Does homeopathy work or is it a pseudoscience? Would you say it is effective or detrimental?
Source: Composite image by G_marius
Homeopathy has long been used to treat certain diseases. Some claim it does work, other that it is a pseudoscience. Do you think it is effective?
There is still no consensus among the medical doctors and scientists on the effectiveness of homeopathy. Some argue that homeopathy does work and really helps curing or mitigating the effects of some diseases. Homeopathic supplements are often used to lose weight and reinforce health in people that don't suffer from any particular disease. Others believe that it's just a placebo. It is one of the controversial debates in health, such as vaccines or mercy killing.
Homeopathy is an alternative medecine, a system of therapeutics founded in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann, based on the principle of similia similibus curantur ("like cures like"), with the underlying logic that our bodies know what they are doing and that symptoms are simply the way in which it takes action against diseases. Thus homeopathy is based on the idea of prescribing patients (sick people) substances that would cause on healthy people the same symptoms of the disease being treated. Thus the homeopathic medicine acts as a stimulus aiming at triggering a natural vital reaction.
Some doctors use homeopathy and believe it's a real science with proven results. However the majority of medical professionals and pharmaceutical companies state that there is very little evidence on homeopathy effectiveness and often define it as a pseudoscience. What do you think? Does homeopathy work? Do you think it's good for you?
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128 xp
24 posts
Personally, I think there is no place for homeopathy in the NHS. If we want placebo, we can do that very well much more cheaply if we decide it is ethically appropriate to dish out placebos. For me, the issue is one for trading standards. They are essentially selling snake oil remedies. If there is no active ingredient, the packaging should say so. If there is no evidence of efficacy, the packaging should say so. The main way in which the supplements industry normally gets around these standards is by proffering vague benefits like "increased vitality" and using the words "health" without stating that the supplement actually does anything, or indeed, relying on testimony from famous people (e.g. see http://www.vitabiotics.com/wellman/). There should be a requirement to adhere to the spirit, not just the letter, of trading standards regulations, but in practice, that may be difficult. I would just like people to be fully informed as to what they are buying, and whether it is likely to have a benefit, and what benefit that is.
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