homeopathy
When someone has completed a scientific project, it is customary to publish it [‘unpublished science is no science’, someone once told me many years ago]. To do so, he needs to write it up and submit it to a scientific journal. The editor of this journal will then submit it to a process called ‘peer review’.
What does ‘peer review’ entail? Well, it means that 2-3 experts are asked to critically assess the paper in question, make suggestions as to how it can be improved and submit a recommendation as to whether or not the article deserves to be published.
Peer review has many pitfalls but, so far, nobody has come up with a solution that is convincingly better. Many scientists are under pressure to publish [‘publish or perish’], and therefore some people resort to cheating. A most spectacular case of fraudulent peer review has been reported recently in this press release:
SAGE statement on Journal of Vibration and Control
London, UK (08 July 2014) – SAGE announces the retraction of 60 articles implicated in a peer review and citation ring at the Journal of Vibration and Control (JVC). The full extent of the peer review ring has been uncovered following a 14 month SAGE-led investigation, and centres on the strongly suspected misconduct of Peter Chen, formerly of National Pingtung University of Education, Taiwan (NPUE) and possibly other authors at this institution.
In 2013 the then Editor-in-Chief of JVC, Professor Ali H. Nayfeh,and SAGE became aware of a potential peer review ring involving assumed and fabricated identities used to manipulate the online submission system SAGE Track powered by ScholarOne Manuscripts™. Immediate action was taken to prevent JVC from being exploited further, and a complex investigation throughout 2013 and 2014 was undertaken with the full cooperation of Professor Nayfeh and subsequently NPUE.
In total 60 articles have been retracted from JVC after evidence led to at least one author or reviewer being implicated in the peer review ring. Now that the investigation is complete, and the authors have been notified of the findings, we are in a position to make this statement.
While investigating the JVC papers submitted and reviewed by Peter Chen, it was discovered that the author had created various aliases on SAGE Track, providing different email addresses to set up more than one account. Consequently, SAGE scrutinised further the co-authors of and reviewers selected for Peter Chen’s papers, these names appeared to form part of a peer review ring. The investigation also revealed that on at least one occasion, the author Peter Chen reviewed his own paper under one of the aliases he had created.
Unbelievable? Perhaps, but sadly it is true; some scientists seem to be criminally ingenious when it comes to getting their dodgy articles into peer-reviewed journals.
And what does this have to do with ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE, you may well ask. The Journal of Vibration and Control is not even medical and certainly would never consider publishing articles on alternative medicine. Such papers go to one of the many [I estimate more that 1000] journals that cover either alternative medicine in general or any of the modalities that fall under this wide umbrella. Most of these journals, of course, pride themselves with being peer-reviewed – and, at least nominally, that is correct.
I have been on the editorial board of most of the more important journals in alternative medicine, and I cannot help thinking that their peer review process is not all that dissimilar from the fraudulent scheme set up by Peter Chen and disclosed above. What happens in alternative medicine is roughly as follows:
- a researcher submits a paper for publication,
- the editor sends it out for peer review,
- the peer reviewers are either those suggested by the original author or members of the editorial board of the journal,
- in either case, the reviewers are more than likely to be uncritical and recommend publication,
- in the end, peer review turns out to be a farcical window dressing exercise with no consequence,
- thus even very poor research and pseudo-research are being published abundantly.
The editorial boards of journals of alternative medicine tend to be devoid of experts who are critical about the subject at hand. If you think that I am exaggerating, have a look at the editorial board members of ‘HOMEOPATHY’ (or any other journal of alternative medicine) and tell me who might qualify as a critic of homeopathy. When the editor, Peter Fisher, recently fired me from his board because he felt I had tarnished the image of homeopathy, this panel lost the only person who understood the subject matter and, at the same time, was critical about it (the fact that the website still lists me as an editorial board member is merely a reflection of how slow things are in the world of homeopathy: Fisher fired me more than a year ago).
The point I am trying to make is simple: peer review is never a perfect method but when it is set up to be deliberately uncritical, it cannot possibly fulfil its function to prevent the publication of dodgy research. In this case, the quality of the science will be inadequate and generate false-positive messages that mislead the public.
Many posts on this blog have highlighted the fact that homeopathic remedies, when tested in rigorous RCTs, are demonstrably nothing more than pure placebos. Homeopaths, of course, negate this fact but here is a surprising bit of new evidence that further confirms it – and it comes from the highest authority in homeopathy: from Samuel Hahnemann himself!
