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levelled at products, often homeopathic combination products, where the medicines are used at potencies below 12C or 24X. Anyone making the statement that there’s nothing in these products, may have a little diffi- culty with the information in the following table, which demonstrates the levels at which the human body responds to normal human hormones and metabolites.
Homeopathy is not evidence based – there are no successful trials
This is an interesting point. It’s true that the number of successful home- opathic trials is relatively small, the numbers of people participating in the trials is often relatively small and few trials have been replicated. The rea- son for this is that unlike drugs, homeopathic medicines in most cases cannot be patented, so there is little incentive to invest the vast quantities of money that the drug companies often spend to mount large clinical tri- als if the sponsors cannot monopolize the results. However, homeopathy has produced successful clinical trials, and they’re relatively easy to find13-17. As a final point, surveys have found that only 10-20% of all stan- dard medical procedures have been validated by controlled clinical tri- als18 and yet orthodox medicine is held up as the gold standard to which homeopathy should aspire.
Homeopathy stops people from using drugs that may provide better results in disease control
This again is an interesting issue, and the criticism can be answered with a few simple facts. Trials comparing homeopathy with standard medical treatment have found that it can provide outcomes as good as or better than orthodox medicine for particular conditions19, 20. It’s also useful here to put the relative safety of various forms of medicine into perspective. The total number of adverse reactions to drugs in Australia from the year 1999-2000 was 400,00021. The total number of adverse reactions from CM for the same year was 2322, and none of these were caused by a homeopathic medicine23. Even more interesting is the fact that only 1- 10% of all adverse drug reactions are reported24. In the US up to one fifth of all new prescription drugs may ultimately be recalled or produce potentially harmful side effects25. No homeopathic medicine has ever been subject to a product recall on the basis of toxicity, or has been recorded as producing serious side effects.
Homeopathy keeps people away from medical doctors
The facts would indicate that this, in many circumstances, may not be such a bad idea. In the US, doctors are the third leading cause of death, with iatrogenic (medically induced) disease accounting for 250,000 deaths every year (I2,000 from unnecessary surgery, 7,000 from med- ication errors in hospitals, 20,000 from other errors in hospitals, 80,000 from infections in hospitals, 106,000 from the negative effects of drugs)26.
Homeopathy is expensive
This is rarely the case. US doctors who used homeopathy were found to use less diagnostic testing and conventional medicines, resulting in a sig- nificant reduction in their impact on the cost of public health27. Patients using homeopathy cost the French government half of what it cost for patients who used orthodox treatments28. French researchers have noted that the number of paid sick leave days taken by patients under the care of homeopathic physicians was 3.5 times less than patients under the care of medical practitioners29 UK doctors using homeopathy cost the
government 12% less than UK doctors who do not use homoeopathy30. In Germany researchers found that homeopathic care for infertility was 30 times less expensive per successful delivery than orthodox medical care31.
Criticisms leveled at homeopathy seem more often than not to be based on emotion rather than logic, and the types of criticisms made and the way they’re articulated, would tend to indicate that orthodox medicine has great difficulty in accepting anything outside of itself, regardless of the evidence. If one looks at it objectively, and when in possession of the facts, the criticisms of homeopathy can be shown to be largely baseless.
References
1 Payne F., Homeopathy- to believe or not to believe, The Australian Pharmacist, 22, 6, June 203, 420
2 Roller L., Homoeopathy: where’s the evidence?, Australian Journal of Pharmacy, 84, July 2003, 519
3 Catalyst, ABC television, April 3, April 10, 2003
4 National Campaign Against Health Fraud (see also
http://www.quackpotwatch.org/default.htm
5 Shui-Yin Lo, “Anomalous State of Ice,” Modern Physics Letters B, 10,1996:909-919.
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7 IE Vittorio Elia and Marcella Niccoli, “Thermodynamics of Extremely Diluted Aqueous
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13 Medhurst R., Current State of Research in Homoeopathy Part 1, Journal of the Australian
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14 Medhurst R., Current State of Research in Homoeopathy Part 2, Journal of the Australian
Traditional Medicine Society, March, 1999, 5, 1, 25-26.
15 Medhurst R., Update on Research in Homoeopathy, Journal of the Australian Traditional
Medicine Society, December 2000, 6, 4, 145-147.
16 Medhurst R., Homoeopathy Research Update, Journal of the Australian Traditional Medicine
Society, December 2002, 8, 4, 175-176.
17 Medhurst R., Further Update on Research in Homoeopathy, Journal of the Australian
Traditional Medicine Society, March 2003, 9, 1, 31-32.
18 Fluhrer J, Integrative Practice Overview. Complementary Medicine, July/ August 2002, 33-
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19 Friese, K., Kruse S., et al, The Homoeopathic Treatment of Otitis media in Children.
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20 Riley D., Fischer M., et al, Homoeopathy and Conventional Medicine: An Outcome Study
Comparing Effectiveness in a Primary Care Settings. J Alt and Comp Med, 2001, 7, 2, 123-5). 21 Australian Journal of Pharmacy, 83, September 2002, 774
22 Australian Journal of Pharmacy, 83, June 2002, 516-517
23 ADRAC private correspondence, 2002
24 New Scientist 17 July 1980, 218
25 Lasser KE et al, Timing of New Black Box Warnings and Withdrawals for Prescription
Medications, Journal of the American Medical Association 2002, 287:2215-2220.,
2002;287:2215-2220, 2273-2275
26 Starfield B., Is US Health Really the Best in the World?. Journal of the American Medical
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27 Jennifer J et al, Patient Characteristics and Practice Patterns of Physicians Using
Homeopathy, Archives of Family Medicine. 1998, Nov/Dec, 537-540
28 Caisse Nationale de l’Assurance Maladie des Travailleurs Salaris, 1996 Fisher P, Cost
Savings for the NHS, Natural Medicine Society News, June 1992, 21
29 Gerhard, I, G. Reimers, C. Keller, and M. Schmuck, Weibliche fertiltitasstorungen. Vergleich homoopathischer einzelmittel–mit konventioneller hormontherapie Therapeutikon.
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