commercial interests
A chiro, a arms dealer and a Brexit donor meet in a bar.
The arms dealer: my job is so secret, I cannot tell my neighbour what I do.
The Brexit donor: I have to keep things so close to my chest that not even my wife knows what I am doing.
The chiro: that’s nothing; my work is so secret that not even I know what I am doing.
CHILDISH, I KNOW!
But I am yet again intrigued by a survey aimed at finding out what chiropractors are up to. One might have thought that, after 120 years, they know what they are doing.
This survey described the profiles of chiropractors’ practice and the reasons, nature of the care provided to their patients and extent of interprofessional collaborations in Ontario, Canada. The researchers randomly recruited chiropractors from a list of registered chiropractors (n=3978) in active practice in 2015. Of the 135 randomly selected chiropractors, 120 were eligible, 43 participated and 42 completed the study.
Each chiropractor recorded information for up to 100 consecutive patient encounters, documenting patient health profiles, reasons for encounter, diagnoses and care provided. Descriptive statistics summarised chiropractor, patient and encounter characteristics, with analyses accounting for clustering and design effects. Thus data on 3523 chiropractor-patient encounters became available. More than 65% of participating chiropractors were male, mean age 44 years and had practised on average 15 years. The typical patient was female (59% of encounters), between 45 and 64 years (43%) and retired (21%) or employed in business and administration (13%). Most (39.4%) referrals were from other patients, with 6.8% from physicians. Approximately 68% of patients paid out of pocket or claimed extended health insurance for care. Most common diagnoses were back (49%, 95% CI 44 to 56) and neck (15%, 95% CI 13 to 18) problems, with few encounters related to maintenance/preventive care (0.86%, 95% CI 0.2 to 3.9) and non-musculoskeletal problems (1.3%, 95% CI 0.7 to 2.3). The most common treatments included spinal manipulation (72%), soft tissue therapy (70%) and mobilisation (35%).
The authors concluded that this is the most comprehensive profile to date of chiropractic practice in Canada. People who present to Ontario chiropractors are mostly adults with a musculoskeletal condition. Our results can be used by stakeholders to make informed decisions about workforce development, education and healthcare policy related to chiropractic care.
I am so sorry to have mocked this paper. I shouldn’t have, because it actually does reveal a few interesting snippets:
- Only 7% of referrals come from real doctors.
- The vast majority of all patients receive spinal manipulations.
- About 6% of them are under 14 years of age.
- Chiropractors seem to dislike surveys; only 35% of those asked complied.
- 23% of all consultations were for general or unspecified problems,
- 8% for neurologically related problems,
- 5% for non-musculoskeletal problems (eg, digestive, ear, eye, respiratory, skin, urology, circulatory, endocrine and metabolic, psychological).
- Chiropractors rarely refer patients to other clinicians; this only happened in less than 3% of encounters.
- Apart from manipulation, chiropractors employ all sorts of other dubious therapies (ultrasound 3%, acupuncture 3%, , traction 1%, interferential therapy 3%, soft laser therapy 3%).
- 68% of patients pay out of their own pocket…
… NO WONDER, THEY DO NOT SEEM TO BE IN NEED OF ANY TYPE OF TREATMENT: 54% of all patients reported being in “excellent/very good overall health”!
The ‘OFFICIAL HOMEOPATHY RESOURCE‘ is an odd publication which, until very recently, I did not know about. They inform us about homeopathy as follows:
Homeopathy is a non-corporate 200-year-old system of medicine used successfully by tens of millions worldwide, and the second most utilized complementary health discipline in the world (according to the World Health Organization 2005). It has a laudable 200-year clinical record. There are literally hundreds of high quality basic science, pre-clinical and clinical studies showing it works.
This is the online web site for accurate information on homeopathy, homeopaths and homeopathic organizations. Its hard to get accurate information on this popular and traditional healing modality as a result of Drug Company Sponsored Blogs, Web Sites and their sponsored “Science Writers”.
