Now for some science... Montagnier video

Don't be scared.. here's some science!

I recently went to London for a workshop run by Dr Alex Tournier of the Homeopathy Research Institute. He was talking about the science and evidence for homeopathy and it was a facinating and enlightening day. 

One of the research papers our critics always throw at us is the Shang paper in the Lancet which was a major meta-analysis of 110 randomized, placebo-controlled trials (RCTs) of homeopathy  compared with similar trials of conventional medicines. When it was published in 2005 The Lancet heralded it as marking the end of homeopathy. I suspect very few of the people who talk about it have actually read it. The whole article talks about the fact that results of homeopathic and conventional trials were comparable, then the final paragraph on the results section and the discussion say exactly the opposite. It was denounced by many, many people for the lack of transparency (it took a year for the authors to say which studies that had used) and the headline conclusion was based on only 14 papers (8 homeopathy and 6 conventional medicine) and illustrated data dredging and statistical manipulation of the worst kind.

These two graphs come from that paper. The top graph is homeopathy trials, bottom one is conventional medicine ones. All you really need to know is that if the spots are to the left of the vertical line the effects were better than would be expected from a placebo.The further left the spots, the better the outcome. I think anyone would agree, both graphs look pretty similar and the majority of points in both are to the left of the line which shows the treatments were effective. The nearer the top of the graph the spots are, the more precise the outcomes were.

See here for Studying the Studies: Meta Analysis an HRI newsletter which discusses the Shang paper and the other 5 meta analysis papers which showed homeopathy was effective.

Many articles were published as a response to the Shang paper, I think this one is very clear and to the point. Domenico Mastrangelo, The Growth of a Lie and the End of 'Conventional' Medicine He is not a homeopath, but an Italian ophthalmologist from Siena who is curious about water structure and the possible mechanisms which might explain the actions of homeopathic remedies.

If you would like to know more about the academic research in homeopathy a large number of full papers are available on this homeopathy knol website 

Alex also talked about some of the work of Luc Montagnier which has been very controversial. He won the Nobel Prize in 2008 for his research on HIV and retro-viruses and then in 2009 published a paper entitled 'Electromagnetic signals are produced by aqueous nanostructures derived from bacterial DNA sequences' - this paper generated a barrage of abuse and criticism from the scientific community and he has now left Europe to continue his research in China.

This video is a discussion of his research and the implication for life and science in general. It is pretty academic in places but I urge you to watch the first 10 minutes where Montagnier's experiments, and the reason for the controversy surrounding them, are very clearly explained in cartoon form. They are extremely similar in many respects to the work of the late Jacques Benveniste. I'll write more about him in a later blog.

Bill Gray's book Homeopathy: Science or Myth is an excellent and clear guide to the experiments of Benveniste and other ultra-low dilution research if you would like to find out more about the subject. It was published in 2000 so doesn't contain Montagnier's work. It does have a lot of science in there but is explained very clearly. Some of the pages are available to view on Amazon.

Jo Rhodes is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk.

Homeopathy Day in Bentham

Sole to Soul, Grasmere Drive, Bentham

Saturday 26th November 10am-4pm

I will talk briefly about the history and evidence for homeopathy and also show you how remedies are made. This will not be a lecture where I talk at you for hours, I would like people to share their experiences of homeopathic treatment and learn from each other as well as from me.

The main aim of the day is to introduce you to some commonly used homeopathic remedies and give examples of when they might be used. At the end of the day you should feel comfortable with first aid prescribing for injuries, bites, fevers and common illnesses like chicken pox, colds and flu.

Feedback from a previous course from Sophie in Settle..

I attended Jo’s Homeopathic First Aid course last year and following it feel much more confident about using homeopathy on myself and my family. Jo has an astounding ability to retain information in great detail and can explain these facts in a way that is clear and easy to understand. 

Cost is £20 for the day. Colour handouts and refreshments will be provided but please bring some food to share for lunch. 

