Morning:
9°c
University calls halt to degree in homeopathy
Peter Dominiczak29.05.09
A London university has scrapped a degree which critics compared to a qualification in witchcraft.
Westminster University has been criticised for wasting taxpayers' money by offering a BSc in homeopathy.
Scientists say it has no academic value and is merely a form of "quackery" with no proven medical benefits.
Last year, editor-in-chief of the Catholic Herald Damian Thompson publicly attacked Westminster's vice chancellor Professor Geoffrey Petts for "peddling mumbo jumbo".
The university has defended the degree by claiming a third of the course involves detailed biomedical studies.
But it has now emerged that recruitment for the course has been suspended with the university blaming a lack of students applying.
Professor David Colquhoun, a scientist who has waged a six-year campaign against "non-courses", believes the U-turn was due to criticism: "They say that the reason they're shutting it is they haven't got enough students, I think it's more likely to be due to pressure from people like me. I know there are people in Westminster who are embarrassed by it."
Homeopathy, a treatment rumoured to be favoured by the Queen, is based on taking a substance that triggers symptoms and using an extremely diluted dose to treat the same symptoms in an unhealthy person.
Homeopaths believe the weaker the dose the more effective it will be, and typically they dilute the extraction to the point where almost none of the original ingredients are left.
Degrees in alternative medicine have been largely confined to former polytechnics, such as Westminster. But Professor Colquhoun, a pharmacologist at University College London, said BScs in homeopathy devalue academic study.
"They embarrass the academic community. I'm not talking about vocational degrees like plumbing because at least they lead to a good, honest job and do what they say on the packet."
A spokeswoman for Westminster said: "Recruitment has been suspended to... degrees in homeopathy and remedial massage and neuromuscular therapy. These two courses have struggled to remain viable, recruiting a combined total of 14 students last year."
Reader views (24)
Homeopathy is a scam. As has been mentioned, if it worked, then doctors would use it and it would become a standard in hospitals.
More recent Lancet studies show that homeopathy is no different to a placebo.
http://www.hpathy.com/research/bhatia-lancet-homeopathy.asp
- Dave, london
Not every physician is a homeopath physician, and not every medicine is allopathic
- Dr. Nancy Malik, Gurgaon, India
There's a ton of evidence to suggest homeopathy works: checkout the lancet's 1997 meta-analysis (conclusion: homeopathy is 2.45 times more likely to produce a clinically beneficial result than placebo).
Big Pharma does not want people to find out about the wonderful, safe, gentle and curative effects that homeopathy can produce for a fraction of its own cost. Hence the mass of misinformation they encourage about it, picked up and spread about by people who allow themselves to be misled.
Hippocrates was a follower of homeopathy. As Mary points out, it has proven itself time and again in epidemics, including the cholera epidemic in Britain in the 19th century.
- Kit, Devon
Homeopathy is evidence based modern medicine
- Dr. Nancy Malik, Gurgaon, India
The biggest 'quackery' of all is pharma medicine, in my view. More people die from improper diagnosis, overdoses by MDs and hospital consultants, who don't understand the drugs they are using and why they are using them, who have no idea on nutrition - 1/2 a day being the 'norm' in 5-year university courses for medical students. If medical students were to follow at least one module in homeopathy and another in nutrition, perhaps there would be more sentivie diagnosis, a real caring attitude for patients and a lower death rate due to pharma causes, then we would have an NHS service we would rely on and be proud of. Until then, we should be able to opt out of the NHS for a totally non-pharma system of healthcare. That is one that would really benefit people.
- Lynne, Birmingham UK
Well put, Tony Mcmahon.
A science grad, I quietly allow that a university course is primarily about developing the ability to reason and reasearch, rather than the merit of subject matter itself.
An author knows what they said, and I can read a book. I don't need an English department. But some people enjoy it so much, they want a profession out of it.
How many homeopath graduates are homeopaths; how may English grads are authors (how may authors are not English grads)?
Live and let live. The market will decide.
- Helen, Berkshire.
