Response by the European Committee for Homeopathy ECH and
the International Homeopathic Medical League LMHI
to Evidence Check 2: Homeopathy by the House of Commons Science
and Technology Committee, published 22 February 2010
In a report published 22 February 2010, the Science and Technology Committee of the United Kingdom House of Commons concludes that homeopathy is not efficacious (that is, it does not work beyond the placebo effect), that explanations for why homeopathy would work are scientifically implausible and that further clinical trials of homeopathy could not be justified. Furthermore, it concludes that the NHS should cease funding homeopathy and that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) should no longer license homeopathic medicines.
Remarkably, just 4 of the 14 members of the Science and Technology Committee voted on this report: 3 for, one against. One of its three signatories has stridently campaigned against homeopathy and continued to do so even in the period between the hearings and the publication of the report.
The European Committee for Homeopathy ECH and the International Homeopathic Medical League LMHI find the conclusions and recommendations of the Science and Technology Committee completely unfounded. The report is highly tendentious and fundamentally flawed, consistently misrepresenting the scientific evidence to the detriment of homeopathy and making unfounded and pejorative allegations against those who advocate or practise homeopathy. The report omits or misrepresents any evidence which challenges the view that homeopathy is a placebo response.
The report ignores large areas of evidence which were mentioned in written submissions and oral evidence such as systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials of homeopathy for specific conditions and groups of conditions, and systematic reviews of biological models of homeopathic responses. The evidence suggests that homeopathy is effective in a number of specific conditions, and there are a number of reproducible biological models of homeopathy.
The European Committee for Homeopathy ECH and the International Homeopathic Medical League LMHI fully endorse the robust and comprehensive response by the British Homeopathic Association. Their rebuttals are accessible at their website http://www.britishhomeopathic.org/media_centre/press_releases/march_2010_prs.html
Authors:
International Homeopathic Medical League LMHI, secretariat, Am Hofgarten 5, 53113 Bonn, Germany, tel. +49-228-2425330, email: generalsecretary@lmhint.net, http://liga.iwmh.net/
European Committee for Homeopathy ECH, secretariat, Chaussée de Bruxelles 132, box 1, 1190 Brussels, Belgium, tel.+32-2-3453597, email: info@homeopathyeurope.org, http://www.homeopathyeurope.org/
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