Prominent member of Alliance of Registered Homeopaths says “Conventional drugs are something to avoid - at all costs.”
Posted by gimpy on May 3, 2008
The Alliance of Registered Homeopaths (ARH) are one of the bodies purporting to regulate homeopaths and protect the public. Their Registrar, Steve Scrutton, has one of the most insane, dangerous and idiotic websites I have ever seen a homeopath unleash upon the internet.
On the failure of conventional medicine he has this to say:
Conventional medicine is dangerous. Its drugs are killing more and more people every year. Conventional drugs are something to avoid - at all costs.
Conventional medicine is expensive. The NHS spends over £80 billion per year. Some drug treatments can cost over £30,000 - per individual - per year! Good for the Pharmaceutical Companies, bad for the taxpayer.
Conventional medicine is ineffective. Despite spending increasing amounts on health care over the last 60 years, we are facing epidemic levels of disease such as Autism, Alzheimer’s Disease, ADHD, Suicide, Cancer, Allergy, Asthma, COPD, Cornary Heart Disease, Diabetes, Arthritis, IBS, osteoporosis - etc., etc.
He also believes that homeopathy can prevent cholera, hepatitis, typhoid, diphtheria, polio, tetanus, malaria, meningitis and yellow fever.
Let us put this in perspective with some figures from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Cholera - 131 943 cases, 2272 deaths in 2005.
Hepatitis -
A - 1,399,000 cases, deaths unknown.
C - WHO estimates that about 3% of the world’s population has been infected with HCV and that there are more than 170 million chronic carriers who are at risk of developing liver cirrhosis and/or liver cancer.
D - Worldwide, more than 10 million people are infected with HDV.
E - Sporadic outbreaks with varying levels of lethality.
Tetanus - 15,000 cases in 2006.
Meningitis -
Yellow fever - Thanks to vaccination just a few hundred cases and around 100 deaths in 2004.
It is absurd that this idiot is permitted to play at pretend medicine by society, much less promoted to a prominent position of responsibility by an organisation that purports to regulate homeopaths.
What we have here is a flat out rejection of medical reality in favour of some absurd and utterly unbelievable pseudo-science. Steve Scrutton tells potential customers “remember that homeopathy is a complete system of medicine, and can deal with any ailment, illness or disease.”. If the UN, WHO and governments believed Steve Scrutton’s claims then they would be responsible for the deaths of untold billions. Thankfully they don’t, however homeopaths are encouraged to adopt crude PR tactics, to lobby and recruit MPs and spread disinformation and lies about science and medicine. This is a monstrous folly and I urge everyone as homeopathy awareness week looms to make the public aware of the true nature of homeopathy. A harmful and wilfully ignorant conceit that ignores science, hates medicine and offers only illness, disease and death.
May 3, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Well he’s right - as long as there’s nothing wrong with you, homeopathy is the medication of choice, minimal side effects, doesn’t need to do anything - it’s when there’s something wrong with you that these deluded morons cause harm.
May 4, 2008 at 9:46 am
Deluded morons they may be PJ but remember they get money from government, the support of the Prince of Wales and a substantial proportion of the press, and even get degrees in this nonsense.
May 4, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Maybe BSc stands for “Bronze Swimming Certificate”
May 4, 2008 at 5:10 pm
His website is right about one thing
True, drugs, by there nature, have to have an effect on the body.
May 4, 2008 at 5:14 pm
That quote is the most mind boggling thing I’ve read in weeks. It’s like he is actively pursuing a return to the dark ages. Great Scott!
May 4, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Lave, unfortunately I suspect Mr Scrutton represents the majority of opinion amongst lay homeopaths, the medically qualified ones must be in shivering cold sweats over this idiocy.