I am strongly against the pharma drug treatment global domination and absolutely believe in NATURAL / herbal / dietary treatments where they are effective. But there is NO evidence of homeopathy being effective. To give an ill person (or animal) a sugar pill with no effect is actually dangerous. Homeopathy needs to be stopped and natural treatments promoted.
- Real, London
Homeopathy is known to work for many ailments without harming the patient. So-called "Gold Standard" drugs as prescribed by GPs kill an estimated 30,000 every year. hospitalise 100,000 and harm 1,000,000 more. Then add the 40,000 killed in accidents, MRSA etc etc. Most drugs treat the symptoms only and do not heal the patient so are opten prescribed for life. All very profitable for Big Pharma. Then the side effects require other drugs to be prescribed. Add to which Big Pharma invent illnesses to enlarge the sales of their drugs such as for statins - a huge scam.
- Ralph, London, England
Homeopathy has been amply demonstrated and *IS* part of Medicine. Has been, since allopathic medicine was still doing blood-letting as a cure of choice.
In India, homeopathy has full recognition of the government; in the U.K., it is common knowledge that the Royal family depends on homeopathy; it is only where the $$ pharmaceutical industry & its lapdogs (in the U.S., $pharma gives nearly $1billion to the FDA, in order to maintain it's monopoly .. even though $pharma drugs are expensive, often ineffective, and worse:
$pharma style of medicine is the #1 leading cause of death in the U.S (see www.iatrogenic.org)
Meanwhile, $pharma employs the odd anti-scientific "skepdics" (whose idea of science is heaping scorn on what it cannot understand, and worse: making up skewed "trials" where homeopathy's ultra-dilute medicines are used in ways antithetical to the practice of homeopathy - guaranteeing the result of the bogus trial by creating it so)
This process of INVENTING PROOF that something does not work is totally unscientific .. and is thoroughly debunked in the seminal work "The Controlled Clinical Trial: an Analysis"
My summation: Homeopathy is effective and inexpensive, and is thus a huge threat to the inhuman greed of $pharma, who would rather bash homeopathy and hire skepdics than risk loss of $$market share on account of people being cured by homeopathy.
- Davidius, Oakland, California, USA
Mary Terhune, you quote some interesting figures. Could you please provide the evidence of the claims of how homeopathy helped in the 1918 Flu Pandemic. Personally, I think you are making it up.
- Am, cardiff, uk
What does "it has been proven" mean? My impression is that homeopaths normally claim that it both has been 'proven' and can't be tested. It doesn't mean that homeopaths can tell the difference between homeopathic medicine and pretend homeopathic medicine. If it does, please tell me how so that I can take James Randi's million before the challenge expires.
Could you point me in the direction of some half decent research that demonstrates homeopathy is more than regression to the mean with a bit of placebo?
As for the statistics about the 1918 flu pandemic and pneumonia, those are conventional germ-thoery medical conditions, I didn't think homeopaths believed in them. How does a homeopath know if someone has pneumonia? My dad had it and conventional medicine took quite a while confirming it wasn't TB, or lung cancer. I don't think homeopaths take lung biopsies, or x-rays, so how do they tell?
You've also got to take into account that the sickest people are unlikely to get picked up by a homeopathic ambulance and rushed to a homeopathic hospital. By and large the homeopaths get the not very sick patients who will probably get better anyway.
- Sceptic, London UK
Western Homeopathic Medicine has reigned supreme in all world epidemics. It is a true preventative and curative system of medicine using well-established scientific laws of healing. In the 1918 Flu Pandemic, Western Homeopathic Medicine had a <1.5% death rate, Western Allopathic Medicine had a 30% death rate. Today Western Homeopathic Medicine has a <1-3% death rate treating pneumonia, while Western Allopathic Medicine, even with antibiotics and IVs, has an 18% death rate. Western Homeopathic Medicine uses nano-technology in the preparation of remedies...it is true quantum medicine. You would do well to do more research with regard to your statements as you sound as if you are just passing along comments you heard from someone else without taking the time to study and apply this most complete system of medicine as I have for the past ten years.
