Homeopathy could soon be declared “baseless and unethical” in Australia

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDMar 14 2012

National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia might declare homeopathy as baseless and unethical.

Homeopathy is a branch of alternative medicine based on the principles of “like-cures-like” and “ultra-dilutions”. The first principle says substances that can cause symptoms can be used in diluted form to treat the same symptom in an illness, and the second says the more dilute a substance is, the more potent it is.

A draft public statement seen by The Age concluded it was “unethical for health practitioners to treat patients using homeopathy, for the reason that homeopathy (as a medicine or procedure) has been shown not to be efficacious”. Although homeopathy continues to enjoy the support of Britain's royal family and is funded through the UK's National Health Service, the House of Commons report found its principles were “theoretically weak” and “scientifically implausible”.

The draft statement by Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council said that although homeopathy was not harmful in its own right, it might pose a risk to patients if safe and efficacious conventional treatments were delayed in favour of homeopathic treatments. It said homeopathy, which uses a large range of animal, plant and mineral products, should not be confused with herbal remedies. A council spokesman would not comment on the draft, but said it was reviewing the efficacy of complementary and alternative medicines, including homeopathy, and would release its findings in due course.

Australian Medical Association President Steve Hambleton backed the council's draft statement. He said he hoped it would force health insurers to reconsider their funding of homeopathy, as well as other ''questionable'' therapies such as iridology and reflexology. “I think it will put them in a very difficult situation … If the NHMRC looks at the evidence and says this doesn't work, we can't support it, you'd have to ask the insurers if they will continue to fund something that a very reputable body disagrees with,” he said. The Australian Association of Professional Homeopaths Inc. says 47 health insurers, including Medibank Private and NIB, cover homeopathic consultations and medicines.

Writing in the Journal of Law and Medicine this week, Melbourne barrister Ian Freckleton, SC, said several recent deaths involving homeopaths highlighted the dangers involved when they steered people away from conventional medicine. Dr Freckleton said although many aspects of Western medicine had not been able to stand up to full scientific analysis of their underpinnings over time, there was an “urgent need” for the health sector, consumer protection authorities and policymakers to protect the community from dangerous homeopathic practices.

Australian Homeopathic Association president Greg Cope defended the situation and said there was strong evidence to support the practice, including clinical trials that were now being submitted to the NHMRC for consideration. He said there were about 700 registered homeopaths in Australia under a self-governed registration model, and they worked to a code of conduct. Consultations typically cost $50 to $100, with medicines usually costing a further $10.

Mr Cope said he had been trying to set up a formal registration scheme, similar to those for doctors and nurses. He said health insurers were wise to fund homeopathy, which was used by thousands of Australians. “It's a very popular therapy and I imagine it would reduce their expenses because it attracts people using low-cost healthcare,” he said.