Stupid Homeopathic Treatments Are Spreading

by Alanna Shaikh · 2009-08-21 12:23:00 UTC
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(Don't be fooled by the packaging - they're all water. Photo credit: Distillated.)

Homeopathy is dangerous nonsense, and it's going global. This is bad news for people with real illnesses. Distilled water is a fine treatment for acne or menstrual cramps, but homeopathic remedies for HIV and TB will lead to death.

It's based on two incredibly stupid premises. The first is that you can cure an illness by taking in a substance that causes similar symptoms. So if you are itchy, for example, you'd take some kind of poison ivy extract. The second, stupider premise is that water has a memory. Yes, water. So if you dilute your essence of poison ivy a million billion times, the water will still remember it and cure your itching. (I would like to point out here that if water had a memory it would all be urine.) Not only that, but since in this premise water is magic and not bound by the laws of science, the more you dilute your poison ivy extract, the more effective it is.

Sorry, that was actually three incredibly stupid premises.

Now taking a homeopathic pill for a headache or an embarrassing blemish never hurt anyone. The placebo effect is powerful, so it might even make your head feel better or your zit shrink. And if it doesn't, they'll both go away on their own.

However, when people turn to homeopathy to cure their AIDS or their child's diarrhea it's a whole new awful ballgame. Kids can die from diarrhea, fast. And you need ARVs and proper nutrition to fight the effects of AIDS. Homeopathic drugs delay people from getting treatment that actually works, and they cost money people could be spending on real drugs that aren't just water.

The WHO just issued an official statement about homeopathic idiocy. It makes me sad they even have to do that, but they were asked to do so by the Voice of Young Science network, which was concerned by the spread of homeopathic treatments in the developing world for serious illnesses. Just so you know, "WHO does not recommend the use of homeopathy for HIV, malaria, TB, influenza and infant diarrhea." Argh.

Alanna Shaikh
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