Homeopathy Truth in the Australian Media

It's nice and refreshing to see the main stream media actually come together with a story that presents the truth as it really is. It's more often the case that so called "sensitive" or "controversial topics are treated with white gloves. One usually assumes this is an attempt to appear fair and balanced. So that they aren't seen to be taking sides and pissing off some of their viewers. And they do it all in the name of objective reporting. But more often than not this just leads to false balance.
So it's really nice to see Australian show Today Tonight airing a story with the truth about Homeopathy.

Here tis'



This is a good story. Featuring notable skeptics Simon Singh, James Randi and Richard Saunders of the Skeptic Zone podcast. It's also good that they didn't allow a Homeopath equal time to spout mountains of garbage as is the usual treatment.

The President of the Australian Homeopathy Association, Michelle Hookham, was featured though. And predictably. She spouted garbage. Let's have a looksee at what she said.

At 4:20:

"People think that one day Quantum Physics will be able to explain just how such ultra dilutions of substances can still have a medicinal effect." 


lol. What's wrong with this? She throws out the old appeal to Quantum Physics. Brian Dunning has (jokingly?) suggested that this should be it's own logical fallacy. And sometimes I'm inclined to agree. This is a classic response of the pseudo scientist and alt med proponent. And it's complete and utter rubbish. It's almost always said by people who don't have the slightest idea what Quantum Physics is or even how science works.
Iv'e had it argued to me that we don't know everything. And that one day we may discover new Quantum Physics or "anther layer" that will enable us to understand Homeopathy. This is flawed reasoning. Science is cumulative and builds on itself. It's also internally and logically consistent. As is the universe (If it wasn't, we would not be able to study it with science). This means that any new science we discover must agree with the science we already have. If it didn't. It would mean that the laws of physics and chemistry are changing all the time. And in such a universe. Doing science becomes impossible. All or experience indicates that the universal laws are static. Therefore. The laws that rule out Homeopathy as an impossibility now. Also rule out the discovery of a mechanism for it.        

At 5:02:

"It's very hard to measure Homeopathy using the benchmark of the randomized clinical trial. And the reason for that is because of the individualised nature of the treatment itself."


What's that I hear? It's the sound of special pleading. Special pleading is a logical fallacy where by one effectively makes convenient excuses for why the result is not the one you want. If Homeopathy worked, as she claims it does, then it must have an effect in the real world. If it has an effect then it can be tested. End of story. And it has been tested. And it fails every time.
Her point about the individualised nature of the treatment is just bullocks. Homeopathy is a billion dollar industry where sugar pills and bottles of water are massed produced in enormous quantities. There is nothing individualised about it.           

The patient in Michelle Hookham's office also throws out a couple of the standard replies in defense of alt med.

"It's worked for 250 years."


Well leaving aside the fact that it actually has never worked. The fact that something is old gives it no more validity then anything else. Homeopathy was invented (not discovered) at a time when almost nothing useful or correct was known about the human body. This argument is a logical fallacy know as the argument from antiquity.

"...millions of people use it."

Ah yes. We couldn't have a defense of alt med with out the fallacious argument from popularity. Does it really need to be explained that just because a lot of people do something doesn't mean that it is effective or even a good idea. Billions of people prey to invisible deities and it has no effect. Millions of people smoke tobacco. Does that mean that smoking is good for you?

The scary thing is that the reports of people using Homeopathy to immunize children in place of vaccines is true. And the case of the Homeopath and his wife sent to jail for the manslaughter of their baby is so tragic. But these things are the result of this kind of nonsense and broken thinking making its way into our society. It's not just a harmless issue of peoples freedom to so what they want with their own bodies. it's an issue of education. So that the venerable are protected from not only those that would prey on them. But also those that would do harm while honestly believing they are helping.

Good on Today Tonight for reporting things as they really are. Like it or not many people rely on the information they receive form the mainstream media. And these kinds of stories are just too rare.