supporter - we must be frightening them!!

The Welsh secretary, Peter Hain, yesterday became the first cabinet minister to advocate openly for more complementary therapy within the NHS.
Mr Hain revealed to a gathering of GPs who integrate complementary and conventional medicine in their practice that he had become a "true convert" after using homeopathy on his first baby, Sam, who suffered from eczema and asthma.

"Various creams were prescribed and a steroidal spray. But they didn't work," he said at the meeting, organised by the Prince of Wales Foundation for Integrated Health. "So instead we turned to the complementary medicine. And with the help of homeopathy and tight restrictions on the sort of food that our son could eat, both ailments went away."

Mr Hain's backing for homeopathy comes just weeks after the Lancet medical journal said it was no better than a placebo and its editor called for guidelines to stop "inappropriate practice" among NHS doctors who use it. The Lancet said homeopathic solutions were so dilute that sometimes not a single molecule of the active ingredient remains.

The Prince of Wales, who spoke later to the gathering of around 120 GPs who have agreed to affiliate themselves to the foundation, said he was delighted that more than half of all GPs are now offering some sort of complementary therapy.

He added: "I can't tell you how pleased and proud I am that so many eminent and sensible quacks are joining with my foundation and it is my fervent belief that as more and more GPs spread the word of integrated healthcare."