A week ago, we sent our roving correspondent to the 10:23 protest in London, to attempt to overdose on a homeopathic remedy. Although she reported feeling a bit of a sugar high, she left otherwise undamaged.

Given my own comments prior to the protest, I was quite surprised when I read an article implying that the protest had some impact in New Zealand — where the New Zealand Council of Homeopaths admitted that the remedies have no active ingredients.

Unfortunately, homeopaths are not the only people who can twist things to make them look untrue. A closer look at the full statement makes it clear that they react by using similar arguments to those I outlined, adding in some of their expert gibberish.

The New Zealand homeopaths argue that just because there’s nothing in it does not mean that there is no active ingredient. (Note to homeopaths: An ingredient is a required part of active ingredient.) They re-label the old “water has memory” argument using the word “electromagnetic”, indicating only that they have never studied electromagnetism.

They also say something about nut allergies, which is completely irrelevant. Nuts, it should be noted, tend to contain nuts.

What they do not do, however, is back off and say that their cures are not cures at all. Instead, they simply say that those who disagree with them simply demonstrate ignorance of homeopathy.

We respectfully disagree, and feel that those who take homeopathic remedies are the ones demonstrating their ignorance. But we freely admit that the chances of those who are financially (or emotionally) dependent upon homeopathy will ignore anything we say in this space.

That said, admitting that there is nothing in the remedies could very well result in many people turning to real medicine rather than turning to homeopathic charlatans. This would be a good thing. This effect will only be enhanced by the nearly impossible task of finding the statement in context in any news report.

Other homeopathic institutes also seem to be feeling the pressure and digging holes for themselves — in the UK, they have misrepresented scientific studies to parliament, which seems to be getting them into some trouble.

Perhaps none of this should surprise me — I have previously posited that the consumer’s belief that they have enlightened themselves is the number one tool that homeopathy uses to sell their products. If major news outlets are reporting skeptical viewpoints over pro-homeopathy viewpoints, they have a serious problem.

Because in the end, their remedies do not work. It is all a big bluff, a marketing campaign. It depends on misinformation being easier to find than facts.

So they have gambled. They have said “Yes, but …” and hoping that the pseuoscientific jargon following the “but” would be enough. They have misrepresented studies, and hoped that the Members of Parliament, not being scientists, would not have scientifically literate fact checkers working for them.

Usually, when you gamble, the house wins; the gambler loses.

It is starting to look like I was wrong; 10:23 has struck a blow.

Well, 10:23 has come and gone and we all seem to be standing.  This does not surprise any of the participants.  So your friendly neighbourhood contributor, upgraded from guest blogger, will live to protest quack medicines another day.

Homeopaths criticized it as a ‘stunt’ but did not think we’d be harmed.
(There were some charges levelled on Twitter about all of us being in the pocket of pharmaceutical companies.  One because the campaign was too well organized to be grassroots…if we were I have yet to get my cheque). More than that, they started to speak of ‘individual cases’ which is quite funny as we were protesting the sale of a mass-made marketed brand carried by a major pharmacy chain.  Perhaps, they should have been protesting with us to charge  Boots with co-opting and commercializing their ‘practice.’ But that would be the pot calling the kettle black as most Alternative Medicines are basically a giant marketing tool for pushing pills or other dubious products.

This was brought to light by the lecture at Trick or Treatment (held after the 10:23 event, and the reason it was held that day), by the man who has brought to us Quackometer, Andy Lewis.  Quack medicines come in disturbing forms such as Biometric Shields, which apparently shield you from the problems of modern day life, such as electromagnetic radiation.  The basic lack of science understanding by people duped by this sort of nonsense is mind-boggling.   One source of such radiation, of course, is THE SUN.  Perhaps they just aren’t saying which part of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum these devices protect against…

So the protest.  There were various groups across the globe from, the UK, to Australia to Canada and the US.  The big issue with the UK is the report by the Select Committee on the efficacy of Homeopathy which is to be released very shortly.  Homeopathic remedies, hospitals and doctors cost the NHS £4 million a year.   That’s a lot for sugar pills.  Anyone on a waiting list for mental health services, surgeries and other proven or at least studied practices, would probably like a  re-allocation of those funds.   But to be fair, that’s a fraction spent on Chaplaincy at over £32 million.

