{"id":88,"date":"2013-05-16T20:46:59","date_gmt":"2013-05-16T20:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/blog\/?p=88"},"modified":"2018-01-11T00:04:33","modified_gmt":"2018-01-11T00:04:33","slug":"sceptics-of-homeopathy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mayohomeopathy.ie\/index.php\/sceptics-of-homeopathy\/","title":{"rendered":"Homeopathy sceptics – ignorance is bliss"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sceptics

A week of letters on homeopathy<\/p><\/div>\n

Sceptics, Real Knowledge\u00a0and Homeopathy<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

So many\u00a0sceptics of homeopathy\u00a0assume more than they actually know and base their comments on hearsay and caricature, regurgitating what they’ve heard before from biased and prejudiced commentators. Here’s my reply to a week of debate in The Irish Times<\/em> which gave a more balanced airing for once:<\/span> Homeopathy and Healthcare<\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Sir, \u2013 in his letter commenting on homeopathy (Wednesday 6 March) Liam Murray says Homeopathy is effective because it provides hope, positive thinking and reassurance to the patient. This is of no benefit to a child screaming with constipation, reflux and painful dentition. Practising homeopathy for 30 years I can tell you such children have been greatly helped with homeopathic medicine and very quickly. I have continued in business because the parents of such children see the benefits and have been happy to send me new clients. \u2013 Yours, etc,<\/span><\/p>\n

Stephen Blendell<\/span>
\nHomeopath<\/span>
\nCastlebar,<\/span>
\nCo. Mayo<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My\u00a0unpublished\u00a0reply to Matthew Carrigan’s letter\u00a0is as\u00a0follows:<\/span><\/p>\n

Sir, \u2013 in his attempt to discredit Homeopathy (letters, Friday March 1), Matthew Carrigan<\/a><\/span> (Smurfit School of Genetics, TCD) quotes the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. and almost all medical bodies in the world \u2013 even though his quote from Upton Sinclair applies to them also: \u201ctheir wages depend upon it\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first \u201cdevastating\u201d point against Homeopathy, he claims, is that there is little (implying there must be some!) evidence homeopathy is effective for any specific condition. Of course there isn\u2019t \u2013 Homeopathy doesn\u2019t treat specifics \u2013 never did and never will – and on rational and empirically verified grounds refutes the idea. Allopathic (conventional) doctors treat specifics which is one reason they cure nothing, not even the common cold, and admit as much.<\/span><\/p>\n

His second point is that Homeopathy is at odds with several fundamental concepts of chemistry and physics. Sadly most scientists are not trained to think (although according to Prof Willie Reville in an Irish Times article, UCC are addressing this) otherwise Mr Carrigan would realise that Homeopathy is medicine and chemistry and physics are not, so cannot be compared.<\/span><\/p>\n

If Homeopathy (which means Like Cures Like, a law of cure discovered by Dr Hahnemann) is wrong, why does medicine employ it: radiation causes cancer but is used to treat cancer; Epilem is used for epilepsy but causes it; Tamoxifen is used to treat cancer but causes it etc etc etc?<\/span><\/p>\n

In the meantime I won\u2019t hold my breath waiting for genetics to cure us. Quoting Prof Steve Jones<\/a><\/span>, \u201cIt\u2019s contribution to medicine over the last decade has been disappointing.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Picture credit:<\/span> WikiCommons<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sceptics, Real Knowledge\u00a0and Homeopathy So many\u00a0sceptics of homeopathy\u00a0assume more than they actually know and base their comments on hearsay and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9,12,21],"tags":[18,113,1140,903,367,56,115,441,116],"class_list":["post-88","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apologetics","category-homeopathy","category-medicine","tag-evidence","tag-genetics","tag-homeopathy","tag-liam-murray","tag-matthew-carrigan","tag-prof-reville","tag-prof-steve-jones","tag-sceptics","tag-tcd-smurfit-school-of-genetics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t