Finally, there is a positive and comprehensive resource and you have found it. We hope you enjoy this site’s information and decide on or continue homeopathic treatment to experience it’s benefits.
THIS IS AN INDEPENDENT MEDIA SOURCE
About Comments on this Web Site:
We welcome POSITIVE comments about your experience with homeopathy or positive feedback about a particular topic.
Thank you for your positive support of homeopathy and getting the word out there.
The articles and posts contained herein are educational and informational and should not be considered medical advise. We recommend that you see a licensed medical practitioner.
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So far so good; well not SO good actually: this short text opens a lot of questions. But this is not what I want to address today. The ‘OFFICIAL HOMEOPATHY RESOURCE’ appeared on my screen only for one reason; they just published a whole, albeit short article about me! It is entitled ‘Pharmaceutical Company Found Guilty of Fuelling Opioid Epidemic But Sponsored Skeptics Continue Attacks on Safe Alternatives‘. Here it is in its full and unabbreviated beauty:
Even though the pharmaceutical industry has paid billions in fines over the years for failures and deceptions that have caused serious injuries and death, the pharmaceutical sponsored skeptic organizations and skeptics like Edzard Ernst spread outright lies about the false dangers of alternatives. They try to take the heat off the failures and dangers of drugs by smearing safe alternatives like homeopathy. They even go to the point of going to government organizations and falsely claiming alternatives are dangerous. They say nothing or a minimum about their sponsors.
One such skeptic Edzard Ernst attempts to present himself as an expert which most skeptics do. As a means of puffing himself up and making it seemed like he knows something about homeopathy, he claimed he was a homeopath and switched to allopathic medicine when homeopathy did not work. This has been proven to be an outright lie. He has had no training in homeopathy.
Unfortunately skeptics, like lemmings, support only pharmaceutical company generated science as if it was the holy grail.
Homeopathy has been proven to be very effective in pain relief and is non-addictive.
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I am afraid they must have missed what I disclosed repeatedly about my sponsors. Let me therefore repeat it especially for them (I tried to find out who exactly ‘THEY’ are, but they are not disclosing this information, as far as I can see):
- I am sponsored to the tune of zero £.
- There is not a single commercial company that backs me.
- This blog receives no funding from anywhere.
- Its running costs are paid by me.
- I live off my pension and savings and receive no other income.
I will not bother to correct the other falsehoods in the text above. I think, they are too obvious to bother. To those of my readers who find them not obvious, I recommend reading my memoir and my book entitled ‘Homeopathy, the Undiluted Facts‘ and considering ‘Ernst’s law‘.
Apparently, Hahnemann gave a lecture on the subject of veterinary homeopathy in the mid-1810s. Ever since, homeopathy has been used for treating animals. Von Boennighausen was one of the first influential proponents of veterinary homeopathy. However, veterinary medical schools tended to reject homoeopathy, and the number of veterinary homeopaths remained small. In the 1920ies, veterinary homoeopathy was revived in Germany. Members of the “Studiengemeinschaft für tierärztliche Homöopathie” (Study Group for Veterinary Homoeopathy) which was founded in 1936 started to investigate this approach systematically.
Today, veterinary homeopathy is still popular in some countries. Prince Charles has become a prominent advocate who claims to treat his own life stock with homeopathy. In many countries, veterinary homeopaths have their own professional organisations. Elsewhere, however, veterinarians are banned from practicing homeopathy. In the UK, only veterinarians are allowed to use homeopathy on animals (but anyone regardless of background can use it on human patients) and there is a British Academy of Veterinary Homeopathy. In the US, homeopathic vets are organised in the Academy of Veterinary Homeopathy.
If this sounds promising, we should not forget that, as discussed so often on this blog, homeopathy lacks plausibility the evidence for veterinary homeopathy fails to be positive (see for instance here). But, hold on, there is a new study, perhaps it will change everything?