 

 Secure online booking via Eventbrite

If you are coming to the course and would like one of these homeopathic first aid kit from Ainsworths then contact me, the kits contain 42 remedies in glass vials and an excellent self help booklet.   

Please note this offer is only available to course participants.

These usually cost £42 each but if I buy in bulk I can get them at a greatly reduced rate. Phone me on 07932 159099 or email me on jo@jorhodeshomeopathy.co.uk if you would like one.

Payment for the kits (£28 per kit) must be received at least a week before the course and please specify which kit you want.

The general first aid kit contains a selection of remedies to cover injuries, headaches, common illnesses, hayfever and much more. 

http://www.ainsworths.com/index.php?node=_eShopItem&_item=kit-ess

A Mother and Baby Kit is also available - this  is specifically designed to help parents through the emotional and physical challenges of pregnancy, childbirth and baby/infant stages, right through to age seven.

http://www.ainsworths.com/index.php?node=_eShopItem&_item=kit-mc

Research papers and where to find them - Part 1

If you are interested in finding more out about the research into homeopathy and looking at the original research papers you may not know where to start so here are some tips. These are things I have found helpful but there are others. Will write more on other resources soon.

Pile of Papers from jepoirrier flickr site

If you work in a university or hospital then you will almost certainly have access to a whole host of journals through your employer – if so, that’s fine – off you go. If not, have a look at these.

http://scholar.google.co.uk/ Google scholar is a good place to start – also helpful tips on search terms - if there is a full text version available it will come up as an option.

Pub Med Central is a growing collection of free research papers in a wide variety of topics. Includes many complementary medicine journals. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/

There are some homeopathy sites with full papers on. Some of the papers are pretty technical and it may feel like it’s another language and so have a look at these first and see how you get on.

The International Journal of High Dilution research is the first full free open-access electronic journal specialising in the multidisciplinary field of High Dilution (HD) research.  http://www.feg.unesp.br/~ojs/index.php/ijhdr/index lots of articles on analytical research, plant, veterinary, pharmacological studies as well as literature reviews and much more.

Nancy Malik has a Wordpress blog where she has put .pdf files containing about 200 full research papers on a variety of homeopathic related topics. It is broken down into sections on basic fundamental research, high dilution research and clinical research.

Aude Sapere is another useful source of information. http://www.audesapere.in  This is an Indian site run by Dr Saurav Arora - several full papers but also sections on research methodology - haven't read through the whole site but seems to have lots of info on research methods in general and a useful table with research papers. Lots of plant and cell based stuff on here too.

Dana Ullman has written an epic tome – have a look at his website. https://www.homeopathic.com/cms-global/shoppingcart/ViewProduct.do?productId=227

Homeopathic Family Medicine - Connecting Research to Quality Homeopathic Care. This is an e book of over 330 pages - you can download about 100 pages as a free sample to see if you want to buy the whole thing. You can buy the e version as a one time purchase or can buy it with updates for a little bit more. Part 2 of the book contains a comprehensive A-Z of conditions and summarises the research available, and, if appropriate, suggests some remedies that may be helpful for these conditions. This is very clear and easy to read and very well referenced so if you feel intimidated by the technical stuff in the academic papers this is an excellent resource. As new research is coming out all the time he updates this 3 or 4 times a year to include the latest research findings.

Homeopathy Around The World

 

'Making A Difference: Homeopathy Around The World' is a film project from Carol Boyce who has been travelling the world talking to patients and people working on projects in Cuba, Mexico, Haiti, Nepal, UK, and various African countries: Ghana, Benin, Kenya, Swaziland and Tanzania. Here is a short film of some of the people she has met so far.

For more info about what Carol is up to and some more short videos and interviews with homeopaths and other health related stories have a look at the Something to Say Productions website.

On a similar vein - check out this great video from Tanzanian rapper Rayms B, extolling the virtues of Jeremy Sherr and the Homeopathy for Health in Africa Project and guaranteed to get you dancing around!  

