As many of you know, I run a marketing business – this means I get regular alerts on new market research and intelligence. It’s not often, though, that my business life and my skeptical interests overlap.
Today, a great new study popped into my inbox. Global TGI (Target Group Index, a massive market research company) have just completed a major study on the usage and attitudes towards homeopathy worldwide. As well as telling us attitudes and usage worldwide, it also reveals that people who use homeopathy are…well, sicker than the rest of us.
Sadly, India fares the worst, with a massive 94% of people saying they have faith in alternative medicine, and one in ten having consulted a homeopath last year. To find out how the USA and Britain fared, read on.
Brits are the most skeptical of homeopathy, with 15% saying they trust homeopathy. 1 in 10 Brits prefer alternative medicine, although sadly the market is growing year on year.
As for the USA, the research says “Over the last five years there has been a slow, but steady increase in the proportion of people in the USA who say they prefer alternative medicine to standard medicine.”, and now 18% of people in the USA trust homeopathic medicine.
Here is the breakdown of trust in homeopathy by country:
An interesting part of the study was this:
“In the USA , homeopathy supporters are 57 percent more likely than average to suffer from eczema or psoriasis, 29 percent more likely to have asthma, and 22 percent more likely to suffer from allergies or hay fever.”
I expect that these people use homeopathy precisely because they have these conditions, and not that they have these conditions because they use homeopathy (that would be a remarkable twist). These are all chronic conditions, and so it’s understandable that sufferers become frustrated with the lack of definitive cure and turn to homeopathy, perhaps to complement their ‘allopathic’ medicine (one hopes that the number of people who ONLY use alternative medicines is low, although the cynic in me wants to say that if they do, it’s their funeral). And although it’s tempting to yell “people who use homeopathy are sicker than the rest of us!” (like I did in the opening paragraph to grab your attention), I must point out that it’s unlikely that people who don’t consider themselves ill would use any sort of medicine, let alone alternative. So this is result is somewhat to be expected.
I’m a little frustrated because I have loads more data from the study but am very short of time. I haven’t been able to give this entry the time it deserves, but I will endeavour to post a follow-up or two. In the meantime, in the interests of healthy patriotism…go Britain!
94% of Indians have faith in homeopathy. I have so much work to do… :(
Wow, very interesting, and very sad. I was under the impression that Britain was much more infected with alt med than the US, and in fact said as much on a podcast or something recently . . . how the UK has alt med and the US has creationism. Well crap, I guess we have both.
Masala Skeptic, I think you have your work cut out. The phrase "drop in an ocean" comes to mind, although now I'm giggling because that's so appropriate for homeopathy.
I never even heard about Homeopathy until I started working at the JREF. I saddens me that South American countries are so high up the list as I come from Ecuador.
It seems that no matter what we do to show the facts about it people all over the world will continue to believe in it. Could it be that people are afraid of doctors, surgeries, etc? So they would rather believe things can be cured in a simpler manner.
Maybe us UK sceptics are just better than US skeptics. ;-)
"It seems that no matter what we do to show the facts about it people all over the world will continue to believe in it."
I think that's true in general, about anything. What we can do is reduce the number of people who are believing it, buying it, and being harmed by it. And that, I think is possible. It appears as though we either need to try harder, or tweak the strategy. Or both.
One of the issues is that the UK and USA markets are growing, so it really is fighting against the tide.
One does have to assume that the usage is so low in our countries because we are rich nations whose populations generally have access to affordable real medicine though. And in the case of the UK, that's even more true, as for many people NHS medications are free.
What I'd like to know is the cost of a consultation in India with a homeopathy compared to the cost of a consultation with a real doctor there, and the comparative costs of homeopathic and real treatments for the same illness. It may just be down to simple economics. India is a poor country, so its population buy the cheaper option.
Equally, I'd like to know the comparative cost of UK or USA homeopathy and other nations. The study probably has that data but I haven't had time to read through it all yet.
I suppose that makes at least some sense. If someone is chronically or seriously ill, and conventional medicine can do little or nothing for them, I'd imagine they'd be more likely to turn to alternatives for hope of at least a slight improvement, and a chance at an improved lifestyle. Even if that slight improvement is little more than a placebo effect.
My little anecdote…
My sister in law in the UK had her oncologist directly recommend she go to a Laetrile clinic in Mexico for additional treatment of her breast cancer. That MD, were he in the US, would have had his license suspended or could have been brought up on criminal charges. Also sadly my sister in law seems to have no problem getting Laetrile in the UK which she self injects at home. Selling or possessing Laetrile in the US is a felony. And to add to the bizarreness of the whole thing she’s a RN.
Your poor sister in law is grasping at straws. My condolences.
Oh, splendid! It isn't often that I get to be proud of my country (Britain). I thought the number would be higher too, I have met plenty of people who have claimed that they've tried it, or that they know users who swear by it. Maybe it wasn't a great sample. 15% is still too much though, people are still conning money out of the vulnerable, keep fighting the Good Fight, skeptics.
Maybe I'm just cynical, but I expected both the US and UK numbers to be higher.
"one hopes that the number of people who ONLY use alternative medicines is low, although the cynic in me wants to say that if they do, it’s their funeral"
Indeed, and I completely agree, except I wonder how many children are having their health-care decisions made for them by deceived adults….
