This blog believes that accredting the Society of Homeopaths was a mistake by the PSA. However, I can accept that some benefits may come of it. One is that the Society now needs to watch very closely its public profile – even more than before.
So, on a public homeopathy discussion board discussion board, this email gets slipped out…
Information about EbolaDear xxxThe Society shares the global concern at the Ebola epidemic unfolding in West Africa and commends the health professionals and staff working in these areas at considerable personal risk.For the good of the profession, we would urge members to be aware of the dangers of making statements about or engaging in discussions on Ebola via social media platforms. There are a few journalists who are currently fishing for ammunition around this topic with which to attack homeopathy.There is no evidence to support the use of homeopathy in the prevention or cure of Ebola and to suggest otherwise hands our opponents a golden opportunity to renew their attacks against homeopaths and homeopathy.We are working as ever with the aim of protecting our profession and thank you for your cooperation.Yours sincerely,Miranda ParsonsChair
Gosh! Does this society truly represent homeopathy and homeopaths? It doesn’t look like it.Many of our representative organisations have been right off the mark in recent times. Under the guise of “protecting homeopathy and homeopaths” they do the very opposite and weaken our profession.Do they have any confidence at all in our bedrock principle, in our history of prophylaxis and treatment, in our ability to rapidly mobilise against novel diseases via symptom matching a remedy?By all means, crack down on homeopaths making definitive statements that it is this or that remedy but don’t try to hide in a corner with statements such as “We are working as ever with the aim of protecting our profession and thank you for your cooperation.”This sort of representation has led to the erosion of homeopathy’s vital role in the world community and is a total disgrace.At this time, more than ever, the homeopathic profession and those at risk from this disease need people who speak strongly about our practices and what is possible – and how to achieve that.With WHO already having recognised we are the second most widely used medicinal system in the world, so much more should be expected from us but all our representatives do is trot out this pile of crap?!?!? Shame, shame shame.
and
SOH has been a lackey to the corporate forces in the UK. It would behoove homeopaths to find their democratic backbone and push back strongly; i.e., getting united.
However, it is a problem that I see in the US, too, where so many homeopaths just want to live a nice quiet, peaceful life. They cringe when the ogres snarl at them and retreat further into their closet. In doing so they enable these forces of destruction and allow themselves to be used to destroy the profession. Wearing blinders has never helped anyone or any movement.
In the past 2 years I recall reading about the ASA, an organization with no legislative power, placing great restrictions on homeopaths commentary on their personal websites. It seems to me that the homeopaths caved in to this, further strengthening the forces against. Further, there has been very little done to counter and expose the quack busters as lackies of the pharma corporations.
It seems our profession needs a serious course in the history of people’s movements as well as one that focuses on the tactics of success—none of them are based on timidity
In the meantime, at least one band of American Homeopaths is desperate to try out their sugar pills on West African people with Ebola. Tragedy will ensue.
We are a group of homeopathic doctors and professional homeopaths in MN and world wide working to assist in fighting the EBOLA outbreak. We are offering our assistance completely free of charge. We believe homeopathic medicine may be very effective in EBOLA, like it has been effective in all influenza epidemics, including the 1918 pandemic, as well as in numerous other epidemics.
Thousands of homeopaths and their supporters have also been petitioning the WHO to “End the suffering of the Ebola crisis. Test and distribute homeopathy as quickly as possible to contain the outbreaks.”
Homeopathy has a proven track record of treating and preventing serious epidemic diseases.
It’s used by governments for dengue fever, leptospirosis, epidemic fever, malaria, and Japanese encephalitis epidemics, and, historically, for other serious contagious diseases.
The appropriate homeopathic medicine (remedy) is likely to be just as effective against the Ebola virus.
Homeopathic remedies are quick to produce in large quantities, inexpensive, easily distributed, and have an excellent safety profile.
They are ideally suited to the difficulties and constraints of Ebola-affected countries, as identified by WHO.
Of course, none of the medical claims in that petition are true.
Perhaps the Society should not just be sending out emails to its own members but putting out public statements to help stop the innevitable? Or is their statement more of a dog whistling containment strategy? More concerned about stopping bad publicity than telling their members that such beliefs could kill?
Does this mean that their Dishonourable Fellow Chappell has taken down his claims to cure and prevent Ebola with violin music?
So obviously a P.R. cover up effort given the reference to journalists watching them. If it was not for the good work of Andy, Dr Ernst, Simon Singh and others, no doubt they would be at Ebola with a relish.
