Homeopathic Medicine: Modern Snake Oil

Homeopathy is a hotly-debated topic these days. With the cost of prescriptions and insurance premiums raising, more and more people are seeking cheap alternatives to their medical problems. Also in its favor is the prevalence of prejudice surrounding the chemical-based remedies researched by pharmaceutical companies and the fear of side effects that can be worse than the disease. But is homeopathy really a viable alternative, or is it just so much snake oil?

The theory of homeopathy is based on something called the “Law of Similars”, coined by Samuel Hahnemann in 1796, which says that the symptom of a disease should be cured by something that causes similar symptoms. To use an example from Science Base, you might use onion to treat allergies because onions cause your eyes to sting and water. Homeopathic remedies are created through a process called dilution. An extract is taken (in this case, from our onion) and added to a vial of water. The one preparing this dilution shakes up the vial, then takes an extract to add to another vial of water, which is then shaken, an extract taken, and so on and so forth until there’s nothing left but water.

The principal behind the Law of Similars seems sound enough at first glance: induction of the symptoms will cause the body’s immune system to learn how to fight them off. The problem is that white blood cells don’t fight symptoms; they fight germs, bacteria, and viruses that have invaded the body. Modern vaccines introduce a weakened or dead virus into the body that white blood cells can attack; they learn how the virus can be defeated, and when it invades in the wild (AKA your kitchen/grocery store/child’s classroom), they know exactly what to do. Dilutions, on the other hand, introduce nothing but ordinary water into your body. By the time they are acceptable as remedies, there’s nothing of the original extract left except a few, stray molecules. You are, in essence, being asked to drink a vial of water and believe in magic.

Why are people fooled by this? Homeopathic “doctors” use a lot of pretty language to explain away the holes in their science. They say that water molecules have some kind of memory. They say that the remedies are quick to act against symptoms, but only cite the ones that tend to go away quickly on their own. They say that the lack of scientific evidence is a conspiracy perpetuated by pharmaceutical companies to separate us from our hard earned money. When you’ve been told that you have cancer and your lifespan can now be measured in months, it’s hard not to believe that a collection of herbs diluted in water will save your life. You would do anything to believe it, and that’s all it takes to activate the placebo affect. You want to be well so hard that your brain makes you think this magical elixir is working, and that’s what homeopathy practitioners count on. They have just taken advantage of you.

References

Ben Goldacre “What’s Wrong with Homeopathy” The Guardian, November 16, 2007, Science section.
David Bradley “Homeopathy Does Not Work” Science Base, copyright 2010, accessed July 20, 2010.