The End of Homeopathy?

A British Medical Journal has high hopes



Posted Tuesday, Oct. 04, 2005
Millions of people around the world swear by the alternative medicine homeopathy. In Britain, the Royal Family endorses and uses it. But that hasn't deterred the editors of The Lancet, the prestigious British medical journal, which has launched an all-out attack on homeopathy. In its current issue, The Lancet published a massive study that compared the results of 110 trials of homeopathy with the same number of trials of conventional medicine. The conclusion: benefits attributed to homeopathy were, at best, placebo effects.

The study is accompanied by an article featuring criticism of a World Health Organization (WHO) draft report that, as currently written, gives homeopathy some leeway, as well as a commentary on bias in research and The Lancet's no-holds-barred editorial comment.

Homeopathy was invented by an 18th Century German physician named Samuel Hahnemann, who argued that diseases could be cured by administering substances, mostly herbs or minerals, that produce the same symptoms as the disease. And, he claimed, the effects of these substances could be enhanced by diluting them. How much? The greater the dilution, it seems, the greater the benefit.

That theory, for which there is not a shred of evidence, is evident in the homeopathic sections of health food stores and major drugstore chains. There, consumers can see, on the homeopathic containers, such notations as 10X, or 80X or even 30C. Each X signifies that the active substance has undergone a ten-to-one dilution, each C a hundred-to-one dilution. Between each dilution, the solution is shaken vigorously, an action that proponents claim transfers the properties of the substance to the surrounding water.

But by the laws of chemistry, at 24 X there is just a 50 percent chance that s single molecule of the active substance remains. And at 200C, the dilution of a popular homeopathic flu remedy, the active ingredient is long gone. What nonsense!

Chances are that The Lancet is somewhat premature in announcing the "death" of homeopathy, which involves a large and very profitable industry and the loyalty of many of the consumers it has duped. In fact, The Lancet notes, ""the debate continues, despite 150 years of unfavourable findings. The more dilute the evidence for homoeopathy becomes, the greater seems its popularity."

But there are encouraging signs. The Swiss Government, after a five-year trial, has withdrawn insurance coverage for homeopathy. Even the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, which has been criticized for being too open to spurious alternative medicine claims, has little good to say abut homeopathy. Its website states, "Systematic reviews have not found homeopathy to be a definitively proven treatment of any medical condition." Now, The Lancet concludes, it's up to the doctors, who "need to be bold and honest with their patients about homeopathy's lack of benefit." For scientifically-literate physicians, that shouldn't be so difficult to do.

source link: http://www.time.com/time/columnist/jaroff/article/0,9565,1114166,00.html

__________________
Dr.A.Kannan MD(Hom)
www.homoeodoctor.com

Dr Kannan,

the fact that you make no attempt to refute anything in the published article you quoted seems to suggest that you support its findings.

Is that the case ?

You may like to read my post on this subject on:

Homeopathy under Attack

I am glad that Time decided to run this article even through rather belatedly in their magazine and I do hope that at least some of their readers will read the comments that I and others interested in Homeopathy have made in this forum.

I feel that the real reason for the Lancet article was the concern that the pharmaceutical giants are experiencing today as a result of the gradual shift of the general public to Homeopathy which has resulted in a loss of Millions in sales to their industry last year which is progressively increasing this year.

I do not think that the editor every imagined that as a result of his article in the Lancet which has now been carried by Time, they have only helped to accelerate the drift to Homeopathy as the publicity given throughout the world to Homeopathy can only serve to increase interest in this science. Many who use it will testify, that it is far more effective and far more cost effective than the drugs that are commonly prescribed for ailments which in many cases create more problems like Vioxx which has now fallen out of favour after thousands have died after using it on prescription.

__________________
Joe De Livera
Colombo
Sri Lanka

Lancet and the like are only wasting their breath. Homeopathy cannot be thrown out. It has stood the test of time.

__________________
Akram
Homeopathy
Reiki Training and Treatment

Letter sent to the columnist, time


Dear Leon,


I am writing to you with respect to the article published “The End of Homeopathy?”.

Kindly spend a few minutes and read this



Graham Goodrich BVetMed. MRCVS VetMFHom.

