World Homeopathy Awareness Week

Hey Skeptics, it turns out that this week is “World Homeopathy Awareness week”, and I was thinking that as good skeptics we should use all our resources to spread as much awareness of this dangerous pseudoscience as we possibly can. What do you say?

Here’s my contribution (for today)
http://skepticdetective.wordpress.com/2010/04/11/world-homeopathy-awareness-week/

in my humble opinion. natural medicine has its place. and when a knowledgeable practitioner applies it, it can be beneficial.
but, science has made up all kinds of doodabbies that kill all the stuff that rosehip tea and tinctures dont.
homeopathy i think is a bit of hogwash. as much as drinking this and that mix of whatever, im not convinced that it works for everybody. each person’s body reacts differently to chemicals, as much as one person will die if you give him disprin, and another wont bat an eyelid.
my experience with homeopaths, was a bit of a 50/50 feeling. as much as he told me x, y and z. and i thought, holy fricken wow. he propably told everyone before me the same. seems everyone has candida. and you need to avoid sugars.
they allso have you hold some gadget that supposedly runs currents through you body to ascertain whats wrong with it.
er, i dunno so lekker about that one. surely one auric fields cant tell a machine that i have latent liver problems? call me stupid, but my pc has given me nothing but crap since i got it, and i cant see any programmer convincing that unfeeling bucket to interpret electrical current from my body into anything logical.
i would go on a limb, and say, yes, maybe, some people might have a feeling, to interpret energy released by one’s body to produce this or that prognosis. and, i might add, i dont think this is a skill one can go and learn at homeopathy school. you either have the gift or not.
i wonder how much of a placebo those little containers of sugary granules are that the homeopaths charge you a crapload for?

erm, gothcatgirl, homeopathy never works. not for anyone, ever. It is an incredibly dangerous load of bull. There are NO active ingredients in it at all. It does as much good as a medicinal product as dancing in a circle chanting “reaver is the greatest” does. read this link, and then do a wiki search on homeopathy: http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=264
Homeopathy IS murder.

i would guess as much. i had a mate, years ago, that spent an absolute fortune on some gadget that tells you what is wrong with you, one hectic machine. he buggered off to capetown to go make his millions, i havent heard from him again, so i assume he is living under a bridge now.
i generally keep away from psychics and their ilk now. i really dont think, that if one has a real talent, you would ask money for it. alltho, i have heard recently, of a few people coming up short with qualified medical doctors too. so it seems no matter where you go, you get screwed.
FML

I’m with Reaver on this one. I posted this link before, but I think it is just great - I tell all my friends to check it out - http://www.howdoeshomeopathywork.com/. Also, for some more reading check out the 1023 website…

It cures thirst, though. We should give credit where credit’s due.

I think that, for some people at least, visiting a homeopath is beneficial purely for psychological reasons. The homeopath is patient and caring and takes the time to listen to the patients complaints and ailments, and then to find a ‘tailored’ treatment for the person. I can see how this would be a very positive experience for someone who has had lousy experiences with overly busy and dismissive medical doctors. So perhaps medical science can learn something from homeopathy, if not from the actual remedies!

Of course homeopathy is probably best left out of the emergency room :slight_smile:
That Mitchell and Webb Look: Homeopathic A&E

I think you may have to use it at dangerously high levels to achieve this effect though.

Then the next step might as well be a Sangoma (wtf!!)

BTW Julian cool video clip ;D

By far the majority of homoeopathic preparations use water as a dilutant. Remember that one of homoeopathy’s founding principles is the “law of infinitesimals,” which holds – ludicrously so, it should be noted, in the face of known facts about chemistry – that a remedy’s efficacy increases the more it is diluted. If that were true, sea water in teaspoonfuls should be a veritable elixir for immortality. In reality, this means that homoeopathic preparations for all practical and theoretical purposes are water, and therefore drinking large quantities is harmless.

Other homoeopathic preparations are absorbed into sugar pills so that overdosing on this type may bring on diabetic shock. Yet others use surgical spirits as the dilutant, which some may construe as a bonus and others as a treatment in itself…

'Luthon64

  • Half a loaf of bread included in your prescription! ;D

I guess I failed to convey my sarcasm. Damn the limitations of plain text :slight_smile:

Or maybe just a super sugar high! There really are genuine benefits to homeopathic remedies! Just not the advertised ones. And you have to OD.

We should ask participants in that 1023 thing if any of them experienced these benefits (thirst-quenching, drunkeness, sugar-rush).

Did anyone go to the Rand Easter show? There was a whole building devoted to psychic readings and so on. Some guy tried to peddle me something called “Faith Drops”. A marvelous homeopathic remedy for everything. It was claimed to cure everything, even HIV. Unfortunatley I lost my temper and tore the booklet up in the guys face. Should have saved it for research.

If such a claim concerning HIV appeared in a printed pamphlet, it is highly probable that the purveyor is in breach of the law (Medicines Act) as well as Section 2, Appendix F, of the ASA’s code. Complaints should be lodged with the MCC, the Dept. of Health and the ASA.

'Luthon64

The 1023 project is planning another demonstration over the weekend of February 5-6 2011. There is an event planned in Cape Town, check it out here: http://www.1023.org.uk/

That website is about as useful as tits on a bull. It’s got a google map with a flag sticking out of Cape Town, but absolutely NO information on what is going to happen there.

More info here

Caught the end of the end of the following interview on 702 this morning:

SUNDAY BREAKFAST WITH JOHN MAYTHAM 06 February 2011 7:35 AM Homeopathy The first and central law of homeopathic science is the Law of Similars: what a substance can cause, it can cure! Stated more fully: the mental, emotional and physical symptoms and signs which any substance can cause in a healthy subject, when administered in material or dynamic form, are the very symptoms and signs which the substance can cure, when administered in dynamic form to a sick person. The dynamic form is non-molecular – a pattern of healing, energy frequencies – a specific, quantum stimulus known as a homeopathic potency. Guest: Dr Neil Gower Organisation: Homeopathic Association of SA

It was terrible, especially since this is the weekend of the 1023 campaign! Of what I heard not one critical question from the host, just the homeopath talking about how great homeopathy is blah blah blah. He really did a good job, sounded authoritative calm fair. If I knew nothing about homeopathy I might of gone, oh that sounds good, should check it out. Did anyone else catch it? I want to complain, but without hearing the whole thing, I cannot really (I did look for the podcast but 702’s website sucks). ::slight_smile:

ps where is the big angry emotocon of me about explode??? grrrrrrrrrrrr.