That's exactly my fear. In most places, there are basically no mechanisms for removing a child from a situation where its life or health is being endangered by wooparents. It's even hard to take action after the fact if there is an injury or death, because the parents can often hide their gross misparenting behind faith of some sort.
I'm stunned and appalled that France and Germany are so much further into this than even the gullible USA. So much for the supposed superiority of European science education.
~Wordplayer
See, I think the key to the data is the people who have tough-for-medicine -to-cure maladies. Psoriasis, Hay Fever, they have v. unpleasant symptoms. If people get relief from a "placebo" why is that bad? I'm not saying they should stop there first, but isn't the main idea to help people feel better?
I have to say, I was very upset to learn that studies [which were JUST released, and probably after much wrangling] show that taking Prozac does no more than taking a placebo for vast numbers of people currently taking it. It does (some) good for those who are seriously depressed, a recent UK study found, but not for those with moderate depression. So, if I "feel better" by taking my little sugar pill of homeopathic cr@p, how is that different from taking Prozac? and with way less serious side effects?
I bring this up b/c it's top of mind for me recently what w/the news flash and all. I respect that you think Homeopathy is hocus-pocus, but sometimes the belief in the little pill is what makes the "medicine" work. And if it's for something that "mainstream medicine" couldn't touch, who cares?!
sforrest3 has a point, bringing up the Prozac thing. One of the comments I heard on the radio over that recent news byte is that it will probably be a few years before studies like that are reflected in practice. The term used was "glacial".
OK, so we can't trust alternatives that have been tested and failed, and we should be wary of alternatives that have yet to be tested. But how can we trust conventional treatments when doctors are so slow to adapt to clinical data? Especially when conventional treatments have a list of side effects that often sound worse than the condition they're supposed to treat.
And if conventional meds perform no better than a placebo as a treatment for moderate depression, then consumers can expect to get about the same benefit from alternatives, for example, St John's wort.
To be fair, the Prozac-no-better-than-placebo effectiveness on mild to moderate depression has been long known, despite what a scientifically illiterate media may report.
As for the sample, it's Global TGI, I would hestitate before doubting their data. I should mention that market research data has to be extremely robust because firstly it costs an absolute fortune, and also because commercial decisions which can make or break a company are made on the back of it. TGI has a very large presence in the UK so I don't doubt that the sample is robust.
I don't have access to the source data, sadly (although I can get to it, it would cost me).
Anyhoo, that's by the by. The major issue in the comments, for me, is that assertion that 'if it makes people feel a bit better then it's ok' (to paraphrase). If homeopathy was labelled and sold as a placebo, I'd agree. But to claim it has genuine medical benefits outside of placebo (and in many cases homeopaths recommend it INSTEAD of real medicine, a la the malaria scandal), and the other extremely spurious claims that homeopaths make, is just plain unethical.
Alternative medicine isn't necessarily always a bad thing. (It's a different matter that Homeopathy is scientifically proven to be a hoax).
Herbal remedies like Ayurveda can be effective for certain minor ailments with little to no side effects. Ofcourse, its dangerous if people depend on it for serious medical problems.
Not sure what we can infer from this, but life expectancy in India is lousy (around 58 years). But as poverty (and therefore malnutrition) is high, I would hesitate to point a finger at the prevalence of homeopathy. What is frustrating is that people are spending their money on it.
Very depressing stats about health levels in India here:
http://www.indianchild.com/life_expectany_mortali…
chances are everyone here has already seen James Randi's talk on the subject:
But it is relevant, and does a great deal to highlight the utter foolishness of homeopathy. As he implies but never specifically states, the reason it seemed to work back when it was invented was that homeopathic methods essentially consisted of giving patients water, whereas other forms of 'medicine' involved lethal doses of everything from arsenic to mercury.
The University of Connecticut Health Center and School of Medicine hosted an international debate looking at the basic science, pre-clinical and clinical evidence around homeopathy. Very interesting exchange. You can see it at http://www.sonicfoundry.com/uconn. It's a must see!
Wow, Americans must be too stupid to know what homeopathy is. Do they think it's gay medicine? If they knew it was woo they would be all for it. Quick, alert Oprah! We have a homeopathy gap in America. She can bring our numbers up in line with the rest of the world.
Strange inversion of the data to make….what point exactly? – that people using homeopathy are trying to treat a sickness? It must be innefectual then right?
Here's one for you: teenage girl goes to GP for treatment for acne, is given long term course of minocycline (an antibiotic) and acne clears up ( hurray!). Unfortunately, soon after, liver fails (boo!), then joints begin to seize and eventually she cannot walk, spends nine months incapacitated and worried she will never regain former life. Eventually, after stopping all medications offered, normal function of joints returns but liver is permanently impaired and energy is very low. Five years later she discovers that all her symptoms are known side-effects of minocycline (boo- naughty pharmaceuticals!). Becomes a little er……..skeptical? of 'conventional' medicine. Learns to live with severe acne, chronic fatigue symptoms, and iatragenic candida for a further 10 years. One day she 'chances' upon homeopathy and its philosophy of 'gentle cure' -sounds interesting -nothing to lose……………..
