Joyful news today on the BBC about a successful campaign for the charity Sense About Science. They asked the World Health Organisation to comment on the use of homeopathic treatment for diseases like HIV, malaria, TB and infant diarrhoea, and various WHO authorities have responded, stating in very clear terms that these conditions need to be treated with actual medicine and actual evidence. SAS have passed on these WHO statements in an open letter to the world’s health ministers (PDF link). Using “remedies” without any active ingredient to “treat” these horrible diseases, when effective alternatives are available, is an obscenity.
It’ll be interesting to see how much popular attention this gets (it was second-most-read on the BBC News site this morning): is the tide finally turning against alternative medicine?
Filed under: Critical Thinking, Health, Skepticism
