Andy Lewis on TNC's March Anti-Homeopathy Campaign

001. Andy Lewis writes at the Quackometer in "The Homeopaths and the Advertising Standards Authority" (2011-04-01):

"it is now the end of the Nightingale Collaboration’s first month of operation [...] set up to 'challenge misleading claims in healthcare advertising' [...] focusing on the bizarre world of pseudoscientific and superstitious medicine: an area that appears to get away with the most ludicrous health claims with little attention from any authority [...] the Nightingale Collaboration asked people to report homeopaths who are making unsubstantiated claims to the Advertising Standards Authority [...] it would appear that this campaign is likely to have far reaching consequences [...] it looks like this simple campaign could severely constrain the ability for quacks of all varieties to advertise their misleading claims on the web, without facing very serious consequences [...] the ASA received over a hundred and fifty complaints about over a hundred homeopath’s websites [...and warned them] 'you must remove any content from your website that claims directly or indirectly that homeopathy and homeopathic products can diagnose / treat / help health conditions' [...] battle lines have been drawn."

Note: this looks to be an interesting contest, and Andy has a lot of analysis of the UK consumer protection scene at the full post.

The UK Nightingale Collaboration's Focus of the Month: Homeopathy

the Nightingale Collaboration writes:

001.a. in "March 2011: Homeopathy":

"find a misleading claim on the website of a local practitioner [...] record the details of the misleading claim [...] submit your complaint to the ASA [...] wait for the ASA to deal with your complaint [...] when you get a response from the ASA, let us know."

Note: sounds great.

001.b. at their homepage:

"today, the 1st March, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) changed its rules so that members of the public can make complaints about misleading marketing communications on websites [...] now you can do something about them by submitting your own complaint [...] at the start of each month we will be announcing a new area of healthcare where we would like you to look for misleading claims on the web, make an ASA complaint and help eradicate misleading claims [...] as part of our first project, we want all those concerned about the public being misled to submit complaints against homeopathy websites that make misleading claims, and who therefore offer ineffective treatments, put patients at risk and take considerable amounts of money in exchange for sugar pills."

Note: hear, hear.

BBC Newsnight on Homeopathy & Malaria 2011 - 'Evidence That They Work is Zero'

In "BBC Newsnight: UK Homeopathy - Update 2011" we're told:

"[GP Kavalier] 'it's a waste of good NHS money because I think the evidence that homeopathic treatments work is zero [...] drugs should have to prove efficacy and homeopathic treatments cannot prove that' [...Lawrence of the RPS] 'we would be very very concerned if a patient took a homeopathic preparation perhaps traveling to an area where there may be yellow fever, typhoid, malaria believing they were safe when in fact they wouldn't be safe' [...Beddington, UK's Chief Scientific Advisor] 'there is no evidence that homeopathic remedies are efficacious and the fundamental underpinning of homeopathy seems to be scientific nonsense'."

Homeopathy Has "No Scientific Basis": Ernst at NewStatesman.com, 2010-11-11

Edzard Ernst writes in "A Better Pill to Swallow" (2010-11-11):

"[editor] homeopathic medicine has no scientific basis, and poses a grave risk to patients, argues Edzard Ernst [...Ernst] the 11 October issue of the New Statesman [...had] an advertisement in the accompanying supplement [...] referring to me and my work [...] by a lobby group called Homeopathy: Medicine for the 21st Century (H:MC21). It contained unjustified attacks on myself and colleagues, including statements that gave a dangerously false impression of homeopathy's therapeutic value [...it was] inaccurate and borderline libellous [...] a critical mind would notice that the two basic principles of homeopathy fly in the face of science, logic and common sense [...] 'like cures like' [...and] that diluting remedies homeopathically makes them not less but more potent [...] these theories are not based on anything that remotely resembles fact [...and overall] the totality of the most reliable evidence fails to show that homeopathic remedies work better than placebos [...and] homeopaths, knowingly or unknowingly, deprive patients of informed consent.[...and such is] unethical [...] there is no good evidence that homeopathy does more good than harm [...] homeopathy can have no place in evidence-based medicine. It is an insult to our intelligence."

Note: hear, hear.  There's more in the article about fake vaccinations by way of homeopathy. Meanwhile, as my previous post indicates, naturopathy claims homeopathy is a "clinical science" [a living example: Dox, D.L.D. (ND SCNM) in New Jersey].

The Magical Thinking and Made-Up Science that is Homeopathy - BBC 2010-06-29

Nick Triggle reports, in "Doctors Call For NHS to Stop Funding Homeopathy" [2010-06-29]:

"the NHS should stop funding homeopathy and it should no longer be marketed as a medicine in pharmacies, doctors say [...who] voted on the issue at the British Medical Association's annual conference [...they] dismissed the highly-diluted remedies as 'nonsense' and potentially harmful to patients as it can lead them to shunning conventional medicines [...] Dr. Mary McCarthy, a GP from Shropshire, said there was no evidence from hundreds of trials that homeopathy worked beyond the placebo effect [...] 'we risk as a society slipping back into a state of magical thinking when made-up science passes for rational discourse.' Peter Bamber, from the BMA's consultants committee, added: 'if you want to buy a bottle of water go to the supermarket.'"

Note: 'made-up' science is also called pseudoscience, IMHO!

Call to Ban Homeopathy by UK Doctors:

the UK's Telegraph reports, in "Doctors Call For Homeopathy Ban" [2010-06-27]:

"delegates to the British Medical Association's conference are expected to support seven motions opposing the use of public money to pay for remedies which they claim have 'no place in the modern health service.' They are also calling for junior doctors to be exempt from being placed in homeopathic hospitals, claiming it goes against the principles of evidence-based medicine. The conference will also hear calls for homeopathic remedies to be banned from chemists unless they are clearly labeled as placebos rather than medicines."

Note: hear, hear.