Within six months of starting homeopathic treatment, all my candida symptoms had abated ( for fifteen years I had suffered approximately ten episodes a year of debilitating candida caused by the long term use of minocycline). Three months after that, my skin completely cleared up and, aside from being scarred by years of severe acne, it has remained clear. My energy has dramatically improved and my liver now functions within normal parameters. Most importantly of all, I was able to look at myself and understand why I was getting acne and how much many years of low self esteem I had contributed to my physical symptoms.
Sure, if you like, cover your ears and your eyes and shout placebo….placebo ad finitum. As Hitler said: 'if you repeat a lie often enough it will become the truth', but therapies like this HELP PEOPLE (yes REALLY!)
And yes we CAM supporters are all brain washed saps and should be good little 'skeptics' able to see through the 'quackery'.
Today, I read that Johnson and Johnson are worth £53.3 bn – four times the GDP of Botswana. I feel the skepticism rising. To use Skepchick's perverted data-analysis – if they were so great at making people better, their profits would be falling right? Just who is it with the misplaced faith?
Yay Godwins!!!
But pray tell, sicko (if that really is your name), what "inverted use of data" would that be?
You either didn't read the whole article, or didn't understand it.
Either way, help ME understand something. How can something (homeopathy) that is 100% water, cure any of the things you mentioned?
Well said, Peregrine. Well said.
Anecdotes are not proof. Never will be. Especially when it’s an anecdote about something that has been repeatedly proven to simply not happen. Homeopathy doens’t work because it can’t work. The universe simply does not work like that.
Sicko, you made a fallacious point here:
"Today, I read that Johnson and Johnson are worth £53.3 bn – four times the GDP of Botswana. I feel the skepticism rising. To use Skepchick’s perverted data-analysis – if they were so great at making people better, their profits would be falling right? Just who is it with the misplaced faith?"
First, that 53.3 billion is sales in dollars, not the company's worth in pounds. 2007 profits were about $11 billion. I have no idea why you compared that to the GDP of Botswana .
Johnson & Johnson, of course, produces a huge variety of health and personal care products, from Band-Aids to shampoo to birth control pills to artificial joints. But I'll focus on the drug aspect. Perhaps these questions can help you to see why your thinking is fallacious here.
1) How's human life expectancy compared to 50 or 100 years ago, particularly where people have access to science-based medical diagnosis and treatment? How does that compare to life expectancies where people have less access to modern medicine?
2) As science-based medical diagnosis becomes more specific, should drug companies try to produce products that are more specific in their effects and that treat previously untreatable conditions?
3) Are there products produced by drug companies that prevent and cure conditions that, in most cases, were not able to be treated successfully before those products existed?
4) Should drug companies be restricted to producing products that, like homeopathic preparations, can have no side effects because they contain no active ingredients?
5) What does "misplaced faith" have to do with science?
Consider this statement:
My first inclination is to suggest that maybe sicko is a rather unique individual whose mind has an unusually profound affect over the body. The symptoms were caused by low self esteem, and homeopathy, which we often chalk up to the placebo effect, had a profound effect.
I don’t want to be so callus as to say “it’s all in your mind,” and I certainly don’t have the whole picture. But from what you’ve described, that seems to be at least part of the case. And if your story is true, I’d hate to ruin a perfectly good placebo effect that seems to be working well for you.
So this would be a case where there is a clear benefit to the treatment. And all I can say is that the placebo effect is still an effect, and you can’t argue with results.
But it’s still one case out of hundreds. A single molecule of datum is not proof. Show me a hundred other people with similar symptoms. Provide half of them with the same treatment, and the other half with a placebo, and demonstrate that the experimental group shows overall improvement of their symptoms, and that the improvement in the experimental group is greater than that of the control group to a statistically significant degree. Then you’ve got something. It’s not the strictest double-blind test, but gosh, it’s a start. Certainly a step higher than a single anecdote.
Forgive me Marcus Ohreallyus, I was trying, clumsily perhaps, to make a facetious comment about the uselessness of extrapolating marketing data on ANYTHING to glean meaningful information outside the narrow confines of the questions asked.
1) With regard to your comments on human life expectancy – Whilst noone could deny the enormity of the contribution of modern diagnostic skills and technology, I think that much of the majority of the credit has to be attributed to increased hygiene and living conditions. I know in London, we started living longer when a genius called Jon Snow suggested that we all stopped drinking from a cholera-filled Thames river. In countries with low intervention rates but high hygiene levels, life expectancy is also good. (incidently USA has a relatively low life expectancy compared with parts of Europe and it is THE most medically 'sophisticated' country on the planet).
2) With regard to the altruism of drugs companies and the pathologies they are trying to cure – I refer you to your point five: GSK knew they were killing teenagers with Seroxat in 1994 and marketed it to them for a further nine years. And still they cannot be prosecuted because a loophole in the law protects them.
3) I am sure that must be the case. I am also sure that currently, in UK approximately 20% of hospital beds are taken up by patients suffering from Iatragenic disease and that estimate increases to 40% in elderly patients. (Statistic from the British Pharmacists Defence Association.)
