Homoeopathy is in the news again today, it seems that some practitioners in Scotland have been giving patients homoeopathic substitutes for vaccinations, as a result these people will now be unprotected from some rather nasty diseases like measles, rubella and mumps. Apparently these preparations are made from "diseased tissue", i.e. they grind up human flesh from people who have had these conditions and dilute it so there is nothing left but water and then get suckers to take it. You have to wonder if people were properly educated about the hard evidence for the efficacy of homoeopathy (i.e. there is none) whether they would continue to support it, but then given the plethora of woo-woo on offer these days and hoovered up by credulous people perhaps not.
A spokesperson for the Homoeopaths involved said,
"I'm not advocating that they do not take the vaccination, I am providing support for those who choose not to by giving them an alternative."
Wrong, wrong, wrong, when you are claiming efficacy then a choice between something that works and something that doesn't is not an "alternative", it's fraud and puts children's lives at risk. Measles is not the same as a common cold, as soon as the line between trivial conditions and life threatening conditions is crossed you no longer have a "harmless" self inflicted placebo you have a communal health risk!
4 comments:
Homoeopathy is rubbish and it's dangerous rubbish. If anyone cons someone into accepting these "vaccinations" they should be done for fraud.
A while back I tweeted that the great thing about homoeopathy was that there were no side-effects - because it didn't do anything. I was amused when it was RT'ed by a homoeopath as if it were a commendation.
G, watch out she could slip an overdose into your beer when you're not looking! (like you'd notice! :)
I thought an overdose of homoeopathy was drowning?
G, that's a good point, I wonder what the homoeopathic remedy for dehydration is?
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