Homeopathy is not effective for treating any health
condition, Australia’s top body for medical research has concluded, after
undertaking an extensive review of existing studies. Homeopaths believe that
illness-causing substances can, in minute doses, treat people who are unwell. By
diluting these substances in water or alcohol, homeopaths claim the resulting
mixture retains a “memory” of the original substance that triggers a healing
response in the body. These claims have been widely disproven by multiple
studies, but the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has for
the first time thoroughly reviewed 225 research papers on homeopathy to come up
with its position statement. While some studies reported homeopathy was
effective, the quality of those studies was poor and suffered serious flaws in
their design, and did not have enough participants to support the idea that
homeopathy worked any better than a sugar pill, the report found. Australians
spent an estimated $9.59m on the industry annually.
“Based on the assessment of the evidence of effectiveness of
homeopathy, NHMRC concludes that there are no health conditions for which there
is reliable evidence that homeopathy is effective,” the report concluded. “People
who choose homeopathy may put their health at risk if they reject or delay
treatments for which there is good evidence for safety and effectiveness.”
“There will be a tail of people who won’t respond to this
report, and who will say it’s all a conspiracy of the establishment,” Chair of
the NHMRC Homeopathy Working Committee, Professor Paul Glasziou, said. “But we
hope there will be a lot of reasonable people out there who will reconsider
selling, using or subsiding these substances.”
Dr Ken Harvey, a medicinal drug policy expert and health
consumer advocate, said “I have no problems with private colleges wanting to
run courses on crystal-ball gazing, iridology and homeopathy, and if people are
crazy enough to pay for it, it’s their decision,” Harvey said. “But if those
courses are approved by a commonwealth body, that’s a different story and a
real problem.”
No comments:
Post a Comment