4) Drug companies have a responsibility to support medics in their ideal to, 'first do no harm' and they regularly ride roughshod over this ideal in the name of profit. Homeopathic remedies do not have 'no active ingredients' – their 'activity' is simply not of chemical significance in analysis. Homeopathy, like much disease, is not all about chemistry.
5) See 2
To Peregrine and your 'all in the mind' hypothesis: Now we're getting somewhere. Each year millions of prescriptions are written for chemical suppressants of ailments which have a psychological aetiology. Far from being a 'unique individual' many diseases arise as a result of -to use dismissive-medic-speak – 'stress'. Noone looks into the nature of the stress and noone tries to get to the bottom of the 'stress' diagnosis because there is no money in it – pathologies are labelled, suppressed and forgotten.
Homeopaths look at the type of 'stress' and try to understand what brought on a patient's illness. So a person suffering from psoriasis because they recently lost their job and are in danger of becoming bankrupt will be treated with a different remedy to someone who has had psoriasis for twenty years after their parents divorced and they had to leave their father. They are then able to prescribe a remedy that matches the aetiology of that pathology. In many cases, patients experience an emotional upheaval as part of the curative process, perhaps re-visiting the feelings they had at the time of onset of symptoms. Why is that so difficult to believe? Mainstream medics are no stranger to the idea of asthma, gastric ulcers, Hypertension, even M.Is having a psychological component but drugs companies are not interested in unravelling the mess to treat the aetiology because their drug could not be applied unversally – they would have to be more individualised and less profitable.
And, why do you confuse 'psychosomatic' with 'placebo'? The two are not the same. Homeopathy recognises that the majority of physical illness has a psychological or emotional aetiology – and treats accordingly. Placebo is dependant upon belief to work. The latest research into homeopathy looks at how frogs, treated with homopathically potentised thyroxine matured at a slower rate than the untreated control. Placebo????
See Linde et al 1997 for : Are the clinical effects of Homeopathy Placebo effects? (Meta analysis)
Yakir 2001 for: Effects of Homeopathic treatment in women with premenstrual syndrome
Spence 2001 (I think) for: Homeopathic treatment for Chronic disease (6 year observational study)
Frei 2001 for: Treatment for Hyperactive children: Homeopathy and methylphenidate compared in a family setting.
Haselen and Fisher 2000 for: A randomised controlled trial c0mparing topical piroxicam gel with a homeopathic gel in osteoparthritis of the knee.
(There are hundreds more conducted over the last 100 years)
Is that better for you Rystefn? I know how some people hate to put names to the numbers.
Wow, sicko, way to start with a dumb statement. I'm not sure what bias you have against "marketing data" but I can't for the life of me figure out what you think the difference between robust data capture for commercial purposes, and robust data capture for any other purposes, is. Other than the fact that the former is extremely accountable because decisions which can make or break a company are made on the basis of it.
Perhaps it's part of the general anti-marketing sentiment that so few people have thought through and often goes hand-in-hand with Western alt med supporters (the same types who buy organic food and drive their unvaccinated kids to school in a 4×4). Because, you know, makers of homeopathic products don't use marketing, and homeopaths are all volunteers.
Whatever the reason, the company who did the study is entirely neutral. The data presents an unbiased overview of the alternative medicine market worldwide. If the market is growing (it is), then the data will reflect this and businesses can plan accordingly. If the market is shrinking, then the data would reflect that and business would, funnily enough, plan accordingly. The data exists to provide insight into usage and attitudes of whatever product, service or sector is being researched. If it wasn't robust and accurate, companies wouldn't trust it and Global TGI would have a few questions to answer.
Which sort of data do you prefer, if not market research?
As for your attempts to support homeopathy with data, have the results of any of the studies you mentioned been replicated? You realise there are just as many studies showing that homeopathy does nothing whatsover?
Life expectancy in the USA is about the same as Europe. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9…
But any large country has areas of poverty, and the medical system there means that not everyone has access to the best medical care. The same is true of India, so instead, everyone uses homeopathy. And they die.
What, exactly, is your explanation for homeopathy, anyway? I'd be fascinated to know how you think it works.
The simple fact is that for every study you can provide which seems like it might support homeopathy, ten that completely debunk the concept can be leveled to counter it. Homeopathy doesn't work, and indeed CANNOT work.
Tking doll
Once again the lines of communication have become somewhat fuzzied. I was not attacking the market research industry of which I am sure you are a worthy ambassador, except to say that the information gleaned from such sources is of limited value.
So, X amount of people in X country 'trust' homeopathy? To do what? Cure cancer? Resolve that interminable piles problem? Prevent an outbreak of Avian flu? Not poison them?
Any information gained is seriously skewed by who asks the questions and how they ask them. To attempt to make anything truly meaningful of the information you have at the other end is difficult at best.
Once again you invert the information available to make an assumption:
'the former is extremely accountable because decisions which can make or break a company are made on the basis of it.'
Marketing organisations supply information to companies, the basis of which forms their commercial gamble. So they put their money behind some things and ignore others based on the predictions of the market research 'gurus'. But the money they invest (and the belief in marketing data reliability) is often in itself sufficient to create a success of the commercial venture in question (a placebo if you like).
It's a fait accomplis. Some marketing organisations now have sufficient power that their prediction alone can change the trajectory of a market.
