Homeopathy is a type of alternative medicine, within the framework of which "like is treated like". In other words, the patient is offered to drink a highly diluted drug in the water, causing symptoms in healthy people, similar to the symptoms of his illness. The founder of homeopathy is the German doctor Christian Hahnemann, who first published his theory in 1796. Since then, no clinical study has been able to prove the effectiveness of this type of medicine, so in scientific circles it is compared with placebo. Recently, the most famous scientists of Europe once again tried to convey to people the inconsistency of this dubious science.
On Wednesday, the official website of the Scientific Advisory Council of European Academies (EASAC) published a 12-page document raising the issue of scientists' attitude to homeopathy. EASAC unites 29 national and international academic academies across Europe, including the Royal Society of London, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and other academic institutions. The authors of the document urge the scientific community and the authorities of the European states to "intensify criticism" of homeopathy, since otherwise this alternative medicine can lead to irreparable consequences and endanger the lives of many people.
The document contains a lot of interesting information, starting with the history of homeopathy, ending with the results of studies conducted by EASAC academies, which have never revealed any effectiveness of such a method of treatment. The authors of the document emphasize that they do not set themselves the goal of banning homeopathy, since people still need freedom to choose the means of treatment. However, they seek to convey to people the essence of this alternative medicine and the lack of any evidence base for its effectiveness. One of the quotes reads: "There can not be two different kinds of medicine in the world: ordinary and alternative. There is only medicine, the effectiveness of which has been scientifically proven. "
To date, homeopathy is an extremely profitable business. In only one year in 2015, homeopathic medicines worth $ 1 billion were sold in Europe. Every year this market grows by an average of 6-7%. In the US, the situation is even more impressive. Profit from the sale of homeopathic medicines exceeded $ 3 billion. Of the 110 clinical trials conducted with the use of homeopathic drugs, in 100% of cases, scientists concluded that any positive effect of such treatment is nothing more than a placebo effect.
In addition, sometimes unscrupulous producers of homeopathic drugs endanger the lives of people. In the US, not so long ago, 10 babies died from a homeopathic tooth gel with an excess of the extract of a poisonous belladonna plant (Atropa belladonna), and more than 400 children were affected in total. Of course, in traditional medicine, drugs with unproven efficacy in clinical trials are also found. But in general, orthodox medicine, unlike homeopathy, still seeks to consider the relationship between benefit and risk in developing recommendations for treatment and uses drugs with proven effectiveness.
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