101 Facts About Homeopathy

by Louise Mclean, LCCH MHMA.
Foundations of Homeopathy
FACT 1:  Hippocrates ‘The Father of Medicine’ of Ancient Greece said there were two Laws of Healing:  The Law of Opposites and the Law of Similars.  Homeopathy utilises the Law of Similars, orthodox medicine uses the Law of Opposites, e.g. antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, anti-convulsants, anti-hypertensives, anti-depressants, anti-psychotics.
FACT 2:  Discovered by German doctor Samuel Hahnemann over 200 years ago homeopathic medicine is based upon sound scientific principles of the Laws of Nature - unlike medical theories which are constantly changing.  Far from being ideas-based, Homeopathy is a completely evidence-based, empirical medicine - a unique concept when it was founded.
FACT 3:  In Hahnemann’s first experiment, though perfectly healthy at the time, he found that by giving himself repeated doses of cinchona bark (quinine), he brought on all the symptoms of a malaria attack -  fever with heat and chills.
FACT 4:  Hahnemann was the first to conduct trials on medicines.  He set about discovering the healing properties of plants, metals and minerals by testing them on himself and on healthy volunteers or ‘Provers’, recording all the symptoms that each substance caused.  He created a ‘Provers Union’.
FACT 5:  After some years of practising, Hahnemann found the tiny doses of substances he was using caused side effects.  He experimented by diluting then succussing a substance (shaking through striking the phial a number of times between numerical potencies).  The potentised remedy was safer to use on the sick, unwanted side effects disappeared and medicines were more effective.
FACT 6:  Hahnemann tested 99 substances on himself and healthy volunteer Provers, keeping detailed accounts of his observations.  He then matched the tested substances to heal symptoms of his patients using the Law of Similars.
Homeopathic Prescribing
FACT 7:  Every patient is unique so homeopathic medicines are individualised.  The homeopathic practitioner treats the WHOLE PERSON, believing all symptoms are interrelated and seeks to select a medicine which fits the whole state.
FACT 8:  Homeopathic medicines are chosen on the basis of a patient’s mental, emotional and physical constitutional type, unlike orthodox medicines which treats in a ‘one-size-fits-all’ manner.  A homeopathic medicine is chosen on the basis of totality of symptoms.
FACT 9:  Just as there are fat and thin, dark and blonde, tall and thin, chilly and hot, talkative or quiet people, lazy or hurried people, etc., etc., there are homeopathic medicines to match all types.
FACT 10:  Homeopathic medicine awakens and stimulates the powers of the whole body by communicating a current/pattern/frequency of energy, which acts as a catalyst to set healing into motion and jump start the body’s own inherent curative mechanisms.
FACT 11:  Homeopathy assists the body to heal itself, to overcome an illness which brings the patient to a HIGHER level of health.  Orthodox medicine suppresses the illness, bringing the patient to a lower level of health.
FACT 12:  Outcomes of homeopathic treatment are measured by the LONG TERM  curative effects and the complete eradication of the disease state.
FACT 13:  Homeopathic medicines are used for inherited diseases and some trace their origins to three main genetic causes or ‘miasms’:  Psora, Syphilis and Sycosis.
Homeopathic Medicines
FACT 14:  Most remedies are made from a single substance but some are made of compounds, while others are mixtures of compounds. Hepar sulph and Causticum as examples of compounds.
FACT 15:  During the making of a homeopathy remedy, the formative intelligence of the substance is imprinted on the alcohol/water medium via the process of succussion (vigorous shaking) between each numerical potency.  Remedies are not made using dilution alone.
Remedies are made using the process of trituration, whereby the substance is reduced first to smaller than molecular size, (nano-phase) which causes electrons to be rubbed off, with a negatively charged electrromagnetic energy, measurable by piezo-electric constant. This energy is passed on to the dilute, which becomes charged.  Succussion is the amplification of that energy.
FACT 16:  Homeopathic medicines are made using the original substance, plus 40% alcohol as a preservative and 60% distilled water or 50/50 of each.
FACT 17:  There are no molecules in any homoeopathic dilution, because the substances have been reduced to nano-phase, which is smaller than a molecule.
FACT 18:  There are more than 4,000 homeopathic medicines.
FACT 19:  In 2006, an Arnica gel product was the first homeopathic product to be registered by the MHRA.   http://www.mhra.gov.uk/NewsCentre/Pressreleases/CON2025160
FACT 20:  Homeopathy works very FAST in acute illnesses, more gradually in chronic illness.
FACT 21:  High fevers can be lowered within minutes by taking the proper homeopathic medicine.
FACT 22:  Homeopathic remedies are inexpensive to produce and buy.
FACT 23:  Some practitioners experiment by making homeopathic medicines using a radionics machine.
http://www.homeopathyheals.me.uk/site/featured/317-homeopathy-and-radionics
FACT 24:  Homeopathic medicines have no toxic side-effects.
FACT 25:  Homeopathic medicines are NON-ADDICTIVE.
FACT 26:  Homeopathic medicines work well for small babies, animals and plants, showing this cannot be placebo effect.
FACT 27:  Homeopathy is safe for women to take during pregnancy and safe for old people.
FACT 28:  There are thousands of text books on homeopathic medicine, available at specialist outlets, which record historical evidence of homeopathic cures for a vast number of conditions.
FACT 29:  Homeopathic medicine has been proven extremely effective in Epidemics such as cholera, typhoid, diptheria, yellow fever, polio and influenza and used extensively in the 19th century.  http://www.whale.to/v/winston.html
http://www.wholehealthnow.com/homeopathy_pro/hahnemann_rev1.html
“In the 1918 flu pandemic homeopaths reported around 1% mortality in their cases, while conventional doctors were losing 30% of their patients. “

http://www.examiner.com/holistic-science-spirit-in-national/swine-flu-cure-used-during-1918-flu-pandemic

