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Report on BAHVS/IAVH Mag 2016 Malene Jorgensen
Since we took over production of the Mag more than 10 years ago (back then the “Newsletter”) we’ve published 4 issues per year. The content for the publication now arrives at a steady pace over the weeks – sometimes it’s been useful to send an encouraging email to members for contributions but these days we seem to manage quite well to put an issue together each quarter.
Last year, the BAHVS had some discussions about the future of the Mag – the cost of production and postage, change to online version vs. printed version. To date, the new format has not proved to be too popular with the membership, who seem to prefer the printed version, at least for now. However, we can easily see that an online version would maybe better suit the needs of the organization at sometime in the not too distant future and we’ll do everything we can to help a new format when the time is right.
We always welcome new content and would mention that although many professional journals and magazines have strict codes for their articles – that’s not the case here. We ask that contributions should evolve around homeopathy – animal/human, abstract/ scientific or just a good story or case study. If English is not your first language, we can correct it for you.
We would especially like the officers and the National representatives to write regularly: the IAVH has up to a 4 page spread in each issue but in recent editions the contributions haven’t materialised. The IAVH section is important and should be full of useful information. It’s an opportunity to promote the association and spread the word about its activities and operations throughout the year – surely that could easily fill 2 pages each issue! Members, officers, Nat. reps please send in your contributions to malene@laforcevitale.eu. We need to keep the Mag alive – whatever the format.
National Representatives Reports, 2016
UK – Peter Gregory
Firstly my apologies for being absent for a considerable period during this year. Having stepped down as President I was planning to reduce my stress levels considerably, but circumstances conspired, in particular a rush of teaching commitments together with duties associated with being veterinary Dean to the Faculty of homeopathy, so that when in January I contracted flu it developed into chronic fatigue syndrome; I now seem to be slowly recovering,
thanks in no small part to my friends in the world of medical homeopathy. However I am grateful that BAHVS secretary Stuart Marston took on the task of contacting MEPs to add our voice to the IAVH campaign on medicines regulations.
In the UK we have been under almost continuous attack, the main thrust of which has been a petition to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (our governing body) to ban the use of homeopathy by vets. Some of our members have appeared on the media to respond and the RCVS issued a statement to say, it had no intention of banning homeopathy (and it is doubtful, if they have the authority to do so anyway) but the campaign goes on, spearheaded by a very small but tenaciously prejudiced group. I have written several letters to the veterinary press and the responses show just how unscientific and fanatic these people are. I am hopeful that this will not go unobserved by the sensible majority of our colleagues.
Our numbers in BAHVS have reduced somewhat over the last decade, but we still have a strong and dedicated membership. Our annual conference in Bath was another resounding success and we look forward to our one-day meeting in February.
Here in the UK we are still getting used to the idea of ‘Brexit’ from the EU. This will undoubtedly change our relationship with the EU, and will certainly remove any influence EU has on homeopathy in UK. We can only wait and see what happens when we have to stand alone without the protection afforded by EU, but there is no doubt that our membership of IAVH will be of even more importance than ever before and we are committed to playing our part in this wonderful organisation.
Japan – Minako Kuroda
Over the past year, we have seen a significant shift in the media regarding natural healing. Several years ago the Science Council of Japan came down hard on homeopathy but thanks to open- minded people homeopathy has gradually become more accepted alongside other natural healing methodologies. Increasingly, the general public and practicing physicians have become a little sceptical of expensive and ineffective pharmaceuticals, opening the door to a more positive and receptive audience making it possible that there will be no regulations of homeopathy in Japan.
Due to the shift of perception, the JAVH (The Japanese Association of Veterinary Homeopathy) feels an increased sense of responsibility to share the correct knowledge about classical homeopathy with pet owners, fellow veterinarians and the medical community. We have seen an increased membership and have expanded our scope to include both doctors and pet owners in the JAVH. We hope to continue to include more people, as the need arises to build a stronger organisation to better share knowledge about homeopathy.
To accomplish that goal we have and will continue to work hard to educate our members, the general public and the medical community through annual seminars that we have conducted over the past three years. In 2015, Jackie Sehn from North America, came to share her expertise while in 2016, Stefan Kohlrausch, from Europe,
was kind enough to share his in-depth approach and knowledge. Both Jackie and Stefan conducted a series of seminars over a three-day period. The first was held for pet owners in an effort to share homeopathy to encourage people to try it out. The second seminar was a collaborative effort that brought conventional vets and trained homeopaths together to share their views on a particular subject. It is our hope to gradually make homeopathy more socially acceptable among medical practioners and build bridges with experts in various fields of medicine. The last seminar was for our members to obtain more knowledge about homeopathy from around the world with the hope they will be able to incorporate it in their practices.
Next year promises to be even more exciting, as we start to shape a new basic course for our members and I look forward to another annual seminar in October, 2017.
South Africa – Anita Schwan
(South African Veterinary Homeopathy Group) Activities in relation to homoeopathy were put aside in favour of other alternative modalities ie. acupuncture, where there seems to be more interest amongst vets at the moment. The Complementary Veterinary Medicine Group has limited funds available and the invitation of a guest lecturer from overseas needs to attract a sustainable number of interested vets to cover expenses.
Complementary medicines regulation:
Three years ago, we also had ambitious restrictive regulatory criteria governing CAMS. Required registration of all natural health products would lead to the removal of a large number of complementary and alternative health products from the market. But there is very little progress. Some products like milk thistle had been withdrawn from the shelves but are now available again. Homoeopathic remedies have not been affected and are widely available.
There are voices calling for ‘the complementary medicine regulations’ to fall, similar to the protesting youth at universities fighting for ‘fees must fall’ or ‘the president must fall’, but sadly with an incredible amount of violence involved.
Turkey – Banu Kantarcioglu
In recent days the Turkish goverment has approved homeopathy for humans however, there is still a long way to go for the remedies to be available in pharmacies.
For veterinarians there is no legal obstacle to using homeopathy for animals but there are still no lectures in the faculty programme or a course specifically for veterinary homeopathy. The interested vets are taking lectures and certificates from the human courses. One of my aims is to introduce a course program specifically for vets in Turkey. So, I need your opinions and advice. Any ideas are very welcome.
After the coup, (maybe all of you have heard about it), life is not very easy both socially and economically. People simply slow down their investments, so its not easy to find new members or supporters for veterinary or even human homeopathy.
Last week one of the human homeopathy groups made a small congress about Pediatric
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