Australian Medical Group Slams Homeopathy, Saying It’s “Not Effective and Should Not Be Prescribed”

I don’t know what prompted them to do it now, but this is a very encouraging statement from an established medical organization:

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has formally recommended GPs stop prescribing homeopathic remedies and says pharmacists must also stop stocking such products because there is no evidence they are effective in any way.

…

The RACGP president, Dr Frank Jones, warned people who turned to homeopathic products to address health issues could be putting themselves at risk.

Such unproven products might cause them to delay seeking out proper medical care, or lead them to reject conventional medical approaches entirely, he said.

You can read the formal statement and position paper — both are extremely heartening. They promote evidence-based medicine, which by definition excludes placebos masquerading as the real thing.

Sadly, there’s plenty of reason for them to point out what should be obvious to everyone:

RACGP noted all taxpayers were funding homeopathy through the federal government’s private health insurance rebate.

Too bad the Pharmacy Guild of Australia wouldn’t step up to the plate and show the same sort of courage. Instead, they left the decision to prescribe useless drugs to individual pharmacists, as if suggesting homeopathic drugs was ever a legitimate option:

… it says its advice to pharmacists is to ensure customers have access to objective, informed advice about complementary medicines.

“Pharmacists, as health professionals, have a duty of care to be aware of available clinical evidence that supports the therapeutic and marketing claims made about all products sold in their pharmacies,” the guild said in a statement.

How hard is it to tell customers, “Don’t take this; it ain’t gonna help”?

You’d think the Guild could say they did their own review of homeopathic medicines, found them all to be completely ineffective, and are now urging their members against offering them to patients. That wouldn’t have any legal weight, but it would send a strong message. Instead, they opted for a middle-of-the-road cowardly approach. For shame…

(Image via Shutterstock)