Diluting during dilemmas

I was disgusted to see that the New Zealand Homeopathic Council has used the Christchurch Earthquake as a clever opportunity to spread misinformation about homeopathy and play on peoples’ fears and anguish for personal gain.

From their latest press release:

Christchurch registered homeopaths should be commended for offering many free consultations during the first month after the September 4th earthquake. Many have provided consults to new and existing patients who needed help with insomnia, acute fear states and anticipatory fears as the aftershocks continued.

Homeopathy is not medicine. Homeopathy is massively diluted stuff that is diluted some more then hit with a horsehair brush. It is the placebo effect in action.

Homeopathic pharmacies in Wellington and Tauranga provided free homeopathic medications to Christchurch homeopaths as a show of support.

Please don’t call them pharmacies. Pharmacies are places where you buy pharmaceuticals, not watered down potions and sugar pills. Also, since there are no real ingredients or expensive chemicals involved in homeopathic concoctions it isn’t surprising that they can afford to give them away for free.

Our Christchurch colleagues have reported many amazing responses to homeopathic treatment. For example, “One child, frightened by the earthquake, had disturbed sleep for 4 weeks and was becoming aggressive and difficult to manage. After a single dose of the indicated homeopathic medicine she is now sleeping well and not feeling frightened during the day or having fits of rage like she was.”

Or it could be that buying into the psychological effect of a grown adult giving the child a pill and telling the child he/she would be better is what happened. Or the fact that aftershocks are becoming smaller, life is starting to get back to normalish patterns or any number of coincidental factors which lead to this anecdote about one child being miraculously cured. Check out Ben Goldacres’ writing on homeopathy. He points out that a lot of the time the “cure” can be put down to coincidence.

“Homeopaths working with people in trauma situations such as Ground Zero (New York, 9/11/2001) and following Cyclone Katrina (New Orleans, 28/8/2005)report rapid and effective relief from fears, depression and anxiety,” says Susanna Shelton, Co-President of the NZ Council of Homeopaths.

Now this is just low. Tying homeopathy in with other, more serious disasters to lend this quackery the gleam of acceptability. This is simply playing to peoples fears and hopes. Disgusting. But it gets worse…

“For example, a New York Fire Department Captain treated for deep depression after the loss of his colleagues reported that after the homeopathic medicine his head cleared, the despair lifted, he was more calm and his ambition returned.

“When his mental state relapsed after three months a repeat of the homeopathic medicine again helped him.”

This is just dangerous. People who suffer from mental illness should see a doctor. They should go to counselling. They should ask for help from their support networks. They should exercise more, eat healthier, get out more. If they doctor or psychologist thinks it necessary they should go on antidepressants. Depressed people should not rely on sugar pills to make them better. The psychological component could be useful in helping ease the mind of the depressed person, but it should not be relied on as a cure.

This level of response to physical and mental anguish is typical of what homeopaths have observed over the last 150 years.

Yes. It has been observed in anecdote. For some reason homeopathy has no grounds in real medicine, science, chemistry or physics. Homeopaths refuse to engage in scientific studies about their craft. And, when non-homeopaths test the efficacy of homeopathic remedies, guess what: they are as effective as placebos, sometimes less effective.

NZCH would like to see registered homeopaths included alongside counsellors, victim support agencies and other trauma specialists as part of civil emergency plans. People suffering from fright and grief states, as well as from physical trauma, may benefit from cost-effective and non-addictive homeopathic treatment immediately after the trauma and days, weeks or months later.

No. No. No. They should not be—if anything they should be actively excluded Homeopaths should be outlawed because they cannot prove their claims with evidence, only anecdote. What would they do, give homeopathic first aid kits?

People die because of homeopaths. They die because homeopaths give them hope when what they need is medicine. Don’t believe me, check out this site. Homeopaths are directly responsible for killing 368,379, injuring 06,096 and costing over $2,815,931,000 in economic damages.

Homeopathy doesn’t work. This video shows how ridiculous the concept is. We need to stop the use of this quackery and start challenging homeopaths who make these outrageous claims and unreasonable demands. They use fear and hope to take the money of people desperate for help.