FACT 30:  Homeopathy prevented a Leptospirosis Epidemic in Cuba for over 2.4 million people with only 10 reported cases.  99% success rate.  http://www.homeopathyeurope.org/news-and-press/news/stunning-cuban-experiences-on-leptospirosis
FACT 31:  Nearly every substance on the Periodic Table has been made into a homeopathic medicine.
Homeopathy for Animals and Agriculture
FACT 32:  Homeopathic medicines are used successfully for treating disease in animals, proving that there is no placebo effect.  http://www.homeopathyheals.me.uk/site/featured/185-homoeopathy-on-the-farm-works-for-animals
FACT 33:  Homeopathy is used to treat the cows at Yeo Valley Organic Farms.
http://pastebin.com/xZvyymdT
FACT 34:  There are courses on homeopathy for farmers.http://www.hawl.co.uk/homoeopathic-vets/
and in 2010 Christine Lees was the Farmers Weekly Livestock Adviser of the Year finalist with advice on homeopathy for animals.  http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2010/08/16/122560/2010-FW-Awards-Livestock-Adviser-of-the-Year-finalist-Christine.htm
FACT 35:  There is a list of homeopathic vets at the British Association of  Veterinary Surgeons who treat all animals http://www.bahvs.com/
FACT 36:   Homeopathic medicines are used in agriculture, known as Agrohomeopathy.
http://www.hpathy.com/papersnew/moreno-agrohomeopathy.asp
FACT 37:  Wine is produced from grapes using 100% homeopathic agriculture.
http://popsop.com/42532
Homeopathic Hospitals
FACT 38:  There were once fourteen Homeopathic Hospitals in Britain.
http://www.homeopathyheals.me.uk/site/homeopathic-hospitals-nhs/237-there-were-fourteen-homeopathic-hospitals-in-britain
FACT 39:  In the USA, by 1900 there were 22 homeopathic medical schools, more than 100 homeopathic hospitals, over 60 orphan asylums and old people's homes, and more than 1,000 homeopathic pharmacies. http://www.homeopathic.com/Articles/Introduction_to_Homeopathy/A_Condensed_History_of_Homeopathy.html
FACT 40:  In 1854 there was a cholera epidemic in London.  When the House of Commons asked to see a report about the methods of treatment, patients who had received homeopathic treatment at the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital were not included. The House of Lords demanded an explanation and it was shown that under conventional medical care the death rate was 59.2 per cent but for patients under homeopathic care, only 9 per cent.
FACT 41:  There were homeopathic hospitals in France, with Neuilly treating soldiers in WW1.
http://www.homeoint.org/cazalet/neuilly/index.htm
FACT 42:  Homeopathy in Russia dates back to 1824.
http://ollo.norna.ru/eng/arts/history.htm
http://www.homeoint.org/books4/kotok/index.htm
FACT 43:  At one of the earliest debates on the NHS Act of 1948 the Government pledged that homoeopathy would continue to be available on the NHS, as long as there were "patients wishing to receive it and doctors willing to provide it".
http://sueyounghistories.com/archives/2008/02/05/aneurin-bevan-and-homeopathy/
FACT 44:  There are now only four homeopathic hospitals in the Britain - in London, Bristol, Liverpool and Glasgow.  The total cost to the NHS in 2010 was around £4 million a year compared to over £100 billion for the total annual NHS budget!
FACT 45:  The cost of homeopathic medicine to the NHS in 2010 was £57,000 per annum compared to £11 billion for pharmaceutical medicine.
FACT 46:  In March 2007 -  208 MPs signed Early Day Motion 1240 to save the  NHS Homeopathic Hospitals.http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=33006
FACT 47:  In November 2005, the Bristol Homeopathic Hospital published a study of 6500 patients who had received homeopathic treatment showing an overall improvement in health for 70% of them.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/4454856.stm
http://www.trusthomeopathy.org/research/homeopathic_hospitals/Bristol_study.html
FACT 48:  In a survey of 500 patients at the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital, 72% of reported being able to stop or reduce their conventional medication.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmsctech/45/4504.htm#note102
FACT 49:  In 2010, spending on homeopathy in Scotland was a third of the rest of the UK with an annual total of 60,000 prescriptions and the Scottish Government backing the funding.   Evidence for Homeopathy from the Glasgow Homeopathy Hospital
http://www.adhom.com/adh_download/EVIDENCE_9.0_Sept_06.pdf
FACT 50:  In 2010, 55,000 patients were treated on the NHS with homeopathic medicine
On average, 70% of follow-up patients seen at the homeopathic hospitals report a positive outcome from homeopathic treatment.
http://www.britishhomeopathic.org/research/homeopathic_hospitals/
FACT 51:  Homeopathic hospitals SAVE money for the NHS, as the Smallwood report commissioned by Prince Charles has demonstrated in 2005.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4312780.stm
FACT 52:  Homeopathic Hospitals are clean, friendly, with well informed staff and patients are generally pleased with their treatment.  The chances of contracting MRSA or C. Difficile at a Homeopathic Hospital are extremely rare.
Orthodox Medicine Opposing Homeopathy
FACT 53:  After its formation in 1847, members of the American Medical Association had great animosity towards homeopathy and decided to purge all local medical societies of physicians who were homeopaths.
FACT 54:  In 1847, the American Medical Association published a code of ethics which stated that physicians would lose their membership if they consulted with a homeopath.  At an AMA meeting, Dr. J.N. McCormack of Kentucky, who was the driving force behind the 1903 reorganisation of the AMA, said: ‘We must admit that we never fought the homeopath on matters of principle.  We fought him because he came into the community and got the business.’
FACT 55:  In 1858 the British Medical Association also passed internal rules that forbade their members from practising homeopathy or even consulting with a homeopath.
FACT 56:  In 1910, vigorous attempts to stamp out homeopathy were stepped up in the USA when the Carnegie Foundation commissioned a report by Abraham Flexner, who was chosen to reform American medical education.  The report was an evaluation of US medical schools and it gave the homeopathic and herbal colleges a bad rating.  In 1900 there had been 22 homeopathic colleges but only two were left in 1923.
FACT 57:  In 2005 the World Health Organisation brought out a draft report which showed homeopathy was beneficial causing Big Pharma to panic and the Lancet to bring out an editorial entitled ‘The End of Homeopathy’.
FACT 58:  At the end of August 2005 the Lancet looked at eight inconclusive trials out of 110, of which 102 were positive. "The meta-analysis at the centre of the controversy is based on 110 placebo-controlled clinical trials of homeopathy and 110 clinical trials of allopathy (conventional medicine), which are said to be matched. These were reduced to 21 trials of homeopathy and 9 of conventional medicine of ‘higher quality’ and further reduced to 8 and 6 trials, respectively, which were ‘larger, higher quality’. The final analysis which concluded that ‘the clinical effects of homoeopathy are placebo effects’ was based on just the eight ‘larger, higher quality’ clinical trials of homeopathy. The Lancet's press release did not mention this, instead giving the impression that the conclusions were based on all 110 trials."
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1375230
FACT 59:  In 2006 there was a campaign by UK Professors to oust homeopathy completely from the NHS. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article1827553.ece
and in 2007 they sent a document on NHS headed paper to all Primary Care Trusts telling managers not to refer patients to the homeopathic hospitals.  http://dcscience.net/homeopathy_paper_for_nhs_commissioners.pdf
FACT 60:  There are a few hundred Skeptics who spend their time attacking homeopathy on their blogs and websites, especially in the UK.
FACT 61:  In February 2010, the House of Commons Science & Technology Committee called for an end to funding for homeopathy on the NHS after conducting an Evidence Check in November 2009.
Science & Technology Committee Evidence Check on Homeopathy
Wednesday 25th November 2009
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=5221
Monday 30th November 2009
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=5257
FACT 62:  Only half of the 14 Members of the Science and Technology Committee actually attended the two oral hearings and those MPs who attended appeared to have little knowledge or understanding of it.
Of the nine witnesses at the first hearing, only two who had any relevant qualifications - Dr. Peter Fisher, the Queen’s physician and Clinical Director of the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital and Dr. Robert Mathie, Research Development Adviser of the British Homeopathic Association.  There was noone called to represent patients.
FACT 63:  Their Report was voted on by just five of its fourteen members, with only three MPs ratifying it. http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-archive/science-technology/s-t-homeopathy-inquiry/
http://vonsyhomeopathy.wordpress.com/2010/02/27/stop-funding-nhs-homeopathy-mps-urge-who-are-these-mps/#more-293
Science & Technology Committee Evidence Check on Homeopathy
REPORT - 22nd February 2010
Evidence Check - 33 Conclusionshttp://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmsctech/45/4504.htm
FACT 64:  Out of a total of 66 written submissions to the Committee, nearly 40 compiled by the homeopathic profession that were positive about homeopathy, was not properly considered.  Written Submissions:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmsctech/45/4510.htm
FACT 65:  In May 2010 The British Medical Association called homeopathy Witchcraft
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/alternativemedicine/7728281/Homeopathy-is-witchcraft-say-doctors.html
FACT 66:  In July 2010 the UK Government came out in favour of continuing the NHS Funding for homeopathy.
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_117810
FACT 67:  According to BMJ only 11% of NHS treatments are found to be evidence-based medicine with any benefit.  http://clinicalevidence.bmj.com/ceweb/about/knowledge.jsp
FACT 68:  Hundreds of medical doctors have converted to Homeopathy
http://sueyounghistories.com/page/2/?s=Doctors+converted+to+homeopathy
FACT 69:  Unlike orthodox medicine, where the bill for claims for side-effects of pharmaceutical medicines runs into millions, a leading UK insurance company reported only ‘a couple’ of insurance claims against homeopaths in a ten year period!  Hence insurance cover for homeopathy is around £70 per year, reflecting low risk.
FACT 70:  In 200 years, there has never been a single homeopathic medicine recalled, unlike many pharmaceutical medicines.
FACT 71:  The pharmaceutical industry does not want the Public to discover that homeopathy works!
Scientific Studies
FACT 72:  In 1985 French scientist Jacques Benveniste published his ‘Memory of Water’ research in Nature.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWYlMSHOGBw
http://www.lancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2804%2917339-X/fulltext
FACT 73:  The first clinical RCT trials of medicine where undertaken by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann and used in Provings of medicines.  50 – 100 volunteer Provers took the 30c potency of a medicine every two hours until they started experiencing symptoms which were carefully recorded. The group supervisors collected all the data and delivered it to the Proving Master, who was the only person who knew the name of the medicine under trial. That way, all bias was removed.
FACT 74:   In the past 24 years there have been many clinical trials that prove homeopathy works. there have been more than 180 controlled, and 118 randomized, trials into homeopathy, which were analysed by four separate meta-analyses.  In each case, the researchers concluded that the benefits of homeopathy went far beyond that which could be explained purely by the placebo effect.
http://avilian.co.uk/2008/08/scientific-research-and-homeopathy-overview/
http://drnancymalik.wordpress.com/article/scientific-research-in-homeopathy/
FACT 75:  In 2004 Rustum Roy published The Structure Of Liquid Water; Novel Insights From Materials Research; Potential Relevance To HomeopathyRustum Roy1, W.A. Tiller2, Iris Bell3, M. R. Hoover4    http://www.rustumroy.com/Roy_Structure%20of%20Water.pdf
FACT 76:  After carefully studying the structure of homeopathic medicines, a team of researchers from Pennsylvania State University and the University of Arizona reported that by using 'spectroscopy' these researchers were able to see distinct structural differences between a homeopathic remedy and plain water, between one remedy and another remedy and between different potencies of the same remedy. Equally important, they replicated the results many times over.  The researchers noted that the spectography of the remedies revealed the spectogram of the diluted substance, instead of water.   www.bodyandsoulclinic.blogspot.com/2007/09/groundbreaking-research-regarding.html
FACT 77:  In 2008, a major CAM Pilot Project, implemented by Get Well UK, was commissioned by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in two primary care trusts in Northern Ireland.  There was a 79% improvement in the level of health for those who had homeopathic treatment. (see page 31 for Homeopathy)  http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/final_report_from_smr_on_the_cam_pilot_project_-_may_2008.pdf
FACT 78:  In 2001 Professor Madeleine Ennis of Queen's University Belfast finds homeopathy works.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2001/mar/15/technology2
FACT 79:  In 2009 Nobel Prizewinner Luc Montagnier Proves Homeopathy Works   http://avilian.co.uk/2009/09/luc-montagnier-foundation-proves-homeopathy-works/
FACT 80:  There are more than 90 homeopathic trials on animals
http://avilian.co.uk/2008/08/scientific-research-and-homeopathy-animal-studies/
FACT 81:  Homeopathy can never be properly tested through double blind randomised trials because each prescription is individualised.  Therefore 10 people with arthritis may all need a different homeopathic medicine.
Homeopathic Practitioners
FACT 82:  The homeopathic physician endeavours to search for and remove the cause of the disease in order to heal the EFFECT of it.
FACT 83:  Homeopathic Practitioners train for three to four years.  They study anatomy and physiology, as well as pathology and disease, Materia Medica, Homeopathic Philosophy and the Homeopathic Repertory.
FACT 84:  Most homeopaths treat patients who have been referred to them by
word of mouth.  Most patients seek out homeopathy because conventional treatment has not benefitted them or because it poses too great a risk of side-effects.
FACT 85:  The homeopathic community has thousands, even millions, of
written case notes that demonstrate the positive benefits of their treatment. Some homeopaths have video proof of their patients before and after treatment.
FACT 86:  Homeopaths charge patients an average of £50 an hour, whereas specialist
Doctors can charge up to £200 or more.
Popularity of Homeopathy
FACT 87:  According to the WHO, homeopathy is the 2nd most popular and widely used medicine in the world.
FACT 88:  The popularity of homeopathy has grown in the past 30 years, its revival entirely through word of mouth and estimated to be growing at more than 20% a year the world over!
FACT 89:  Hundreds of famous people throughout the past 200 years have enjoyed the benefits of homeopathic medicine.  www.homeopathicrevolution.com
FACT 90:  Many of the famous swore by it including writers Charles Dickens, William Thackeray, George Bernard Shaw; artists such as Renoir, van Gogh, Monet and Gaugin and the composers Beethoven, Chopin and Schumann, to name a few.
FACT 91:  Nowadays many modern celebrities opt to use homeopathic preparations.
http://www.ok.co.uk/body/view/1374/Back-to-nature/
FACT 92:  The aristocratic patronage of homeopathy in the UK extended well into the 1940s and beyond can be easily demonstrated.  In the Homeopathic Medical Directories there are lists of patrons of the dispensaries and hospitals.  www.homeopathyhome.com/reference/articles/ukhomhistory.shtml
http://www.homeoint.org/morrell/articles/pm_arist.htm
FACT 93:  The Royal Families of Europe use homeopathic medicine and Queen Elizabeth II of England is reputed to never travel anywhere without her homeopathic medicines.
FACT 94:  Homeopathy is practised nowadays in countries all over the world.
FACT 95:  In India there are 100 homeopathic medical schools, around 400,000 registered homeopathic doctors with approximately 13,000 being added every year!  There were 28 homoeopathic dispensaries in Delhi in 1978 and now 78. The number of patients taking homeopathic medicines has increased from around 800,000 patients in 1997 to 13,62,174 patients in 2006.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/savvy-marketing-sees-surge-in-alternative-therapies/66042/on
FACT 96:100 million Europeans use homeopathy – 29% of the EU population.
65% of Europeans have declared they have used homoeopathic medicine and 45% have declared that they are satisfied to use it again.
http://www.homeopathy-ecch.org/
FACT 97:  Homeopathic medicine is used in France by a third of the French population.  Almost all French pharmacies dispense it with its use covered by state social security.  In 2004, 62% of French mothers used homeopathic medicines in the previous 12 months. A survey of French pharmacists in 2004 found that 94.5 per cent. reported advising pregnant women to use homeopathic medicines. 70% of French doctors are receptive to homeopathy and consider it effective and at least 25,000 of them prescribe homeopathic medicines for their patients.  http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=40806&SESSION=903
FACT 98:  In Germany 20% of doctors treat patients with homeopathy.
FACT 99:  In the Netherlands 47% of doctors treat patients with homeopathy.
FACT 100:  In a 2008 Global TGI survey where people were asked whether they trust homeopathy the following percentages of people living in urban areas said YES:  62% in India, 58% Brazil, 53% Saudi Arabia, Chile 49%, United Arab Emirates 49%, France 40%, South Africa 35%, Russia 28%, Germany 27%, Argentina 25%, Hungary 25%, USA 18%, UK 15%. http://www.tgisurveys.com/documents/TGIbarometerhomeopathy_Jan08.pdf
FACT 101: The media as a whole has been unwilling to air a proper defence of the efficacy of homeopathy and the validity of this 200 year old profession.
Please put up on as many websites as possible!…Louise Mclean