This ‘study‘ was aimed at providing an initial insight into the existing prerequisites on dairy farms for the use of homeopathy (i.e. the consideration of homeopathic principles) and on homeopathic treatment procedures (including anamnesis, clinical examination, diagnosis, selection of a remedy, follow-up checks, and documentation) on 64 dairy farms in France, Germany and Spain.
The use of homeopathy was assessed via a standardised questionnaire during face-to-face interviews. The results revealed that homeopathic treatment procedures were applied very heterogeneously and differed considerably between farms and countries. Farmers also use human products without veterinary prescription as well as other prohibited substances.
The authors of this ‘study’ concluded that the subjective treatment approach using the farmers’ own criteria, together with their neglecting to check the outcome of the treatment and the lack of appropriate documentation is presumed to substantially reduce the potential for a successful recovery of the animals from diseases. There is, thus, a need to verify the effectiveness of homeopathic treatments in farm practices based on a lege artis treatment procedure and homeopathic principles which can be achieved by the regular monitoring of treatment outcomes and the prevailing rate of the disease at herd level. Furthermore, there is a potential risk to food safety due to the use of non-veterinary drugs without veterinary prescription and the use of other prohibited substances.
So did this ‘study’ change the evidence on veterinary homeopathy?
Sadly not!
This ‘study’ is hardly worth the paper it is printed on.
Who conceives such nonsense?
And who finances such an investigation?
The answer to the latter question is one of the few provided by the authors: This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under Grant Agreement No 311824 (IMPRO).
Time for a constructive suggestion! Could the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme with their next research project in veterinary homeopathy please evaluate the question why farmers in the EU are allowed to use disproven therapies on defenceless animals?
I have written about this more often than I care to remember, and today I do it again.
Why?
Because it is important!
Chiropractic is not effective for kids, and chiropractic is not harmless for kids – what more do we need to conclude that chiropractors should not be allowed anywhere near them?
And most experts now agree with this conclusion; except, of course, the chiropractors themselves. This recent article in THE CHRONICLE OF CHIROPRACTIC is most illuminating in this context:
It was only a matter of time before the attack on the chiropractic care of children spread to the United States from Australia and Canada and its also no surprise that insurance companies would jump on the bandwagon first. According to Blue Cross and Blue Shield Children under the age of 5 years should not receive chiropractic care (spinal manipulation) ” . . . because the skeletal system is not mature at this time.”
The Blues further contend that:
“Serious adverse events may be associated with pediatric spinal manipulation in children under the age of 5 years due to the risks of these procedures in children this age.”
The Blues claims that their determination is based on standards of care – though they do not state which ones.
“This determination was based on standards of care in pediatric medicine as well as current medical evidence.”
This is not the first time Blue Cross attacked the chiropractic care of children. In 2005 CareFirst Blue Cross claimed that:
“Spinal manipulation services to treat children 12 years of age and younger, for any condition, is considered experimental and investigational.”
The ridiculous and false claims by Blue Cross come on the heels of a ban placed on spinal manipulation of infants by the Chiropractic Board of Australia (see related story) and attacks on chiropractors who care for children in Canada by chiropractic regulatory boards there.
There is in fact plenty of evidence to support the chiropractic care of infants and children and there are practice guidelines (the highest level on the research hierarchy pyramid) that support such care.
The real issue is not whether or not evidence exists to support the chiropractic care of children – the real issue is power and the lack of any necessity for evidence for those with the power.
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END OF QUOTE
What can we learn from this outburst?
- Chiropractors often take much-needed critique as an ‘attack’. My explanation for this phenomenon is that they sense how wrong they truly are, get defensive, and fear for their cash-flow.
- When criticised, they do not bother to address the arguments. This, I believe, is again because they know they are in the wrong.
- Chiropractors are in denial as to what they can and cannot achieve with their manipulations. My explanation for this is that they might need to be in denial – because otherwise they would have to stop practising.
- They often insult criticism as ridiculous and false without providing any evidence. The likely explanation is that they have no reasonable evidence to offer.