Like the way they say there is no evidence to support use of homeopathy for Ebola, when there is no evidence to support use of homeopathy for anything except the exploitation of the naive and gullible.
Still there at the moment: http://boosters4africa.com/ebola/
Shouldn’t the letter have read:
“Information about Homeopathy
Dear xxx
The Society shares the global concern about diseases in general and commends the health professionals and staff working in these areas.
For the good of the profession, we would urge members to be aware of the dangers of making statements about or engaging in discussions on health matters via social media platforms. There are a few journalists who are currently fishing for ammunition around this topic with which to attack homeopathy.
There is no evidence to support the use of homeopathy in the prevention or cure of any disease and to suggest otherwise hands our opponents a golden opportunity to renew their attacks against homeopaths and homeopathy.
We are working as ever with the aim of protecting our profession and thank you for your cooperation.
Yours sincerely,
Miranda Parsons
Chair”
Well-as we see,the danger of making things up as you go along is that it’s not long before you trip yourself up.It’s why the police keep telling suspects to repeat their story.If they’re telling the truth, it’ll be the same story over and over. If they’re making it up, they’ll embellish it more and more in an attempt to appear more convincing.If Homeopathy was so successful in the oft-quoted Flu epidemic of 1918,why not in other epidemics since? Why has Ebola caught them on the hop? These shameless buggers had no hesitation in claiming a cure for AIDS.It’s very instructive to see how deeply angry and aggressive these quacks are about, say,James Randi, and then to watch his kind, gentle, humanist lectures on Youtube.
“There is no evidence to support the use of homeopathy in the prevention or cure of any disease …”
So, we can now definitively say “there is no evidence to support the use of homeopathy for any healthcare purpose.”
In which case any homeopathwho claims that he/she is offering anything other than care, support and engagement of placebo effects should be reported to the SoH and will probablly be struck off.
Fair enough – but it’s been a long time coming.
Alan Heness (Nightingale Collaboration) is no doubt on the case!
An obvious solution to the problem of the hardline homeopaths presents itself. Just three ingredients: a locked room, the body of an Ebola victim and a big box of their sugar pills with a big label reading, “Welcome. Help yourselves to any remedies you choose.”
‘The World Health Organisation recognises that Homeopathy is the 2nd most widely-practised or 2nd fastest-growing medical system in the World’ is a statement I’m seeing more and more recently in the Realm Of The Homeopaths. It’s obvious what stupid and gullible people are meant to infer from this-i.e. that this confers respectability on this quackery. It’s as useful as saying that Violent Islam is the fastest-growing political movement in the World at the moment.An intelligent person says ‘So what?’.A stupid person-say a Homeopath- says ‘Well there must be something good about it then’.
1. Real medicine
2. Homeopathy
3. Some other quackery
Brilliant claim to fame there.
Homeopathy- the gift that keeps on giving.
It’s hysterical to see ‘Genuine’ Homeopaths and ‘bogus’ ones in an argument over something that’s based on Industrial grade nonsense in the first place. Bit like ‘genuine’ clarvoyants trying to distance themselves from ‘bogus’ ones by setting up a ‘professional’ body, with ‘standards’ that must be adhered to.
Will we shortly see civil war, with breakaway organisations hurling abuse at the apostates?
And- once again- the duplicitous claim that the World Health Organisation ‘admits’ that Homeopathy is the 2nd fastest-growing system of medicine in the World.
That’s as useful as saying that in terms of Facebook ‘likes’ for their tricky little posts Britain First is the most popular poltical party in Britain. A nasty little way of presenting a half-fact- if that- and leaving people to fill in the gaps and come to any barmy conclusion they want.
The Alliance of Registered Homeopaths (ARH), if I remember correctly was created by dissidents from earlier incarnations of the Society of Homeopaths (SoH).
If SoH membership numbers are any indication, homeopathy may be one of the fastest shrinking system of medicine in the UK.
As the saying goes- two bald men fighting over a comb.
I did enjoy the characterisation of the SoH as “a lackey to the corporate forces in the UK.” I wonder which forces they might be? So now the SoH is part of the conspiracy against homeopathy? Or rather the ONE TRUE HOMEOPATHY than the watered down version that many homeopaths pedal?
There is a tendency for some to present homeopaths being part of one big happy family, united in their commitment to “wellness” or some other poorly defined neologism. It’s only surface deep.
