HOMEOPATHS in Bahrain take note! Homeopathy was invented at about the same time as the smallpox vaccination. The two share a similar idea, that a small amount of what causes disease can cure it.
Unlike vaccinations, however, there is not a molecule of evidence to suggest that homeopathy works. In recent decades it has been debunked with particular vigour by reputable scientists through large studies. Yet many still believe that it can cure what ails them.
Good news, then, that Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, has launched an attack on homeopathy’s remaining reputation, demanding the health watchdog revoke its accreditation of homeopathic practitioners. The Professional Standards Authority (PSA), which oversees health professionals, still officially recognises the Society of Homeopaths, and the society displays the accreditation on its website as a “stamp of approval”. Mr Stevens has written to the PSA to claim that its endorsement raises the risk of “chancers being able to con more people” out of their money, and that some homeopaths “spread misinformation about vaccines”.
He is right to do so. Homeopathy may be harmless in some cases. But that is the best that can be said of it. It is, however, dangerous when it is used as a replacement for needed medical treatment. It can make sick people sicker, or even cause fatal delays in proper treatment. It also overlaps with more dangerous beliefs. About 60 members of the Society of Homeopaths offer Cease therapy, which claims wrongly that vaccines cause autism, and that homeopathy can cure it. A scare over the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in the late 1990s caused a sharp drop in inoculations and a rise in deaths from the diseases.
It is important to fight this dangerous belief system.
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