Homeopathy: Sometimes a dose of nothing can do you a power of good
Should homeopathy be available on the NHS? Absolutely – it's possibly the safest, most ethical and most effective placebo there is. Where money is truly wasted is in trying to find evidence that homeopathy works. If you think that what passes for homeopathy today can be properly assessed by modern science, it should only take a visit to a homeopathic pharmacy to change your mind. As part of my research for my book 13 Things That Don't Make Sense, I did just that. On the shelves I found remedies made from "F sharp minor", "Gog and Magog, Oaks at Glastonbury", "Flapjack" and "Crop Circle". Also stored somewhere at that pharmacy - I didn't see it, but I had read about it - was a homeopathic remedy made from the blood of an HIV positive man. There were remedies made from more conventional substances too, plants that any herbalist might use....
Read the whole article on The Guardian - Science
More from The Guardian - Science
Related
- US doctors regularly prescribe real drugs as placebo treatmentsThu, 23 Oct 2008, 19:22:33 EDT
- Genes determine whether sugar pills workWed, 3 Dec 2008, 13:04:23 EST
- New evidence for homeopathyMon, 3 Nov 2008, 17:22:24 EST
- UCLA scientists present first genetic evidence for why placebos workMon, 20 Jul 2009, 17:56:41 EDT
- Citalopram no better than placebo treatment for children with autism spectrum disordersMon, 1 Jun 2009, 16:43:27 EDT