 

Tear gas, onions, homeopathy and Mark Thomas

When all the uprisings in the Middle East started earlier in the year I saw a news clip of a protester in Manama in Bahrain being interviewed by the Pearl roundabout. He said something like 'We are peaceful protesters, we have no weapons, all we have to protect us from the tear gas are these onions.'

Strange as it may seem, that sounded quite homeopathic to me. I asked a few friends to see if they had heard that sort of story before. One who used to live in South Africa said it was well known when she lived there that protesters would carry onions because if they sniffed them the tear gas had no effect on them.

Red Onion Slice from photobunny on flickr

Just having a quick look on wikipedia about tear gas 

Tear gas, formally known as a lachrymatory agent or lachrymator (from lacrima meaning "a tear" in Latin), is a non-lethal chemical compound that stimulates the corneal nerves in the eyes to cause tearing, pain, and even blindness. Common lachrymators include OC, CS,CR, CN, nonivamide, bromoacetone, phenacyl bromide, xylyl bromide and syn-propanethial-S-oxide (from onions). 

syn-Propanethial S-oxide (C₃H₆OS) is a gas that acts as a lachrymatory agent (triggers tearing and stinging on contact with the eyes). The chemical is released from onions, Allium cepa, as they are sliced. 

From a homeopathic perspective this isn't as strange as it sounds. If you chop up a strong onion it is likely to make your eyes and nose run and may make you sneeze. A remedy made from red onion, allium cepa, is one we commonly use for people with some types of hayfever with lots of sneezing and watery eyes. What seems to happen is that a remedy made from a small amount of onion triggers your body to deal with the symptoms. So a large amount of exposure to onion (or tear gas) will produce symptoms but a very small amount of onion, either from a remedy or just from sniffing an onion, can trigger your body to deal with those symptoms.

The comedian Mark Thomas has been around for a while and I'm a big fan of his. He has always been outspoken about controversial issues in his live shows and TV programmes. For a flavour of what he does have a look at this old episode of the Mark Thomas Comedy Product where he goes on a trip to the Defendory International arms fair to meet a few dictators and arms dealers. He has a stall there pretending to be from a PR company offering media training to help regimes create a more positive message about human rights, wife beating, torture etc.

You may well ask - what has Mark got to do with homeopathy, onions and tear gas?

More recently Mark decided he would go for a bit of a walk. Not the usual sort of walk up a hill or along a coastal path that most people might do. Mark decided he'd like to go for a walk along the entire length of the Israeli Separation Barrier along the disputed territory between Israel and Palestine. He is touring the UK until the end of September talking about his experiences on his 'Extreme Rambling - Walking the Wall' tour. A friend caught his show at Glastonbury where he mentioned he was given an onion to sniff by some Palestinians who were in disputed territory and regularly had tear gas used on them.. and it worked..  an example of homeopathy in action!

Jo Rhodes is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk.

Carnivorous plants, homeopathy and Darwin

I saw a news article today on the BBC website about a plant which had apparently 'eaten' a blue tit.

Blue tit in pitcher plant - BBC

Pitcher plants are one of a group of carnivorous plants which use variety of tactics to trap and 'dissolve' insects or larger things for food. They have various methods of trapping and devouring their dinner and if you are curious have a look at the International Carnivorous Plant Society for lots more photos and info. 

You might be surprised to learn that we use remedies made from some of these peculiar carnivorous plants in homeopathy and in herbal medicine.  

A remedy made from the whole Sundew (drosera rotundiflora) plant has been used for over 200 years in homeopathy to treat respiratory problems. It was mentioned in herbal medical texts from as early as the 12th century where an Italian doctor, Matthaeus Platearius described the plant as a treatment for coughs. It has been used in herbalism for hundreds of years for spasmodic coughs, bronchitis and other respiratory illnesses. Culpeper mentions that the juice from the plant was used to remove warts and corns and that ladies used a mix of the juice with milk for skin to reduce freckles and relieve sunburn.

