1. Homeopathy is a fake treatment. Not only is there no evidence that it works, there is also no possible way that it could.
2. Both individual homeopaths and homeopathic organisations continue to mislead the public with false advertising claims.
3. Homeopathy UK advertises homeopathy for a wide range of health conditions, some of which are serious and require evidence-based treatments under the supervision of a doctor.
4. Homeopathy UK also actively discourages some evidence-based conventional treatments.
5. This has the potential to put unsuspecting members of the public at risk of significant harm.
What is homeopathy?
Homeopathy is based on a number of ideas:
- Like cures like – A substance that causes symptoms in a healthy person will cure a disease with similar symptoms.
- Dilution increases potency – By diluting a substance it will have a stronger effect.
- Water has memory – Even though the “active” ingredient is diluted so much that there’s nothing left that’s okay because the water remembers the beneficial effects of that substance.
None of these ideas make any sense and they all conflict directly with modern science. There is therefore no way that homeopathy could possibly work.
Homeopathy has also been extensively tested and not found to be effective for any health condition. For instance, in this report from the NHMRC they concluded “there are no health conditions for which there is reliable evidence that homeopathy is effective”.
Claims by Homeopathy UK
The misleading claims made by Homeopathy UK cover a wide range of medical conditions. For instance, on the About Homeopathy page of their website this entirely false claim is made:
“Homeopathy can help with minor ailments such as cuts and bruises and coughs and colds. Homeopathy can also help with long-term problems, particularly those which have failed to respond to conventional medicine, such as arthritis, asthma, migraine, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, eczema and irritable bowel syndrome.”
There is quite literally zero evidence to support any of those claims.
Elsewhere on the website there is a Conditions Directory where it is claimed that homeopathy is effective for everything from circulatory problems to behavioural problems in children to liver problems and sports injuries, along with many more. Again, we know that homeopathy is not only not effective for these conditions but there is no way it could ever work. Many of the conditions listed here are serious and require evidence-based treatments under the supervision of a doctor. In some of those pages, evidence-based treatments are actively discouraged.
Risks of homeopathy
In homeopathic products, the active ingredient is usually diluted to the point where there is none left in the final product. There have been cases of direct harm from homeopathy such as elevated levels of belladonna in homeopathic teething products. However, the biggest risk from homeopathy is not direct harm from the products themselves but the risk of using homeopathy instead of an evidence-based treatment. As described in the previous section, Homeopathy UK is advertising homeopathy as a treatment for a wide range of serious conditions. In some cases, it also actively discourages the use of evidence-based treatments. This presents a significant risk to members of the public, who could delay more effective treatment whilst they mistakenly use homeopathy.
What can be done to tackle this problem?
I complained to the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) about the misleading claims made by Homeopathy UK. The ASA were quick to respond and said they had previously upheld complaints about the issues I had highlighted. They were concerned that such ads continue to appear and therefore referred my complaint to their compliance team. So far, I have not seen any changes to the content on the Homeopathy UK website but hopefully this will be addressed by the ASA over the coming weeks.
Conclusions
Homeopathy not only doesn’t work but there is no possible way that it could. It is very concerning that both individual homeopaths and homeopathic organisations continue to mislead the public with false advertising claims. Worryingly, some of the conditions homeopaths claim to treat are serious and Homeopathy UK also discourages conventional medical treatments that are evidence based. This has the potential to put unsuspecting members of the public at risk of significant harm.
Complementary and Alternative 