So what was the protest like?  It was cold.  There was some snow on the ground and it was definitely below zero.  However, everyone seemed to be chuffed at taking part and there was a jovial feeling to the entire event.  I spent most of the time recording video for some the Pod Delusion and the consensus was that a) no one was scared b) all that would possibly happen would be a sugar rush.

Me, James O’Malley, Simon Singh

Lib-Dem MP Evan Harris told us about the Select Committee Report and some of the hilarious responses of those giving evidence for Homeopathy, including the importance of ‘shaking’ the solutions.  They can’t be stirred but there has been no research on how they should be stirred, ie rigour, length etc.  Which just serves to highlight the lack of science behind these magic pills.

Evan Harris & Co.
(http://www.1023.org.uk/the-1023-overdose-event.php)

I can tell you, I have never been so interested in a Select Committee Report before.

In the end, we all downed our bottles of 30C diluted sugar pills.  All I can say in support of these remedies is that they are quite tasty.  They’d make a good candy or an addition to my tea.  As a first protest, it was quite fun, and I talked to many other sceptics in the movement and from the general sceptical community – from those who also contribute to the Pod Delusion, bloggers like Jack of Kent and those lovely people from Skeptics in the Pub.

So if you are a sceptic/skeptic, know that you are not alone.    Perhaps, even with our relative small numbers, we will make a difference and raise some awareness.  Whether there is harm or not, 200 year old quack practices should not form a part of modern medicine or at least, if claim to be medicinal, should have to adhere to the same standards as the rest of the medical industry.  In this light, homeopathy and it’s ilk will never pass the test.

And if you are interested, keep an eye on the 10:23 website for continuing coverage!

It is I once again, your friendly neighborhood Guest Blogger, sillypunk!

As Mr. Topp has blogged previously, there is going to be a protest regarding the sale of Homeopathic remedies by Boots.  The 10:23 site has many links and stories regarding why Homeopathy is a) useless b) bad.

I wasn’t intending on joining the protest originally, mainly because I never protest anything but decided to go as I was going to the Trick or Treatment lectures that day at Conway Hall anyway.   The protest has been receiving considerable cover; all the major UK papers have covered it, with opinions ranging from that held by the organizers to ‘what harm will it do?’

Well.  I suppose in the end, it really does no harm to those that take it (unless they suffer from a nocebo effect), and perhaps they may benefit from the placebo effect, or a sugar rush.  It is quite funny, I have my bottle of 30C Belladonna and it has NO active ingredients.   It states: 84 Sucrose/lactose pillules.  As well as ‘A homeopathic medicinal product without approved therapeutic indications.’  I seriously can’t believe that they can get away with charging almost £5 a bottle.  And its a tiny bottle, more like a Smarties tube rather than a bottle of pills.  I suppose eating a tube of smarties would have the same sugar rush effect as my 30C Belladonna. 

But there is harm.  One only has to gasp in disbelief and horror at the High Dose Vitamin treatment offered in South Africa for treatment of HIV/AIDS.  Or the anti-Vaccination crowd bringing back in fashion easily preventable childhood illnesses.  Alternative treatments, in that light, are certainly very, very harmful. 

If people want to believe in homeopathic or other remedies, fine.  Just don’t call them ‘treatments, medicine, medicinal etc.’ because they are not.  It’s faith healing in the end.   They shouldn’t even be in the pharmacy for the credit it lends them.   I understand the perils and problems within modern medical science and the huge quagmire of scary that is the pharmaceutical industry but in the end, if I’m ill or injured, they fix me.   There is an entire infrastructure testing, developing, (marketing, sadly), researching and improving the rates of survival for many diseases and injuries.  I don’t think any alternative therapies invest in such things (there are some tiny studies that demonstrate its effectiveness to be similar to the placebo effect though). 

But for every alternative remedy that survives and is essentially funded by these quack medicines being sold, the more likely people like Matthias Rath can peddle vitamin pills as a cure for AIDS.   So, that in the end is why I decided to do this protest.  Wincing at the fact that we had to buy them (we tried to buy them ironically but the cashier didn’t understand the joke), I will be taking my sugar pills with water at 10:23 on January 30th.  To be fair, I”ll need the sugar, I’m out late the night before at a concert

If I survive, which I’m fairly confident I will, I’ll regale you all with tales of sugar pill popping and scepticism.