Close up of Sundew (Drosera Rotundiflora) leaf

The chemical composition of sundew perhaps sheds light on some of the medicinal properties. The plant contains high levels of various flavonoids and in particular quercetin which is the subject of a great deal of research especially looking at inflammation and allergies. 

Here are a couple of examples of current research into its properties

Anti-inflammatory and spasmolytic activity of extracts from Droserae herba

Identification and quantification of flavonoids and ellagic acid derivatives in therapeutically important Drosera species

Drosera is also interesting because Charles Darwin did some work and found that very dilute solutions of ammonia salts had an effect on the leaves. Darwin is also known to have been treated by a homeopath and more about this can be found in Dana Ullman's Huffington Post article The surprising story of Charles Darwin and his Homeopathic Doctor  

From the botanists perspective have a look at Talking Plants blog on the Drosera and Darwin story

Homeopathy: Medicine or Magic?

I came across this video recently and it is well worth a look. It is an old QED documentary from the BBC which was made in the 1990's. Features interviews with a variety of people including Dr Peter Fisher (homeopath to the Queen!), Dr David Reilly and various satisfied patients, farmers and GPs. There is an excellent section on veterinary homeopathy featuring Christopher Day talking about his experiences with treating farm animals and pets. Also some dissenting voices including David Colquhoun wearing a quite fantastic jumper!

So - grab a cuppa and sit down and watch. 

Homeopathy: Medicine or Magic ? by TonyE1000

And if you would like to find out more have a look at Extraordinary Medicine or the Society of Homeopaths website. Both have lots of information on history, research, case studies and more.

Videos of the strange behaviour of water

The main area of controversy in homeopathy is around the issue of dilutions, but many people do not realise that there is a great deal about water we still do not understand. I have mentioned this in previous blogs, see Weirdness of Water and Avogadro for more info and I won't go into it all again here. John Benneth has also talked about dilutions on his blog and has reviewed the research which has been done for over a century to try and understand why homeopathically prepared dilutions are still measurable and have an effect on cells, bacteria, plants, animals and humans.

I came across a video on Oasis HD which shows how unexpectedly water can behave. The same sample of water can produce different images when handled by different people, or can be affected by a flower.



On a similar theme, here is a short video of some of Dr Emoto's work on ice crystals.



A much longer video about Dr Emoto and his work can be found here.

Homeopathy Day in Bentham

Would you like to learn more about homeopathy?

As well as teaching you about remedies I will talk briefly about the history of homeopathy, the strange properties of water, show you how remedies are made and also bring along some well known plants that you may not have realised are used in homeopathy.

The aim of the course is to give you the confidence to be able to treat friends and family safely and effectively for first aid and minor ailments.

This will not be a lecture where I talk at you for hours, I would like people to share their experiences of homeopathic treatment and learn from each other as well as from me.

Saturday 9^th April 10 am until 4 pm

Sole to Soul, Grasmere Drive

Bentham, LA2 7JP

www.sole-to-soul.net

Cost £20 for the day, handouts will be provided

Hot and cold drinks will be available but

please bring some food to share for lunch

To book up or for more information

call me on 0800 2980701 or 07932 159099

or email jo@jorhodeshomeopathy.co.uk

Or call Sole to Soul on 015242 63067

Feedback from a previous course from Sophie in Settle..

I attended Jo’s Homeopathic First Aid course last year and following it feel much more confident about using homeopathy on myself and my family. Jo has an astounding ability to retain information in great detail and can explain these facts in a way that is clear and easy to understand.

Jo also has a very strong sense of intuition and, having also seen her as a patient, I have always appreciated her ability to ask the right question at the right time and listen to the answer to pick up significant symptoms and feeling.

I turn to Jo for advice on many matters that have been helped by homeopathy from simple coughs and colds to deep seated emotional issues and have had amazing results as a result of her support and advice.

