Nana Ryu Thanks for sharing, it is valuable for me.

at a personal level , I have had some benefits out of homeopathy treatment and luckily I went to a good doctor. But it is indeed a sham on a bigger platform for treatments like hair loss, acme reduction - pitches which masses buy.

Abraham Joseph Abraham Joseph M.Sc., M.Phil (Chemistry) long felt that homeopathy of Heinemann is a well wish

Jack Dhuwalia MS, MBA, ASQ Quality Manager East vs. West. Just because there is no do double-blind study with an approved protocol doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't work! Homeopathy is useful from my experience. It worked more often than not!

Gary Baker, Esq., MT OK, Jack. If it works, why not do the study; instead of just selling the product without validation? This is not West vs. East or North vs South.

Voltaire said "The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease".
Homeopathy is a wonderful placebo. And just like all placebos, it works well in many diseases.

As a former chemist, this can't come soon enough. However, as someone interested in how the brain works, there is a place for the placebo effect in medicine - just not at the financial expense of consumers and not through expensive products based on unproven (never intending to be tested) claims.

hello. I am an ophthalmologist. Have been practicing allopathic medicine for years. refuting the credibility of alternate medicine is a huge burden which the author I feel should back up with evidence. I had personal experience of homeopathy and I would say it works 80% of the time. I feel even allopathy cannot be claimed to be having 100% cure rate.
Allopathy is a recent science and hence understood well.
if a Well versed homeopathic practitioner treats you, you'll surely understand the benefits of it.
everyone is free to express their thoughts, but a thought which might influence the masses and has a negative potential should be backed with substantial evidence.
next thing we know ...the US government will be banning Ayurveda and Chinese medicine

Homeopathy works. Its called VIBRATIONAL MEDICINE & I've seen its efficacy & healing power in thousands of patients. Call that placebo? It's in the best financial interest of governments and the pharmaceutical industry to propagate homeopathy as a sham and outlaw its use because the simplicity & efficacy of the science is so extremely powerful. If you or a family member was suffering from a sickness or disease and traditional medical treatments were ineffective would you give it a try? What if it actually worked? It's not a scam and it's a shame that this type of propaganda is accepted, and shared, by so many.

Gary, if you're going to be fair you should also post about all the modern medical treatments that kill hundreds of thousands of patients annually; homeopathy doesn't kill anyone. Have you actually been in a situation where you used homeopathy, administered by a skilled homeopathic physician? The most powerful use of medicine is an intelligent integration of treatment philosophies, where East meets West, Traditional merges with Natural, Homeopathic integrates with Conventional. Homeopathy can't cure every disease, and traditional medicine cannot either.

Margarethe Boisserie Yet to see a person who has cancer and would rely on homeopathy to cure it.

Julie Omohundro Gary, I keep asking medical device companies the same question.

Julie Omohundro "Homeopathy" is one of those words that seems to be used as often or more often by people who don't know what it means than the reverse. I don't care how it is defined, but I think the first requirement for useful conversation is that everyone be talking about the same thing. I suggest we use the definition in the article, since that is apparently what the government is telling people is a sham:

"The main idea behind homeopathy is that an animal or plant extract that causes symptoms similar to the ones a person is suffering from can cure the symptoms."

Ironically, this is exactly how mainstream medicine treats allergies. Whether that works or not is also a source of controversy in some quarters, but I'm guessing the people who "finally" decide to announce that homeopathy doesn't work didn't realize this.

Julie Omohundro Yeah, like people who seek homeopathic are going to believe the federal government.

It is also worth noting that this announcement didn't come from NIH but from FTC. NIH's position is that "Most rigorous clinical trials and systematic analyses of the research on homeopathy have concluded that there is little evidence to support homeopathy as an effective treatment for any specific condition."

This would suggest that, no matter how heavily politicized NIH might be, it isn't ready to override the fundamental scientific principle that you can't prove a negative.

What will we ban next? Chicken soup?! It works!

