Homeopathy - The "Truth" is Out There?

It's difficult to know where to start with what's wrong with homeopathy as there is just so much of it that is complete rubbish. Of all the 'alternative' medicines and practices it's the one I find most disagreeable. I did have a think about this I and the conclusion I came to was that the likes of Gillian McKeith may talk some utter rubbish (these seeds contain all the energy they need to grow into plant) at least the basic premise is eat more healthy or more annoyingly buy my books and eat my own brand of super foods. Anyway back to homeopathy - Ben Goldacre has a regular column in The Guardian called Bad Science (www.badscience.net) and published a rececent article "A kind of magic?" (www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/nov/16/sciencenews.g2) in reply to "In Defence of Homeopathy" by Jeanette Winters (www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2209998,00.html), also in the Guardian. I think my favourite part is the following statement ...

"This seems to be partly why tests used for conventional medicines fail when used to test homeopathy. Sceptics will say it is the medicines that fail, and not the trials, but if the medicines really are ineffective, why is it that so many people who have tried homeopathy have found that it makes a difference to their wellbeing?"

I think this really sums up what is so wrong with the whole homeopathy world - their sheer inability to actually accept what has been demonstrated in trail after trial that the placebo effect is at work and nothing more. (Ben Goldacre's article contains a good explanation of how far reaching the placebo effect is and it's not just defined as giving out pills.). Why homeopathy should be immune to normal scientific trails is never explained - it just is ok! - and there is always the fall back of well it does work and it's all a big conspiracy by pharmaceutical companies to silence the truth and anyway is all down to nano particles or quantum something or other. I for one find the whole area mired with the worst aspects of mumbo jumbo and pseudo-science that seems to be so prevalent today and just to make it worse hospitals that use these methods are actually funded by the NHS - where did it all go wrong?

Just had a quick look at Gillian McKeith's site and couldn't help but notice this wonderful piece of advertising about Goji Berries ...

"Because the Goji Berry is a nutritious powerhouse, packed with antioxidants and so very tasty!

Discovered in the Himalayan mountains, Goji berries are regarded in the Orient as an anti-aging, strength building superfood. This sacred Goji berry is so cherished by Tibetan monks that they traditionally honour it for a two week celebration at the end of every year."

Wells this ticks all the boxes for woolly advertising that says lots but falls short of claiming anything as then she may actually have to prove the claims. Oh and naturally you won't be seeing Goji Berries at your local supermarket but fortunately they are available from her website at a very reasonable price.

Another Nail In The Coffin For The ID Card?

With the latest problems at Child Benefits Office and the loss of the entire database of claimants information handily put on two CDs and then sent in the internal post it seems time to yet again raise objections to why the government is still trying to proceed with a national ID card scheme. Even if you ignore the issues of what it will achieve, which generally tracks what is a hot topic at the moment so we have gone from illegal immigration, child abuse, terrorism, identify theft and back to illegal immigration again, and wouldn't the £12 billion or so been better spent on something else you still come back to the problem of why do the government think that they can keep this data secure. This isn't a criticism of the government in general as I don't think that any private company would be able to put in place some of the massive IT schemes that the government has tried and failed to do. The difference is that it is only the government that thinks it can get the schemes in place and wastes massive amounts of money at the same time and repeats this time and time again.

So going back to the security of data - exactly which person has decided that it is a good idea to store such a large amount of potentially available data in one database where a simple lack of procedural security can lead to such a massive problem. When we do get the national ID card database, and I don't see this not happening without a change in government. It will not only cost more than expected (a minister once stated that the costs of running the system would be minimal as the charges would be passed on the business' that use it but this argument has a somewhat obvious flaw that they will then pass the cost onto their customers) but it won't work and it won't be secure. It's difficult enough keeping small amounts of data secure with good systems and well trained staff but one slip up with the ID database and the whole thing could be compromised.

So who will benefit, just your usual suspects - consultancy firms favoured by the government and the cause of this is a lack of technical knowledge in the government. They bring in consultants to determine what to do and surprising the answer is always spending larges amount of money on new systems produced by the same companies that the consultants work for. The problem is that if you did this in a private company you would if be sacked or the company would go bankrupt. Unfortunately the government has very deep pockets of other peoples money and lots of jobs for the boys.