Homeopathy's Shaky Science Gets Boost From New Law

Last week in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, a new law was enacted that regulates practitioners of homeopathic medicine. The Ontario Homeopathy Act provides a mechanism for homeopaths to self-regulate in a similar manner to doctors and nurses.

The Act states in part, “Subject to the approval of the Lieutenant Governor in Council and with prior review by the Minister, the Council may make regulations, (a) prescribing standards of practice respecting the circumstances in which homeopaths shall make referrals to members of other regulated health professions; and (b) prescribing therapies involving the practice of homeopathy, governing the use of the prescribed therapies and prohibiting the use of therapies other than the prescribed therapies in the course of the practice of homeopathy.”

Homeopathy was invented around 1796 by a doctor named Samuel Hahnemann. He believed—contrary to modern pharmaceutical knowledge—that medicines become more effective the more they are diluted. Homeopathic solutions are often so literally watered-down that they don’t contain a single molecule of the original medicine or substance: the patient is drinking nothing but water. Nonetheless many patients swear by the treatments and believe that they have been cured of both minor and major diseases through homeopathic treatment.

Homeopathy: Consistently Ineffective

Homeopathy has been extensively studied and researchers have concluded that it does not work. In 2010 the British Science and Technology Select Committee conducted an examination of whether homeopathy has any medical or scientific validity; its report concluded:

“Given that the existing scientific literature showed no good evidence of efficacy—that further clinical trials of homeopathy could not be justified…. The Committee carried out an evidence check to test if the Government’s policies on homeopathy were based on sound evidence….The Government acknowledges there is no evidence that homeopathy works beyond the placebo effect (where a patient gets better because of their belief in the treatment.”)

Just last month the Australian government’s National Health and Medical Research Council assessed the efficiency of homeopathy for treating health conditions. It reported:

“This assessment was based on: an overview of published systematic reviews by an independent contractor; an independent evaluation of information provided by homeopathy interest groups and the public; and consideration of clinical practice guidelines and government reports on homeopathy published in other countries…. “Evidence on homeopathy was collected by identifying systematic reviews which evaluated the effectiveness of homeopathy in treating health conditions in humans. In total, 57 systematic reviews were identified that contained 176 individual studies. Studies were only considered by NHMRC if they compared a group of people who were given homeopathic treatment with a similar group of people who were not given homeopathic treatment (controlled studies).”

This use of control groups was important to help verify that any effects found were due to some active ingredient in the homeopathic solution and not, for example, a function of the placebo effects. The expert panel’s conclusion was both clear and devastating to homeopathy: “Based on the assessment of the evidence of effectiveness of homeopathy, NHMRC concludes that there are no health conditions for which there is reliable evidence that homeopathy is effective. Homeopathy should not be used to treat health conditions that are chronic, serious, or could become serious.”

Read more at Discovery News