Again this is just supporting big pharmaceutical companies and the only reason it's being disputed is it actually reverses medical problems and the government can't control it! I know, it happened!

never surprised. . hope I am not turning to cynical of a man

Depuis bien longtemps l homéopathie semblait inefficace chimiquement parlant. Si l effet placebo fonctionne tant mieux, ca évite une surmédicalisation des hypochondriaques, c est déjà ça !

Mike McDaniel Lobbyist are going to try and control anything passing through regulatory. Let's hope this will all soon change Most Americans are for WHATEVER WORKS!!

Gary Baker, Esq., MT David. Thanks for asking. I am not writing a book on the subject, but all treatments have benefits and harms. At least with the drugs you mention there are clinical data to determine if the risk is worth the expected benefit in a particular case. There may be little risk (e.g., aside from foregoing other effective treatment) to homeopathy, but it seems (aside from anecdotes) there is little showing of efficacy beyond placebo effect.

I also have a problem with mode of action in homeopathy. I guess I would not get much placebo effect.

"It worked for me" is known as "anecdotal." It is not evidence in the true sense of the word. The plural of anecdotes also does not equal evidence.

David, what is your scientific background? All I see is a BS in Finance. No degree in any form of science.

Interesting how most of the proponents of homeopathy come from varied backgrounds, but seldom anything scientific.

Julie Omohundro The placebo effect has been confirmed scientifically. No reason the placebo shouldn't be homeopathy. If it works, it works. It is also true that many of the conditions for which people seek traditional or alternative medical treatment would have cleared up on their own, sooner or later. Many "proven" interventions simply expedite the process.

Perry Mykleby I just lost one of my closest college friends to diabetes after some quack convinced her that homeopathic therapy was effective.

Never underestimate the power of believe. That is how placebos work!

Big pharma will never admit that homeopathy medicine works. Their are risks and rewards for every poll you take whether natural or not. Big pharma won't even tell you all the risks.
I am currently fighting withdrawal from a simple OTC allergy med called Zyrtec. If you stop taking it after a short period of time your entire body starts itching so bad you want to peel off your skin to get to the source. No where is that mentioned on the bottle of the medication but there are various reports of it happening to people

John Dempster It is all very promising but don't we need to wait for the FDA to make their ruling before opening the Champagne (or glass of homeopathic tap water type sparkling water)?

Julie Omohundro FDA regulation of homeopathic products:

http://www.fda.gov/drugs/newsevents/ucm430539.htm

Faisal Mushtaq Do I need a medical sciences degree to comment something logical? In fact nobody needs one.
I'll appreciate if some of you can read this as well:
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/1258607
--
Coming to the point again and with a question, why modern medical science graduate thinks every other possible alternate therapy is a wrong/fake science? If Homeopaths don't have enough scientific data to prove their results and effectiveness of the offered treatments, why not you put it on trial and gather data (since you already have experience of all this)? Don't tell me that you don't have to.
If primary objective of any of the known therapies is to serve humanity and save and increase quality of lives, then, there can't be any excuse of not doing anything. FDA is not GOD and there are BIG questions on how FDA operates world wide and oblige all the associates financially (indirectly) and this includes doctors and all medical industry.
I personally feel that Homeopathy must be set under trial with all the seriousness and not with an anti frame of mind. Compile 10 years of data scientifically and analyse its effectiveness.

Gary Baker, Esq., MT The homeopathic products are not illegal. You can still make a choice.

John Dempster You don't need a medical degree to comment but you need to understand logic.
If almost 2000 studies have been reviewed (by both the UK and Australian health research councils) and the overwhelming conclusion is that there is absolutely no evidence of efficacy, to continually state that there needs to be more testing to examine the question, then you fall into the same category as a climate change denier. Science has debunked all arguments from the Alt-Med lobby (from quantum effects to water memory) and it is time to let this beast die!