Little Known Historical Facts about Homeopathy

by Louise Mclean
May 24, 2006

Sent to: letters@thetimes.co.uk

Sir,

In view of the recent press coverage of the speech of the Prince of Wales at the WHO conference, I would like to point out some little known historical facts concerning homeopathy. 

Firstly, provision for homeopathic medicine in Britain has always been part of the National Health Service since it began in 1948, there currently being 5 homeopathic hospitals under the NHS. 

The practice of homeopathic medicine flourished in both Europe and the US during the late 1800s and early 1900s and was spectacularly popular with European royalty and British aristocracy, American entrepreneurs, literary giants, and religious leaders. It is also practised nowadays in countries in South America and is especially popular in India with one hundred (four year) homeopathic medical schools and more than 220,000 homeopathic doctors.

In the United States in the early 1900s there were 22 homeopathic medical schools and over 100 homeopathic hospitals, 60 orphanages and old people's homes and 1,000+ homeopathic pharmacies. Members of the American Medical Association had great animosity towards homeopathy after its formation in 1847 and it was decided to purge all local medical societies of physicians who were homeopaths. This purge was successful in every state except Massachusetts because homoepathy was so strong among the elite of Boston. 

The AMA wanted to keep homoepaths out of their societies and discourage any type of association with homeopaths. In 1855 the AMA established a code of ethics which stated that orthodox physicians would lose their membership if they even consulted with a homeopath. If a physician lost his membership, it meant that in some States he no longer had a licence to practice medicine. 

Drug companies were antagonistic towards homeopathy, collectively trying to suppress it. The medical journals they published were used as mouthpieces against homeopathy and in support of orthodox medicine. 

At an AMA meeting, a respected orthodox physician said: 'We must admit that we never fought the homeopath on matters of principles; we fought him because he came into the community and got the business.' Economic issues played a major role in what was allowed to be practised. 

Homeopathy attracted support from many of the most respected members of society in the US, such as William James, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Louisa M. Alcott, Mark Twain and in Britain among its supporters were Charles Dickens, W.B. Yeats, William Thackarey, Benjamin Disraeli, Yehudi Menuhin. Other famous supporters were Dostoevsky, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Mahatma Ghandi. 

The aristocratic patronage of homeopathy in the UK extending well into the 1940's and beyond can be easily demonstrated. In the Homeopathic Medical Directories there are lists of patrons of the dispensaries and hospitals. They read like an extract from Burkes or Debretts. (See A History of Homeopathy in Britain by Peter Morrell, Honorary Research Associate in the History of Medicine, Staffordshire University, UK. www.homeopathyhome.com/reference/articles/ukhomhistory.shtml ) 

John D. Rockefeller referred to it as 'a progressive and aggressive step in medicine' and was under homeopathic care throughout the latter part of his life living to 99 years of age. A strong advocate of homeopathy, major grants of between $300-$400 million he intended for homeopathic institutions were instead used for orthodox medical institutions in the early 1900s, under pressure from his son and his financial advisor, Frederick Gates.

Why the Constant Attacks Against Homeopathy?

by  Louise Mclean - 1^st October 2010
When the Government recently decided to support patient choice and continue funding homeopathy on the NHS, there were howls of outrage from leading medics and skeptics alike.  Its statement published at the end of July appeared to ignore the Chief Scientific Advisor’s advice, as well as an Evidence Check Report published last February by the House of Commons’ Science and Technology Committee.

In its response to the conclusions of the Report, the Government decided to continue paying around £4 million a year to keep homeopathy available to NHS patients.  This was great news for those who choose it but the British Medical Association (BMA) were not impressed.  At their annual conference in July they had voted against the funding, despite the fact that the founder of our public health service, Labour MP Aneurin Bevan, had pledged his commitment to homeopathy at the birth of the NHS in 1948.

Nowadays, millions of  people around the world use homeopathic medicines.  One million people in Europe take it, with almost all French pharmacies dispensing homeopathic remedies and 70 per cent of French doctors considering it effective.  In Germany 20 per cent of doctors treat patients with homeopathy and in the Netherlands 47 per cent.  In India there are 400,000 homeopathic doctors with 13,000 graduating every year!  Its popularity continues to grow, making it a threat to the powerful pharmaceutical industry.
Huge savings could be made if more patients went to homeopathic doctors and practitioners.  For example, the cost of treating asthma on the NHS is £1 billion annually, yet many people have been cured after having homeopathic treatment.  Angela Byrne, 44, from Surrey, suffered since the age of 16, her asthma becoming full blown by the age of 26.  For the next 14 years she ended up using two inhalers.  ‘When I was 40, I went for homeopathic treatment and for the past four years, I have no longer needed any medication whatsoever when my symptoms disappeared for good!’

A new row broke out recently when the BMA uncovered the fact that spending on homeopathy in Scotland is double that of the rest of the UK.  This amounts to an annual total of 60,000 prescriptions with the Scottish Government backing the funding.

It was revealed in a programme aired on BBC Scotland on 13^th September entitled ‘Magic or Medicine’.  The overall water theme of the programme was an attempt to emphasise the notion that homeopathy is nothing more than water, which completely missed the fact that all remedies are made using one-third alcohol as a preservative, an integral part of the preparation!  Dr. Ben Goldacre, a health journalist who wrote a book called Bad Science debunking homeopathy, asserted that homeopathic medicines work only through the placebo effect, though the question would then arise as to whether pharmaceutical drugs work in a similar manner.

When the Commons’ Science and Technology Committee conducted its Evidence Check last November, it also concluded the action of placebo effect.  Yet the fact that homeopathy successfully treats animals, tends to discount this, through at least 85 animal studies.

Only half of the 14 Members of the Science and Technology Committee actually attended the two oral hearings and those MPs who did, appeared to have little knowledge or understanding of it.  Of the nine witnesses called at the first hearing, the only two who had any relevant qualifications were Dr. Peter Fisher, the Queen’s physician and Clinical Director of the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital and Dr. Robert Mathie, Research Development Adviser of the British Homeopathic Association.
The Commons’ Committee Report was voted on by just five of its fourteen members, with only three MPs ratifying it, yet next day the headline went round the world proclaiming: 'MPs call for an End to Homeopathy on the NHS', based on just three votes!

In addition, out of a total of 66, nearly 40 positive written submissions compiled by the homeopathic profession, did not seem to have been properly considered by the Committee.  There was also noone called to represent patients.