By, '(companies) use the data to plan accordingly'
Do you mean, as in the current anti-homeopathy drive:
'See that homeopathy is growing fast. Panic and begin a counter initiative.'
This seems to be the case of many of the homeophobic protaganists (after the Mintell data on Homeopathy growth in the UK was released). Ben Goldacre of 'Bad Science' notoriety was recently exposed to be working on behalf of a pro-pharma organisation and not the humble junior doctor he professed to be.
As for your question on the replicability of the studies quoted – some are meta-analyses which have looked at hundreds of other studies and examined for efficacy and reliability, others are long-term observational studies looking at efficacy of homeopathic treatment in a particular department of a hospital, another is a long term, double-blind comparison of patients with arthritis who used either a homeopathic application or the standard orthodox treatment for their condition. All replicated. All in favour of homeopathy.
Of course there are studies with opposing findings. Remember – its about who asks the questions? But that doesn't detract from the fact that there is a wealth of data to support its benefits and, once you balance for vested interests, the figures look even more convincing.
USA currently ranks 41 in the world for life expectancy – a couple of years behind most European countries and pretty much on a par with Cuba. (source – WHO: http://www.who.int/whois/whostat2007.pdf
I thought Skepticism was supposed to be about challenging established ideas – not defending the monoliths of our culture (pharmaceuticals and marketing organisations) against the piffling challenge that alternative ideas represent. Conservatism is fine, but don't you have to be just a crack open to a fare exploration of the information? And don't we have to admit that there is so much we are yet to understand.
We seem to have stirred up a whole heap of trouble by arrogantly believing we have the answers to everything. I for one am quite receptive to the idea that our knowledge continues to expand and into areas that we might not have predicted it would. The Flat Earth Society however, continues to take on new members every year.
People do die in India – because they are poor not because they use homeopathy. Homeopathy has grown up relatively recently there and is still secondary to orthodox medicine. But its definately a place to watch. Because their economy is growing so quickly and their population is so vast it might represent the only real comparitive data on the two methods in the future.
Depends who asks the questions though…
Rystefn I can only bow to your insurmountable omniscience. Thank you for the final word on the matter.
Adieu
Quite welcome. Anytime. Sometimes I wish I was less lazy, but honestly, seeing how much work has gone into proving again and again how completely innefective homeopathy is, and indeed MUST be, and how comepletely ineffective it's been thus far in convincing people like you, I'd rather not waste my time. There's a wealth of information out there, and I'd gladly point a questioning person to it, but I'm utterly certain you'd dismiss it out of hand, likely without so much as looking, so why should I bother?
Just a comment about the ‘scientific’ evidence that Sicko used to support the claims of homeopathy.
First, Sicko, your citations are incomplete. If you want to use them as evidence in support of your opinions, you should really provide all the information.
Second, only one of the cited publications is a controlled clinical trial. Post-hoc meta-analysis is useful for demonstrating interesting trends in health care practices, but it doesn’t unequivocally demonstrate efficacy of any treatment. Those determinations can only be made from double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials. It simply doesn’t cut it to ask a lot of people that have received homeopathic care over the last seven years whether they feel better now (the methods used in the one of the meta-analyses that you cited.)
To your credit, you did cite one double-blind RCT that did not use a placebo control (van Haselen and Fisher, 2000. A randomized controlled trial comparing topical piroxicam gel with a homeopathic gel in osteoarthritis of the knee. Rheumatology 39: 714-719). However, before you cite something as evidence of the efficacy of a treatment, you would be well-advised to read the paper, or at least the abstract (both available for free). The cited study compared a conventional treatment for the pain associated with osteoarthritis of the knee with a homeopathic treatment. The authors used the VAS (visual analogue scale, where patients point to the level of pain on a linear graph) to assess pain and compared the patient’s self-reported level of pain before and after four weeks of treatment. After adjusting for the initial level of pain, the differnece in pain level between the conventionally treated group and the homeopathically treated group was 6.8 with 95% confidence intervals of -0.3 and 13.8. The authors did not report the statistical significance of the result in the abstract or conclusions, but anybody with a passing familiarity with statistical tests will notice that zero was within the 95% CI. That means that there was no statistical difference between the two groups. Homeopathic treatment was no different than treatment with a conventional drug.
What can be concluded from this result? Nothing. The authors conclude that the homeoptahic treatment was as good as the conventional treatment, which is technically correct. They were not able to conclude, however, that the conventional treatment had any effect whatsoever. Their was no placebo control in this study. The publication fails to demonstrate any effect for any treatment.
This paper reminds me of a recently publicized study of the efficacy of treating children’s coughs with honey. That paper also demonstrated that there was no difference between treatment with children’s over-the-counter cough medication and treatment with a spoonful of honey. The authors and the popular press concluded that honey cures coughs, although their data (also without the proper controls) actually supported the conclusion that children’s cough medicine is ineffective.
Personally, I don’t care if you use homeopathic medicine. But, as a scientist, it offends me that you mislead people with bogus scientific evidence in an effort to persuade people that are not familiar with the standard methodologies of science.