"Like most Vets I was a sceptic about the alleged benefits of Homoeopathy. Admittedly, I knew nothing about it, but it couldn't possibly work, could it?
Then, one day, I went to revisit a heifer with Tetanus, that I had been treating with conventional drugs for about 10 days - we were keeping it alive, up until now, but it really wasn't getting any better. However, on the day in question as I walked into the darkened shed in which she was confined, she was standing there chewing her cud as if she'd never been ill!
It turned out that the Vicar's wife who lived next door to the farm and was interested in amateur Homoeopathy had suggested giving the remedy Hypericum 30. 24 hours later, the heifer was to all intents and purposes "cured". Certainly, she never looked back and went on to calve and join the dairy herd.
I was, to say the least, impressed! I enrolled on the Faculty of Homoeopathy courses, ultimately passed the exam and the rest is history. The incident with Tetanus happened in 1986, and I have been treating animals with Homoeopathy ever since."

Geoff Johnson MRCVS MFHom. RSHom

"The reason I started homoeopathy for farm animals was because a very valuable limousin cow was diagnosed with Johnes disease...an incurable wasting disease with diarrhoea. I contacted a homeopathic vet for any possible treatment and was advised to try tuberculinum and calc carb in combination. The scours stopped within 24 hours and the cow went on to have another calf..........my definition of incurable changed overnight and since then many "incurable" diseases have responded to homeopathy."

Source link: http://www.hawl.co.uk/



Thanks for your time, I am just thought that before publishing you should do your homework. Please don’t just write anything relaxing on your couch & spoil your reputation. I am from India and we treat mush more dreaded diseases in humans.



I am a government homoeopathic doctor, which has a team of more than 700 doctors in almost 580 outposts & 40 hospitals for a small state called Kerala in India. This is just for our small state. Each outpost with one doctor gets an average of 100 to 150 satisfied patients daily.



My request is just that, If possible send somebody down here & see how homoeopathy works, because In your country it is just growing & there are many legal limitations restricting the practice.



Regards,

Dr.A.Kannan MD(Hom)

T.C.20/1362, Karamana, Trivandrum, India-695002

www.homoeodoctor.com

__________________
Dr.A.Kannan MD(Hom)
www.homoeodoctor.com

Also send few cured cases with pictures and records to them.

__________________
Moalij
is your close friend.

I can back you up 100% with my personal experience. Im going to be 89 in Feb. and clearing up a Non Hodgkins Lymphoma with the method described by Dr.Ramakrishhnan in his book " A Homoeopathic Approach to Cancer." In June of 2004 I started working on a tumor the size of a quarter. today it is the size of a narrow pencil eraser. Energy great with 7-11pm. routine,(no naps) weight fine at 125lb. In l976 gave up on the RX;s and studied homeopathy since then. Would like to get rid of the one Rx they started me on many yrs. ago, namely a thyroid med called Thyralor 1 gr. Wonder if anyone had good results in using a homeopathic med for thyroid.
Years ago, my body went ice cold from waist down while sleeping with 4/5 blankets. The vascular doctors checked my legs and said all was good and wear socks to bed. This of course was not the answer and meantime my feet below the knees were turning purple/red, and coldness woke me nitely.Guess what happened. I took one dose 200c of Psorinum and coldness was gone. However, still have some blueish skin around the area. Is that not a blessing to behold. I once told another Doc. about it, and he's response, "Guess you got lucky"
The sad part of homeopathy is small amount of doctors involved and not enough publicity on radio, T.V.etc. like the drug companies have.I tried sending in little articles about homeopathy, but they dont put it in. If only we had a programs interviewing said patients and doctors involved in same.Maybe, some more doctors would open their minds easier. I started a support study group of doz ladies many years ago and we still keep in touch.
Unfortunately still need a doctor when I need a blood test, etc.but hard time keeping a doctor as they dont like if I have a problem and they offer an Rx. I tell them I have to test same, as Im a very allergic person. This happens to be true with foods and meds. I rarely use high potencies in homeopathy, and always have in mind what to take if I do react.
Thanks for all your efforts in spreading the good work of homeopathy.