There cannot be two types of medicine

Scientists criticize homeopathy and warn of significant health risks

Anatoly Alizar, Geektimes

The Scientific Advisory Council of the European Academies (EASAC) has published a 12-page statement calling for increased criticism of homeopathic products. In particular, those advertising declarations about the health benefits and scientific methods that manufacturers of such products make. Scientists emphasize the fundamental importance of providing consumers and patients with accurate and clear information about the effectiveness of medicines. To do this, it is necessary to introduce a standard, evidence–based official methodology on how to report on the effectiveness of products, their safety and quality - and a regulatory framework for regulating the advertising of such medicinal products.

The Scientific Advisory Board believes that "advertising and use of homeopathic products carries significant risks," especially as the homeopathy market in the UK and the US continues to increase. In the European Union, this is a market with a turnover of € 1 billion, which is growing by 6% per year, in the USA – $ 3 billion. In some countries, a significant part of the population (up to 13%) buys such products.

Ideas like "like heals like", "water has a memory" are spreading more and more. And it's really very dangerous.

Although many homeopathic products are just harmless placebos, the very spread of such anti–scientific ideas is dangerous. People believe in them, take placebos – and refrain from effective treatment, as a result of which they endanger their health. That is, homeopathy causes real harm to people's health.

EASAC gives the following recommendations to the EU regulatory authorities:

establish regulations that will not allow false claims about the effectiveness of homeopathic products and will not allow misleading advertising;
eliminate the mention of homeopathic treatment from health programs;
to introduce a requirement that manufacturers of homeopathic products clearly indicate the composition of products and the exact amount of each substance.

Scientists claim that there is no so-called "alternative medicine" and cannot exist. There are no two types of medicine – conventional and alternative. There is only medicine that is appropriately tested, and one that is not. 

The term "alternative medicine" itself, generally speaking, should be banned. But in practice, on the contrary, it is becoming more widespread. It's hard to believe, but it is sometimes recommended by doctors themselves and it is studied in higher educational institutions, by researchers in laboratories! The latest case – the University of California at Irvine announced the launch of a program to study the so-called "integrative medicine", which includes both traditional and alternative medicine for the "complex treatment" of people. 

To justify the respected academic institution, we can say that they launched this program after receiving a $200 million grant from billionaires Susan and Henry Samuels, apparently convinced supporters of homeopathy. 

Nevertheless, the launch of such a program at the University of California is an egregious case that has caused widespread public criticism. Although this is not the first such program (previously, the University of California at San Francisco, Johns Hopkins University, Duke University and others opened about the same). The uniqueness here is that the "integrative medicine" program was headed by two reputable doctors of sciences, both with solid experience in traditional medicine and many years of experience in conducting scientific research, which was funded by the US National Institutes of Health, the main center of the US government responsible for research on health and biomedicine problems. Experts explain their decision by saying that medical schools are too conservative and slow to adopt new methods of treatment, even if they show promising results. This program at Irvine will help accelerate research into such alternative therapies.

Critics warn that "alternative medicine" is not limited to harmless placebos. There are many different types of treatment such as energy healing, homeopathic bee venom, intravenous mineral infusions. The imagination of homeopaths is truly limitless.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  22.09.2017