Homeopathy at Wellie Level

Homeopathy At Wellie Level is an organisation set up by Christine Lees who has an agricultural degree but is also a qualified homeopath. HAWL provides courses to help the farmer help himself, and looks at homeopathy as an additional farm management tool, not as something designed to take the place of conventional treatment.

Here is an article in Farmers Weekly about Christine and her work




Prince Charles is a great supporter of her work and most HAWL courses are run at Broadfield Farm on the Duchy Estate in Gloucestershire.

The three day course is spread over several weeks to allow farmers the chance to practice what they have learned between sessions. Day one covers the basic principles of homeopathy, learning what a homeopath looks for when observing animals and six remedies which can be added to everyday farm management. Day two covers assessing a sick animal and choosing the right symptoms to help find an appropriate remedy, and day three looks at the longer view, learning how to build homeopathy into the farm year.

OMSCo the Organic Milk Suppliers Cooperative offers funding to members to do the course and will cover half the fees.

Under the organic standards for milk, routine use of medicines such as antibiotics is prohibited and homeopathy (under veterinary guidance) is encouraged as an effective alternative and a powerful tool in the maintenance of herd health. With increasing levels of disease on the farm over the years OMSCo believes farmers need another tool to complement conventional treatments.

Yeo Valley are an organic dairy in Somerset which use homeopathy for their cows. Here is a blog post about their use of alternative treatments on the farm.

For information about homeopathic vets in your area or information on homeopathy for animals in general go to the British Association of Homeopathic Veterinary Surgeons website

Have look at this video of farmer Oliver Dowding talking about how homeopathy has worked for him and his animals.



Update - in June 2011 MRSA was found in milk because of the routine use of antibiotics to deal with the health problems associated with the extremely high levels of milk being produced per cow. See this article from The Soil Association 


I have an Amazon AStore with a selection of books on Veterinary Homeopathy this is by no means a definitive list but these are some suggestions if you want to find out more about how homeopathy may be able to help with your animals.






Jo Rhodes is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk.

Skeptics ,Science and Mice

Well, it seems the skeptics are planning another of their mass overdoses this weekend. The whole idea of a mass overdose clearly shows how little they know about homeopathy. A single dose (1 pill or 100 pills at the same time still count as a single dose) of a remedy will only have any effect if the remedy fits the persons physical and emotional symptoms. So taking a random remedy is unlikely to do anything. If by chance they take a remedy that does fit them then there would be positive effects.

Homeopathy is extremely safe, especially when compared with allopathic medicine. As a conservative estimate the painkiller Vioxx is thought to have killed 2000 people in the UK, and that is just one drug. However, if you repeatedly take a 'wrong' homeopathic remedy for a long time there is a good chance you will produce symptoms that are related to that remedy and not to you. The homeopathic materia medica has been developed from just such experiments known as provings. Healthy people took homeopathic remedies, often over a period of weeks to see what symptoms were produced. The results are collated and when someone has symptoms which fit the picture produced by a proving then we know that remedy is very likely to help them.

The dictionary definition of a skeptic is someone who doubts the value or truth of an idea or a belief. Doubting something is reasonable but it seems to me whatever evidence, research papers and personal stories indicate homeopathy has an effect, they continue to say it's unscientific and impossible. The skeptics don't seem to even want to look at the research available, let alone consider that there are many papers showing plants, animals, young babies and cells have responded to homeopathic preparations. No placebo effect with that lot.

Science, according to Wikipedia, 'is an enterprise that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the world'. Theories can and do alter according to new evidence and theories. Science is not static and new ideas help move things forward. It seems the skeptic approach is to just say 'homeopathy is rubbish' and refuse to look at anything that challenges that view which seems decidedly unscientific to me.

For an interesting perspective on the mass overdose have a look at the exellent blog Elephants and Mice

And for sound, sensible and scientific information about homeopathy have a look at the website Extraordinary Medicine.