A well known psychic has been in contact with the great doctor who consequently has dictated a letter to her. Here it is (it came in German, but I took the liberty of translating it into English):
TO ALL HOMEOPATHS OF THE WORLD
I have been watching what you have been doing with my noble healing art for some time now, and I cannot hold back any longer. Enough is enough. You are all fools, bloody fools!
Sceptics and scientists and anyone else who can read the research that has been done with those ‘randomised trials’ that the allopaths are currently so fond of should know that homeopathic medicines, as you monumental idiots employ them, are ineffective. The results of these studies are perfectly true. Instead of asking yourself what you are doing wrong and how you are disobeying my most explicit orders, you insist on doubting that these modern methods generate the truth. How incredibly stupid you are!
I have provided you with a detailed set of instructions – but does any of you pseudo-homeopaths follow them? No, no, no! You are all traitors and ignorant dilettantes. Read my Organon and follow what I wrote; there is no need to re-invent the rules.
Let me remind you what I said in the Organon; I made it perfectly clear that a person receiving homeopathy must have:
- no coffee
- no spices
- no carbonated drinks
- no use of perfumes
- no smoked meat
- no cheese
- no duck
- no shellfish
- no large amounts of animal fat
- no sausages
- no spicy sauces
- no pastries or cakes
- no radishes
- no celery
- no onions or garlic
- no parsley
- no pepper
- no mustard
- no vanilla
- no bitter almonds
- no cloves
- no cinnamon
- no fennel
- no anise
- no green tea
- no spiced chocolate
- no liquors
- no herbal teas
- no tooth powder
- no excessive labour
- no mental exercise
That is simple enough, isn’t it? Or are you too moronic to follow even the simplest of instructions? As you constantly ignore my orders, how do you think my medicines can work?
Those who insist that the current evidence for homeopathy is negative are entirely correct. It is negative because you have been witless and incompetent! I have said it before and I say it again: HE WHO DOES NOT WALK ON EXACTLY THE SAME LINE WITH ME, WHO DIVERGES, IF IT BE BUT THE BREADTH OF A STRAW, TO THE RIGHT OR TO THE LEFT, IS AN APOSTATE AND A TRAITOR, AND WITH HIM I WILL HAVE NOTHING TO SAY.
Now, instead of finding excuses, go home and contemplate what I am telling you. Then do the right thing, conduct a randomised trial testing my proper method, and you will see.
I am very annoyed with all of you! And I am fast running out of patience.
Do as I say or become an allopath.
Sincerely angry
Samuel Hahnemann
At this point, I should admit that the letter was, of course, not written by the inventor of homeopathy but by me, Edzard Ernst. Yet it could have been written by him; historians invariably describe him as intolerant, cantankerous and inflexible. Crucially, the dietary instructions outlined in the letter are those of Hahnemann as outlined in the ‘Organon’, his ‘opus maximus’. If he could send a letter via a psychic, Hahnemann would certainly complain about his followers disobeying his orders and he most likely would do it in a most disgruntled tone (the sentence in capital letters is actually a quote from Hahnemann).
This post is a bit of innocent fun, sure. But it also has some relevance to today’s homeopathy, I hope: modern homeopaths make a big thing out of following Hahnemann’s gospel to the letter. But, if we look carefully, we find that they only follow some of it, while ignoring entire sections of what their ‘über-guru’ told them. They argue that these bits are useless or erroneous or implausible and they want to be seen to be scientific and evidence-based. The obvious truth, however, is that everything Hahnemann has ever written about homeopathy is useless, erroneous and implausible and nothing of it is scientific or evidence-based. Homeopaths should draw the only possible conclusion and ignore the lot!
A remarkable article about homeopathy and immunisation entitled THE IMMUNISATION DILEMMA came to my attention recently. Its abstract promised: “evidence quantifying the effectiveness of vaccination and HP (homeoprophylaxis) will be examined. New international research describing and analysing HP interventions will be reported. An evidence-based conclusion will be reached.”
Sounds interesting? Let’s see what the article really offers. Here is the relevant text:
…evidence does exist to support claims regarding the effectiveness of homeopathic immunisation is undeniable.
I was first invited to visit Cuba in December 2008 to present at an international conference hosted by the Finlay Institute, which is a W. H. O.-accredited vaccine manufacturer. The Cubans described their use of HP to control an outbreak of leptospirosis (Weilʼs syndrome – a potentially fatal, water-born bacterial disease) in 2007 among the residents of the three eastern provinces which were most severely damaged by a severe hurricane – over 2.2 million people [7]. 2008 was an even worse year involving three hurricanes, and the countryʼs food production was only just recovering at the time of the conference. The HP program had been repeated in 2008, but data was not available at the conference regarding that intervention.
