Did you see CBC’s Marketplace episode “Cure or Con?” or have interest in our position on homeopathy?
Are you here because you saw the CBC Marketplace episode “Cure or Con?” on homeopathy?
Greetings, and welcome to the Centre for Inquiry, Canada. We are a registered non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the use and understanding of science in every aspect of Canadian society. We are in no way affiliated with any medical or pharmaceutical organization, public or private.
Why are we critical of homeopathy?
Homeopathy has been a controversial subject since its inception over 200 years ago. While proponents often point to testimonials and studies that supposedly show positive results for homeopathy, we believe there are very good reasons to doubt this evidence. In the scientific study of human health, a number of methods have been developed to reduce the error and bias that we are all naturally susceptible to. Some of the most important of these methods are the use of placebo control groups, large sample sizes, double blinding (neither the subjects nor the experimenters know who is in the control group and who is in the study group), and peer review by other scientists not directly involved in the study. As it turns out, when these methods are all employed properly, studies of homeopathy tend to conclude that it does no better than a placebo treatment. For more details on the scientific study of homeopathy and other alternative medicines, we recommend the book “Trick or Treatment” by Dr. Edzard Ernst.
If the best studies show that homeopathy doesn’t actually work, then where do all of the testimonials come from?
There are many reasons why somebody might think that a treatment has worked for them. For example, we tend to link events that happen close together as if one has caused the other, even if this might not be the case. This is how many superstitions get started (I’ve had bad luck today, it must be because of that black cat I saw). If somebody has taken a homeopathic treatment for a cold, and their body fights off the cold all by itself a short time later (colds almost always go away by themselves after a few days), then it is natural for them to credit the homeopathy for having ‘cured’ them, and a testimonial is born. This is not the fault of the person, but we should not consider these kinds of testimonials to be reliable evidence. There are at least nine other reasons a person might think that homeopathy has worked for them, even if it hasn’t. A more detailed explanation of similar effects can be found in the article “Why Bogus Therapies Seem to Work.”
So what about the homeopathic overdose on Marketplace?
You may have noticed that the group featured in the show taking an overdose of homeopathic pills did not use a control group, did not blind the test, did not use a large sample size, and did not have any peer review. Well, you’re right! The homeopathic overdose was not meant to be a rigorous scientific study. The purpose of the overdose (and others like it around the world) was to show that homeopathy is a very different kind of thing from both regular medicines and other alternative treatments such as herbal medicine. It is a common misconception that homeopathy is based on chemical and biological reactions in the body, just like regular and herbal medicine. If this were the case, then those chemical and biological reactions should have obvious effects when anybody takes as many pills as the volunteers on the show did. But homeopathy is very different - it claims to use the “memory” of substances to treat symptoms that would normally be caused by the substance in its raw form. Unfortunately, this claim goes against everything that we know about biology, chemistry, and physics. If it is true, it would mark the biggest scientific revolution the world has ever known. We eagerly invite any group to publish proof of this claim, but for such a significant shift in understanding, we need more than testimonials and poorly designed studies. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
Thank you for checking us out! If you would like to learn more about homeopathy, alternative medicine, or any of the other topics that the Centre for Inquiry, Canada addresses, please have a look around this site. Our current ‘Extraordinary Claims’ campaign is also a great resource to find out about these kinds of issues. If you would like to get in contact with CFI, please see our contact page. If you would like to help support our mission of critical thinking and science education, please consider becoming a Friend of the Centre.