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Research into homeopathy: data falsification, fabrication and manipulation

skeptic.org.uk

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Re: Research into homeopathy: data falsification, fabrication and manipulation

#41

Post by pizza234 »

ThinkBeat wrote: post #30

I had horrible pollen allergies. My mother took me to a homeopath (in addition to regular doctors) She prescribed some tablets / pills to dissolve under the tunge, that had some pollen in them. It worked pretty well for allergies but not the best for teeth. Just building up resistance I would think. I know you can get similar treatment now from regular doctors. So my one and only interaction was fairly successful. I…

Well, it's interesting - based on your description, the medication you took is not homeopathic:

> Homeopathic preparations are termed remedies and are made using homeopathic dilution. In this process, the selected substance is repeatedly diluted until the final product is chemically indistinguishable from the diluent.

If in a preparation there is a measurable quantity of the active ingredient, then it's not an homeopathic preparation.

Re: Research into homeopathy: data falsification, fabrication and manipulation

#43

Post by munchler »

pizza234 wrote: post #41
ThinkBeat wrote: post #30

I had horrible pollen allergies. My mother took me to a homeopath (in addition to regular doctors) She prescribed some tablets / pills to dissolve under the tunge, that had some pollen in them. It worked pretty well for allergies but not the best for teeth. Just building up resistance I would think. I know you can get similar treatment now from regular doctors. So my one and only interaction was fairly successful. I…

Well, it's interesting - based on your description, the medication you took is not homeopathic: > Homeopathic preparations are termed remedies and are made using homeopathic dilution. In this process, the selected substance is repeatedly diluted until the final product is chemically indistinguishable from the diluent. If in a preparation there is a measurable quantity of the active ingredient, then it's not an homeop…

One of the problems with homeopathy is that many practitioners don’t understand what homeopathy actually means. It’s essentially synonymous with “naturopathy” for them.

Re: Research into homeopathy: data falsification, fabrication and manipulation

#44

Post by didgeoridoo »

pizza234 wrote: post #41
ThinkBeat wrote: post #30

I had horrible pollen allergies. My mother took me to a homeopath (in addition to regular doctors) She prescribed some tablets / pills to dissolve under the tunge, that had some pollen in them. It worked pretty well for allergies but not the best for teeth. Just building up resistance I would think. I know you can get similar treatment now from regular doctors. So my one and only interaction was fairly successful. I…

Well, it's interesting - based on your description, the medication you took is not homeopathic: > Homeopathic preparations are termed remedies and are made using homeopathic dilution. In this process, the selected substance is repeatedly diluted until the final product is chemically indistinguishable from the diluent. If in a preparation there is a measurable quantity of the active ingredient, then it's not an homeop…

Indeed, that sounds more like a “naturopath” which can be both more effective and more dangerous than homeopathy because their remedies actually contain active ingredients (although in somewhat random and nonstandardized quantities).

Re: Research into homeopathy: data falsification, fabrication and manipulation

#45

Post by GenerocUsername »

pizza234 wrote: post #41
ThinkBeat wrote: post #30

I had horrible pollen allergies. My mother took me to a homeopath (in addition to regular doctors) She prescribed some tablets / pills to dissolve under the tunge, that had some pollen in them. It worked pretty well for allergies but not the best for teeth. Just building up resistance I would think. I know you can get similar treatment now from regular doctors. So my one and only interaction was fairly successful. I…

Well, it's interesting - based on your description, the medication you took is not homeopathic: > Homeopathic preparations are termed remedies and are made using homeopathic dilution. In this process, the selected substance is repeatedly diluted until the final product is chemically indistinguishable from the diluent. If in a preparation there is a measurable quantity of the active ingredient, then it's not an homeop…

That's not the entirety of homeopathy, just the most commonly shat on ridiculous homeopathic practice

Re: Research into homeopathy: data falsification, fabrication and manipulation

#46

Post by Waterluvian »

pizza234 wrote: post #33
borbtactics wrote: post #17

I still don't understand why these can be sold in American pharmacies.

They're even covered by some insurance plans. A friend of mine is an orthopedic surgeon, and they explained to me that for mild problems, which would normally heal on their own, it's cheaper to cover a placebo rather than real medication.

It’s even cheaper to offer nothing. Some humans are just quite something.

Re: Research into homeopathy: data falsification, fabrication and manipulation

#47

Post by nick__m »

ThinkBeat wrote: post #30

I had horrible pollen allergies. My mother took me to a homeopath (in addition to regular doctors) She prescribed some tablets / pills to dissolve under the tunge, that had some pollen in them. It worked pretty well for allergies but not the best for teeth. Just building up resistance I would think. I know you can get similar treatment now from regular doctors. So my one and only interaction was fairly successful. I…

Are you sure it was not a naturopath? Because the fundamental "principle" behind homeopathy is exponential dilution.

An homeopathic pollen formulation would start with 1 mg of pollen in a litter of water, a milliliter of that solution would be diluted in a liter of water and this process would be repeated a few time. In the final solution, it would be impossible to detect even a trace of the original pollen.

Re: Research into homeopathy: data falsification, fabrication and manipulation

#48

Post by gwd »

sgerenser wrote: post #29
pixelpoet wrote: post #2

I wish more German doctors would acknowledge what utter quackery homeopathy is. Three separate doctors wanted to prescribe me homeopathy stuff last year, ended up not getting any help at all.

In the U.S., sometimes a medicine is marked as “homeopathic” just to avoid regulation, and actually does contain a real active ingredient. This is the case with zinc lozenges (for colds), which contain an actual therapeutic dose of zinc but are presumably marketed as “homeopathic” since the FDA doesn’t regulate herbal or homeopathic “treatments.” Not sure if anything like that happens in Germany as well though.

Is that "homeopathic" or "herbal / dietary supplement"?

Re: Research into homeopathy: data falsification, fabrication and manipulation

#49

Post by calvinmorrison »

explaininjs wrote: post #37
borbtactics wrote: post #17

I still don't understand why these can be sold in American pharmacies.

Because every bottle is clearly labeled “The FDA has not evaluated this for treating any condition”. There are a great many products that the FDA hasn’t evaluated that are still sold, why should these be any different?

But why are businesses like CVS hawking snake oil while also having trained pharmacists on staff.

Re: Research into homeopathy: data falsification, fabrication and manipulation

#50

Post by vog »

pizza234 wrote: post #33
borbtactics wrote: post #17

I still don't understand why these can be sold in American pharmacies.

They're even covered by some insurance plans. A friend of mine is an orthopedic surgeon, and they explained to me that for mild problems, which would normally heal on their own, it's cheaper to cover a placebo rather than real medication.

While I hear this argumentation a lot, I still struggle with this:

If you have "mild problems, which would normally heal on their own", buying no medication at all would be even cheaper.

And from an ethical point of view, the idea of financing a whole (homeopathic) industry that uses your money to produce fake science, even with a single cent, should make one shudder, shouldn't it?

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