the qualities of the substance are retained by the diluent (water, sugar, or alcohol). The end product is often so diluted that it is indistinguishable from pure water, sugar or alcohol. Practitioners select treatments according to a patient consultation that explores the physical and psychological state of the patient, both of which are considered important to selecting the remedy.
Claims for efficacy of homeopathic treatment beyond the placebo effect are unsupported by the collective weight of scientific and clinical evidence. Common homeopathic preparations are diluted beyond the point where there is any likelihood that molecules from the original solution are present in the final product; the claim that these treatments still have any pharmacological effect is thus scientifically implausible and violates fundamental principles of science, including the law of mass action.
While advocates point to positive results as evidence for its efficacy, the number of high-quality studies that support homeopathy is small, the conclusions are not definitive, and duplication of the results, a key test of scientific validity, has proven problematic at best. The lack of convincing scientific evidence supporting its efficacy and its use of remedies without active ingredients have caused homeopathy to be regarded as pseudoscience; quackery; or, in the words of a 1998 medical review, "placebo therapy at best and quackery at worst."
Source: Reprinted from Wikipedia On Homeopathy
Comments
#1 someone please help me
can someone explain to me, is homeopathy beneficial or not?
#2 homeopathy simply great
since 200 yrs. homeopathy rx. makes lots of pt. permentaly cured. so all the criticism is useless .
#3 Homoeopathy Documentary by BBC
Homoeopathy has ample evidence that it works. If some vested interest and a section of biased media chose not to see the truth it is their fault and not that of Homoeopathy. All critics stick to the same rhetoric but they do not make an honest study to interact with the lakhs of patients helped by Homoeopathy. My own experience with the system as a patient is excellent. The cure is to be seen in a patient and not in some labs. If the system does not work then ovarian cysts could not have been cured, tonsils would have been operated , cases of hypotension and hypertension would not have been cured , ganglions would have remained as it is and so on..these are my observation of the effect of the Homoeopathic system of medicine on persons known to me since last two decades. We are not bothered whether some sponsored articles criticise the system. Our experience is our guiding path. So better no one try to poke their noses in other systems which they do not understand basically and which they criticise for some motives or rather business interests of some pharma companies.
#4 Many scientists have in fact
Many scientists have in fact done plenty of double blind trials and all the findings are that Homoeopathy has no effect at all. I reviewed one last year by a very well respected British doctor that showed that, in fact, the bedside manner of the practionar was to decisive factor in the failure or success rate of treatments perscribed - I think that should tell you everything...
And when will the Homoeopathy cult front up and present their own double blind trials? Well, decades on, we're still waiting...
#5 Oh Look Everyone -> ANOTHER FAKE BBC HOMEOPATHY DOCUMENTARY!!!
You all recall the last fake BBC Homeopathy documentary,
the one in which they pretended to repeat M. Ennis' experiments
showing stimulation of basophil cells by a Homeopathic high dilution
substance which no longer had any atoms of the stimulating
substance in it. In that one, the unskilled "researcher" (sic)
quietly added a chemical to "speed up" the reaction -
chemical which (surprise!) also killed the basophil cells
and ensured that the experiment would fail. Widely reported
as the definitive refutation (sic) of a key experiment that
could be the cornerstone of homeopathy, it was only months
later, AND after persistent queries from Homeopathic
researchers that the details emerged. Rather like
the "End (sic) of Homeopathy" Lancet issue in which they
bandy about 110 trials refuting Homeopathy except when you
read the article it was actually 8 (eight!) trials carefully cherry
picked from numerous other trials which succeeded.
Details at THESE links:
http://www.homeopathy.ac.nz/full-text-articles/ultra-dilute-solutions-li...
The "lies and videotape" link, about half way down the page
discusses the BBC Horizon fiasco.
http://www.homeopathy.ac.nz/full-text-articles/yet-another-shabby-attemp...
Last but not least, for those whose thinking has been shut
off by the lack of atoms in the high dilutions Homeopathic remedies,
there is THIS research, for example:
Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications
Volume 323, 15 May 2003, Pages 67-74
Thermoluminescence of ultra-high dilutions of lithium chloride and
sodium chloride
Louis Rey
Received 10 December 2002.
Available online 28 February 2003.
"Ultra-high dilutions of lithium chloride and
sodium chloride (10-30 gcm-3) have been
irradiated by X- and ã-rays at 77 K, then
progressively rewarmed to room temperature.
During that phase, their thermoluminescence
has been studied and it was found that,
despite their dilution beyond the Avogadro
number, the emitted light was specific of
the original salts dissolved initially."
I repeat the conclusion for EMPHASIS:
"IT WAS FOUND THAT,
DESPITE THEIR DILUTION BEYOND THE AVOGADRO
NUMBER, THE EMITTED LIGHT WAS SPECIFIC OF
THE ORIGINAL SALTS DISSOLVED INITIALLY."
#6 Homeopathy Documentary by BBC
Horizon set this experiment up to look scientific, but the fact is that they didn't test the homeopathic histamine on living people. Homeopathy only works when the remedy is selected according to the actual sympoms of a real person and is actually administered to that person.