Stunts such as mass overdoses and negative articles in the press have very little effect on the public at large and only serve to stimulate discussion. The vast majority of people come to see a homeopath because they have friends or relatives who have been helped by homeopathic treatment. Most of them don't tweet, blog or really care what some journalist in London says about anything. If there is a story about homeopathy in the media, most people don't remember whether it was negative or positive. If someone has benefited from homeopathic treatment, any negative story is likely to prompt them to say how much it helped them.

I, and many other homeopaths, actually get much busier when the skeptics pull stunts. So we will look forward to a busy few weeks. Thanks guys!

Science for Homeopaths Day in Manchester

Earlier this year I was appointed onto the Society of Homeopaths Research Committee. One of the things I feel is important is to give homeopaths and students the information they need to deal with the common criticisms we face as a profession.

Myself and Emily Peckham, both homeopaths and chemists, will be doing a CPD day on Science for Homeopaths in central Manchester on Thursday 25th November. There is a lot of controversy about dilutions and so we will be explaining, in simple terms, what Avogadro's number is all about and why it is such a contentious issue. We will also be looking at the weirdness of water and some other areas of science which are not as clear cut as you might think. We will look at the analytical evidence which shows that extremely diluted solutions are measureable using a variety of analytical techniques. The majority of work done in this area is actually done by chemists and physicists and is nothing to do with homeopathy.

The aim is to make some complex scientific ideas accessible to all and give participants tools to answer critics in a scientific manner. There will also be a detailed list of websites, references and a bibliography for further reading and research.

On the day we will bring some of these scientific papers and books for you to have a look at and there will also be some time available for general discussion and networking.

Science for Homeopaths

Quaker Meeting Rooms, Mount St, Manchester

Thursday 25th November

To book go through the Society of Homeopaths website or call the office in Northampton.


The Society of Homeopaths website has an excellent research section which has been written by Rachel Roberts.

The British Homeopathic Association also has comprehensive research pages. Their magazine Health and Homeopathy contains very clear and interesting articles on particular health topics and remedies which can be dowloaded from the website.

Here we go again..

The latest edition of the Settle Community News may not be the magazine with the largest circulation, but it is widely read in this area. There is an article written by Ted Saunders who is objecting to a piece in a previous edition about the clinic where I work and the main focus of his article is an attack on homeopathy and what he calls 'the stirrers of Settle'. Ironically, there was an article in the Guardian yesterday by Edzard Ernst which raised much the same issues.

I have had several calls, texts and emails from people who were outraged by these articles and wanted to voice their support for me and for homeopathy.

Ted mentioned the recent report by the government Science and Technology committee which criticised homeopathy, dilutions, costs to the NHS and that homeopathy is based on faith and medicine is based on science

So, let's look at these points

They both mention the critical report of the Government Science and Technology Evidence check into homeopathy. Of the 12 members on the committee, only 3 MPs voted for this report, one lost his seat and the other 2 stood down at the last election (and one of those joined the committee after the hearings). Two of these MPs are known supporters of a group called Sense About Science who are anything but sensible about science. Of the witnesses called to give evidence only one was a homeopath, Dr Peter Fisher, the director of the London Homeopathic Hospital, the majority were journalists or academics who are known to oppose homeopathy. See my blog dated 21st February 2010 for more information about the hearing and for an excellent summary of proceedings see the blog by 'The Voice of (Not So Young) Homeopathy'

I have written about dilutions several times on this blog, but the main thing to remember is homeopathic remedies are made by dilution and by vigorous shaking, a process called succussion. It has been known for many years that this shaking causes changes to the structure and properties of the liquid. The vast majority of this research is nothing to do with homeopathy but done by chemists and physicists who want to try and understand how this works. One of the key research papers, which I have mentioned before, is one by Louis Rey which was able to measure thermoluminescence of extremely diluted solutions of sodium chloride and lithium chloride. The solutions which were just diluted could not be measured but solutions which had been diluted and vigorously shaken were measurable. The full article can be seen here.

Also see my blog article about Avagadro's number for more about dilutions.

