10:23, homeopaths missing the point

Today at 10:23, there will be an event, organised by Merseyside Skeptics but taking place nationwide, in which homeopathic pills will be taken in large quantities to prove that not 0nly do they have no effect, but there is is nothing in them.  This fact, although probably known to most readers of this blog, homeopaths and skeptics alike, is not apparently as well known as it should be.

Homeopaths will insist that their remedies work by vibrational energies and quantum flapdoodle whereas skeptics, armed with metaanalyses, will declare quite simply that they don’t work and any perception that they do is due to a placebo effect, regression to the mean or other forms of cognitive bias.

Both homeopaths and skeptics will insist that taking large amounts of homeopathic pills is safe, skeptics because there is nothing in them, homeopaths because their beliefs say they work best singly and ritually.

What has interested me, and I have no involvement with the campaign, is the reaction of homeopaths to this harmless stunt.  Instead of laughing it off as the antics of silly skeptics (not a view I concur with), they have become increasingly nasty and vicious with attacks on proven medical therapies, personal slurs against individuals and spoof blogs that fail to engage with the issues. Not only that the professional societies have showed absolutely no understanding of why homeopathy is the target.

Over the last few years there has been a steadily increasing amount of blogging highlighting the ethical and professional failures of homeopaths, from claims to treat aids, homeopathic vaccinations and their deliberate denigration of conventional medicine (oddly unattributed in much mainstream coverage of 10:23, it’s shame that hard working bloggers are not given the credit they deserve).

The professional societies haven’t confronted this, preferring instead to bury their heads in the sand.  This has persisted with the press releases on the 10:23 campaign.

The Alian(ARH) claim (PDF):

The real question that needs to be addressed is not the safety of homeopathy, but why homeopathy is such an effective medical therapy, and why so many people throughout the world, and for over two centuries now, have used it with such success.
There are numerous high quality scientific studies that clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of homeopathy. The challenge facing the bona- fide scientific community is to discover why homeopathy is so effective.

This is best diplomatically described as bullshit (Shang et al disproves the statement above).

The Society of Homeopaths (SoH) have opted instead for the moral high ground:

The Society would not therefore expect any reaction to the proposed ‘overdose’ by this group unless, by chance, an individual in that group already had symptoms that matched that remedy at the time of taking it.

Chief Executive, Paula Ross, commented “This is an ill advised publicity stunt in very poor taste, which does nothing to advance the scientific debate about how homeopathy actually works.”

A publicity stunt in poor taste maybe, but when you are going to argue that it helps if you’re not funding homeopathic AIDS trials in Tanzania.  Some might argue that this is not only in poor taste but may in fact be tantamount to manslaughter.

The British Homeopathic Assoiation (BHA), representing medical homeopaths, also claim the moral high ground:

The Faculty of Homeopathy and BHA do not support the sole use of homeopathy for any serious disease when effective conventional treatment is available to, and tolerated by, the individual patient. Homeopathy is, however, often used with great patient satisfaction for support during conventional treatments.

It would be a catastrophe if a small minority of cynics stifle patient choice of access to what they find effective.  NHS patients have benefited greatly from homeopathic treatment at a very small cost – with approximately £152,000 per annum spent on homeopathic medicines, which is a mere 0.001% of the NHS drug budget.

The BHA have also forgotten/denied the findings of Shang et al.  Also they have never confronted lay homeopaths over their excesses so can be assumed complicit in these.

Meanwhile the Homeopathy Heals campaign group have launched a counter protest which intends to help skeptics take their pills.

Homeopathic Practitioners all over the UK, can also go and check out whether these Skeptics really do swallow a whole bottle of Boots homeopathic medicine.  I have found out that after you unscrew the top of a bottle of Boots homeopathic medicine, there is a little hole to dispense one pill at a time and this part does not lift off, so it would be impossible to swallow the whole bottle without cutting the bottle open.  Therefore some Skeptics will have to take them one at a time!

I was going to leave homeopathy alone for a bit, but as its exponents continue to demonstrate their inability to deal with substantive criticisms and as the professional societies contine to lie and deceive I’ve changed my mind.

I would like to thank Merseyside Skeptics for a well executed protest and the homeopaths for being so stupid.