Australia May Declare Homeopathy ‘Baseless and Unethical’

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by Andre Evans, Activist Post: http://www.activistpost.com/2012/03/australia-may-declare-homeopathy.html

Homeopathic medicine practitioners may have to defend their practice in Australia after the National Health and Medical Research Council decided that their practices may be ineffective and unethical.

A statement issued claims that it is “unethical for health practitioners to treat patients using homeopathy, because a homeopathic medicine or procedure has apparently been shown to be ineffective.”

This statement is based on an evaluation of homeopathy by the British House of Commons Science and Technology committee, who came to the conclusion that the whole field of homeopathic medicine is no more effective than a placebo pill is.

Similarly, the statement suggests that all homeopathic medicine is actually just joke medicine, and that “safe and effective conventional treatments” should not be delayed in favor of homeopathic ones.

The researchers who support this statement maintain that many homeopathic treatments are wrongfully being covered by health insurance companies, despite the fact that they are largely ineffective and sometimes more costly than conventional methods.

Many cases cited to support this statement showcase the use of outlandish medicines like animal blood and milk, which in these cases lead to the deaths of those who used these methods of treatment.

Due to the nature of the untested and absurd treatments, the researchers would like to establish a formal registration scheme in the manner of conventional doctors, so that no quackery or dangerous “medicines” are covered by insurance.

Currently, the Australian Homeopathic Association has a self-governed registration model that is not subject to more conventional scrutiny, and thus the methods stated can sometimes be encompassed within the scheme of what is called homeopathic medicine.

Interestingly, what is called ‘conventional medicine’ is also in the realm of the outlandish and has similar tested proof backing the fact that it is dangerous to individual health.

Despite this, a careful examination of legitimate and proven natural methods of medicine should not be discouraged or classified within the same category of bizarre treatments that should more properly be called fake homeopathy.