- All they do instead is stating things like ‘there is plenty of evidence’. They don’t like to present the ‘evidence’ because they seem to know that it is worthless.
- Lastly, in true style, they resort to conspiracy theories.
To any critical thinker their behaviour thus makes one conclusion virtually inescapable: DON’T LET A CHIROPRACTOR NEAR YOUR KIDS!
The ‘College of Medicine and Integrated Health’ (CMIH) has been the subject of several previous blog posts (see for instance here, here and here). Recently, they have come up with something new that, in my view, deserves a further comment.
The new ‘SELF CARE TOOL KIT’ began, according to the CMIH, in 2009 with a national multi-centre project commissioned by the UK Department of Health, to consider the best way to integrate self care into family practice. The project involved two large family health centres and two university departments. One output was the Self Care Library (SCL).
The Self Care Library (SCL) is an online patient resource providing free evidence-based information about self-care. The funding for the SCL did, however, not survive, and the facility was assigned to the CMIH. Thanks to funding from ‘Pukka Herbs Vitamins, Herbal Remedies & Health Supplements‘, the CMIH was able to transfer the content and to begin updating entries. Simon Mills, the coordinator of the original project who is now employed by Pukka, has led this transformation and helped the College set up the new parent portal, Our Health Directory.
The Self Care Toolkit is thus the new SCL. All concerned with this project are experienced in clinical practice and can separate the theory from real life needs. We all have academic lives as well so can be hard-nosed with the evidence base as well.
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The above text is essentially based on the information provided by the CMIH. A few critical remarks and clarifications might therefore be in order:
- What does ‘separate the theory from real life needs’ mean? Does it mean that the scientific evidence can be interpreted liberally (see below)?
- Is it a good idea to have a commercial sponsor for such a project?
- Is it wise that the main person in charge is on the payroll of a manufacturer of dietary supplements?
- Is there any oversight to minimise undue bias and prevent the public from being misled?
- Is it really true that all people involved have academic lives? Simon Mills (who once was a member of my team) has no longer an academic appointment, as far as I know.
But, you are right, these are perhaps mere trivialities. Let’s see what the ‘Self Care Tool Kit’ actually delivers. I have chosen the entry on DEPRESSION to check its validity. Here it is:
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It isn’t likely that taking extra vitamins will make much difference to low mood or depression. It is true that many people don’t get quite enough B, C and D vitamins in their food. And it’s also true that the brain and nervous system need these vitamins. Because they don’t get stored in the body, our daily diet has to supply them. Research has shown that people with low blood levels of the B vitamin folic acid are more likely to be depressed and less likely to do well on anti-depressant medicines. So, if you are eating a very poor diet, taking extra vitamins just might help. It’s also worth remembering that alcohol, refined sugars, nicotine and caffeine all take these vitamins out of the body. Yet most people who feel depressed probably won’t benefit from taking vitamins alone. To ensure that you get a good balance of these vitamins, try to eat more whole-foods, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.
Some people say that taking high doses of vitamin C (1-2 g and more a day) helps lift their mood. There is a little research to support this and none showing that high doses of vitamin C actually help clinical depression. Vitamin C levels fall after surgery or inflammatory disease. The body needs more vitamin C when coping with stress, pregnancy and breast feeding. Aspirin, tetracycline and contraceptive pills take vitamin C out of the body. Smokers also need extra vitamin C because nicotine removes it. Fresh fruit and vegetables are the best sources of vitamin C.
Doctors are increasingly concerned about low vitamin D, especially in the Asian community. A lack of vitamin D can lead to depression. Oily fish and dairy products are good sources of vitamin D, and sunlight helps the body make vitamin D. Do you get enough sunshine and eat a good diet? It is estimated that worldwide over 1 billion people get too little vitamin D.
Evidence
Taking supplements of vitamins B and D might help some people, whose diet is poor, but more research is needed.
Safety
Very high doses of vitamins and minerals can upset the body and cause side-effects. Get medical advice if you intend to take large doses. To ensure that you get a good balance of these vitamins, try to eat more whole-foods, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.