I revisited Cuba in 2010 and 2012, each time to work with the leader of the HP interventions, Dr. Bracho, to analyse the data available. Dr. Bracho is not a homeopath; he is a published and internationally recognised expert in the manufacture of vaccine adjuvants. He worked in Australia at Flinders University during 2004 with a team trying to develop an antimalarial vaccine.
In 2012 we accessed the raw leptospirosis surveillance data, comprising weekly reports from 15 provinces over 9 years (2000 to 2008) reporting 21 variables. This yielded a matrix with 147 420 possible entries. This included data concerning possible confounders, such as vaccination and chemoprophylaxis, which allowed a careful examination of possible distorting effects. With the permission of the Cubans, I brought this data back to Australia and it is being examined by mathematicians at an Australian university to see what other information can be extracted. Clearly, there is objective data supporting claims regarding the effectiveness of HP.
The 2008 result was remarkable, and could only be explained by the effectiveness of the HP intervention. Whilst the three hurricanes caused immense damage throughout the country it was again worse in the east, yet the three homeopathically immunised provinces experienced a negligible increase in cases whilst the rest of the country showed significant increases until the dry season in January 2009 [8].
This is but one example – there are many more. It is cited to show that there is significant data available, and that orthodox scientists and doctors have driven the HP interventions, in the Cuban case. Many people internationally now know this, so once again claims by orthodox authorities that there is no evidence merely serves to show that either the authorities are making uninformed/unscientific statements, or that they are aware but are intentionally withholding information. Either way, confidence is destroyed and leads to groups of people questioning what they are told…
Final Conclusions
The attacks against homeopathy in general and HP in particular will almost certainly continue. If we can achieve a significant level of agreement then we would be able to answer challenges to HP with a single, cohesive, evidence-based, and generally united response. This would be a significant improvement to the existing situation.
Reference 7 is the following article: Bracho G, Varela E, Fernández R et al. Large-scale application of highly-diluted bacteria for Leptospirosis epidemic control. Homeopathy 2010; 99: 156-166. The crucial bit if this paper are as follows:
A homeoprophylactic formulation was prepared from dilutions of four circulating strains of Leptospirosis. This formulation was administered orally to 2.3 million persons at high risk in an epidemic in a region affected by natural disasters. The data from surveillance were used to measure the impact of the intervention by comparing with historical trends and non-intervention regions.
After the homeoprophylactic intervention a significant decrease of the disease incidence was observed in the intervention regions. No such modifications were observed in non-intervention regions. In the intervention region the incidence of Leptospirosis fell below the historic median. This observation was independent of rainfall.
The homeoprophylactic approach was associated with a large reduction of disease incidence and control of the epidemic. The results suggest the use of HP as a feasible tool for epidemic control, further research is warranted.
The paper thus describes little more than an observational study. It shows that one region was less affected than another. I think it is quite clear that this could have many reasons which are unrelated to the homeopathic immunisation. Even the authors are cautious and speak in their conclusions not of a causal effect but of an “association”.
The 2012 data cited in the text remains unpublished; until it is available for public scrutiny, it is impossible to confirm that it is sound and meaningful.
Reference 8 refers to this article: Golden I, Bracho G. Adaptability of homœoprophylaxis in endemic, epidemic and stable background conditions. Homœopathic Links 2009; 22: 211-213. I have no access to this paper (if someone does, please fill us in) but, judging from both its title and the way it is described in the text, it does not seem to show reliable data about the efficacy of homeopathic immunisation.
So, is it true that “evidence does exist to support claims regarding the effectiveness of homeopathic immunisation”?
I do not think so!
Immunisation is by no means a trivial matter; wrong decisions in this area have the potential to cost the lives of millions. Therefore proofs of efficacy need to be published in peer-reviewed journals of high standing. These findings need then be criticised, replicated and re-criticised and re-replicated. Only when there is a wide consensus about the efficacy/safety or lack of efficacy/safety of a new form of immunisation, can it be generally accepted and implemented into clinical practice.
The current consensus about homeopathic immunisation is that it is nothing less than dangerous phantasy. Those who promote this quackery should be publicly exposed as charlatans of the worst kind.
Do you suffer from any of the following conditions/problems?
• Feeling of being forsaken and SEPARATION; huge despair.
• Oppression (political, family, abuse-sexual, religious, being bullied) and perceiving yourself as victim.
• States of possession.
• Children of ambitious parents who are pushed.
• Caring professions which give rise to burn out and/or brain deadness.
• Indescribable evil/darkness.
• Not showing anything: MASKS, unsmiling.
• Suspicious, uneasy, shifty eyes; cannot look you in the eye.
• Hangdog of head, beaten.