Homeopathy has always provoked violent reactions and efforts to try to ban it are not new.  In 1858 the British Medical Association passed internal rules that forbade their members from practising it or even consulting with a homeopath.

In 1847, the American Medical Association published a code of ethics which also stated that physicians would lose their membership if they consulted with a homeopath.  At an AMA meeting, Dr. J.N. McCormack of Kentucky, who was the driving force behind the 1903 reorganisation of the AMA, said: ‘We must admit that we never fought the homeopath on matters of principle.  We fought him because he came into the community and got the business.’

So why does the medical establishment feel so threatened by this gentle form of treatment which is cheap, can be used by pregnant women, babies and the elderly with few, if any, side effects and people swearing by its effectiveness?

In fact it was so popular that during the mid-1800s there were 100 homeopathic hospitals and 1,000 homeopathic pharmacies in America.  In Britain there were 100 homeopathic dispensaries as well as a total of 14 homeopathic hospitals!  There was also a strong following in Europe by royalty and the aristocracy.
Many of the famous swore by it including writers Charles Dickens, William Thackeray, George Bernard Shaw; artists such as Renoir, van Gogh, Monet and Gaugin and the composers Beethoven, Chopin and Schumann, to name a few.  Are we expected to believe these cultural giants were deluded into taking placebos?

During these times homeopathic medicines also proved to be extremely effective in treating epidemics throughout Europe, Britain and America, such as scarlet fever, cholera, typhoid, diptheria, yellow fever, polio and influenza.

In 1854 there was a cholera epidemic in London but when the House of Commons asked to see a report about the methods of treatment, patients who had received homeopathic treatment at the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital, were not included. The House of Lords then demanded an explanation and it was later shown that under conventional medical care the death rate was 59.2 per cent but for patients under homeopathic care, only 9 per cent!

Vigorous attempts to stamp out homeopathy were stepped up in 1910 when the Carnegie Foundation commissioned a report by Abraham Flexner, a prominent figure chosen to reform American medical education.  This report was an evaluation of US medical schools and it gave the homeopathic and herbal colleges a bad rating.  In 1900 there had been 22 homeopathic colleges but only two were left in 1923.
Despite what critics say, there have been a great number of trials and studies on homeopathy over the past 20 years.  In 2007, the largest one ever undertaken was of 2.3 million people in Cuba.  An epidemic of leptospirosis was prevented during the flooding season when the Cuban government decided to treat the entire population of the worst affected provinces with a homeopathic medicine, due to a shortage of vaccines.

Leptospirosis is an infectious disease of a bacteria called spirochete caused by ingesting contaminated water or food during periods of heavy rain and flooding.  It can lead to inflammation of the nerves of the eyes and brain as well as meningitis.  Right upper area abdominal pain may occur and less common symptoms relate to disease of the liver, lungs, kidneys, and heart.

The Finlay Institute in Cuba prepared the remedy Leptospira 200c using four circulating strains and people were given two doses taken seven days apart. Within a few weeks, the number of cases had fallen by nearly 90 per cent to only four cases per 100,000 per week.  The 8.8 million population of the other provinces did not receive homeopathic treatment and the incidence was as forecast.

Many eminent scientists and doctors vehemently dislike homeopathy because it challenges their scientific viewpoint and they would rather close their minds and deny it. Yet the spirit of science demands experimentation and investigation.  The truth is that the history of homeopathy is littered with scores of conventional medical practitioners who converted to using it.

Dr. Brian Kaplan of Harley Street, London, is one such convert.  He first discovered homeopathy in 1981 just after he had qualified as a doctor.  "I wandered into a bookshop and a paperback caught my eye. It was called Homeopathy by a Dr. A.C. Gordon-Ross.  I had heard of homeopathy but never dreamt that it was used by doctors. I was entranced by the story of Dr. Gordon-Ross and realised that I would have to look into this.”

“I had found medicine fascinating but ultimately too mechanistic.  The theory of homeopathy felt intuitively correct.  It made sense in most cases to try to stimulate the body's natural healing ability to do the job itself.  I saw some results in my early days as a homeopathic doctor that really blew me away!  This is the story that you will hear from many homeopathic doctors.”

“When I first began studying homeopathy, I had to have four wisdom teeth out under local anaesthetic. They were hard to get out and my mouth was left bruised and bleeding.  I couldn't even eat that evening.  I took Arnica 200c and Hypericum 10M, using Hypercal solution to rinse my mouth. When I woke up the next morning I couldn’t believe the result!  I had no discomfort at all.  I simply couldn't believe how dramatically I had responded.”

He continued:  “When working at a charity clinic I inherited a patient whose arthritis had consistently responded to Argentum Metallicum 6c.  One day she came to me in great consternation because the pills had not worked at all.  I asked to see the bottle of pills, which she happened to have on her.  They were a different remedy, Argentum Nitricum 6c.  This showed me that homeopathy was not placebo.”
The question must be asked why so much time, effort and money is being put into attacking homeopathy?  If it really was just harmless sugar pills, what would be the point?  If millions of people say it worked for them, can this all really only be ‘anecdotal evidence’?

In fact homeopathy is actually based upon sound scientific principles. Discovered by German doctor Samuel Hahnemann over 200 years ago, he was the first doctor to conduct trials on medicines!  In his first experiment, though perfectly healthy at the time, he found that by giving himself repeated doses of cinchona bark (quinine), he brought on all the symptoms of a malaria attack -  fever with heat and chills.
He then wondered if a substance that could cause a disease might cure it by using tiny doses, which he found to be the case.  This is healing according to the Law of Similars or ‘like cures like’, described by the Greek physician Hippocrates as far back as the 4^th century BC.  Orthodox medicine generally utilises the Law of Opposites, i.e. antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, antidepressants, antihistamines, etc.

Hahnemann set about discovering the healing properties of plants, metals and minerals by testing them on himself and on healthy volunteers or ‘Provers’, recording all the symptoms that each substance caused.  He even created a ‘Provers Union’!

After some years of practising, Hahnemann found that the tiny doses of substances he was using, were still causing side effects.  He noticed that by serially diluting and succussing a substance (shaking and striking the phial a number of times between numerical potencies), it became safer to use on the sick. He found unwanted side effects disappeared and medicines were made more effective.

Hahnemann went on to test hundreds of substances on himself and healthy volunteer Provers, matching the tested substances to heal symptoms in his patients and all the while keeping accounts of detailed observations.  Far from being ideas-based, this is completely evidence-based, empirical medicine - an almost unique concept at that time.

© Louise Mclean 2010

Scientific Research in Homeopathy

Triple Blind studies, Double-Blind Randomised Placebo-Controlled Trial, Systematic Reviews & Meta Analysis, Evidence-base

120+ studies in support of homeopathy medicine published in 40+ peer-reviewed international journals
http://knol.google.com/k/dr-nancy-malik-bhms/scientific-research-in-homeopathy/pocy7w49ru14/2

Nobel Prizewinner Luc Montagnier Proves Homeopathy Works
http://avilian.co.uk/2009/09/luc-montagnier-foundation-proves-homeopathy-works/

The Structure Of Liquid Water; Novel Insights From Materials Research; Potential Relevance To Homeopathy Rustum Roy1, W.A. Tiller2, Iris Bell3, M. R. Hoover4  http://www.rustumroy.com/Roy_Structure%20of%20Water.pdf 
Groundbreaking Research regarding Homeopathy using spectroscopy  www.bodyandsoulclinic.blogspot.com/2007/09/groundbreaking-research-regarding.html

Homeopathy in India
400,000 registered homoeopaths in India, with approximately 13,000 more being added every year.  'There were 28 homoeopathic dispensaries in Delhi in 1978 and the number now has gone up to 78. The number of patients taking homeopathic medicines has increased from around 800,000 patients in 1997 to 13,62,174 patients in 2006, she adds.'
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/savvy-marketing-sees-surge-in-alternative-therapies/66042/on

100 million Europeans use homeopathy – 29% of EU population.
http://www.homeopathy-ecch.org/
Homeopathy Works for 100 Million Europeans 
http://www.irishdigest.com/?p=5389
Homeopathy in France
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=40807&SESSION=903

Homeopathy on the NHS

Aneurin Bevan 1897-1960 supported homeopathy on formation of NHS 1948

http://sueyounghistories.com/archives/2008/02/05/aneurin-bevan-and-homeopathy/
Study of 6,500 patients over a 6-year period conducted byBristol Homeopathic Hospital. 70% of follow-up patients reported improved health, 50% reported a major improvement
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/4454856.stm  http://www.trusthomeopathy.org/research/homeopathic_hospitals/Bristol_study.html
A survey of 500 patients at theRoyal London Homeopathic Hospital showed that 72% of patients reported being able to stop or reduce their conventional medication
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmsctech/45/4504.htm#note102
Studies at the Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital
http://www.adhom.com/adh_download/EVIDENCE_9.0_Sept_06.pdf
Northern Ireland: Complementary and Alternative Medicines Pilot Project (see page 31)   In 2008, a major CAM Pilot Project, implemented by Get Well UK, was commissioned by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in two primary care trusts in Northern Ireland.  There was a 79% improvement in the level of health for those who had homeopathic treatment (page 31).
http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/final_report_from_smr_on_the_cam_pilot_project_-_may_2008.pdf
Homeopathic hospitals SAVE money for the NHS, as the Smallwood report commissioned by Prince Charles has demonstrated.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4312780.stm   Alternative therapies could save the NHS money - Christopher Smallwood report commissioned by Prince Charles - original report
http://research.freshminds.co.uk/files/u1/freshminds_report_complimentarymedicine.pdf

