It is regrettable that the homeopathy debate devides people into
often hostile camps. To my mind there are three outstanding questions:
1) Does any particular homeopathic prepartion produce better results than
placebo ? One of the clinical questions posed of any conventional drug
before release onto the market.
2) How does homeopathy work in the physical sense? Assuming the answer to
1 is positive, then this question becomes extremely interesting. I would
suggest that even if homeopathic remedies are shown to have an effect,
then understanding of these processes would allow the development of more
effective ones.
3) If large numbers of people are taking homeopathic remedies, surely
research funding will be available from those benefiting commercially
from their sale ? Companies selling many other products sponsor research
on efficacy ( for example horticultural suppliers etc.) without the
requirement for licencing by regulatory bodies. Compared to a conventional
drug, homeopathic remedies do not require many of the stages of testing,
and so product development can be much cheaper.
Competing interests:
No competing interests
01 March 2002
David T Parry
Flexible Learning Advisor
Auckland University of Technology Private Bag 920006 Auckland 1020 New Zealand
Rapid Response:
Three Questions
It is regrettable that the homeopathy debate devides people into
often hostile camps. To my mind there are three outstanding questions:
1) Does any particular homeopathic prepartion produce better results than
placebo ? One of the clinical questions posed of any conventional drug
before release onto the market.
2) How does homeopathy work in the physical sense? Assuming the answer to
1 is positive, then this question becomes extremely interesting. I would
suggest that even if homeopathic remedies are shown to have an effect,
then understanding of these processes would allow the development of more
effective ones.
3) If large numbers of people are taking homeopathic remedies, surely
research funding will be available from those benefiting commercially
from their sale ? Companies selling many other products sponsor research
on efficacy ( for example horticultural suppliers etc.) without the
requirement for licencing by regulatory bodies. Compared to a conventional
drug, homeopathic remedies do not require many of the stages of testing,
and so product development can be much cheaper.
Competing interests: No competing interests