• Frequent weeping, tears just flow; sense of numbness or despair over them.
• Deep grief which cannot be accessed, unspoken, but it hangs in the air.
• Depression, sense of blackness, total isolation, aloneness, despair.
• Panic, need to escape but can’t. TERROR.
• Feel brainwashed, lack the courage to break free, unable to break from the past.
• Everything will fail; despair of recovery.
• Painlessness.
• Aggression against yourself.
• Impulsivity – anything can happen.
• Aggression to others or animals (fascinated by it). Child who hangs a cat with a rope around the neck to see what happens.
• Deceit.
• Guilt, not resolvable.
• ASTHMA, crushing on chest, suffocation.
• Headache, deep crushing, congestion, bursting with depression and photophobia; gives the feeling of being cut off and isolated.
• After strokes, for parts not connected yet again.
• Temporary blindness and deafness in emotional situations.
• Stiffness of joints-swelling: ” a claw coming into it”.
• Dupuytren.
• Emptiness, a hole in the gut (ulcers).
• Narcolepsia (20 hrs a day).
• Insomnia.
If so, you are, according to some homeopaths, in need of a very special homeopathic remedy: BERLIN WALL.
No, I am not joking! There are even case reports of successful treatments with this extraordinary remedy: A case of asthma, fear and depression, solved with the remedy ‘Berlin Wall’.
Homeopathy is based on the ‘like cures like’ principle. This means that anything which causes symptoms in a healthy person, can be used to treat these symptoms when they occur in a patient. ANYTHING! Even fragments from the BERLIN WALL.
Of course, the bits of the wall are not administered in their original form; this might be unhealthy and, eventually, it could even exhaust the supply of the raw material. It is ‘potentized‘ which means it is diluted and diluted and diluted and diluted and…
So, the homeopathic BERLIN WALL is as safe as a placebo – in fact, it is a placebo!
Many readers of this blog will be agree that the founder of homeopathy invented placebo-therapy. However, few might know that he did this not once but twice (albeit in entirely different circumstances).
Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843) was the first physician who administrated placebos to his patient on a systematic and regular basis – at least, this is the thesis that a medical historian with a special interest in homeopathy, R Juette, recently published. His study is based upon unpublished documents (e.g. patients’ letters) kept in the Archives of the Institute for the History of Medicine of the Robert Bosch Foundation in Stuttgart. It also profited from the critical examination of Hahnemann’s case journals and the editorial comments which have also been published in this series.
Hahnemann differentiated clearly between homeopathic drugs and pharmaceutical substances which he considered as sham medicine and called ‘allopathic medicine’. Juette’s analysis of Hahnemann’s case journals revealed that the percentage of Hahnemann’s placebo prescriptions was very high – between 54 and 85 percent. In most instances, Hahnemann marked placebos with the paragraph symbol (§). The rationale behind this practice was that Hahnemann encountered many patients who were used to taking medicine on a daily basis as it was typical for the age of ‘heroic medicine’. His main reason for giving placebos intentionally was therefore to please the impatient patient who was used to the regimen of frequent medications of ‘allopathic’ medicine.
Being a proponent of homeopathy, Juette does not mention Hahnemann’s second invention of placebo therapy: in the shape of his very own, highly diluted homeopathic remedies. Hahnemann was, of course, convinced that they differed from placebo. Two hundred years ago, this attitude was perhaps forgivable. Today, we know that a typical homeopathic medicine contains no substance that could have any meaningful health effects, and that the best evidence fails to show that homeopathic remedies produce effects that differ from placebos. In a word, they are placebos.
It follows that Hahnemann invented the routine use of placebo twice over: 1) intentionally to satisfy the demand for medication of patients who, according to his judgement, needed none, and 2) unintentionally in the form of homeopathic remedies which he thought were effective but are, as we know today, pure placebos.
In all walks of life, we have complete nutters who claim utter nonsense – in homeopathy probably more than in other areas. I knew that for quite some time, of course, but what I discovered on ‘the world’s leading homeopathy portal’ was still somewhat of a revelation to me: the overt promotion of homeopathy as an alternative cancer cure!
Hard to believe? See for yourself!
What follows (in italics) are excerpts from a long and detailed interview with a homeopathic physician published on this website.
Q: What does a typical treatment day look like for the patient?
