Homeopathy and Me

I got thinking about Homeopathy when my friend mentioned how good these homeopathy medicines are! My mum and her father, a very learned and knowledgeable man by the way, are big believers in this Pseudo-Science.
My mum always gave me homeopathy tablets whenever I was sick, and I guess they worked, cause I never doubted them.

I was reading James Randi’s website www.randi.org, Randi is big skeptic and has million dollar challenge for all the charlatans out there, who can prove their gobbledygook. Please do visit his website. Randi wrote how unsubstantiated is the claim of Homeopathy. That got me thinking and I started reading about this sham, I am convinced now this 'alternative medicine' is not at all medicine.

In Homeopathy, the 'mother tincher' which is supposed to be the potent drug is diluted millions of times and then is coated to these sugar pills. The idea apparently is the higher the dilution the more potent the drug is! Crazy. The dilution is so high, that it’s below what any chemical method can recognize. Surely our body can’t recognize that there is chemical intake either. Many scientific studies have shown that homeopathy is nothing more than a placebo effect. Do read the wikipedia article about Homeopathy, they have a pretty neutral viewpoint as apposed to my rants.

What's the scientific principle behind the Homeopathy? There are apparently three basic ones. The one that caught my attention is that the water 'remembers' all the chemicals which it came in contact with and uses that 'memory' when inside the body and fights the germs. Any one with slightest o scientific sense I hope would see through this mockery.

What pisses me off is Indian government supports this pseudo-science. We have government Homeopathy colleges, dispensaries and hospitals. This surely lends credence to this science. I am not sure how many people lost their lives by depending on this 'medicine'. There is very big Government Homeopathy hospital in Hyderabad, and many a times I saw people in a line outside to see their 'medicine man'.

A German named Samuel Hahnemann (1755–1843) 'invented' this technique. It was very popular in Germany, the Germans saw through this and Homeopathy medicines are not covered by their medical insurance anymore. Good for them. Wait, that’s not the end of the story, apparently, what’s not good enough medicines for them are very good for us Indians it seems. German government is promoting the use of Homeopathy medicines in India. I guess, exporting 'mother tinchers' is lucrative business and 'truth and honesty' aren’t really good for business.


German Ambassador with then Deputy Prime minister Advani Honoring Hahnemann, founder of Homeopathy. Copyright: German Embassy, India


Doesn’t this reek of hypocrisy? I guess I can’t blame anyone for our own mess. The firsts step should be taken by the government to derecognize this sham.
As usual I don’t see any hope, we Indians will be queuing up before these charlatans swallowing these sweet sugar pills.