Ted also says that homeopathy is more about faith than science. I would like to point out that the NHS doesn't get it all right either. Many people put their faith in their GP and the NHS but still decide to try complementary medicine because they have not been helped by the system. I came to homeopathy after years of unsuccessful treatments for migraine, the final straw was disturbing side effects from prescribed medication, so I tried homeopathy which worked for me and I became curious to learn more about it. Side effects from medication, long term problems such as back pain, chronic fatigue, anxiety, depression and sleep problems are common reasons why patients choose to try a different approach.

I would like to draw your attention to British Medical Journal Clinical Evidence which shows that only 11% of medicines and current interventions are known to be effective for the conditions they are prescribed. A staggering 51% are of unknown effectiveness.



Updated Clinical Evidence article

When you consider the NHS drug budget is about £11 billion a year, I find it amusing that critics complain about the £4 million spent on homeopathy in the NHS, particularly when over 70% of people with chronic conditions seen in the homeopathic hospitals report improvement after their treatment. Surely anything that helps over 70% of people should be encouraged. See the Bristol study for more info.

Unfortunately, attacks on homeopathy are not new. James Compton Burnett wrote a series of letters to a young skeptical doctor to explain why he believed in homeopathy. The letters were cases he had treated himself and were published in 1896 as a short book 'Fifty Reasons for being a Homeopath'. It is a very clear and simple book which shows how he first became curious and then became more passionate about homeopathy the more he learnt about it. You can find this on Google Books

Dr James Compton Burnett 1840-1901

'Homeopathy: A Rational Choice in Medicine' by Mo Morrish is a small but excellent book which counters all the arguments that skeptics throw at us. It should be essential reading for anyone who is curious about the controversy surrounding homeopathy, unfortunately, the hardened skeptics are unlikely to ever read it.
Homoeopathy: A Rational Choice in Medicine
Another book on the subject which goes into the science in much more detail is Bill Gray's 'Homeopathy: Science or Myth'. This clearly and simply explains some of the possible theories about how homeopathy might work and discusses several experiments in detail which indicate that very dilute homeopathically prepared medicines are not only measureable, but also have an effect which is certainly not placebo.
Homeopathy: Science or Myth?

I have copies of all these books and if any of you in the Settle area want to borrow them then let me know.

Homeopathy is witchcraft.. apparently

There was an article published recently in the Daily Telegraph by some junior doctors which said that 'Homeopathy is Witchcraft.'

I could write what I thought of it but, as usual, Brian Kaplan has written a brilliant response and you can find it on his blog.


Dr Brian Kaplan - 'Homeopathy is Witchcraft.' Should Homeopaths now be burnt at the stake?

Water and Weirdness

The Institute of Science in Society is a not for profit organisation dedicated to providing critical and accessible information to the public and to promoting social accountability and ecological sustainability in science. There are some interesting articles on on their website on a variety of topics including climate change, nanotechnology, holistic health, stem cells, agriculture and much, much more. There are several about the strange behaviour of water and how this could relate to homeopathy. This one is written by Mae-Wan Ho who is a geneticist and also director of ISIS.

Water Remembers? Homeopathy Explained?

New research suggests water remembers what has been dissolved in it, even after dilution beyond the point where no molecule of the original substances could remain.

For more than a century, practitioners of homeopathy have used highly diluted solutions of medicinal substances to treat diseases. Some substances are diluted way beyond the point at which no trace of the original substances could remain. It is as though the water has retained memory of the departed molecules. This has aroused a great deal of scepticism within the conventional medical and scientific community. To this day, ‘homeopathic’ is used as a term of derision, to indicate something imagined that has no reality.

But a series of recent discoveries in the conventional scientific community is making people think again.

First, there were the South Korean chemists who discovered two years ago that molecules dissolved in water clump together as they get more diluted (see SiS 15), which was totally unexpected; and further more, the size of the clumps depends on the history of dilution, making a mockery of the ‘laws of chemistry’.