A: Treatment starts with a comprehensive anamnesis that lasts several hours and includes the entire history of the patient till the occurrence of the tumor. This is followed by the analysis and evaluation of symptoms to find the basic homeopathic remedy [2] and the presently indicated remedy of the patient. We search for remedies for possible miasmatic blockages and also tumor specific remedies. We keep an eye on all iatrogenic damages caused by chemotherapy or radiation and try to have remedies at hand. When these complex considerations are finished an individual treatment concept is worked out. We prepare a list of parameters together with the patient that includes all currently present and disturbing symptoms such as pain, sleep disturbances, appearance and extent of the tumor, psychic problems like anxiety and grief etc. We also include laboratory values such as tumor markers, the erythrocyte sedimentation rate and blood pressure as important control parameters.
After applying the homeopathic remedy, usually in Q-potency, we analyze the patient’s symptoms daily to check their reaction to the remedy. It is very important to assess the patient’s reaction to the Q-potency as the development of symptoms shows us how to proceed with their treatment. The big advantage in the hospital is that we can observe our patients daily and investigate their reaction to the Q potency…
Q: I wish more homeopathic hospitals would be built here in Europe and worldwide! Where do you see the main problems for the establishment of homeopathic hospitals and which difficulties did you have to overcome?
A: A broader acceptance of homeopathy is necessary. Many health insurances still refuse to pay the costs, even though homeopathy is much cheaper than conventional cancer treatment with its chemotherapy or radiation.
I think outpatient clinics should be built first, where cancer patients can be treated without the necessary investment in hospitals. Orthodox medicine and the pharma industry should be open for cooperation with homeopathic physicians…
When homeopathic treatment is successful in rebuilding the immune system and reestablishing the basic regulation of the organism then tumors can disappear again. I’ve treated more than 1000 cancer patients homeopathically and we could even cure or considerably ameliorate the quality of life for several years in some, advanced and metastasizing cases.
Q: Do you include chemotherapy and radiation in your treatment?
A: Orthodox medicine considers the tumor to be a mass of abnormal cells which has to be combated. But it is important to know that the immune system has been disturbed long before the tumor appeared. We try to activate the immune system and to initiate an immune modulation by means of homeopathy. If this is successful tumors can disappear again. I have a very critical view of chemotherapy and radiation as the benefit is often very small and they diminish the chance of a real cure. Radiation can be useful in cases where metastases have invaded the spinal column and there is danger of fracture or there are already some broken vertebral bodies.
Chemotherapy may be useful in children suffering from leukemia, in Hodgkins-Lymphoma, testicular cancer and some forms of ovarian tumors. But these types of cancer only constitute 6% of all tumors. In all other types of cancer the benefit is more doubtful. We apply chemotherapy to gain some time in patients acutely affected by very rapidly growing tumors. But how can chemotherapy or radiation cure a patient ? It is only the immune system that can recognize the damaged DNA of the tumor cell and combat the tumor. However, the more chemotherapy the patient gets the more their immune system is weakened.
A: Yes, even in incurable cases homeopathy can help palliate without detrimental side effects.Even if our primary goal is to cure and prevent cancer, many patients are far beyond this stage. You describe some successfully treated patients with long time follow up in your book. Do any particular cases stand out in your memory?
JW: There are many cases I recall. These are the moments when you are sitting together with the patient to do the case anamnesis, hearing their history and feeling their despair when they were given up “officially” by orthodox medicine.
Now, tell me again that homeopathy is not dangerous – its remedies might be relatively harmless, but its practitioners certainly aren’t.
In the early 1920s, a French physician thought he had discovered the virus that caused the Spanish flu. It oscillated under his microscope, and he thus called it oscillococcus. Not only did it cause the flu, in the opinion of his discoverer, but it was also responsible for a whole host of other diseases, including cancer. In fact, the virus does not exist, or at least nobody ever confirmed it existed, but that fact did not stop our good doctor to make a homeopathic remedy from it which he thought would cure all these diseases. His remedy, Oscillococcinum, is made from the liver and heart of a duck because the imaginative inventor believed that the fictitious virus was present in these organs of this animal.
To understand all this fully, one needs to know that the duck organs are so highly diluted that no molecule of the duck is present in the remedy. It is sold in the C200 potency. This means that one part of organ extract is diluted 1: 10 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 (a note to Boiron’s legal team: I had a hell of a time getting all these zeros right; in case, I got it wrong after all, it is an honest error – please do not sue me for it!). The dilution is so extreme that it amounts to a single molecule per a multitude of universes.
Given these facts it seems unlikely that the remedy has any effects on human health which go beyond those of a placebo. Let’s see what the current Cochrane review says about its effectiveness: There is insufficient good evidence to enable robust conclusions to be made about Oscillococcinum(®) in the prevention or treatment of influenza and influenza-like illness. Our findings do not rule out the possibility that Oscillococcinum(®) could have a clinically useful treatment effect but, given the low quality of the eligible studies, the evidence is not compelling. There was no evidence of clinically important harms due to Oscillococcinum(®).