May 5, 2008 at 4:29 am
Conventional medicine is not always dangerous. But oh, it can be. My 1-year-old was prescribed Miralax (aka polyethylene glycol) for chronic constipation, and was on it for two years. This is standard treatment for kids with this problem; it’s prescribed by pediatricians and GI specialists across America and they all assert that it is not absorbed and is totally safe. Only later did I discover that it is never supposed to be prescribed for more than two weeks and never to children (never tested on kids). Only later did I find out that this drug can cause neurological problems and kidney failure. Only later did I find out that the main clinical trials were done on people in nursing homes, who were instructed only to write down how they were doing with their constipation and NOT whether they experienced any changes in the rest of their health. Since they were elderly patients in nursing homes, any neurological changes would have been ascribed to age and any bladder or kidney problems would have also been ascribed to age. Now we are finding that this drug IS absorbed in small amounts (about 4%) and does harm kids.
I could give you example after example from my own life of occasions when doctors have thrown drugs at me that ended up not being appropriate or that actually harmed me with their side effects.
As for homeopathy. Never mind the big horrible diseases. Let’s talk about the little things that really affect your quality of life. For a parent, that means colds, flus, ear infections. My daughter developed a terrible ear infection one day. She was screaming in pain. I took her to the doctor, who prescribed an antibiotic, and alternating doses of Tylenol and Motrin (she assumed the pain would be so bad that my kid should be on Tylenol and Motrin simultaneously to deal with it). While standing in line to get the antibiotic, I phoned our chiropractor. He said, “Don’t give her an antibiotic. Most ear infections are viral anyway. But do give her some Tylenol for the pain right away [I already had]. Then go to the health food store and get a homeopathic remedy called Earache, and also get her an herbal tincture of nettles.” Well, the HFS was all out of nettles (which I later discovered is a wonderful herbal decongestant), so we made do with the Earache alone. Never had to give her the antibiotic. Never had to give her a second dose of the Tylenol. She was completely cured within hours. This was for an ear infection that the doctor had been terribly concerned about.
I switched to using homeopathic remedies whenever we get colds. Guess what, the remedies work better than over-the-counter cold medicines. As a parent, I can tell you, my kids don’t know whether I’m giving them western medicine or homeopathic medicine. But I can observe the difference. And the homeopathic medicine is the one that means I get to sleep that night. The OTC western medicine is the one that means I get to sit up all night holding a child who can’t breathe if she’s lying down.
So you can knock homeopaths all you want, but I’m sticking with what works. I believe in science — and I believe someday science will catch up and explain this. Western science is still in its infancy. There’s a lot we don’t yet understand about how the body works.
My suggestion is, try a remedy for yourself and see if you remain skeptical.
May 5, 2008 at 11:01 am
Western science is still in its infancy. There’s a lot we don’t yet understand about how the body works.”
Bonnie there is no such thing as ‘Western Science’, and I think many scientists in India, China and Japan would be quite offended by these borderline racist statements made by the CAM community. The scientific community is a global one, and lets not forget Homeopathy originated in Germany.
I’m glad that on the occasions you have given your children homeopathic remedies they have been able to sleep well. However when this is repeated in a controlled manner there is no evidence that it is of any benefit. Nobody doubts that there is still a lot we don’t know about the human body, hence on going research, but this is a straw man against which homeopaths continually beat. Homeopathy isn’t thought useless because of it’s apparent implausibility, but because there’s no evidence for it.
May 5, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Bonnie, quite apart from your post doesn’t deal with the issues raised by this brief post, namely the flat out rejection of all medicine by lay homeopaths, it doesn’t ring true. The website for Miralax has very clear product information (ugh, I feel dirty linking to commercial medicine sites) about how to use it. I simply do not believe that your prescription would come without such information nor that you would not read it.
Can I also assure you that polyethylene glycol is quite safe found as it is in everything from toothpaste to skin creams to medicine without any recorded toxicity at this sort of level.
Can I also echo John R’s points about ‘Western Science’/
May 5, 2008 at 7:19 pm
“This was for an ear infection that the doctor had been terribly concerned about.”