Cost
If your diet is poor and you don’t get into the sun, ask your doctor about a vitamin D blood test. If it’s normal, there’s no point in taking vitamin D. If it’s low, your GP will prescribe it for you or you can buy a vitamin D supplement.
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In my view, this text begs several questions:
1) Am I right in thinking that phraseology such as the one below will encourage patients suffering from depression to try the supplements mentioned?
- people with low blood levels of the B vitamin folic acid are more likely to be depressed and less likely to do well on anti-depressant medicines..
- Some people say that taking high doses of vitamin C (1-2 g and more a day) helps lift their mood…
- There is a little research to support this and none showing that high doses of vitamin C actually help clinical depression…
- A lack of vitamin D can lead to depression.
- Taking supplements of vitamins B and D might help some people…
- … your GP will prescribe it for you or you can buy a vitamin D supplement.
2) How does that tally with the latest evidence? For instance:
- No significant reduction in depression was seen after vitamin D supplementation compared to placebo
- No additional effects from nutritional supplementation were detected
- Adding vitamin C to citalopram did not increase the efficacy of citalopram in MDD patients.
3) The CMIH state: ‘This site gives you information NOT medical advice.’ But, in view of the actual text above, is this true?
4) Depression is a life-threatening condition. Is there a risk that patients trust the CMHI’s (non-) advice and commit suicide because of its ineffectiveness?
5) Do Pukka, the sponsor of all this, happen to supply most of the self care remedies promoted in the ‘Self Care Tool Kit’?
The answer to the last question, I am afraid, is YES!
Leprosy can be a devastating infection. But, since many years, it is treatable. The WHO developed a multidrug therapyTrusted Source in 1995 to cure all types of leprosy. It’s available free of charge worldwide. Additionally, several antibiotics are used to kill the bacteria that causes leprosy, e.g.:
- dapsone
- rifampin
- clofazimine
- minocycline
- ofloxacin
Yes, leprosy is treatable … that is, unless you follow the advice issued in this article and treat it with homeopathy:
Homoeopathy remedies are given on the basis of similar signs and symptoms along with the miasmatic classification of diseases. Homoeopathy physicians said that leprosy is characteristics of syphilis miasm due to their mental and physical conditions. Mentally person thinks that he/she may be isolated and left alone in a corner of society due to dirty looking of the skin and tendency to spread of disease from direct contact. They feel alone and make hypothesis that the society needs outbreak from me because of physical disabilities like paralysis, and loss of controls on body functions. A well selected homoeopathy remedy helps out patient to come out from this condition and make possible to live in society from permanent restoration of health.
- SULPHUR – ‘It is mainly known as king of anti-psoric’ in wide range of homoeopathy. Hahnemann says that sulphur has reputation as a remedy against itch perhaps as old medicine i.e., as early as 2000 years ago. Skin of sulphur indicates vesicular skin eruptions and skin may treated by medicated soaps and washes. Clinical trials says that sulphur have similar signs and symptoms as indicated by disease.
- GRAPHITES – It is a great remedy for all sorts of skin eruptions with a tendency towards malignancy. It also indicates various symptoms of leprosy and may be used in treatment.
- PETROLEUM – The skin of petroleum has cracks and fissures all over the body and indicates various similar symptoms as of disease condition.
- RHUS TOXICODENDRON – Skin shows erysipelas vesicular eruptions, vesicles are yellow, from left to right with much swelling, inflammation, burning, itching and stinging that are very much similar to leprosy sign and symptoms, so it may be prescribed.
- CICUTA VIROSA – This homoeopathic medicine used in the conditions when patients are anxious about their future and epileptic attacks with spasmodic movements of the limbs.
- ALOE SOCOTRINA – This homoeopathy medicine works when the patients are fear of death and angry from themselves for their conditions. This medicine have tendency to acts upon the abdominal and lumbar region of the patient.