Homeopathy in emergency medicine Oberbaum M, Singer SR, Friehs H, Frass M. Center for Integrative Complementary Medicine, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel. [email protected] Wien Med Wochenschr. 2005 Nov;155(21-22):491-7
Homeopathic treatment in emergency medicine: a case series Oberbaum M, Schreiber R, Rosenthal C, Itzchaki M. The Center of Integrated Complementary Medicine Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel. [email protected] Homeopathy. 2003 Jan;92(1):44-7
Gene expression profiling of macrophages following mice treatment with an immunomodulator medication de Oliveira CC, de Oliveira SM, Goes VM, Probst CM, Krieger MA, Buchi DD.Departamento de Biologia Celular, Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR), SCB, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil J Cell Biochem. 2008 Feb 19
Pretreatment with thyroxin 10-8 and the effect of homeopathically prepared thyroxin 10-30 on highland frogs – a multi-researcher study Welles SU, Endler PC, Scherer-Pongratz W, Suanjak-Traidl E, Weber S, Spranger H, Frass M, Lothaller H. Interuniversity College Graz, Castle of Seggau, Graz, Austria. Forsch Komplement Med (2006). 2007 Dec;14(6):353-7. Epub 2007 Dec 12
The effect of homeopathically prepared thyroxine on highland frogs: influence of electromagnetic fields S. Weber, P.C. Endler1, Corresponding Author Contact Information, E-mail The Corresponding Author, S.U. Welles1, E. Suanjak-Traidl1, W. Scherer-Pongratz1, M. Frass1, H. Spranger1, G. Peithner2 and H. Lothaller3 1Interuniversity College Graz/Castle of Seggau, Austria 2Peithner Inc., Vienna, Austria 3University of Graz, Austria Homeopathy Volume 97, Issue 1, January 2008, Pages 3-9
Anthelmintic efficacy of neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) and the homeopathic product Fator Vermes((R)) in Morada Nova sheep Chagas AC, Vieira LS, Freitas AR, Araújo MR, Araújo-Filho JA, Araguão WR, Navarro AM.Embrapa Pecuária Sudeste, Rod. Washington Luiz, Km 234, Caixa Postal 339, 13560-970 São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil Vet Parasitol. 2007 Oct 10
Treatment of lowland frogs from the spawn stage with homeopathically prepared thyroxin (10(-30)) Graunke H, Endler PC, Scherer-Pongratz W, Spranger H, Frass M, Lothaller H.Interuniversity College for Health and Development, Graz, Castle of Seggau, Austria ScientificWorldJournal. 2007 Oct 22;7:1697-702
Reduction of alcohol induced sleep time in albino mice by potentized Nux vomica prepared with 90% ethanol Sukul A, Sinhabau SP, Sukul NC. Department of Zoology, Visva Bharati University, West Bengal, India Br Homeopath J. 1999 Apr;88(2):58-61
Altered solution structure of alcoholic medium of potentized Nux vomica underlies its antialcoholic effect Sukul A, Sarkar P, Sinhababu SP, Sukul NC. Department of Zoology, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, West Bengal, India Br Homeopath J. 2000 Apr;89(2):73-7
An evaluation of Coffea cruda effect on rats Ruiz-Vega G, Pérez-Ordaz L, Proa-Flores P, Aguilar-Dà az Y. Instituto de Fà sica y Matemáticas, Universidad Michoacana, Morelia, Michoacán, México Br Homeopath J. 2000 Jul;89(3):122-6
Nux vomica 30 prepared with and without succession shows antialcoholic effect on toads and distinctive molecular association Sukul NC, De A, Dutta R, Sukul A, Sinhababu SP. Department of Zoology, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, West Bengal, India. [email protected] Br Homeopath J. 2001 Apr;90(2):79-85
Very high dilutions of dexamethasone inhibit its pharmacological effects in vivo Bonamin LV, Martinho KS, Nina AL, Caviglia F, Do Rio RG. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Santo Amaro, São Paulo, Brazil. [email protected] Br Homeopath J. 2001 Oct;90(4):198-203
Homeopathic prophylaxis in dairy cows on an organic farm part 1–fertility Fidelak Ch, Klocke P, Heuwieser W. Tierklinik für Fortpflanzung, Freie Universität Berlin. [email protected] Dtsch Tierarztl Wochenschr. 2007 Jul;114(7):268-74
Atrial Paroxysmal Tachycardia in Dogs and its Management with Homeopathic Digitalis-two case reports Varshney JP, Chaudhuri S.Division of Medicine, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar 243 122, India Homeopathy. 2007 Oct;96(4):270-2
Outcomes from homeopathic prescribing in veterinary practice: a prospective, research-targeted, pilot study Faculty of Homeopathy and British Homeopathic Association, Hahnemann House, 29 Park Street West, Luton LU1 3BE, UK HomeopathyR.T. Mathie, L. Hansena, M.F. Elliotta and J. Hoarea Volume 96, Issue 1, January 2007, Pages 27-34
Effect of a Homeopathic complex on oestrus induction and hormonal profile in anoestrus cows Division of Animal Reproduction, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Bareilly, Utter Pradesh, India Homeopathy Volume 95, Issue 3, July 2006, Pages 131-135
MASTITIS IN DANISH ORGANIC DAIRYING Mette Vaarst Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 50, DK–8830 Tjele, Denmark.