Now, physicist Louis Rey in Lausanne, Switzerland, has published a paper in the mainstream journal, Physica A, describing experiments that suggest water does have a memory of molecules that have been diluted away, as can be demonstrated by a relatively new physical technique that measures thermoluminescence.

In this technique, the material is ‘activated’ by irradiation at low temperature, with UV, X-rays, electron beams, or other high-energy sub-atomic particles. This causes electrons to come loose from the atoms and molecules, creating ‘electron-hole pairs’ that become separated and trapped at different energy levels.

Then, when the irradiated material is warmed up, it releases the absorbed energy and the trapped electrons and holes come together and recombine. This causes the release of a characteristic glow of light, peaking at different temperatures depending on the magnitude of the separation between electron and hole.

As a general rule, the phenomenon is observed in crystals with an ordered arrangement of atoms and molecules, but it is also seen in disordered materials such as glasses. In this mechanism, imperfections in the atomic/molecular lattice are considered to be the sites at which luminescence appears.

Rey decided to use the technique to investigate water, starting with heavy water or deuterium oxide that’s been frozen into ice at a temperature of 77K. The absolute temperature scale (degree K, after Lord Kelvin) is used in science. (The zero degree K is equivalent to –273 C, and deuterium is an isotope of hydrogen which is twice as heavy as hydrogen).

As the ice warms up, a first peak of luminescence appears near 120K, and a second peak near 166 K. Heavy water gives a much stronger signal than water. In both cases, samples that were not irradiated gave no signals at all.

For both water and heavy water, the relative intensity of the thermoluminescence depends on the irradiation dose. There has been a suggestion that peak 2 comes from the hydrogen-bonded network within ice, whereas peak 1 comes from the individual molecules. This was confirmed by looking at a totally different material that is known to present strong hydrogen bonds, which showed a similar glow in the peak 2 region, but nothing in peak 1.

Rey then investigated what would happen when he dissolved some chemicals in the water and diluted it in steps of one hundred fold with vigorous stirring (as in the preparation of homeopathic remedies), until he reached a concentration of 10 to the power -30 g per centilitre, and compare that to the control that has not had any chemical dissolved in it and diluted in the same way.

The samples were frozen and activated with irradiation as usual.

Much to his surprise, when lithium chloride, LiCl, a chemical that would be expected to break hydrogen bonds between water molecules was added, and then diluted away, the thermoluminescent glow became reduced, but the reduction of peak 2 was greater relative to peak 1. Sodium chloride, NaCl, had the same effect albeit to a lesser degree.

It appears, therefore, that substances like LiCl and NaCl can modify the hydrogen-bonded network of water, and that this modification remains even when the molecules have been diluted away.

http://www.vhan.nl/documents/Rey.thermoluminescence.pdf

The fact that this ‘memory’ remains, in spite of, or because of vigorous stirring or shaking at successive dilutions, indicates that the ‘memory’ is by no means static, but depends on a dynamic process, perhaps a collective quantum excitation of water molecules that has a high degree of stability (see "The strangeness of water and homeopathic memory", SiS 15).

Plants and Fungi in Homeopathy

This is a fantastic area on the Natural History Museum website. There is some excellent information and pictures of hundreds of plants and fungi as well as lichens and algae used in homeopathic remedies.

This is the work of Vilma Bharatan who is a botanist at the NHM.

Plants and Fungi in Homeopathy

Gelsemium Sempervirens

The homeopathic remedy Gelsemium is
often used to treat the symptoms of flu

The fantastic illustrations in the website reminded me of an excellent book that I have somewhere but can't seem to put my hands on at the minute! It is called 'Dangerous Garden: The Quest for Plants to Change our Lives' by David Stuart. He is a botanist and his passion for his subject really shines through every page. There are many wonderful pictures of plants in the book that are still in common use in homeopathy and herbalism. It is full of enthralling tales of the darker side of plants and includes poisonings, plague and pestilence, aphrodisiacs, mysterious mass hallucinations and much, much more. I do love reading Culpeper and Gerard but this is a herbal book with a difference!

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