- BLATTA ORIENTALIS – It is used when the patient is anxious about their skin and health. Patient suffers from the chronic inflammations of the chest and other lung infections that are also found in disease.
Leprosy is a non-fatal infectious disease caused by bacteria Myobacterium leprae and spread by direct contact and other mode of transmissions. It may be treated with homoeopathic medicines if well selected medicine related to mental and physical symptoms is taken by patients. Homoeopathy medicines help out patients to rearrange the vital force to fight against infectious bacteria and makes possible that the body itself fight against the disease.
To be sure, I ran a quick Medline search. You guessed the result, I suppose: not a single hint from anything resembling a clinical trial that homeopathy might be an effective therapy of leprosy.
One question, however, does remain open: how do homeopaths who claim such irresponsible nonsense sleep?
(And in case you think that the above post is a rare exception, you have not recently searched the Internet!)
… Many proponents of so-called alternative medicine (SCAM) are keen to point out that, while mainstream medicine may be good at treatment of diseases, particularly acute conditions, SCAM’s forte lies in the prevention of disease. Patients seem to have intuitively accepted this notion; a recent survey suggest that more than 50% of those Americans who use SCAM do so not to treat ailments but to remain healthy, i.e. to prevent disease and illness. If one looks closer at the evidence for or against SCAM’s role in disease prevention, one is stunned by the contrast of firmly held beliefs and the lack of reliable evidence to support them…
… Unfortunately the subject is more complex than normally appreciated within SCAM. Until we have convincing data, it is not possible to state with confidence that a given form of SCAM is effective in preventing a given condition. It follows
- that we now should prepare to carry out the much needed (but difficult) research related
to preventative, - that we should be cautious and abstain from overstating the largely unproven role of SCAM in the prevention of disease and illness.
These lines were written by me and published exactly 20 years ago. As far as I can see, very little has changed since.
- SCAM providers continue to make big claims about disease prevention.
- Many consumers continue to believe them.
- And the evidence continues to be absent or flimsy.
It follows, I fear, that charlatans who advocate their SCAM as a means to prevent disease are dishonestly defrauding the public.
I do hope that someone disagrees with me and shows me the evidence proving me wrong!
The World Federation of Chiropractic, Strategic Plan 2019-2022 has just been published. It is an odd document that holds many surprises. Sadly, none of them are positive.
As the efficacy and safety of chiropractic spinal manipulations, the hallmark treatment that close to 100% of all chiropractic patients receive, are more than a little doubtful, one would expect that such a strategy would focus on the promotion of rigorous clinical research to create more certainty in these two important areas. If you are like me and were hoping for a firm commitment to such activities, you will be harshly disappointed.
Already in the introduction, the WFC sets an entirely different agenda:
We believe that everyone deserves access to chiropractic. We believe in chiropractors being accessible throughout the world. We believe that societies can thrive where chiropractors are available as a part of people’s health care teams.
If you are not put off by such self-serving, nauseous nonsense and read on, you find what the WFC call the ‘FOUR STRATEGIC PILLARS’
- SUPPORT
- EMPOWERMENT
- PROMOTION
- ADVANCEMENT
The text supporting the first three pillars consists of insufferable platitudes, and I will therefore not burden you with it. But the title of No4 did raise my hopes of finding something along the lines of an advancement of the evidence-base of chiropractic. Sadly, this turned out to be over-optimistic. Here is the 4th pillar in its full beauty:
Advancing the chiropractic profession together under the banner of evidence-based, people-centered, interprofessional and collaborative care.
Around the world health is delivered according to prevailing societal, cultural and political factors. These social determinants mean that chiropractors must adapt to the environment in which they practice.
As a global federation we must continuously strive to advance awareness of chiropractic under a banner of ethical, evidence-based, people-centered care.
Through consensus-building, shared understanding and respectful dialogue with partners in the health system, chiropractic should become a valued partner in contributing enhanced population health.
Throughout our 7 world regions, we must advance public utilization of chiropractors to optimize the health of nations.
