For those of you who missed this morning's
The Today Programme on BBC Radio 4, listen
here to a fragment where homoeopathy-sceptic
Simon Singh and conservative MP
David Tredinnick take opposing views on the healing powers of homoeopathic remedies. Based on a couple of studies published recently,
Tredinnick feels it is worth re-opening the debate on whether or not the
NHS should fund homoeopathic remedies; Simon Singh explains why this would be a mistake. The latter's description of a French homoeopathic flu medicine that contains one crushed and highly diluted duck that serves millions of people - and therefore earns the company who created the remedy millions of Euros - as the ultimate quack remedy is a wonderful and almost perfect put-down for the values of homoeopathy.
I think this is a very interesting area of debate. The whole area of double blind, placebo controlled trials being the gold standard is open to much criticism in itself. Although it is not appropriate to test, major surgery is not even liable to the same placebo controlled trials. I completely understand though that an NHS funded healthcare system might be better to invest the money spent on homeopathic remedies on better food and nutrition in schools and hospitals. The outcome studies from this are undisputed.
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