Considering that the first author of this review works for the British Homeopathic Association and the senior author is the homeopath of the Queen, this seems a pretty clear statement, don’t you think?
Regardless of the scientific evidence, Oscillococcinum made of ‘Anas Barbariae Hepatis et Cordis Extractum‘, as it is officially called, became a homeopathic best-seller. In the US alone Boiron, the manufacturer, is said to sell US$ 15 m per year of this product. Not only that, in France, where the remedy is a popular medicine sold in virtually all pharmacies and often recommended as soon as you walk into a pharmacy, it is hard to find anyone who does not swear by the ‘potentized‘ duck or is willing to discuss its merits critically.
The amazing duck, it seems, has turned into a ‘holy cow’.
Manufacturers of homeopathic remedies are having a hard time, it seems. The following press release has just reached me, and I thought it might be worth sharing it with my readers:
Baden-Baden, Germany, May 23, 2014 – Heel Group today announced the cessation of its business activities in the United States and Canada on August 31, 2014.
In the USA and Canada, manufacturers of OTC homeopathic medicinal products have been confronted with accusations through class action lawsuits. Heel Inc., the Heel Group’s U.S.-based subsidiary, was also faced with two such attempts recently. Both cases have been settled without conceding the allegations. The financial burden on Heel Inc., however, was substantial.
In a subsequent risk-benefit analysis of its global activities, the Heel Group decided to focus on strengthening its excellent position in South America, Central Europe and Eastern Europe and to withdraw from business activities in the USA and Canada for the time being.
Heel’s operations in both the USA and Canada will accordingly be discontinued as of August 31, 2014.
In the USA, negotiations with MediNatura Inc., a Delaware Corporation, are close to completion by which the Heel Group will transfer its stock in Heel Inc., to MediNatura by the end of August 2014. The transaction does, however, not include any of Heel’s trusted and leading global brands such as Traumeel, Neurexan, Zeel, Oculoheel, Luffeel, Sinusin, Vinceel, Nectadyn, Adrisin, Gripp-Heel, Viburcol, Vertigoheel, Spascupreel, Engystol, and Lymphomyosot*. Completion of the acquisition is subject to standard closing procedures.
As a trailblazer and leader in the field of scientific research into natural healthcare and a leading manufacturer of homeopathic medicines, the Heel Group will continue to invest in research and development on a global scale, also involving the medical-scientific community in North America.
Ralph Schmidt, CEO of the Heel Group: “As a global player, we are continuously reviewing our portfolio. This means that we are sometimes required to focus on specific regions at the expense of others in order to efficiently carry out our ambitious expansion plans. I would not exclude the possibility of re-entering the markets in the USA and Canada with a new business concept.”
It is somewhat sobering from my point of view to realise that all the science proving that homeopathy had no health effects beyond placebo had little effect on the market for homeopathic remedies. If anything, the sales figures seemed to get better and better as the evidence got more and more negative during the last decades. The ‘globulisation’ of the world seemed imminent due to those homeopathic manufacturers who wanted to become ‘global players’ (is there not a homeopathic remedy against megalomania?). It was only the legal actions that seemed to have an effect. The multiple North American class actions were more effective than the science, it seems.
Is there a lesson here? Perhaps! It could be that scientists working on their own are not always powerful enough to improve health care. Particularly when confronted with an alliance of evangelic belief and commercial interests, scientists, sceptics, journalists, lawyers, politicians and other professions might have to co-operate to bring about meaningful change.
Boiron is the world’s biggest producer of homeopathic remedies. It also is a firm that is relatively active in research into homeopathy. Here is one of their investigations which I find most remarkable.
This study was designed to describe the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of patients recommended allopathic and/or homeopathic medicines for influenza-like illness (ILI) or ear nose and throat ENT disorders by pharmacists in France and to investigate the effectiveness of these treatments.
The introduction of the article includes interesting information; it informs us that, although homeopathy is more popular in Europe than in the Unites States, sales of homeopathic medicines in the United States grew by more than 1,000% in the late 1970s and early 1980s and continue to grow. In parallel, the number of physicians specializing in homeopathy doubled between 1980 and 1982. In 2003, sales of homeopathic medicines in the United States were estimated to be between $300 and $450 million, with an average growth rate of approximately 8% per year. Homeopathic drugs are among the top 10 nonprescription products sold in the category of analgesics to treat coughs, colds, and flu. The sale of homeopathic medicines in the United States is controlled by the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and regulations issued by the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Homeopathic medicines in the United States are subject to well-controlled regulatory processes that closely resemble those used for allopathic medicines. FDA regulations for the sale of homeopathic medicines in the United States state that they can only be sold without prescription if they are for self-limiting conditions such as the common cold…
Am I mistaken, or does that paragraph read a bit like a text written by the marketing team of Boiron wanting to establish their products in the US?
