Homeopathy under fire - again!
Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 3:21 pm
Homeopathy again under fire. Read below
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... harles.xml
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5007926.stm
http://society.guardian.co.uk/health/st ... 12,00.html
Regards,
Tauseef
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12.45pm
------------------------------
*Top doctors accused of 'medical apartheid'*
*Staff and agencies
Tuesday May 23, 2006*
A group of leading British doctors called today for the NHS to stop using
"unproven" complementary treatments such as homeopathy, sparking complaints
of "medical apartheid" by proponents of the therapies.
Groups representing complementary practitioners reacted angrily to the
letter from 13 of the country's most eminent doctors, sent to every hospital
and primary care trust in the UK and urging them to reject such treatments
in favour of those "based on solid evidence".
The letter sets the doctors squarely against the views of Prince Charles,
who is to call on the World Health Organisation later today to back a more
holistic approach to treatment alongside conventional medicines.
The doctors' letters singled out homeopathy, in which a hugely diluted form
of a remedy is used to treat patients, among the "unproven or disproved
treatments" currently being funded by the NHS.
"It is an implausible treatment for which over a dozen systematic reviews
have failed to produce convincing evidence of effectiveness," said the
letter,
"Despite this, a recently-published patient guide, promoting use of
homeopathy without making the lack of proven efficacy clear to patients, is
being made available through government funding."
The letter, organised by Michael Baum, emeritus professor of surgery at
University College London and signed by Nobel prize-winner Sir James Black
and Sir Keith Peters, president of the Academy of Medical Science, among
others, complained that the use of such therapies drained resources from
other areas.
"I'm all in favour of treatments that make people better but there is the
issue of evidence," Professor Baum told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"How do we know that what we are witnessing is a real effect or a placebo?
If the placebo is non-toxic and cheap, it doesn't matter.
"My concern is the issue of opportunity cost. If the NHS is spending good
money on placebos at the cost of not providing effective medicines, then it
does matter. "
The UCL hospital trust had spent £20m on refurbishing the Royal Homeopathic
hospital, Professor Baum said, cash he claimed could save 600 lives a year
if spent on the anti-cancer drug Herceptin and other conventional drugs.
Dr Peter Fisher, clinical director of the Royal Homeopathic hospital,
conceded that the way homeopathy worked was not fully understood, but argued
this did not mean it should be abandoned.
"I think what this suggestion amounts to is a form of medical apartheid: any
therapy which can't trace its origins to what is called the biochemical
model should be excluded from the NHS," he told Today.
"The weight of the evidence does suggest that homeopathy is effective."
Prince Charles, a passionate advocate of complementary therapies, will make
his feelings on the matter plain later today in a speech to the World Health
Assembly in Geneva advocating a more holistic approach to healthcare.
"I do believe most strongly that we should not view health as something that
exists in isolation, but forms as a direct consequence of our communities,
our cultures, our lifestyle and the way we interact with our environment,"
Charles will say.