Clinical management of idiopathic epilepsy in dogs with homeopathic Belladonna 200C: a case series J.P. Varshney Division of Medicine, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, India Homeopathy Volume 96, Issue 1, January 2007, Pages 46-48
Homeopathic treatment for infertility in a prize Nelore bull J. Lobreiro
aMillenium Farm, Maracaju, MS, Brazil Homeopathy Volume 96, Issue 1, January 2007, Pages 49-51
Reduction in the number of infective Trichinella spiralis larvae in mice by use of homeopathic drugs Sukul NC, Ghosh S, Sinhababu SP. Department of Zoology, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, West Bengal, India. [email protected] Forsch Komplementarmed Klass Naturheilkd. 2005 Aug;12(4):202-5. Epub 2005 Aug 29
Wound healing by homeopathic silica dilutions in mice Oberbaum M, Markovits R, Weisman Z, Kalinkevits A, Bentwich Z. Ruth Ben-Ari Institute of Clinical Immunology, Kaplan Hospital, Rehovot Harefuah. 1992 Aug;123(3-4):79-82, 156
Stimulation of bovine sperm mitochondrial activity by homeopathic dilutions of monensin Aziz DM, Enbergs H. Department of Surgery and Obstetrics, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Mosul, Mosul, Iraq. [email protected] Homeopathy. 2005 Oct;94(4):229-32
Clinical management of babesiosis in dogs with homeopathic Crotalus horridus 200C Chaudhuri S, Varshney JP. Clinical Diagnosis laboratory, Referral Veterinary Polyclinic, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar 243122 UP, India. [email protected] Homeopathy. 2007 Apr;96(2):90-4
Rat models of acute inflammation: a randomized controlled study on the effects of homeopathic remedies Conforti A, Bellavite P, Bertani S, Chiarotti F, Menniti-Ippolito F, Raschetti R. Department of Medicine-Public Health, University of Verona, Policlinico G.B. Rossi, Piazzale L.A. Scuro, 33100 Verona, Italy. [email protected] BMC Complement Altern Med. 2007 Jan 17;7:1
A potentized homeopathic drug, arsenicum album 200, can ameliorate genotoxicity induced by repeated injections of arsenic trioxide in mice Banerjee P, Biswas SJ, Belon P, Khuda-Bukhsh AR. Department of Zoology, University of Kalyani, Kalyani 741235, India J Vet Med A Physiol Pathol Clin Med. 2007 Sep;54(7):370-6
Effect of noise on microvascular integrity in laboratory rats Baldwin AL, Bell IR. Department of Physiology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA. [email protected] J Am Assoc Lab Anim Sci. 2007 Jan;46(1):58-65
Improvement of Memory by Means of Ultra-Low Doses of Antibodies to S-100B Antigen Epstein OI, Pavlov IF, Shtark MB. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2006 Dec;3(4):541-5
Comparative therapeutic use of Risedronate and Calcarea phosphorica–allopathy versus homeopathy–in bone repair in castrated rats Werkman C, Senra GS, da Rocha RF, Brandão AA. Department of Biosciences and Oral Diagnosis, School of Dentistry of São Jose dos Campos, São Paulo State University Braz Oral Res. 2006 Jul-Sep;20(3):196-201
Effects of homeopathic medications Eupatorium perfoliatum and Arsenicum album on parasitemia of Plasmodium berghei-infected mice Lira-Salazar G, Marines-Montiel E, Torres-Monzón J, Hernández-Hernández F, Salas-Benito JS. Especialización en Terapéutica Homeopática, Mexico Homeopathy. 2006 Oct;95(4):223-8
Pretreatment with alcoholic extract of Crataegus oxycantha (AEC) activates mitochondrial protection during isoproterenol – induced myocardial infarction in rats Jayalakshmi R, Thirupurasundari CJ, Devaraj SN. Department of Biochemistry, University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai – 600 025, Tamil Nadu, India Mol Cell Biochem. 2006 Nov;292(1-2):59-67. Epub 2006 May 30
Protective potentials of a potentized homeopathic drug, Lycopodium-30, in ameliorating azo dye induced hepatocarcinogenesis in mice Pathak S, Kumar Das J, Jyoti Biswas S, Khuda-Bukhsh AR. Department of Zoology, Cytogenetics and Molecular Biology Laboratory, University of Kalyani, Kalyani, 741235, West Bengal, India Mol Cell Biochem. 2006 Apr;285(1-2):121-31. Epub 2006 Mar 15
Efficacy of the potentized homeopathic drug, Carcinosin 200, fed alone and in combination with another drug, Chelidonium 200, in amelioration of p-dimethylaminoazobenzene-induced hepatocarcinogenesis in mice Biswas SJ, Pathak S, Bhattacharjee N, Das JK, Khuda-Bukhsh AR. Cytogenetics Laboratory, Department of Zoology, University of Kalyani, West Bengal, India J Altern Complement Med. 2005 Oct;11(5):839-54
