Proof against Homeopathy does in fact support Homeopathy

Abstract

We have little knowledge of the underlying mechanisms of homeopathy. The theory that toxic materials can also cure is commonly accepted, for example in vaccination. But the concept that homeopathic medicinal products are still effective after a gradual process of high dilution and intensive succussion is beyond the bounds of current scientific understanding. Still this method has been used worldwide for centuries, especially by patients with chronic complaints. These patients have had wide experience with conventional medicine and have observed that conventional medicinal products may reduce their symptoms to some extent, but their complaints often recur. Such patients have found that, by using homeopathic treatment, their complaints may disappear completely, while the treatment hardly ever causes any serious side effects. In 1999 a number of complementary forms of medicine, of which homeopathy was one, were experimentally included in the Swiss health insurance. Meanwhile a large research program with numerous research institutes was started to study the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of these complementary treatments. The program was called Programm Evaluation Komplementarmedizin (PEK). One of the institutions was the Institut fur Sozial und Preventiv Medizin (ISPM). This institution carried out the meta-analysis, recently published in the Lancet, and which is further discussed in this paper. However, the outcome of the meta-analysis was previously announced in the public press back in August 2003. The methods and the conclusion of this meta-analysis in particular, received a lot of criticism from the PEK management. The PEK management observed that different treatments for different diseases cannot be approached as if you are looking at one treatment for one disease. This criticism is not even mentioned in the Lancet publication, let alone discussed.