Sincerely,
Mary Terhune, RN, Classical Homeopath
- Mary Terhune, Rn, Classical Homeopath, Ayer, MA, USA
So, that it has been proven to work means nothing.
Also, witchcraft is an ongoing study, with a lifetime of practicals and study. AND, the number of witches in the world is growing. To have that number of people know herbs like that is nothing to sneeze at.
But, it's my opinion.
- Jewellee, Spokane, WA, USA
>Homeopathy cures even when Conventional Allopathic >Medicine (CAM) fails
If what you claim could be demonstrated homeopathy would cease to be part of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) and would be part of Medicine.
- Sceptic, London UK
It is true that not ALL homeopathic medicine are diluted to the point of being just water (or alcohol, or sugar pill), but much of it is. It IS the case that the more dilute, the more powerful it is supposed to be. How strong are your homeopathic medicines? 30C was apparantly advocated by the chap who invented it, that's one part active ingredient to 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 parts water (or alcohol).
Homeopathy cannot be demonstrated to have cured anyone, let alone thousands of people. As for the list of famous people, famous people do dumb things, what does it prove? The whole Charles Darwin homeopathy thing is a myth, the others may well be made up as well. Tina Turner for heavens sake!
- Sceptic, London UK
I am totally amazed at the skewed and ignorant viewpoints expressed in both the comments and the article in reference to Homeopathy. If Homeopathy is "total nonsense" and a "total con" then this nonsense and extraordinary con work has cured thousands upon thousands of people throughout the world including 11 American presidents, 7 popes, Charles Darwin, Mother Teresa, Tina Turner, Cher, Sir Yehudi Menuhin and many many more. Pretty impressive for con work don't you think?!
- Katalin J Cowan, San Diego CA USA
Homeopathic solutions are not diluted to the point of being only water. "The weaker the dose, the more effective..." Bull. That is untrue and pure slander.
The only "negative" side of Homeopathics is that they rely on plant-based chemicals for their doses, not pharmacologists. The doses can be very small, or a large amount. I think the critic of the subject didn't know very much about it and is trying to over compensate for his own lack of ... knowledge.
- Stella, ohio, usa
Well, to be fair, witches use actual in tact herbs and teas and not severely diluted forms but in actuality, more concentrated forms.
A tidbit for oyu there.
- Anyone, Anywhere, Anyland
Well the editor of the Catholic Herald did write a book on psuedo-science that had a lot about alternative therapies. As for his religious views, it seems a complete contradiction in terms to believe in science and worship a 'god'.
By the way, homeopathic 'remedies' are diluted so far that they just contain water.
At £50 a session plus 'prescription' charges, its a total con.
- Neil, London
I am horrified that homeopathy is so ridiculed and vilified. Just because copious and extensive research has showed that it's total nonsense evades the demonstration of one very important scientific fact: There's one born every minute. I truly wonder what 'Dr' Malik's degree is in. I suspect it's something like the study of fairies, werewolves, spoon-bending or the reading of Tarot cards. We are in the 21st century and we have things like 'facts' and 'science'. I really do sometimes despair. I remain, Sir, Dr John Neighbour PhD (Reader of Tealeaves. Oxford)
- John Neighbour, London.
People should be allowed to express their sexuality, whether straight, homeo or bi.
- Keith, King's Cross, London
Rather rum to hear the editor-in-chief of the Catholic Herald accusing a homeopathy practitioner of "peddling mumbo jumbo". Unlike the doctrine of the trinity, transubstantiation and papal infallability - which of course are not mumbo jumbo. Possibly, the homeopathy degree should come under the theology department to join a better class of mumbo jumbo.
- Tony Mcmahon, London, UK
Homeopathy works if the person believes it. I don't beleive it works - therefore it would not work for me. If I was badly ill, I would chose conventional medicine. There was an interesting exchange by one of the chiefs of UK homeopathy who said that HIV/AIDS sufferers should use homeopathy in conjuction with conventional medicine. I think that speaks volumes.
- Coys Switz, switzerland
Homeopathy cures even when Conventional Allopathic Medicine (CAM) fails
- Dr. Nancy Malik, Gurgaon, India