Comparative Efficacy of Pre-feeding, Post-feeding and Combined Pre- and Post-feeding of Two Microdoses of a Potentized Homeopathic Drug, Mercurius Solubilis, in Ameliorating Genotoxic Effects Produced by Mercuric Chloride in Mice Datta S, Biswas SJ, Khuda-Bukhsh AR. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2004 Dec;1(3):291-300. Epub 2004 Aug 18
Inhibition of (-)-propranolol hydrochloride by its enantiomer in white mice–a placebo-controlled randomized study Kuzeff RM, Mecheva RP, Topashka-Ancheva MN. Graduate School of Integrative Medicine, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. [email protected] Forsch Komplementarmed Klass Naturheilkd. 2004 Feb;11(1):14-9
Cushing’s disease: a new approach to therapy in equine and canine patients
Elliott,-M Br-Homeopath-J. 2001 Jan; 90(1): 33-6
Histopathological and immunophenotyping studies on normal and sarcoma 180-bearing mice treated with a complex homeopathic medication Sato DY, Wal R, de Oliveira CC, Cattaneo RI, Malvezzi M, Gabardo J, Buchi Dde F. Universidade do Vale do Itajaà Homeopathy. 2005 Jan;94(1):26-32
Effect of Atropa belladonna and Echinacea angustifolia in homeopathic dilution on experimental peritonitis Pedalino CM, Perazzo FF, Carvalho JC, Martinho KS, Massoco Cde O, Bonamin LV. Faculty of Health Sciences of São Paulo, FACIS, Instituto Brasileiro de Estudos Homeopáticos, IBEHE, Rua Bartolomeu de Gusmão, 86. 04111-020 São Paulo, SP, Brazil Homeopathy. 2004 Oct;93(4):193-8
Evaluation of protective potentials of a potentized homeopathic drug, Chelidonium majus, during azo dye induced hepatocarcinogenesis in mice Biswas SJ, Khuda-Bukhsh AR Department of Zoology, University of Kalyani, Kalyani 741 235, India Indian J Exp Biol. 2004 Jul;42(7):698-714
Homeopathically prepared dilution of Rana catesbeiana thyroid glands modifies its rate of metamorphosis Guedes JR, Ferreira CM, Guimarães HM, Saldiva PH, Capelozzi VL. Laboratory of Molecular Pathology, University of São Paulo School of Medicine, SP, Brazil Homeopathy. 2004 Jul;93(3):132-7
Inhibition of (-)-trans-(1S,2S)-U50488 hydrochloride by its enantiomer in white mice  a placebo-controlled, randomized study Kuzeff RM, Topashka-Ancheva MN, Mecheva RP. Graduate School of Integrative Medicine, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. [email protected] Forsch Komplementarmed Klass Naturheilkd. 2004 Jun;11(3):144-9
Snake remedies and eosinophilic granuloma complex in cats Aboutboul R. Animal Veterinary Clinic, Jabotinsky 1, Tel-Aviv 63479, Israel. [email protected] Homeopathy. 2006 Jan;95(1):15-9
Comparative efficacy of homeopathic and allopathic systems of medicine in the management of clinical mastitis of Indian dairy cows Varshney JP, Naresh R. Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar-243 122, India Homeopathy. 2005 Apr;94(2):81-5
FMS*Calciumfluor specifically increases mRNA levels and induces signaling via MAPK 42,44 and not FAK in differentiating rat osteoblasts Manduca P, Marchisio S, Astigiano S, Zanotti S, Galmozzi F, Palermo C, Palmieri D. Laboratorio di Genetica, Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Genova, C. Europa 26, Italy. [email protected] Cell Biol Int. 2005 Aug;29(8):629-37
A study using Sepia 200C given prophylactically postpartum to prevent anoestrus problems in the dairy cow Williamson, A. V; Mackie, W. L; Crawford, W. J; Rennie, B. Br. homoeopath. j; 80(3):149-56, jul. 1991
NON-MOLECULAR INFORMATION TRANSFER FROM THYROXINE TO FROGS by Means of Homoeopathic Preparation and Electronic Processing P.C. ENDLER1, W. PONGRATZ1, C.W. SMITH2, J. SCHULTE3, F. SENEKOWITSCH4, M. CITRO5 1Ludwig Boltzman Institut für Homöopathie, Durerg.4, 8010 Graz, Austria 2Department of Electric and Electronic Engineering, University of Salford, 827221 Salford, UK. 3National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA 4Institute of Bioinformatics, Graz, Austria 5Research Institute Alberto Sorti (IDRAS), Turin, Italy
TREATMENT AND PROPHYLAXIS OF SUBCLINICALMASTITIS WITH HOMEOPHATIC DRUGS R ANDERSSON, LL MORCILLO, H SOMMER, TIERARZTLICHE UMSCHAU тþü 52 (7), 1997. ÑÂтþр. 00407-00412
Canova, a Brazilian medical formulation, alters oxidative metabolism of mice macrophages de Oliveira CC, de Oliveira SM, Godoy LM, Gabardo J, Buchi Dde F. Laboratório de Estudos de Células Inflamatórias e Neoplásicas, Departamento de Biologia Celular, SCB, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brasil. J Infect. 2006 Jun;52(6):420-32. Epub 2006 Jan 4.
Homeopathy versus antibiotics in metaphylaxis of infectious diseases: a clinical study in pig fattening and its significance to consumers Albrecht H, Schütte A. Carstens Foundation, Essen, Germany Altern Ther Health Med. 1999 Sep;5(5):64-8
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