Anyway, the methodology and results of the study are described in the abstract as follows:
A prospective, observational, multicenter study was carried out in randomly selected pharmacies across the 8 IDREM medical regions of France. Pharmacies that agreed to participate recruited male or female patients who responded to the following inclusion criteria: age ≥ 12 years presenting with the first symptoms of an ILI or ENT disorder that were present for less than 36 hours prior to the pharmacy visit. All medicines recorded in the study were recommended by the pharmacists. The following data were recorded at inclusion and after 3 days of treatment: the intensity of 13 symptoms, global symptom score, and disease impact on daily activities and sleep. Two groups of patients were compared: those recommended allopathic medicine only (AT group) and those recommended homeopathic medicine with or without allopathic medicine (HAT group). The number and severity of symptoms, change in global symptom score, and disease impact on daily activities and sleep were compared in the 2 treatment groups after 3 days of treatment. Independent predictors of recommendations for homeopathic medicine were identified by multi- factorial logistic regression analysis.
A total of 242 pharmacies out of 4,809 (5.0%) contacted agreed to participate in the study, and 133 (2.8%) included at least 1 patient; 573 patients were analyzed (mean age: 42.5 ± 16.2 years; 61.9% female). Of these, 428 received allopathic medicines only (74.7%; AT group), and 145 (25.3%) received homeopathic medicines (HAT group) alone (9/145, 1.6%) or associated with allopathy (136/145, 23.7%). At inclusion, HAT patients were significantly younger (39.6 ± 14.8 vs. 43.4 ± 16.1 years; P less than 0.05), had a higher mean number of symptoms (5.2 ± 2.5 vs. 4.4 ± 2.5; P less than 0.01), and more severe symptoms (mean global symptom score: 24.3 ± 5.5 vs. 22.3 ± 5.8; P = 0.0019) than AT patients. After 3 days, the improvement in symptoms and disease impact on daily activities and sleep was comparable in both groups of patients.
From these findings, the authors draw the following conclusions: Patients recommended homeopathic medicine by pharmacists were younger and had more severe symptoms than those recommended allopathic medicine. After 3 days of treatment, clinical improvement was comparable in both treatment groups. Pharmacists have an important role to play in the effective management of ILI and ENT disorders.
And, to make perfectly clear what all this is about, the first sentence of the ‘discussion’ puts it to the point by stating that homeopathic medicine, with or without allopathic medicine, appears to be effective at alleviating the symptoms of ILI or ENT disorders.
Oh really?
As I have heard it said that Boiron seems to have the nasty habit of threatening their critics with legal action, I ought to be quite cautious in my assessment of this ‘masterpiece of promotion’. Yet a few comments must surely be permitted.
‘To describe the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of patients recommended allopathic and/or homeopathic medicines’ is not what I personally find an interesting subject of research, nor is it anything that will affect health care meaningfully, I think. Yet ‘to investigate the effectiveness of these treatments’ is certainly interesting and important. I will therefore focus on this second aim of the study.
Hold on, was this really a ‘study’? On closer inspection, it seemed much more like a survey. People who felt that they were suffering from ILI and ENT disorders and thus went to a pharmacy to buy something for their problem were offered either homeopathic or conventional medicines. Those who accepted either of the recommendations were asked to fill out some self-assessment forms and received a phone call three days later to check their symptoms. 94% of all patients in the homeopathy group took homeopathic medicine in combination with ‘allopathic’ medicine (it is interesting, perhaps even telling, that this term used by the authors was invented by Hahnemann as an insult to conventional medicine!). There was no examination by a doctor to verify what condition the survey-participants were truly suffering from, and there was no verification that the information provided during the follow-up telephone call was in any way real. The most frequently recommended homeopathic medicine was Anas barbariae 200C (Oscillococcinum) which is Boiron’s famous homeopathically diluted (about one molecule per universe, I guess) duck-liver heavily promoted in France against colds and similar conditions.
As it turns out, those survey-participants who accepted the homeopathic recommendation were significantly younger than those who accepted the recommendation for a conventional treatment (many surveys confirm that younger people are more prone to trying alternative medicine than older ones). It stands to reason, that the younger (and therefore fitter) patients were in better general health and therefore might recover quicker than the older ones. But, in fact, they did not!