John Dempster And one last point, if you want a proper understanding of the Swiss ruling, try reading a more science based journal (HuffPo????please!!!). The Swiss might have a tradition of neutrality but this has zero to do with scientific rigor and when the panel is populated by openly practicing homeopaths it should spark some form of scepticism even in the most generous of individuals. https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-swiss-report-on-homeopathy/

Maurizio Colombo I would add that in the real world the burden of proof is on who makes a claim, i.e. Homeopaths shall prove that the claimed efficacy is real and based on sound scientific evidence.

The force of believe it is sometimes stronger than any chemical product, but it is fair to know what are we paying for.

Ken Lukes Wait! What? Why should we believe the Federal Government? Oh yea because they always have my best interest in mind. That's right never mind.

This isn't about "government" it's about a claim (Homeopathy works) that isn't backed up by any science. All the government is saying is that if the homeopathic "remedy" makes a claim they have to have evidence to back it up.

Jack Dhuwalia MS, MBA, ASQ Quality Manager Ask over a billion people in India: Do Homeopathy medicines work? More often than not, you're likely to hear yes! Not everything has supporting clinical evidence in life. East vs. West! What can I say?

Stephen Griffin Faisal Mushtaq -- You are correct in one thing: FDA is not GOD. But you are dead wrong in all the rest. And no, nobody has to test something when first principles provide a definitive conclusion. Do you have to put your hand in a lava flow to prove it melts tissue? Zero active ingredient means there is nothing there. It's a sugar pill and plenty of research has been done on those.

Julie Omohundro Stephen, zero active ingredient is not a characteristic of homeopathic medicine, any more than sulfanilamide content is a characteristic of pharmaceuticals or shedding of wear debris is a characteristic of medical devices. These are all characteristics of a specific product, and potentially only of a single lot of product.

Faisal Mushtaq Thank you all who responded to my point of view, I really appreciate your views.
I remain with the very basic point which is "to serve humanity and improve lives" and I refuse any argument/s which are based or influenced by any sort of commercialism. I agree with the point that until and unless a "claimed therapy" provide enough evidence and proofs of its authenticity, it shouldn't be allowed. But there should be a body to consider emerging and/or claimed therapies and all the R&D is done under that one body so that if (for example) current homeopaths doesn't have the ability to conduct and prove their claims, they must be given a valid platform and resources to do that.
Regarding setting standards for the approval of any claim, it should be scientific but not necessarily be according to what we know as allopathy.

@ Normand Bourque Jr, Big Pharma will never admit?? Who do you think produces the pills for homeopathy? You think Bayer doesn't produce any of these? Big pharma doesn't care what you believe ,they'll sell you both products. This whole discussion is perfect because it keeps both markets alive. This is not a conspiracy by the way. This is just a matter of customer demand. Alternative medicine that has been proven to work is called "medicine"...

Stephen Griffin One major problem with doing any R&D (clinical trials) for homeopathic (I'm at a loss for a word meaning nothing claiming to be something..."shameds"?), beyond the suggestion that the standards for proof be altered (and that's a big one) is that there is no financial incentive for doing so. You can't patent the absence of something...

Julie Omohundro Stephen, if you read the article, you will see that studies have been done, including studies deemed "high-quality" by Australia's national health authority.

Stephen Griffin Really? That's not how I read it at all. "The Australians found numerous problems with the research on homeopathy. To start, many of the studies were poorly designed: They didn't include enough participants to have meaningful results, or the researchers failed to limit bias and control for confounding factors. But even the high-quality studies did not find that homeopathy performed better than a placebo or another available treatment for a range of health conditions, including asthma, anxiety, chronic fatigue syndrome, colds, and ulcers. The studies that reported homeopathy had some health benefit were so flawed and poorly designed that they were unreliable."

Julie Omohundro I'm not sure I follow. As you quoted, "...even the high-quality studies did not find that homeopathy performed better than a placebo or another available treatment..." I don't see how you can not read as anything other than high-quality studies have been done.

So what does the FDA have to say about allergy shots? Just curious...