NHS referrals to homeopathy

http://www.britishhomeopathic.org/media_centre/facts_about_homeopathy/nhs_referrals.html
55,000 patients last year treated on the NHS with homeopathic medicine
On average, 70% of follow-up patients seen at the homeopathic hospitals report a positive outcome from homeopathic treatment.
http://www.britishhomeopathic.org/research/homeopathic_hospitals/

NHS Homeopathic Hospitals - Early Day Motion 1240 – 208 MPs signed  - March 2007
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=33006
Fourteen Homeopathic Hospitals in Britain http://www.homeoint.org/morrell/londonhh/outbreak.htmhttp://www.homeoint.org/morrell/londonhh/munoffer.htm

Homeopathy in Epidemics
Homeopathy in Epidemics  http://www.whale.to/v/winston.html
On the Genus Epidemicushttp://www.wholehealthnow.com/homeopathy_pro/wt10.html
Successful Use of Homeopathy in Over 2.5 Million People Reported from Cubahttp://homeopathyresource.wordpress.com/2009/01/01/successful-use-of-homeopathy-in-over-5-million-people-reported-from-cuba/
Cuba prevents annual epidemic among 2.5m people using homeopathy http://www.irishhomeopaths.com/homeopathy-cuba

Evidence Check 2: Homeopathy - Science and Technology Committee
Evidence Check Inquiry
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmsctech/45/4503.htm
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmsctech/45/45.pdf 
Science & Technology Committee
Evidence Check on Homeopathy
Wednesday 25th November 2009
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=5221 
Monday 30th November 2009
http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=5257 
Written Submissions:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmsctech/memo/homeopathy/contents.htm
 
Full List of the 14 Members of the House of Commons Science & Technology Committee
http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/science_technology/science_technology_members.cfm
 
Science & Technology Committee Evidence Check on Homeopathy REPORT - 22nd February 2010 
(Formal Minutes of meeting 8th February 2010 - see page 48) 
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmsctech/45/45.pdf
 

Evidence Check 33 Conclusions http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmsctech/45/4504.htm 

BIG PHARMA KNOWS HOMEOPATHY WORKS

23 August 2012

Over the past ten years there has been a concerted effort to attack homeopathy in every conceivable way, calling it ‘sugar pills’, ‘witchcraft’, ‘placebo medicine’, ‘woo medicine’, and far more besides.  The latest ploy is to say that patients are not getting ‘real medicine’ and could be at grave risk as a result.

Big Pharma with deep pockets, massive media influence and PR companies at their beck and call, have devised every way they can think of to stamp homeopathy out and trash it in the minds of the public.

Skeptic organisations such as the Randi Foundation in the US have been set up and anonymously funded.  Sense about Science is used in the UK, its funding traced to pharmaceutical and vested interests.  Healthwatch is one of the older organisations created for this purpose.  All of these and a number of prominent journalists are used to attack not just homeopathy but all natural medicine.  But the venomous media attacks are at their most vicious when it comes to homeopathy because it is alternative medicine and it works very well.

It has recently been revealed that top executives in pharmaceutical companies also sit on the boards of media companies – hence their ability to influence the press and the articles to be published.

Now, why would there seriously be so much money spent on trying to destroy homeopathy?  What would be the point if it really was just complete nonsense as is made out?  Is it really that the public are such fools and need to be better informed by the drugs companies and medical fraternity?  That would mean the millions of people around the world whose ailments had been cured using it were wrong.

Homeopathy has been around for over 200 years and there are around 4,000 homeopathic medicines available today.  If it really was complete hogwash, how could it have endured so long.?  How could scores of famous and incredibly intelligent people have used it and sworn by its curative effects?  People such as Charles Dickens, William Thackeray, Henry James, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Dostoevsky, Chekov (who mentions it in his plays) and Bernard Shaw.  Were they foolishly misled?  I seriously doubt it.

No, Big Pharma knows perfectly well that homeopathy works and therefore it is a MASSIVE THREAT to their profits if the public should ever find out that there are homeopathic medicines for just about every disease state or first aid situation.  Yes, you read that correctly. 

Believe it or not, there are people who use homeopathic medicine exclusively.  I mean they never ever take pharmaceutical pills, not even the over the counter ones.  They don’t have a single pharmaceutical pill in their homes – because they don’t NEED to.  There is always a homeopathic pill which will work not only quicker but will remove the problem SO THAT IT DOESN’T EVER COME BACK.

But be warned.  If once a person starts taking pharmaceutical medicine, it hard to ever get off it. It is rare they can ever come off their ‘medication’ because if they do, they will have to cope with the very often horrendous side effects.  Medicine for life?  Great profits for Pharma!

Once the patient starts taking pharmaceutical medicine, very soon new symptoms appear (side effects) and they will have to go on yet another medicine – and so on, and so on.  Not only that, it becomes much harder, and sometimes impossible to treat the patient on prescription drugs because those drugs are working against the homeopathic medicine and against the healing capacity of the human body, whereas homeopathy works WITH the healing capacity of the human body, aiding it back to complete health.

The person who uses only homeopathic medicine can maintain their health into old age, retain their faculties and enjoy their life.  In fact in India where there are hundreds of thousands of homeopathic doctors, there are many people who have never had anything else but homeopathic medicine for their whole lives.  Because of this and the latest news that homeopathic doctors have doubled in the past twenty years, Pharma is making sure loads of negative articles appear about homeopathic doctors to create a bad picture in the minds of the public.

Oh yes, those at the top of the Pharmaceutical Cartel are WELL AWARE that homeopathic medicine works and are doing everything in their power to suppress it at all costs.

The Miracle of Ozone Therapy

By Louise Mclean
(Published in Health Freedom News, National Health Federation - September 2009)

Ozone is probably one of the most miraculous healing therapies available on our planet at this time. Through its oxygenating power, it successfully treats and cures a wide range of serious degenerative conditions including cancer, cardio-vascular disease, diabetes, liver, and kidney disease.

More Than Hot Air

Ozone is very potent electrified or energized oxygen (O3). Oxygen is more essential to life than food and water. Without it, we would die in minutes but in big cities the levels in the air are decreasing, causing widespread ill health. Oxygen is carried to every part of the body by the red blood cells and is essential for the functioning of every cell in the body, as well as stimulating a healthy immune system.

Read rest of story here:
http://www.thenhf.com/article.php?id=2069

Copyright Louise Mclean 2009


For a full history of Ozone Therapy, read this article by “Mister Oxygen” Ed McCabe.

Scientific And Medical References Proving Ozone's Validity As A Medical Treatment http://www.ozonetherapy.co.uk/articles/ed_mccabe_ozone_history_and_references.htm

HOMEOPATHY - Dispelling the MYTHS that Surround it!

by Louise Mclean - May 2008
Published 1st November 2008 Natural News

http://www.naturalnews.com/024670_home_homeopathy_homeopathic.html 

I would like to dispel a plethora of myths surrounding homeopathy which have been used to discredit this highly efficacious healing art and science. Homeopaths are given few opportunities in the media to defend their profession, so many misconceptions abound. The medical profession in general presents a fierce and blinkered opposition, yet as Big Pharma learns of all sorts of amazing cured cases, they are determined to stamp out competition.

Myth No. 1 – Homeopathic medicines cure nothing.

Homeopathy works by stimulating the body’s OWN healing mechanisms, through like for like. A substance that would cause symptoms in a healthy person can be used to cure the same symptoms in a sick person by giving a minute, highly potentised dose of that substance acting as a catalyst to jump start their own healing mechanisms. Everyone of us has our own natural innate healing powers. All that is needed is the correct stimulus to kick start it. In healthy people this may just be rest and good food but many people become 'stuck' in their physical, emotional or mental illness and cannot recover. Of course there are different levels of health and the choice of potency given should reflect that. Low potencies are given for very physically ill people and higher for those whose problems are emotional or of the mind. Homeopathy is very successful in treating emotional problems such as stress, anxiety and fears.

Unlike orthodox medicine, outcomes of homeopathic treatment are measured by the LONG TERM curative effects and the eradication of the disease state culminating in complete restoration of health. If we could have two year trials of outcomes for conditions such as asthma, arthritis and other chronic diseases, this could be proven.

Myth No 2 – Homeopathic medicines are just water

Homeopathic medicines are NOT made using only dilution. Dilution alone would do nothing whatsoever. Many homeopaths are getting tired of reading this highly inaccurate reporting in the media. All homeopathic medicines are made by a process of dilution and SUCCUSSION (potentisation through vigorous shaking - 100 shakes between each potency - i.e. between a 1c and a 2c, between a 2c and a 3c potency, between a 3c and a 4c, etc. etc.) Most homeopathic medicines can be bought in either 6c or 30c from Boots or from health shops. Higher potencies of 200c and 1m (1000c) can be obtained only from homeopathic pharmacies. Succussion is nowadays done by machines, originally by hand. Succussion brings out the formative intelligence of the substance and imprints it upon the 60% distilled water + 40% alcohol medium used to make homeopathic medicines - alcohol acting as a preservative.

Myth No. 3 – homeopathic medicines are unscientific

Homeopathic medicines undergo a scientific 'Proving' where a control group of 50+ healthy volunteers ('Provers') are instructed to keep taking a remedy under trial until they develop symptoms which they must record in detail.  Substances that have been rigorously tested include nearly everything on the Periodic Table - metals, minerals and gases as well as plants and even things like snake venom. 

The Provers are given a bottle of a new remedy being tested in the 30c potency and must keep taking it until they develop symptoms, which  must be carefully recorded and then submitted to a database.  The Provers must be healthy and symptom-free to start with so that the symptoms they experience are new ones CAUSED by the remedy. 