Could this be due to the homeopathic remedies actually delaying recovery? Of course not! Who would be silly enough to claim that homeopathy could have this (or any other) effect? According to the authors, it is due to the fact that this group ‘had more severe symptoms than those recommended allopathic medicine’. But, as I said, we have to take their word for it; there is no independent verification of this. It would, of course, be quite ridiculous to postulate that those survey-participants accepting homeopathy were also a little more introspective or concerned about their own health (perhaps even more gullible) and thus claimed more severe symptoms!
And what about the authors’ conclusion that clinical improvement was comparable in both treatment groups? Well, this is more than a little problematic, in my view: first, we have no independent verification of the ‘improvement’ in either group. Second, we don’t know that the conventional treatments actually worked, and it could well be that both approaches were similarly ineffective, and that the observed outcomes are merely a reflection of the natural history of the condition. And third, one might expect the homeopathic (younger) group to do not similarly well but slightly better, simply because the natural history of the illness would tend to be more benign in younger people.
Before I finish,I should make a brief comment about the authors’ courageous statement that homeopathic medicine, with or without allopathic medicine, appears to be effective at alleviating the symptoms of ILI or ENT disorders. I think, for the reasons I already provided, this is extremely doubtful. In my view, more critical scientists would have phrased the conclusions differently:
THIS SURVEY SHOWS THAT EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MEDICAL INTERVENTIONS REQUIRES A MORE RIGOROUS METHODOLOGY THAN THAT OF A SURVEY.
But perhaps this would be asking a little too much of the authors; after all, at the end of the article, we find this telling footnote: Laboratoires Boiron provided financial support for the study. Cognet-Dementhon, Thevenard, Duru, and Allaert received consulting fees from Laboratoires Boiron for this study. Danno and Bordet are employees of Laboratoires Boiron.
When I first read about agrohomeopathy (i.e. the use of potentised preparations for the health of plants and soils) I thought that it must be a hoax. Then I realised that it was entirely serious (a Google search returns ~28 000 hits for ‘agrohomeopathy’) – serious but nevertheless too weird for words. Because it is so utterly unbelievable, I cite (in italics) the key parts of an article on the subject.
What’s better than ORGANIC or BIODYNAMIC farming? AGROHOMEOPATHY! What is Agrohomeopathy? It’s the specialized area of homeopathy used to treat your garden and crops. Agrohomeopathy is the most chemical free, non-toxic method of growing food and other crops that you can get. Agrohomeopathy makes your plants resistant to disease and pests by strengthening them from the inside out. In nature, it is the weakest of organisms that are attacked and destroyed. Agrohomeopathy helps build up the plant’s basic structure and gives it optimum health, thus reducing and sometimes even eliminating it’s susceptibility. And the skeptics can’t blame THESE effects on placebo, can they?!….
Homeopathic treatment for your crops is a win-win situation. It is backed by decades of research and practice. Try it for yourself and see. And if you have problems or need help, there are experts in the field who are eager to help, who want to get your feedback & experience…
If you think this is far-fetched, rest assured that other sources go even further. Look at this statement, for instance:
Agro-Homeopathy not only treats the disease symptoms of the plant and performs preventive actions, but can also treat traumas retained in the biological memory of the plant, which resulted from conditions such as forced hybridization, moving to places outside their natural habitats , or exaggerated fertilization that maximizes production to the extreme.
So, plants have a ‘biological memory’ that is able to retain information of a past trauma! Fascinating, this gets more fantastic by the minute.
And there is plenty of practical advice too; just consider this helpful hint, if you are a keen gardener: the effects and benefits of homeopathic Silicea are so numerous that an entire article has been devoted to them at: Homeopathic Silica – The Gardener’s Friend. Needless to say, Silicea is one remedy no gardener or farmer should be without…
According to this website, homeopathic silica is a miracle cure; it
- Aids germination of seeds
- Reduces transplant shock
- Strengthens weak and spindly plants
- Increases vigour and resistance of plants to pests, moulds, and mildew
- Aids water retention in plants growing on arid soils
- Stimulates flower growth, both in number and size
- Assists seed generation and development
- Improves fruit-setting when applied after flowering
- Stimulates premature flowering and prevents seed formation when applied in overdose to weeds
- Changes the ionisation of soil particles so that water-repellent soil readily absorbs moisture … and more!
The sceptics can indeed not blame ‘THESE effects’ on placebo. Nobody needs to do that because they do not exist! I could not find a single piece of reliable evidence to demonstrate that highly diluted homeopathic remedies can cure diseases of plants.
I hope that a few agrohomeopathic readers of these lines will correct me by showing me solid data – but somehow I doubt it.