Through the identification of common values and a commitment to patient-centered care, we can advance the identity of chiropractors as spinal health care experts in the health care system.
The WFC will:
– Advance awareness of chiropractic among the general public, within health systems and among health professionals.
– Advance access to chiropractors for all people and broaden the integration of chiropractic services
– Advance interprofessional collaboration and the integration of chiropractic into health systems
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END OF QUOTE
The essence of the WFC strategy for the next 3 years thus seems to be as follows:
- Avoid any discussion about the lack of evidence of chiropractic.
- Promote chiropractic to the unsuspecting public at all cost.
- Make sure chiropractors’ cash flow is healthy.
There are some commentators on this blog who regularly try to make us believe that chiropractic is about to reform, leave obsolete concepts behind, and become a respectable, ethical and evidence-based healthcare profession. After reading the appalling drivel the WFC call their ‘strategic plan’, I am not optimistic that they are correct.
As reported on this blog, the Spanish minister of health want to change the EU law that governs homeopathy. Now the INH has taken action in support of this idea:
THE COMMENT
… the Spanish government … no longer wants to accept the medicinal status of homeopathy, wants to ban homeopathy from pharmacies and has already “discontinued” the first batch of homoeopathics which could not present a valid proof of efficacy upon request. England is currently performing a complete “blacklisting”, i.e. a process that means the end of any registration for homeopathic medication with a drug authority.
The EU Medicines Directive does not regulate in detail how exactly the member states deal with homeopathy in health care. However, it does fix two key points: It includes homeopathy in its definition of a medical drug and obliges the states to regulate a simplified registration procedure for homeopathy instead of the usual drug approval. If one seriously wants to dispute the status of homeopathic medicinal products (and thus their privileges), one cannot completely ignore EU law.
Spain knows that. At various levels (including that of the government), there are efforts to achieve a revision of the EU directive on medicinal products in the field of homeopathy. These efforts need support. The INH has therefore addressed the following letter to German MEPs, which is initially intended to provide basic information on the facts of the case and support Spain’s position in the expected discussion. This seems all the more necessary as the European homeopathic manufacturers and associations have for a long time maintained a lobby organisation directly in Brussels, which apparently has quite good material and personnel resources and whose task is to exert direct influence “on the spot”. We do not have such resources, but we do have the facts. And who knows – perhaps one or the other national government will even join Spain and become active in the EU?
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THE LETTER TO ALL GERMAN MEPs
7 August 2019
Homeopathy in the EU Medicines Directive
Dear Madam / Sir,
The European Medicines Directive (Directive 2001/83/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 November 2001 on the Community code relating to medicinal products for human use, Official Journal of the European Community L 311, 28.11.2001) classifies homeopathic preparations as medicinal products and requires national governments to establish a simplified registration procedure outside the otherwise prescribed rules for marketing authorisation for pharmaceutical remedies.
However, the consensus of the worldwide scientific community has long since classified homeopathy as a specifically ineffective sham therapy, the spread and “popularity” of which have completely different bases than those of medical relevance (evidence). In many countries, this insight is now gaining acceptance. It will be in the well-understood interest of the public’s health to take consequences of this. The misguiding of the public that homeopathy is a form of therapy expressly recognised by the legislator and therefore endowed with the credit of efficacy and harmlessness may not be continued.
In this respect, the Kingdom of Spain is already campaigning for an amendment to European pharmaceutical law, which not only grants homeopathic preparations the status of medicinal products by definition, but also grants them the additional privilege of registration (see also http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-8-2018-004948-ASW_EN.html). This special legal framework has no objective justification, as the EASAC – as official advisor to the EU institutions – clearly stated in its statement of 20.09.2017 (https://easac.eu/publications/details/homeopathic-products-and-practices/).
In the interest of a science-based, honest and patient-oriented health policy, also on behalf of the German Consumer Association e.V. and its regional associations, we ask you to support a revision of the Medicines Directive in the sense described, in order to clear the way for appropriate national regulations under Community law.