They must keep a careful daily note of what happens and not discuss it with any of the other Provers.  Whatever symptoms the Provers all experienced in common become the black type symptoms of the remedy which are then added to the Materia Medica of homeopathic medicines and Homeopathic Repertory (encyclopedia of symptoms).  Thus the curative indications of a remedy are obtained for clinical use.

  

Symptoms have also been obtained through historical records of accidental poisonings, such as Arsenic and Belladonna.  For example, poisoning by Arsenic causes vomitting, diarrhoea, restlessness, anxiety and extreme chill. Therefore you might get a patient in this state (possibly after food poisoning) and Arsenicum in a homepathic tablet will quickly alleviate them. 

There are more than 4,000+ homeopathic medicines including nearly everything on the periodic table. But of course all of the remedies tested have been diluted and succussed (potentised), so they are not toxic like modern drugs.

The Homeopathic Materia Medica and Repertory are extremely large books or divided into volumes. The Repertory is divided into sections in this order: Mind, Vertigo, Head, Eye, Vision, Ear, Hearing, Nose, Face, Mouth, Teeth, Throat, External Throat, Stomach, Abdomen, Rectum, Stool, Bladder, Kidney, Prostate Gland, Urethra, Urine, Male, Female, Larynx, Respiration, Cough, Expectoration, Chest, Back, Extremities, Sleep, Dreams, Chill, Fever, Perspiration, Skin, Generals.  Obviously some sections are bigger than others! 

In the various Repertories, remedies are listed alongside the full range of symptoms (rubrics) in abbreviated form - all information being systematically taken from Provings and clinical practice. Every human state of mind, emotions and body is listed. Symptoms that would mean nothing to a medical doctor can be looked up and the curative remedy found in these huge books. Homeopathy is a study of human nature, endlessly fascinating and how negative states of mind and emotions affect the physical body culminating in illness.  Nowadays many homeopaths use computer software programmes which contain all this information.

Myth No. 4 – homeopathic practitioners receive inadequate training

In fact all qualified homeopathic practitioners undergo a four year training course at accredited Colleges, which includes Anatomy and Physiology, as well as Pathology and Disease, Materia Medica, Homeopathic Philosophy and study of the Homeopathic Repertory.  Yet medical doctors and nurses treat after much shorter homeopathy courses.  To be really good, you need to study intensively for about 10 years.  Homeopathy is a lifetime's work and you never stop learning. 

Myth No. 5 - there are no studies that prove homeopathy works 

In the past 24 years there have been more than 180 controlled, and 118 randomized, trials into homeopathy, which were analysed by four separate meta-analyses.  In each case, the researchers concluded that the benefits of homeopathy went far beyond that which could be explained purely by the placebo effect.  Another meta-analysis found that 65 of the 89 trials analysed had produced an effect way beyond placebo (source WDDTY www.wddty.co.uk )  

A study of 6500 patients at the Bristol Homeopathic hospital was conducted showing that over 70% of patients reported complete cure or significant improvement of their symptoms.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/4454856.stm 

A study on the properties of water was performed by Dr. Rustrum Roy.  This paper provides an interdisciplinary base of information on the structure of liquid water.

The Structure Of Liquid Water; Novel Insights From Materials Research; Potential Relevance To Homeopathy

Rustum Roy1, W.A. Tiller2, Iris Bell3, M. R. Hoover4

Received: 2 August 2004 Revised: 6 September 2004 Accepted: 14

http://www.rustumroy.com/Roy_Structure%20of%20Water.pdf

http://www.infiniteconferencing.com/Events/nch/051607nch/recording-playback.html

Homeopathy can never be tested properly through conventional trials because each prescription is individualised as every person is unique.  Therefore 10 people with arthritis, for example, may all need a different homeopathic medicine.  So it is far from ideal to follow the allopathic trial paradigm to test homeopathy.  In orthodox medicine trials, all are given the same medicine to be tested.  In homeopathy all may be given different medicines!

Anybody who has an understanding of the principles of homeopathy can be left in no doubt that we are dealing with a scientific therapeutic method in the best possible sense: it is based on observation, facts and phenomena and follows the rules of inductive logic that can be tested in daily practice. It is a comprehensive and comprehensible mode of therapy, which in some countries is first line treatment for the whole range of acute and chronic conditions. It has been proven abundantly that it is superior in the treatment of epidemic diseases to allopathy.

It is amazing how people, who like to see themselves on the side of unprejudiced evaluation, can be so blinkered. People pass judgment on homeopathy who have never bothered to study it. Like any science it takes time to learn (especially to learn it correctly) and years of practice to master but the rewards for patients, practitioners and the NHS purse are great. Before those who preach pure science come down on therapies like homeopathy too heavily, they should ask themselves how many of the accepted treatments within the NHS have a scientific evidence base? 

With every homeopathic medicine we know exactly the substance it was made from, unlike most modern drugs where we have no clue of the ingredients.  This is ironic too as ALL natural health products, whether vitamin, mineral or food supplement must clearly state on the label every single ingredient.  When we go to the supermarket or health food shop, we hold up the packet or bottle and read what is in the product, yet people happily swallow prescription drugs with no idea whatsoever what they have taken!  They could contain cyanide or any poison and the patient would be none the wiser.  With the new class of genetically modified drugs, such as the one used in the Northwick Park drug trial in London, the dangers of a massive allergic reaction, such as the drug testers experienced, are even greater.

Those, who claim to be scientists, should have the ability to at least try to understand different paradigms. If not, they look more like people who have settled on a comfortable view of the world which might soon look very outmoded indeed. As the great musician and conductor Sir Yehudi Menhuin once said: 'Homeopathy is one of the few specialised areas in medicine, which carries no disadvantages but only advantages.'.

Regarding the Horizon programme on homeopathy, Prof. Madeleine Ennis was not involved in the Horizon test. The test was carried out by Wayne Turnbull at Guys hospital, London. It has been conceded that the Horizon test was not an exact replica of Ennis' successful trials. Many of his protocols were different. You can read at this link where he added in an ammonium chloride lysis step which would have ended up killing the very basophils that were such an integral part of the test. http://www.homeopathic.com/articles/view,55 
Ennis' original test was replicated in 4 different labs in 4 different countries.

Dr. Peter Fisher's article in PubMed discusses the 'End of Homeopathy' editorial and meta-analysis published in the Lancet of 26th August 2005 and how nearly 100 successful studies that showed homeopathy worked were thrown out and only a few that were inconclusive were used.  Dr. Fisher is the Queen's homeopathic physician and heads the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital. (The vitriolic editorial was caused by the World Health Organisation bringing out a draft report in 2005 which was favourable towards homeopathy!) 

"The final analysis which concluded that ‘the clinical effects of homoeopathy are placebo effects’ was based on just eight clinical trials of homeopathy. The Lancet's press release did not mention this, instead giving the impression that the conclusions were based on all 110 trials."  "One of the most serious criticisms is the complete lack of transparency: we have no idea which eight trials were included in the final, damning, analysis."  "The literature references are not given, nor any information on the diagnoses, numbers of patients, etc., nor can these be deduced from the article.  Prof. Egger has refused several requests to disclose the identity of the eight trials. This is not even a matter of scientific method, but of natural justice: the accused has the right to know the evidence against him."

“The Lancet meta-analysis in 2005 of homeopathic trials was said to be based upon 110 placebo-controlled clinical trials of homeopathy and 110 clinical trials of allopathy, which were said to be matched but were in fact reduced to 21 trials of homeopathy and 9 of conventional medicine and further reduced to 8 and 6 trials.”
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1375230

Other Responses from the Homeopathic Community on the Lancet Article

http://www.ontariohomeopath.com/Response2.htm

from WDDTY

http://www.zeusinfoservice.com/Articles/ShockingTruth.html

George Vithoulkas' 'Science of Homeopathy' is still considered an excellent exposition of the science.

http://www.wholehealthnow.com/books/science-of-homeopathy.html

More scientific studies:

http://www.vhan.nl/documents/ScientificReportECHNov04.pdf

http://ecam.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/4/1/7 

http://www.positivehealth.com/research-list.php?subjectid=134 

Bizarre chemical discovery gives homeopathic hint

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1532-bizarre-chemical-discovery-gives-homeopathic-hint.html

Groundbreaking Research regarding Homeopathy using spectroscopy

Scientific Evidence? The Raw Data - NASA’s TRLs and Modern Medicine’s Immature and High-Risk Evidence  http://www.jeggels.com/Scientific%20Evidence.htm

Myth No. 6  - homeopathic hospitals are a waste of money

There are 5 homeopathic hospitals in the UK - in London, Liverpool, Tunbridge Wells, Bristol and Glasgow.  They cost the NHS around £6 million a year.  Compare that to the £100 billion for the total 2008 annual NHS budget!! These homeopathic hospitals SAVE money for the NHS as the Smallwood report commissioned by Prince Charles has demonstrated.

http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/mediacentre/pressreleases/christopher_smallwood_s_report_on_integrated_health_180.html

At one of the earliest debates on the NHS Act 1948 the Government pledged that homoeopathy would continue to be available on the health service as long as there were "patients wishing to receive it and doctors willing to provide it".  Many people who depend upon it are alarmed at the possibility that Homeopathy may no longer be available on the NHS.  Since the passing of the NHS Act in 1948, a provision has always been made for people to be treated at homeopathic hospitals in the UK and until PCTs began to stop referring patients, there had indeed been long waiting lists, some 6 months or more.

See this letter sent out to all Primary Care Trusts in 2006 signed by a group of professors hostile to homeopathy and putting pressure on PCTs not to refer patients to the 5 homeopathic hospitals in the UK. They wrote the letter on NHS headed paper!

http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/pdf/Baum%20letter.pdf

Myth No. 7 – Cure with homeopathy is simply the Placebo Effect. 

