Minutus

How wonderful to have this discussion finally on the table. As some
of you will know I've been trying to draw attention to the situation
we are facing ever since my email of Feb 2007 blowing the whistle on
the attempt to close the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital.

I wrote a long and detailed article in Similia in June laying out the
specific and orchestrated anti-homeopathy campaign that can be
tracked for at least the last 3 years, maybe longer - and what we
might do about it. At that time I could not get the relevant
homeopathic groups to see the bigger picture.

Yes the science is important - and I'll include a link to an article
I wrote about it also published in Similia in a separate posting.

But we should not be naive. The issue is NOT about whether
homeopathy works or not. The issue is about POLITICS and POWER and
PROFIT - however unpalatable that may be to a healing community.

The anti-homeopathy movement (relatively small but very vocal) is not
interested in whether it works or not. They are only interested in
sound bytes they can use to ridicule and discredit. They are the
same people who were happy to publish the fatally flawed
meta-analysis in The Lancet in 2005 and call it science. The main
author of that study was instrumental in having homeopathy removed
from Swiss Health Insurance.
Sense about Science is a group masquerading as an information source
for the public - check out their backers - the successful demand for
withdrawal and revision of the 2005 WHO pro-homeopathy report came
from Renckens - Chair of the Dutch Union Against Quackery and other
Quackbusters. The revised report has still not been published. (all
this is documented with references in my article.)

I also make the point that it is no coincidence that the Royal London
Hom Hospital was targeted first. It's a touchstone for homeopathy
around the world - if it goes and homeopathy is removed from the NHS
it will be cited by anti-homeopathy groups all around the world - as
indeed it was by the anti-homeopathy speakers during the recent
national debate in the US : Quackery or Medicine of the Future?
They will be able to say hand on heart that Homeopathy will not have
been removed from the NHS because of lack of funding but because "IT
DOES NOT WORK". That has potential repercussions for every
homeopath, within the NHS and outside it, in the UK or anywhere in
the world.

All CAMs are currently under threat - and again in the Similia
article - legislation is being drawn up in the European Union and the
US - the public are moving towards CAMs in their millions, Homeopathy
is the fasted growing modality on planet earth. We are NOT a
complementary therapy - we are an ALTERNATIVE system of medicine
which can provide Primary Care Medicine - so therefore we pose the
biggest threat - and the volume of the anti-homeopathy voices is
directly proportional to the threat we pose.

I truly believe that this is the most exciting time to be a homeopath
- the shift to energy medicine is already happening - all we need to
do is keep our heads - DON'T be distracted by the anti-homeopathy
brigade - DON'T take it personally - demand our societies protect our
interests and support them in that - KNOW we have truth on our side -
FOCUS on being the best practitioners we can be - and PULL TOGETHER.
This is our time. Some of us have been waiting for this for 25+ years.

I asked to present this material in detail at the NCH conference in
2008, because I really believe as a profession we need to know the
situation but my submission was not accepted. Yes we do need materia
medica and case presentations at conferences, but imho we also need a
forum where these vital political issues can be discussed within our
profession. Right now I am pouring my own energy and resources into
a major media project which will redress some of the balance - I'll
post the link as soon as I can!

Hold tight, rise above the madness and stay focused!

Carol

Carol Boyce MCH, CCH, RSHom(NA)
Director of Education
The Homeopathic Symposium
www.homeopathicsymposium.com

carol,
i totally applaud the work you are trying to do.
and i totally agree with you about the need to
be political in order to preserve homeopathy. i
have been saying this for a long time--it was political
organizing that suppressed homeopathy for over half a
century and it will be its undoing today IF homeopaths
do not unite to protect it.
it is a sad commentary that the NCH 2008 conference
wouldn't accept a formal presentation of this issue, but
i do hope you can attend and try to set up a table there
to distribute information and try to galvanize some
support.
homeopathy is legal in gt. britain, but for the most
part it is not here. part of the problem that i have
seen is that many homeopaths are too paranoid to come
out of the closet to speak up. that has been true in
new york where it was almost impossible to get the
community to come out to push for a health freedom
access bill in nys which would provide legitimacy here.
tanya

Hi Carol-

Excellent work and as you say this is not the time to quibble about
differences - any one who practices homeopathy - needs to be part of
this effort.We can streamline our practice and adopt best practices
when we have leisure to do it. Need of the hour is to stop the
friendly fire, bury the brotherly ( and sisterly) hatchets and work
towards the common goal of facing off the concerted opposition to
homeopathy and other complementary therapies.
-- In minutus@yahoogroups.com, Carol Boyce wrote:
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I'll

Hi Tanya,
Why do you figure it's paranoia--what are they paranoid about?
I would have thought complacency was a bigger problem; we (US in
general, not just homeopaths) tend to not believe that our "rights" and
"freedoms" are under any threat, and we habitually figure someone else
will take care of problems.

Shannon

Dear Carol

I have met Dr Peter Fisher - the director of RLHH a couple of times and both
times he has GREATLY disappointed me.

A few years back one of the TV channels was doing a series on Alternative
medicine and eventually the turn of Hom came up. This little girl with
severe eczema was present and after a consultation Graph was prescribed for
her. For the life of me I could not justify Graph and I did not think a deep
enough case had been taken. And surprise surprise the remedy was not
homoeopathic and did not work.

Now when you know that such an event is coming your way, don't you plan for
it and as a hospital put your BEST practitioners up front to handle the
case?

Then a couple weeks ago BBC London had a clip about homoeopathy and RLHH was
shown again and there was a couple of interviews about the proponents of
conventional and weak proponent of Homoeopathy and then they said that RLHH
also did acupuncture and other therapies.

So how much are these guys at the top at fault?

Regards

Soroush

people are paranoid because they are not legally acknowledged in this
country!!
they are afraid to put their names on anything that might call attention to
them.
so no signees on petitions or letters and calls to the state legislature.
and,
consequently, no health freedom access bill in nys.

tanya

Hi Tanya,

Doesn't New York state have a Health Freedom law? Thought you were one of ones that did.
Sue

very sadly, we are not. the reputation of ny as a progressive
state is pure mythology. the homeopathic community dropped the ball
on this one.
boo hoo
tanya

Now isn't Dr Fisher the Queen's homeopath?

Rochelle
Registered Homeopath
EFT(Advanced) Practitioner
www.southporthomeopathy.co.uk

He is indeed!

Regards

Soroush