You can inform yourself about the scientific status of homeopathy on the (multilingual) website of our association: www.network-homeopathy.info .
Yours sincerely
For the Information Network Homeopathy
Dr. Natalie Grams – Dr. Ing. Norbert Aust – Dr. Christian Lübbers
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IF YOU FEEL LIKE SUPPORTING THIS INITIALIVE, PLEASE WRITE TO YOUR MEP.
We have looked at curcumin several (tumeric) times before (see here, here and here). It seems to have a fascinating spectrum of pharmacological activities. But do they translate into clinical usefulness? To answer this question, we obviously need clinical trials. Unfortunately, not many have become available. Here are two recent studies:
Due to the potential benefits of curcumin in the ischemic heart disease, this study was performed to evaluate whether pretreatment with curcumin may reduce myocardial injury following elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). A randomized clinical trial was performed on 110 patients undergoing elective PCI. The intervention group (n = 55) received a single dose of 480 mg nanomicelle curcumin orally and the standard treatment before PCI, while the control group (n = 55) received only the standard treatment., Serum concentrations of CK-MB and troponin I was measured before, 8 and 24 h after the procedure to assess myocardial damage during PCI. The results showed that the raise of CK-MB in curcumin group was half of the control group (4 vs. 8 cases) but was not significant. There were no significant differences in CK-MB levels at 8 (P = .24) and 24 h (P = .37) after PCI between the curcumin and the control group. No significant difference was also found in troponin I levels at 8 (P = 1.0) and 24 h (P = .35) after PCI between the groups. This study did not support the potential cardioprotective benefit of curcumin against pre-procedural myocardial injury in patients undergoing elective PCI.
Ground and mashed turmeric
Inflammation along with oxidative stress has an important role in the pathophysiology of unstable angina which leads to acute myocardial infarction, arrhythmias and eventually heart failure. Curcumin has anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects and thereby, it may reduce cardiovascular complications. This randomized controlled trial aimed to investigate the effects of curcumin on the prevention of atrial and ventricular arrhythmias and heart failure in patients with unstable angina.
Materials and Methods:
Forty patients with unstable angina who met the trial inclusion and exclusion criteria, participated in this double-blind randomized clinical trial. The patients were randomized into two groups: curcumin (80 mg/day for 5days) and placebo (80 mg/day for 5days). Cardiac function was evaluated by two-dimensional echocardiography devices at baseline (immediately after hospitalization) and 5 days after the onset of the trial. Atrial and ventricular arrhythmias were recorded by Holter monitors in cardiology ward, Ghaem academic hospital, Mashhad, Iran. Progression to heart failure, myocardial infarction, and pulmonary and cardiopulmonary resuscitation events as well as mortality were recorded daily throughout the study.
Results:
There were no significant differences between the two groups in atrial and ventricular arrhythmias (p=0.2), and other echocardiographic parameters (Ejection fraction, E, A, E/A ratio, Em, and pulmonary artery pressure) at baseline and five days after the start of the trial.
Conclusion:
Nanocurcumin administered at the dose of 80 mg/day for five days had no effect in the incidence of cardiovascular complications in patients with unstable angina.
Clinical trials are not a good tool for proving a negative; they rarely can prove that a therapy is totally useless. Therefore, we cannot be sure that the many fascinating pharmacological activities of curcumin do not, after all, translate into some clinical benefit. However, what we can say with a high degree of certainty is this: currently there is no good evidence to show that curcumin is effective in treating any human condition.
Perhaps there is a more general lesson here about herbal medicine. Many plants have exiting pharmacological activities such as anti-biotic or anti-cancer activity which can be shown in-vitro. These are then hyped by entrepreneurs and enthusiasts of so-called alternative medicine (SCAM). Such hype fools many consumers and is thus good for business. But in-vitro activity does not necessarily mean that the therapy is clinically useful. There are many reasons for this, e.g. toxicity, lack of absorption. The essential test is always the clinical trial.
IN-VIVO VERITAS!
