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James Randi had made a similar offer earlier. George Vithoulkas, an eminent homeopath made an offer to prove that homeopathy works. But the old magician just did not want to take up the challenge and did not reply even though he had agreed earlier to participate. It only proves to show that he is not a scientist and just a common road side magician who had amassed money from various means other than science and wants to project himself in public with various dubious advertisements. This leads one to think that various big pharma companies have a big hand in this.
Lets not pretend that Big Nature or Big Homeopathy is not under the umbrella of Big Pharma. The money all goes to the same pockets. A while ago I was in need of some over-the-counter medicine for my baby. In CVS, I was looking at packaging along the lines of what I needed. I grabbed one that looked about right and was about to walk off and buy it when I noticed one spot on the packaging that had the word “homeopathic” in small letters. I was incensed. Fine, sell pretend medicine, but don’t try to hide its “homeopathic” nature. Make it obvious so that, if that’s what I don’t want, I don’t feel tricked into buying pretend medicine. It was devious marketing that I almost fell for, and it made me angry.
Obviously I agree with Randi. Any medicine that has not been tested and shown to work should be labeled as such. Consumers should be free to choose, but they also need that information.
Just one word: Boiron
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiron
That’s a load of garbage. Vithoulkas is a slimy weasel. Randi had a heart attack around the time of the challenge, and the JREF staff simply tried to get Vithoulkas to comply with the standard testing procedure instead of the special accommodations Randi gave him originally. He never complied, and the test died.
The simple fact that you use the term “Big Pharma” leads me to believe that you see conspiracies everywhere, and no amount of logic or rational thinking will get through to you.
Homeopathy can be easily demonstrated not to work.
Take 100 volunteers. Take 100 vials. Put serial numbers on those vials and randomize them.
Put in half the vials homoeopathy sleeping solution and put in the other half just water.
Note the serial numbers on each vial so you can track later which vial contains the real homeopathy.
Randomize these vials and give this to a complete group of testers.
Now use a computer program to test each one of the 100 people for concentration.
Give now the vial with the prepared solution.
Test those people again every 30 minutes and check their responsiveness.
You should see a distinct signature between the people falling asleep and having the real homoeopathy.
This is a test anyone can do,
Ah yes, where do you think that homoeopathy is crated? Yes big pharma companies too.
James Randy is now my Jesus. He didn’t die for our “sins”, he lived for our brains!
After thinking about it for a little bit; that joke is stupid. I apologize.
So, after I watched that video Youtube offered up another video of someone named Benneth. His video basically said that Charles Darwin had been cured of some nauseous stomach ailment with Homeopathy, and then went on to say that it could be proved using something like a venus flytrap and water and a certain Homeopathic high dilute. Anyone know anything about that?
YouTube has no stupid filter.
I realize about the stupid filter, just wondered what the specifics of this incident were.
If the homeopathic industry had ANY proof (reproducible scientific proof) they sure as hell would advertise with it.
But since enough ppl are buying the products why should they even bother to try? Either they don’t believe in it themselves or even a small series of tests would cost too much.
Its just easy earned money anyways.
Oh by the way, placebos DO work. Probably the only reason homeopathy works – its just another placebo. With less ingredients.
Placebos only work on some aliments some of the time and with unpredictable and uncontrollable success.
You wouldn’t take a placebo for high cholesterol, for instance.
I think if you are claiming to have a “supplement” that affects a person’s health, you should be required by law to provide an insert that demonstrates the chemical pathway and mechanism of its action, just like any other kind of chemical a person takes for health reasons. If you cannot provide the exact mechanism which is testable and repeatable, you don’t get to sell it for health care reasons.
Placebos only work on some aliments some of the time and with unpredictable and uncontrollable success.
You wouldn’t take a placebo for high cholesterol, for instance.
Of course placebo don’t help with diseases that need treatment. I just wanted to point out that homeopathic drugs don’t do anything else than placebos :).
Thank you for clarifying my post :).
Hope you don’t suffer too much from the snow down there in Texas…
Yes, I was just adding on to what you said. We are in agreement, certainly!
:D
Aren’t there some drugs, especially neurological drugs, for which the chemical pathway and mechanism aren’t precisely known? I seem to remember reading or hearing the words “drug-A is thought to work by (some theoretical mechanism)…… side effects may include left-handedness and spontaneous gender change”. Just wondering if that meets your criteria or not.
There are many. Paracetomol is a good example; it works, but we don’t really know why.