When Prince Charles treats his farm animals at Highgrove with homeopathic medicines do they know that a remedy has been put in the water they drink?  Farmers successfully use homeopathic medicines for their cows suffering from mastitis.  Does a tiny baby know when their fever drops dramatically using Belladonna or Aconite, that they have been given a homeopathic medicine?!  As anyone who has treated animals and babies with homoepathic medicines will tell you, homeopathy works even better on animals and babies than it does on adults!  If proof were needed, this is it.  Not placebo.

Perhaps the most striking research on homeopathy that goes some way to debunking the placebo argument is when homeopathic remedies are tested on live tissue in a petri dish or studies involving animals (mice in this case) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3208528.stm

Myth No. 8 - homeopathic medicines contain no molecules 

Any remedy under a 12c or a 24x potency still contains the original molecules of the substance and this is known as Avogadro's number.  These low potencies are most suitable for physical illness of long duration as well as to heal specific organs that are not functioning properly.

Myth No. 9 – ‘Anecdotal Evidence’ does not constitute scientific evidence!

Most medical, surgical procedures and drug usage are not backed by studies - only by anecdotal evidence.  According to the US Government's Office of Technology Assessment (Congress of the United States, Office of Technology Assessment: Assessing the efficacy and safety of medical technologies. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1978), only 10-20% of all medical procedures and off-label drug usage are backed by clinical studies.

Strong anecdotal evidence among informed professionals is actually quite reliable - at least as reliable as clinical testing.

Many clinical tests come to diametrically opposed conclusions. You could say that the problem was discovered through anecdotal evidence - and merely confirmed through a peer reviewed study.

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/peerReviewUnderTheSpotlight.php

The problem isn't with the use of anecdotal evidence. It's with the double standard applied by the establishment (medical and regulatory) that holds complementary medicine to an absurdly higher standard, allowing medical doctors to do pretty much whatever they want. If informed anecdotal evidence is allowable for 85% of all medical procedure and drug usage, why is alternative health held to an impossible 0% standard?

Millions of people worldwide testify that homeopathy cures their illnesses yet apparently that cannot be construed as 'evidence'.

If a person were to walk out of their house to the town centre and witness someone having their bag snatched or witness a car accident, then when they relay this information to the Police or to their friends and family, it is anecdotal evidence.

If someone go on holiday, stays at a nice hotel, eats delicious food, comes back home and relates the holiday to their friends, that is anecdotal evidence.

Does that mean that the above never happened?  According to the detractors of complementary or alternative medicine, yes it does!

Millions of people have been cured of their diseases or afflictions using homeopathy, herbs, healing, vitamin supplements, special diets and on and on. Yet according to orthodox medicine all of these cures are anecdotal evidence and as such do not merit any further investigation, study, or validity.  As far as orthodox medicine is concerned, these cures never happened.

Yet what if someone witnessed a car accident and the Police wanted them to make a statement?  Would the statement in court be dismissed as anecdotal evidence?  Would the police, even if they arrived at the scene of the accident to find the person still there comforting the passengers or trying to help, say they had not been there and their evidence is non existent?  I don’t think so.

So how for so long have we put up with the top dogs in the medical establishment dismissing our cures as total nonsense, figments of our imagination, placebo cures, or outright lies?

How when millions are cured around the world using homeopathic medicines, can these cures be dismissed as unworthy of attention, simply ‘anecdotal evidence’.

Orthodox medicine implies through this that all cures with alternative medicine are untrue or simply imagined.  Even when all the evidence is put before them, they become angry and even aggressive, simply refusing to see or to listen. 

All the case notes in the surgery show that Mr. A had arthritis for 5 years, had been on anti-flammatory medicines, yet after homeopathic treatment for 6 months, the arthritis is cured.  The reaction of the doctor is either disbelief or an attitude where they will not talk about it and do not want to know.

Of course there are some orthodox doctors who practise acupuncture, homeopathy or herbs themselves and who do believe that these therapies cured the patient but they are in the small minority.

It is always the top cancer specialists and professors whose lives and vested interests are the most challenged by the idea that anything other than pharmaceutical drugs or surgical interventions can cure the patient.

Very often the doctor’s prognosis can create enormous fear in a patient making them much worse, striking terror in their hearts and creating a mental block to healing when told by ‘experts’ they will never get better.

Yet pharmaceutical drugs cure nothing. They merely SUPPRESS the symptoms driving them deeper into the body of the patient.  Believe it or not, the disappearance of symptoms does not equal cure!  Very often a new and deeper set of symptoms are created which are even more serious.  Pharma drugs work through the Law of Opposites, eg. antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, anti-convulsants, anti-hypertensives, anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, etc. etc.

Hence the eczema patient whose skin symptoms have been suppressed, goes on to develop asthma.  The arthritic patient whose joint pains are suppressed, eventually will go on to develop heart disease.

The doctor makes no connection whatsoever that their drugs have created these deeper illnesses but just goes on to give the patient more and more powerful drugs, making the patient sicker still.  Then when they die, they say, ‘We did everything we could’.  Yes and you killed the patient!

So in conclusion, there is no question that dismissing cures as Anecdotal Evidence through the use of natural medicine, is nothing more than a whitewash and a desperate means of suppressing the knowledge of those cures to the public as a whole.

 

Samuel Hahnemann

Hahnemann was a doctor but gave up his practice because he was appalled at the poisonous side effects of most available medicine.  He started experimenting and did something rather novel - he took some quinine, while perfectly healthy. He observed that the effect on him was identical to a malarial attack: alternating fever with heat and chills. This is where homeopathy started: a substance, given to a healthy individual, causes symptoms. If given to someone who suffers those symptoms, it will thus neutralise the sickness.

After his observations on quinine, Hahnemann went on to test hundreds of substances on himself and willing, healthy volunteers, used the tested substances for matching symptoms in his patients and all the while kept accounts of detailed observations.

Of course, Hahnemann had an antecedent, still well-known today because all doctors still swear an oath to him to promise best medical practice: Hippocrates. Hippocrates stated that there were two laws of healing – the law of opposites (allopathy) and the law of similars (homeopathy).  A Greek physician called Galen had laid these rules down in about 150 AD.  Homeopathic theories are based on fixed principles of the Laws of Nature which do not change - unlike medical theories which are constantly changing!  Homeopathy is both a science and an art.

Far from being ideas-based, this is completely evidence-based, empirical medicine an almost unique concept at the time. After some years of practicing like this, Hahnemann was still not satisfied.  The substances he was using, while more effective than normal medical practice, were still having side effects. Or, if he reduced dosage too far, there was no effect. This is when he developed the concept of potentisation, the serial dilution that opponents of homeopathy deride.

Treating the Whole Person or Holistic Healing

We are not just a collection of parts to be fixed as doctors treat us but ALWAYS operating as a whole person ALL of the time.  In other words medicines are chosen that treat the whole person and not just the part.  This may seem strange to grasp and yet doesn't it in fact make total sense?  Do we leave our sore throat on the desk of the physician as we leave the doctor's surgery?  Or our arthritic knee behind.  No, every single tiny function of our body operates as a WHOLE, all of the time.  You cannot treat one thing and not affect the rest.  That is why pharma drugs are so dangerous as for example, in treating a cancerous tumour, the medicine will affect and disturb the other systems of the body.

We are all energy beings.  http://www.workingwithenergy.co.uk/energy_centres.htm

The electricity in our bodies transmits messages to all parts/systems of the body. Illness is caused when these messages are not getting through. All systems of the body are communicating with each other at all times.  Water is a great conductor of electricity and it transmits the electrical current. This is how homeopathic mediums work – by communicating a current/pattern/frequency of energy via the whole human body to jump start the body’s own inherent healing mechanisms.

Homeopathy treats different sorts of people with distinct characters and personalities as well as different physical looks and natures.  It individualises each person treating their diverse pattern of symptoms looking at them AS A WHOLE.

Is it not true that no two people are alike?  That every person is unique?  This is why you could line up 20 people with asthma and they might all need a different homeopathic medicine. There are in fact about 250 homeopathic medicines for asthma but the correct one for each person must be selected taking into consideration such things as what makes the condition better or worse, what time of day it comes on, whether the person is hot or cold, worse for damp, need fresh air or prefer the windows closed and so on.  You would be amazed how each person's symptoms are so different and yet they have all been diagnosed with asthma.   

After homeopathic treatment, careful analysis is taken of the Direction of Cure of the patient’s symptoms.  Constance Hering was a converted skeptic of homeopathy. As a young man in Germany in the early nineteenth century, Hering had been assigned the task of reviewing Homeopathy because his medical mentor (a fervent anti-homeopath) had been asked by a publisher to write a book exposing homeopathy as unworthy.  Having been given this task, Hering conducted a detailed study but concluded the opposite from the requested results!  He was the first to talk about the Law of Cure which says that symptoms are cured from above down, from the inside out and in the reverse order of their appearance. This has stood the test of time in clinical experience.  A simple example would be after a curative remedy is given for eczema all over the body, we would see the eczema start to move down and when it is only on the ankles, we know it is nearly cured.

The other very important point about homeopathic treatment is that very often the appearance of an illness stems back to an important event in the life of the patient such as a shock, fright, loss or grief suffered by them.  The homeopathic practitioner will always enquire whether there was a life changing event that severely affected the patient. It is extremely common to find that the onset of a condition coincided with a major event.  The homeopath will select a remedy that corresponds to the way the patient reacted to that event, mentally, emotionally and physically in order to clear the state which caused the illness.  In other words you treat the cause, to remove the effect.

