Comments on: The respectable face of homeopathy?

By: jon edvard killi

jon edvard killi — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:03:19 +0000

chambers 4: ..primitive societies…could be pushed !! subset of all our populations.

By: Zeno

Zeno — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:19:45 +0000

Steve A

Each sugar pill is 0.14 g and around £5 per pack of 84, making this £425 per kilo! Granulated sugar from your local supermarket costs around £1.00 per kilo – an astonishing markup!

Nobby

Yes, a good way of putting the argument! I do frequent H&B because I’m a vegetarian and they have some convenient stuff, but I am dismayed by more than half the shop given over to supplements, homeopathy and other unnecessary nonsense.

By: nobby

nobby — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:13:38 +0000

great post zeno.

i think it could be possibly easier for the layman if the argument was just shorted to.

if you have influenza do you use a product that has:

A) been tested on wheat seed germination as proof that it works

B) tested on people with influenza as proof that it works.

i say influenza as its still listed on the holland and barret site for arsen. alb
http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/product_detail.asp?pid=913&afid=70&safid=ggl&scid=13435&cm_mmc=Google-_-Product-_-Nelsons%20Clikpak%20Arsen%20Alb-_-%5barsen%20alb%5d

By: Steve A

Steve A — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:39:09 +0000

Not sure how much these cost but, 32 pills over 6 days – I bet that adds up to a good profit margin.

By: Andrew Gilbey

Andrew Gilbey — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:25:58 +0000

Great work!

However, you should be careful not to chuck the baby out with the bath water, so to speak. There are actually at least two good things about homeopathic medicines:

i) Unlike some medicines (e.g., anti-biotics, estrogen), it is safe to just lob out-of-date homeopathic ones down the loo.

ii) You could also use them for sweetening a cup of tea if your dog has just been licking your sugar bowl.

By: warhelmet

warhelmet — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 19:13:32 +0000

I control the Boy Sprouts via the Fiendish Fluoridators via the Fnord Motor Company.

By: Roger E

Roger E — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 19:06:41 +0000

Well, for me the fnord was showing definition number 4 and then ignoring it completely in your analysis. It was as though you hadn’t noticed it at all, at all. The fnord is the thing that’s stops you from seeing it. I just enjoyed the irony that the one definition of medicine that homeopathy seems to meet is the one that confirms it to be magical and woo.

The wikipedia entry gives a good summary of a fnord. It was born out of The Illuminatus Trilogy by Bobs Shea and Wilson, a cult satire on secret societies and conspiracy theories. Sadly, some folk seem to take the novels a bit too seriously.

By: Zeno

Zeno — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 18:19:19 +0000

Roger

Thanks for your comment, but what fnord?

By: Roger E

Roger E — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 16:08:57 +0000

Erm, the fnords seem to be strong today. I can’t help but notice (or see past the fnords) that the Chambers definition of medicine includes the following: “4 in primitive societies: something regarded as magical or curative.”

I have to say that that seems a fair definition of homeopathy: 200 years ago, when homeopatheticcy was invented, society was quite primitive, especially in medical knowledge, the theories behind how it works are quite clearly magical and homeopaths do regard it as curative. Maybe that’s how they get to call it ‘medicine?’

Just trying to illuminate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fnord

By: Alex Pryce

Alex Pryce — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 15:27:47 +0000

I’m new to your blog, great post. The amount of sugar being the same as in a small pack of Malteasers is an interesting fact as we were trying to work out how much sugar was in them the other day.

I wonder if this would have any bearing on severe diabetics?

Alex
Edinburgh Skeptics
10:23