My respect for you Andy never ceases. This is Fiona in Glastonbury, (we met at Bath skeptics quite a long time ago). I got offered homoeopathic remedies for the tumour in my foot, (non – cancerous), by an NHS doctor, Of course I refused.
BTW because of campaigning inspired by you the Steiner School that they tried to start in Glastonbury, that I told you about, got refused public funding. I can’t think who influenced that decision :-).
Yay!
Fiona
Keep up your relentless, cogent, yet polite fight against forces of illogic and darkness, including homeopathy. The only sad thing is that — although placebos do work at times, and appear to work at times, & we all know this — we “ethical” physicians are deemed “unethical” if we attempt to use them in some harmless fashion. They should be an integral part of our job, & actually are — but we have to resort to innovative, creative ways to do so, or be dubbed unethical. The difference and the responsibility between that and homeopathy is vast. Pepi Granat, MD Family Medicine, South Miami, Florida
We all know that homeopathy is a bag of manure but what about the evidence base for the experimental conventional medicines that are emerging against “the war against Ebola”.
I just glad there aren’t any Herberts out there that would want to block the fast track for such experimental treatments.
Every day is a schoolday.
I didn’t realise that sugarpillery was “effective in all influenza epidemics, including the 1918 pandemic”.
Who knew?
Obviously not the 50-100 million people who croaked.
They do seem obsessed with the 1918 epidemic.
According to them,all those people died BECAUSE they weren’t treated with Woo.
All the people who were survived.
Or-like-something.
I’m definitely not signing this: http://www.change.org/p/dr-daniel-kertesz-who-end-the-suffering-of-the-ebola-crisis-test-and-distribute-homeopathy-as-quickly-as-possible-to-contain-the-outbreaks
That petition was started by Fran Sheffield, an Australian homeopath who is definitely of the homeopathy can cure anything camp as well as being a notorious anti-vaxxer. She continues to make also sorts of unevidenced claims despite legal and regulatory interventions.
The extremists’ belief in the superiority of homeopathy seems to result in a casual disregard for legislation and regulation.
Email to, and response from the S.O.H.
F.T.A.O.: The Board of Directors
Given your recent warning to members here:
The Society shares the global concern at the Ebola epidemic unfolding in West Africa and commends the health professionals and staff working in these areas at considerable personal risk.
For the good of the profession, we would urge members to be aware of the dangers of making statements about or engaging in discussions on Ebola via social media platforms. There are a few journalists who are currently fishing for ammunition around this topic with which to attack homeopathy.
There is no evidence to support the use of homeopathy in the prevention or cure of Ebola and to suggest otherwise hands our opponents a golden opportunity to renew their attacks against homeopaths and homeopathy.
We are working as ever with the aim of protecting our profession and thank you for your cooperation.
Yours sincerely,
Miranda Parsons
Chair
And the promotion of so health boosters for Ebola on this website:
http://boosters4africa.com/health-boosters/
Where the following claims are made:
If you are ill with ebola, listen to this music every 15 minutes until you are better.
For protection from ebola, listen to this music twice daily (or at least once daily) until the danger passes.
Will you be removing Mr Chappell as an Honorary Fellow and member of the S.O.H.?
Yours sincerely,
Peter Robinson
RESPONSE:
Thank you for your recent email.
Peter Chappell has not been a Society registered member since January 2001
and was awarded his fellowship in 1984.
The music / ‘healing sounds’ made available through Peter’s website is not
‘homeopathy’. Please also note his website mentions the following:
“Because of the seriousness of diseases in Africa and the lack of other
treatment and prevention medication we have released these healing sounds
even though they have not yet been fully tested. Listening to it is
completely safe and can be done alongside any other treatment. Listening
to these healing sounds does not replace other prevention measures or
other medical treatment. Follow all the instructions for prevention that
are given to you by the authorities and in case you are ill seek medical
care.”
We stand by our Ebola statement issued last week and thank you for your
interest.
Best wishes
Maria Apps
Director of Operations
Peter Chappell certainly seems to claim to be a Homeopath however.
Does the Society Of Homeopaths intend to take any action to distance itself from this outrageous quack? Otherwise it seems to me that his idiotic notions could bring Homeopathy into disrepute.
could bring homeopathy into disrepute
You mean, more disrepute than being unscientific quacks who prey on desperately ill people?
That’s the point I was making. Maybe my sarcasm wasn’t sarcastic enough. I reckon if you look at my other comments you’ll figure what it is I think about all this.
/turns sarcasm detectors up
These things happen. Onward and upward.