Examples of remedies for people who have undergone severe shock would be the following: If a person becomes very tired after a shock it would be Phos. Ac. when they become indifferent to their surroundings and loved ones.  If they are just sitting there, not moving, staring in front of them, not speaking – it would be the homeopathic remedy Opium.  If they become terribly restless and anxious it would be Aconite.  Arnica is for shock when people say they are fine, when they are obviously not.  Ignatia would be in floods of tears, hysterical, slamming doors and telling people to go away.  Platina would be very proud, angry and indignant.  These are all possible ways people can react from a shock and homeopathy must treat the individual.  The trick is to work out how people are behaving and which one they need!

Homeopathy works on fixed principles that correspond with the Laws of Nature. 

The body has its own intelligence.  That is why the human race has survived.  When a baby is conceived, Nature chooses the best genes from both parents in order to create a stronger, healthier human.  If the parents are both taking drugs of any kind, whether legal or illegal, the health of the baby will be compromised.

Doctors should look at Nature in order to study disease.  Doctors and scientists would find all the answers and instead of going against it, learn from it. They really need to study health first before they study disease. There is only one true science and that is the science of Nature.

The human race has survived because we all have an innate healing power in our bodies. In homeopathy for example, this is called the Vital Force.  Homeopathy stimulates the vital force to heal the body, through like for like (using a potentised substance that would cause the symptoms but in a tiny dose acts as a catalyst for healing).

If people want to improve their looks, homeopathy does just that.  When you are healthy and well, you obviously look better!  Homeopathic practitioners believe in PREVENTION, having treatment can prevent illness rather than leaving it to the surgeon’s knife.  There are thousands of homeopathic medicines which treat every ailment known to man, truly the most wonderful science on this planet.

Many people buy self help books or think they can treat themselves with over the counter remedies.  This is a short term solution.  The reason is as stated above.  You cannot treat individual symptoms without taking into consideration the rest of you!  Only a qualified and experienced homeopath who will spend 1-2 hours taking your full medical history and all of your symptoms can prescribe the remedy that fits best.  In other words if you have hayfever, the homeopath will take into consideration all other physical symptoms a as well as your personality, to come to the correct prescription.  Itchy, watery, red eyes, worse morning and evening would be Sulphur but only if all the other things about you fit the Sulphur picture.  You cannot prescribe for yourself as you cannot take all of it into consideration at once.  So if for example you buy Natrum Mur. for your hayfever (which is also an excellent remedy for this), it may work for a bit if you are healthy but the hayfever will come back, will not be cured for good, because it was not the remedy that fitted best.

The only exception to this rule is in the treatment of first aid and even then it often has to be individualised.  An example of when it does not is having a molar removed at the dentist.  Firstly you would take Arnica for bruising of the gums, secondly Hypericum for the pain as the anaesthetic wears off (will remove pain completely), thirdly Ledum for injection and fourthly Calendula (the remedy not the cream!) for fast healing of the gums (or any other injury).  Symphytum is the great healer of  broken bones.

Homeopaths believe that illnesses manifest for three reasons:  firstly they are genetically inherited from our parents, grandparents, forefathers.  Secondly, they can be caused by an traumatic event such as death of a loved one, divorce, job loss - any event that has a serious impact upon the person.  Thirdly they can be caused from drugs taken by our parents (passed onto the foetus) or by ourselves. There is also of course accidents and injury. 

Inherited disease can be traced back to one or more of what homeopaths call MIASMS - these are syphilis, gonorrhoea, psora (scabies), tuberculosis and cancer.  We are all a mix of all of these as especially TB, dates back thousands of years.  However one or more of the miasms is uppermost in a person and is an important aspect of the case-taking to determine the appropriate medicines.

So many people are in ignorance of the VAST amount of study needed to become an expert in this field.  Also there are hundreds of homeopathic books only available at specialist bookshops, many printed in India where homeopathy is more popular than orthodox medicine.

Attacks on Homeopathy

After the ever increasing attacks on alternative medicine in the media and in particular homeopathy, once again Professor Edzard Ernst, the 'first professor of complementary medicine' (whose qualifications for the job are still in question) discredits homeopathy.  Yet in an interview with Geoff Watts in 2003

http://www.studentbmj.com/issues/04/01/careers/25.php

entitled  'A  Scientist in the Alternative Camp', Professor Ernst stated:

"Our family doctor in the little village outside Munich where I grew up was a homoeopath. My mother swore by it. As a kid I was treated homoeopathically. So this kind of medicine just came naturally. Even during my studies I pursued other things like massage therapy and acupuncture."

"As a young doctor I had an appointment in a homoeopathic hospital, and I was very impressed with its success rate. My boss told me that much of this success came from discontinuing mainstream medication. This made a big impression on me."  

The truth is that homeopathy is getting ever more popular and the drugs companies are putting out their spin in overdrive through their science and media PR operation outlets to counteract this in any way they can.

  

The reason there is this incessant assault in the press against homeopathy is because Pharma wields enormous power over the media and because the popularity of homeopathy has been increasing due to side effects of modern medicine.  Also, unlike other natural therapies, it is pills and in direct competition.

At leat six million people use complementary treatments each year in the UK, which offers clinically-effective and cost-effective solutions to common health problems faced by NHS patients. 

The attacks against alternative medicine sometimes try to imply that it is dangerous. Yet compare the number of insurance claims against natural health therapies to those in conventional medicine. A top insurance company was asked how many claims had been filed against homepathic practitioners and said there had been hardly any, ‘only a couple in the last 10 years’!

Historical Facts

In view of the highly inaccurate reporting and vitriolic attacks in the  recent press coverage on homeopathy, I would like to point out some little known historical facts concerning homeopathy. 

The practice of homeopathic medicine flourished in both Europe and the US during the 1800s and early 1900s  and was spectacularly popular with European royalty and the British aristocracy, American entrepreneurs, literary giants, and religious leaders. 

John D. Rockefeller referred to it as 'a progressive and aggressive step in medicine' and was under homeopathic care throughout the latter part of his life living to 99 years of age.  A strong advocate of homeopathy, major grants of between $300-$400 million he intended for homeopathic institutions were instead used for orthodox medical institutions in the early 1900s, under pressure from his son and his financial advisor, Frederick Gates.  (Source Dana Ullman)

In the United States in the early 1900s there were 22 homeopathic medical schools and over 100 homeopathic hospitals, 60 orphanages and old people's homes and 1,000+ homeopathic pharmacies.  Members of the American Medical Association had great animosity towards homeopathy after its formation in 1847 and it was decided to purge all local medical societies of physicians who were homeopaths.  This purge was successful in every state except Massachusetts because homoepathy was so strong among the elite of Boston.

The AMA wanted to keep homoepaths out of their societies and discourage any type of association with homeopaths.  In 1855 the AMA established a code of ethics which stated that orthodox physicians would lose their membership if they even consulted with a homeopath.  If a physician lost his membership, it meant that in some States he no longer had a licence to practice medicine. 

Drug companies were antagonistic towards homeopathy, collectively trying to suppress it.  The medical journals they published were used as mouthpieces against homeopathy and in support of orthodox medicine.

At an AMA meeting, a respected orthodox physician said: 'We must admit that we never fought the homeopath on matters of principles;  we fought him because he came into the community and got the business.' Economic issues played a major role in what was allowed to be practised.

Homeopathy attracted support from many of the most respected members of society in the US, such as William James, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Louisa M. Alcott, Mark Twain, former American Presidents James Garfield and William McKinley.  In Britain among its supporters were George Bernard Shaw, Charles Dickens, W.B. Yeats, William Thackarey, Benjamin Disraeli, Yehudi Menuhin.  Other famous supporters were Dostoevsky, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Mahatma Ghandi.

Nowadays, celebrities using and supporting homeopathy are many and include among others :  Catherine Zeta-Jones, Tina Turner, Whoopi Goldberg, Pamela Anderson, Jane Fonda, Cher, Rosie O'Donnell, Martin Sheen, the Chilli Peppers, Jane Seymour, Lesley Anne Warren, Mariel Hemingway, Lindsay Wagner, Paul McCartney, Axl Rose, Linda Gray, Susan Blakely, Michael Franks, Cybil Sheppard, Dizzy Gillespie, Vidal Sassoon, Angelica Houston, Boris Becker, Martina Navratilova, David Beckham, Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley, Cliff Robertson, Jerry Hall, Diane von Furstenberg, Ashley Judd, Naomi Judd, Olivia Newton-John, Julianna Margulies, JD Salinger, Blythe Danner, Pat Riley (coach of the Miami Heat).   The list of famous people who supported homeopathy is endless.....

See 'The Homeopathic Revolution' by Dana Ullman MPH  www.homeopathicrevolution.com

The aristocratic patronage of homeopathy in the UK extending well into the 1940s and beyond can be easily demonstrated.  In the Homeopathic Medical Directories there are lists of patrons of the dispensaries and hospitals. They read like an extract from Burke’s or Debrett’s. 

(See A History of Homeopathy in Britain by Peter Morrell, Honorary Research Associate in the History of Medicine, Staffordshire University, UK.)
www.homeopathyhome.com/reference/articles/ukhomhistory.shtml

  

Homeopathy is practised nowadays in countries all over the world and is especially popular in France, South America and India where there are around 250,000 homeopathic doctors! In a recent Global TGI survey where people were asked whether they trust homeopathy the following percentages of people living in urban areas said YES:  62% in India, 58% Brazil, 53% Saudi Arabia, Chile 49%, United Arab Emirates 49%, France 40%, South Africa 35%, Russia 28%, Germany 27%, Argentina 25%, Hungary 25%, USA 18%, UK 15%.

www.tgisurveys.com/documents/TGIbarometerhomeopathy_Jan08.pdf

PLEASE PUT THIS ARTICLE/ LINK UP ON AS MANY WEBSITES AS POSSIBLE!

.....Louise Mclean

Copyright Louise Mclean 2008