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Homeopathy under attack

16/11/2007

The decision to host a symposium about homeopathy's role in the treatment of HIV/Aids has provoked a fierce attack from a leading academic.

Professor Michael Baum of University College London writes in the Lancet journal today that the Society for Homeopaths is getting overconfident in the promotion of homeopathy's beneficial health effects.

He says scientific evidence shows the controversial form of treatment, which involves diluting illness-causing substances down to minimal or even non-existent concentrations, produces nothing more than a placebo effect.

Homeopaths dispute this claim and say their treatments, based on individuals rather than illnesses, cure people by harnessing their 'life-force' more effectively.

Many Britons appear to agree with them; the 2007 market is estimated at £38 million and is expected to increase to £46 million by 2012.

Professor Baum has previously spoken out against the use of homeopathy in everyday illnesses, but the forthcoming HIV/Aids symposium on December 1st has forced him to speak out again.

"People say homoeopathy cannot do any harm but when it is being promoted for HIV then there is a serious problem," he writes.

He says it would be "unethical and patronising" to prioritise placebos for their own sake and believes it is wrong to encourage the mistaken link between homeopathy and herbal medicine.

"Although many herbal medicines are unproven, they, unlike homoeopathic remedies, have scientific plausibility," he writes.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), which is responsible for arbitrating on the suitability of treatments used in British medicine, considers complementary therapies when developing clinical guidelines.

It does not currently recommend homeopathy for any condition, however.