The (pseudo)science of homeopathy

- Dhanoop Dhananjayan

If homeopathy works, then obviously the less you use it, the stronger it gets. So the best
way to apply homeopathy is to not use it at all —Phil Plait

Recently, a minor scandal erupted in the UK when the public came to know the
National Health Service had spent £10 million or about Rs 80 crore on homeopathy in
2008. In contrast, the National Capital Territory of Delhi alone spent Rs 77 crore—or 7
per cent of its Rs 1,100 crore health budget—on homeopathy. In a country like ours
where inefficient healthcare spending can raise fatality rates, dispensing sugar and
water in the name of a system that provides no health benefits whatsoever is alarming
and shows a scant disregard for science and the constitution.

What is the dilution problem ?

Its founder Samuel Hahnemann, to quote Wikipedia, "devised a technique for

making dilutions that he believed would preserve a substance's therapeutic properties
while removing its harmful effects, proposing that this process aroused and enhanced
"spirit-like medicinal powers held within a drug". He published a complete overview of
his new medical system in his 1810 book, The Organon of the Healing Art, whose 6th
edition, published in 1921,still used by homeopaths today." The basic principle known
as the law of similars is "let like be cured by like" which means practitioners treat
patients using extremely diluted preparations that are believed to cause healthy people
to exhibit symptoms that are similar to those exhibited by the patient. Modern
homeopaths have proposed that water has a “memory” that allows homeopathic
preparations to work without any of the original substance; however, there are neither
verified observations nor scientifically plausible physical mechanisms for such a
phenomenon. Don’t be too surprised at this, because we’re deep into nonsense
territory here, and logic is scarce. The dilution of the active ingredient is so
astronomical, that if I wanted to consume enough of these tablets to ensure that I’d
taken in at least one molecule of the drug, I would have to down sixteen average
swimming-pools full of them. On a lighter note, the only condition homeopathy may
actually be able to cure is dehydration! Isn’t it downright unethical for a practitioner to
give distilled water to a patient claiming it to be an effective medicine?

It just doesn't work

When tested under the most rigorous of conditions where neither the patient nor the
doctor knows whether they're using homeopathy or not until all of the tests are done -
homeopathy has shown to be no better than a sugar pill. The placebo effect is often
misunderstood but very real, and we're all subject to it. The choice between real
medicine and homeopathy comes down to a simple question - would you
rather opt for a placebo plus a treatment that has been proven to work, or just a
placebo?

It couldn't possibly work

The theory behind homeopathy, when subjected to even basic scrutiny, simply
doesn't stand up. The underlying 'laws' of the treatment do not conform to
anything we know about medicine, mathematics or chemistry. The best way to test
any proposed therapy is the Double-Blind placebo-Controlled Randomised Trial
(DBCRT).These trials have only confirmed that homeo treatments give no additional
benefit compared to a placebo group. Homeopathy further rejects that any disease
can be caused by infectious organisms. Even genetics and embryology are mystified
and excluded from their study.

It's a waste of your money.

If these pills don't contain any active ingredient and have been proven not to work,
then it ultimately amounts to a lot of money for not a lot of sugar. It's a waste of
everyone's money. With homeopathy having been conclusively proven to work no
better than placebo, there is no place for it in a modern healthcare setup, and no
reason to support it with money that would otherwise be used to support real, proven
treatments with genuine efficacy. We must stand in awe of the fact that a billion-dollar
industry still thrives by peddling something that someone defined as, “An infinitely
thin slice of nothing, with the crust trimmed off and the center removed.”

It's a waste of your time

By promoting homeopathy as a genuine alternative to real medicine, patients may

delay seeking expert medical assistance while using homeopathy to treat their
condition .For more severe conditions, the sooner a disease is caught, the greater the
chance of recovery. Many homeopaths even go so far as to tell patients that "after
taking a homeopathic medicine your symptoms may become slightly worse before you
get better.” A patient given false hope by the claims of therapies such as homeopathy
can be distracted from making the most of the time they have left, as well as being
given an unrealistic view of their condition - causing more heartache when the
treatment proves futile. Also spare a thought for those poor students who miss MBBS,
BDS, B Sc Nursing etc by narrow margins and have to learn this fraudulent “science”
for 4.5 + 1 years ,just because the govt funds it. Isn’t this a national waste?

Delayed Treatment

In famous case at Calicut, a patient was treated for breast cancer by a self-trained
naturopath (a faculty in the Calicut University). The patient was a firm believer in
Homeopathy (as she told in interviews then), and she decided to go for Homeopathy
when she noted a lump in the breast.. During the 5 months of homeo treatment her
condition worsened and she finally succumbed to cancer .She could have been saved if
the case was diagnosed in the beginning.

Placebo ,placebo and more placebo

According to Richard Dawkins, Homeopaths talk to their patients for a long time , and
appear to be much more caring.  This in itself comforts patients more and prepares
them better to accept the placebo. Most homeo pills are unlabelled, no manufacture or
expiry dates, no authority to certify their contents and the quantity, no indication of
where it was made and the batch number, no indication of possible side-effects, in
fact, you know more about the toothpaste you buy than the homoeo medicine you take
for a disease. Bizarre indeed.

Miracle Cures

We hear a lot of stories from our friends and relatives about miracle homeo cures, but
we forget that it is not isolated experiences that are important but aggregated data
that is statistically analyzed. Everyone will have stories of modern medicine curing
them or their relatives of some disease or the other. But we never hear those stories
because it is exactly what we expect. In the case of homeo successes are remembered
and told over and over again because they are totally unexpected. Evidence after all is
not the plural of anecdote

Do we need such an alternative?

Homeopathy is a pseudoscience just like astrology, palmistry etc. The success of

homeopathy is based on two factors a) Natural remission which is known to occur in
many disease as part of natural course. b) Placebo effect which is utilized by faith
healers and many other. It is essential to educate the public regarding homeopathy, as
it is the most unscientific branch that enjoys government patronage. Faith healing
,roadside quacks , black magic etc are also present as unscientific alternative
medicine but do not enjoy government approval and hence are much less of a menace.
It isn’t a surprise that we find many doctors who have studied both forms for medicine
and almost all of them practice modern medicine.

Real medicine works.

We have better alternatives to this so called alternative One point is often overlooked
in discussions about homeopathy: we don't need it. Real medicine works. The
government must take steps to terminate all funding and patronage for this fossilized
discipline and fulfill their duty to protect hapless citizens from this cruel deception.
The time has come to call a spade a spade.