I doubt very much the doctor was concerned about a minor ear infection - they only give out antibiotics to shut people up - they are well aware that most ear infections will not respond to antibiotics.
May 5, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Great and mind bollging post Gimpy. I agree completely with Bonnie. There isn’t much that evidence based medicine can do about colds and flu. But that’s not too serious as most people will get better on their own. If you feel that homeopathy makes you feel better then good for you.
But to suggest that people with fatal illnesses such as Cholera should forgo proper medical treatment beggers belief. Anyone suggesting that has to be either completely ignorant or cynical enough to knowingly give medical advice that could lead to someone’s death.
May 6, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Perhaps Mr Scrutton should read the book reviewed here:
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=103 - On being certain: believing you’re right even when you’re not
“Burton discusses how certainty interferes with science. “Integrative medicine” guru Andrew Weil set up tests of osteopathic manipulation for ear infections, and when the experiments showed no effect, he said, “I’m sure there’s an effect there. We couldn’t capture it in the way we set up the experiment.” This kind of thinking is rampant in alternative medicine. Burton thinks that if Dr. Weil recommends osteopathy for an ear infection, he should inform the patient that the recommendation is based on an unconfirmed belief…”
The reviewer also includes a quote from Richard Feynman, which those who would accuse modern scientists of arrogantly believing they have all the answers would do well to reflect upon:
“I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things… It doesn’t frighten me.”
May 8, 2008 at 9:49 am
My family have used homeopathy and herbs for generations which has kept us well and healthy. None of us has needed any conventional medicine including vaccinations in decades including my father who at 90 was still gardening eight hours a day.
Just like the Queen when we travel abroad I take my little box of remedies which deals with all those nasty bugs like Hep A and diseases like Malaria. If it is good enough for HRH it is good enough for me.
For all the skeptics out there have a look at the figures for the cholera epidemic in London in the mid 1800s when hundreds and hundreds of people died in the conventional hospitals compared to the homeopathic hospital where the death rate was next to none. What more proof do you need????
I will stick with my homeopathy thank you and stay drug free unlike the rest of my pensioner friends who take a cocktail of drugs for their aches and pains, diabetes, high blood pressure etc., etc.,
For those of you who want drugs and all their side effects good luck to you, you have the freedom to chose that path if you really want to, that is your choice. I am sure you will agree that the important thing is that we all have freedom of choice on how we wish to look after our health.
May 9, 2008 at 10:46 am
I really do get annoyed with all the wrangling that goes on between Homeopathy and conventional medicine -what is wrong with you all?
I have been a nurse for 30years and have just completed my degree in homeopathy-I am proud to say! having worked more recently in a GP practice I know there are patients that GP’s can do nothing with, Patients with hypertension that does not respond to ANY conventional medication given, patients that GP’s have ‘given ‘up with - I think homeopathy can help conventional medicine and help these patients -what is there to lose?
Please do not think that conventional medicine is the ‘be all and end all’ of medicine -It certainly is not.
I think its all about MONEY and what the drug companies may lose!
The homeopathic medical practitioners out there stand up and be counted - you know that homeopathy and conventional medicine can work together - and you know you don’t need to be a Medical doctor to be a good homeopath.
Both parties take an oath to ‘do no harm’
Both parties should work together for the sake of the patient.
Both parties have a lot to offer.
It’s time for the childish name calling to cease!
It’s time to start working together for the good of patients!
It’s time to stop the stupidity!
It’s time to realise that both parties are here to stay
It’s time to grow
It’s time to accept
It’s time to heal
It’s time to stop having private little clubs that only certain people can join
For the sake of Humanity lets stop this stupidity, and start to make some sense, lets work together !!!!!!
May 9, 2008 at 7:17 pm
potty pat
Bearing in mind your appeal above, what is your opinion of Steve Scrutton’s comments?