Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council has issued a report concluding that:
There is no good quality evidence to support the claim that homeopathy is effective in treating health conditions. The conclusion is based on the findings of a rigorous assessment of more than 1800 papers. Of these, 225 studies met the criteria to be included in NHMRC’s examination of the effectiveness of homeopathy.
The review found no good quality, well-designed studies with enough participants to support the idea that homeopathy works better than a placebo, or causes health improvements equal to those of another treatment.
The report goes on to press insurance companies to stop subsidizing homeopathic treatments and pharmacies to stop carrying the useless products. I’d like to see a pharmacy giant in this country — like CVS — be as proactive in clearing its shelves of homeopathic remedies as it has in no longer selling tobacco products.
Of course, reports like this won’t chance the minds of millions of people who have bought and swallowed the homeopathy industry’s garbage for years, but that shouldn’t stop scientists and other rational thinkers from trying to undo the damage done by pseudo-science.