Stephen Pollard

ByStephen Pollard, Stephen Pollard

Opinion

Homeopathy drivel

February 21, 2009 09:00
1 min read

I was about to write that Daniel Finkelstein and I share the same opinion about homeopathy (see this latest post of his). As he writes:

Nothing causes me more unscheduled arguments than my opinions about homeopathy. I put it down to my unerring faith in human nature. I always wade in thinking that the person I am talking to is too smart to believe that anyone can be cured of anything by what is essentially a glass of water that has been struck ten times against leather and horsehair.

Quite.

But of course it's not an opinion we share; it's a recognition of facts, which both of us place above a belief in witchcraft and utter nonsense. Homeopathy is as scientifically useful as me standing in my pyjamas chanting 'oom' and expecting AIDS to disappear across Africa. There is no worthwhile evidence - not a small amount, not debatable hypothesis, just plain absolutely no evidence whatsoever - that it is more effective than a placebo. And anyone who believes there is, is as likely to believe that little green men inabit a hidden world under the seas.