On the eve of the Society of Homeopaths’ symposium in London on homeopathy and AIDS, the SoH issue a press release. It is a statement about how they are warm and cuddly and complementary and working oh so hard to dominate create a single register of homeopaths. They are definitely not promoting quack cures for AIDS.
It is well documented now about how so many of their press releases are simply misleading. (The current press release is thoroughly taken apart by Gimpy).
What caught my eye was the link at the end to the National AIDS Trust. Did this organisation support them, endorse their views and think homeopathy has a role in AIDS management? I had to find out. So, I emailed their policy advisor, Alana Lewis.
Yusef Azad, their Director of Policy and Campaigns, emailed me back to say that, of course, they do not support the seminar and would be in contact with SoH. He rang them. And now, the reference has been removed from the online press release. Their excuse was that it was a reference for their AIDS figures. Typical quack referencing: incomplete, inappropriate and confusing.
Tomorrow is World AIDS day. Yusef has this to say:
“There is no current cure for HIV. But there is effective treatment in the form of antiretroviral therapy which is saving millions of people and enabling them to live healthy active lives. The tragedy is that there are still far too many governments not funding the treatment properly, and too many people with HIV who have not been informed of its benefits. Quack cures abound of course, all unproven, all cruelly deceiving, all a massive distraction from what we know genuinely works.”
I really cannot add anymore.
I can’t find a reference to a “nearly 8,000 people diagnosed with HIV in the UK alone last year[2006]” on the NAT website. Perhaps they mean this report (pdf) which has the 2005 figures. Also why do they talk about the 2007 figures when the year is not over? The 2006 figures (pdf) put the worldwide deaths at nearly 3 million (2.9), which is a much more higher and dramatic number. I’m beginning to think the SoH haven’t read the NAT site. It’s not like them not to do their research is it?