Charles first advocated the use of alternative medicines alongside orthodox
treatments more than 20 years ago. He later established the Prince's
Foundation for Integrated Health, which encourages the development of
complementary medicines and integrated healthcare.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... harles.xml
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5007926.stm
http://society.guardian.co.uk/health/st ... 12,00.html
Regards,
Tauseef
Sign in·
Register
Sign in ·
Register
Go to: Guardian Unlimited homeUK newsWorld newsComment is free blog
Newsblog----------------------Archive searchArtsBooksBusiness
EducationGuardian.co.ukFilmFootballJobsLife and healthMediaGuardian.co.uk
MoneyThe ObserverPoliticsScienceShoppingSocietyGuardian.co.ukSportTalk
TechnologyTravelBeen there----------------------AudioEmail servicesSpecial
reportsThe GuardianThe northernerThe wrap----------------------Advertising
guideCrosswordEvents / offersFeedbackGameszoneGarden centreInformationGNL
press officeGuardianFilmsHeadline serviceHelp / contactsLiving our values
NewsroomNotes & QueriesReader OffersSoulmates datingStyle guideSyndication
servicesTravel offersTV listingsWeatherWeb guidesWorking for us
----------------------Guardian WeeklyMoney ObserverPublicLearn [image:
Guardian Unlimited]
Read today's paper ·
Jobs
Search:
Guardian Unlimited Web
[image: SocietyGuardian.co.uk] >[image: Health]
Home > Health Communities Local
government
Voluntary sector Social care
Talk
Conferences Books Big
issues
Comment Careers advice Jobs Help
[image: Health]
*Search Society*
*Recent articles* Keep complementary medicine out of NHS, say leading
doctors
NHS go-ahead for new breast cancer drugs
Ofcom faces legal action over food advertising
Cut more beds, says NHS official
'More NHS beds must go' in boost for home care
Copies of lost 'blood row' papers found
A letter to... the recipient of my husband's
liver
Midwife-led birth centres threatened by cost
cutting
Johnson takes 'the rubbish' out of school
meals
Discovery of poultry exposed to bird flu virus was kept from
public
12.45pm
------------------------------
*Top doctors accused of 'medical apartheid'*
*Staff and agencies
Tuesday May 23, 2006*
A group of leading British doctors called today for the NHS to stop using
"unproven" complementary treatments such as homeopathy, sparking complaints
of "medical apartheid" by proponents of the therapies.
Groups representing complementary practitioners reacted angrily to the
letter from 13 of the country's most eminent doctors, sent to every hospital
and primary care trust in the UK and urging them to reject such treatments
in favour of those "based on solid evidence".
The letter sets the doctors squarely against the views of Prince Charles,
who is to call on the World Health Organisation later today to back a more
holistic approach to treatment alongside conventional medicines.
The doctors' letters singled out homeopathy, in which a hugely diluted form
of a remedy is used to treat patients, among the "unproven or disproved
treatments" currently being funded by the NHS.
"It is an implausible treatment for which over a dozen systematic reviews
have failed to produce convincing evidence of effectiveness," said the
letter,
"Despite this, a recently-published patient guide, promoting use of
homeopathy without making the lack of proven efficacy clear to patients, is
being made available through government funding."
The letter, organised by Michael Baum, emeritus professor of surgery at
University College London and signed by Nobel prize-winner Sir James Black
and Sir Keith Peters, president of the Academy of Medical Science, among
others, complained that the use of such therapies drained resources from
other areas.
"I'm all in favour of treatments that make people better but there is the
issue of evidence," Professor Baum told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"How do we know that what we are witnessing is a real effect or a placebo?
If the placebo is non-toxic and cheap, it doesn't matter.
"My concern is the issue of opportunity cost. If the NHS is spending good
money on placebos at the cost of not providing effective medicines, then it
does matter. "
The UCL hospital trust had spent £20m on refurbishing the Royal Homeopathic
hospital, Professor Baum said, cash he claimed could save 600 lives a year
if spent on the anti-cancer drug Herceptin and other conventional drugs.
Dr Peter Fisher, clinical director of the Royal Homeopathic hospital,
conceded that the way homeopathy worked was not fully understood, but argued
this did not mean it should be abandoned.
"I think what this suggestion amounts to is a form of medical apartheid: any
therapy which can't trace its origins to what is called the biochemical
model should be excluded from the NHS," he told Today.
"The weight of the evidence does suggest that homeopathy is effective."
Prince Charles, a passionate advocate of complementary therapies, will make
his feelings on the matter plain later today in a speech to the World Health
Assembly in Geneva advocating a more holistic approach to healthcare.
"I do believe most strongly that we should not view health as something that
exists in isolation, but forms as a direct consequence of our communities,
our cultures, our lifestyle and the way we interact with our environment,"
Charles will say.
Charles first advocated the use of alternative medicines alongside orthodox
treatments more than 20 years ago. He later established the Prince's
Foundation for Integrated Health, which encourages the development of
complementary medicines and integrated healthcare.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]