ATTN: Homeopathists!

[Chairman Risus]

I don't understand why you think it needs to be in this thread.  Not to be oppositional, but it kind of sticks out like a sore thumb.

PD.com is like a tapestry. I forgot the rest of the metaphor.

[EK WAFFLR]

PD.com is like suede jeans. It makes your anus sting.

[Telarus]

The Swiss Government's Remarkable Report on Homeopathic Medicine

The Swiss government has a long and widely-respected history of neutrality, and therefore, reports from this government on controversial subjects need to be taken more seriously than other reports from countries that are more strongly influenced by present economic and political constituencies. When one considers that two of the top five largest drug companies in the world have their headquarters in Switzerland, one might assume that this country would have a heavy interest in and bias toward conventional medicine, but such assumptions would be wrong.

In late 2011, the Swiss government's report on homeopathic medicine represents the most comprehensive evaluation of homeopathic medicine ever written by a government and was just published in book form in English (Bornhoft and Matthiessen, 2011). This breakthrough report affirmed that homeopathic treatment is both effective and cost-effective and that homeopathic treatment should be reimbursed by Switzerland's national health insurance program.

The Swiss government's inquiry into homeopathy and complementary and alternative (CAM) treatments resulted from the high demand and widespread use of alternatives to conventional medicine in Switzerland, not only from consumers but from physicians as well. Approximately half of the Swiss population have used CAM treatments and value them. Further, about half of Swiss physicians consider CAM treatments to be effective. Perhaps most significantly, 85 percent of the Swiss population wants CAM therapies to be a part of their country's health insurance program.

It is therefore not surprising that more than 50 percent of the Swiss population surveyed prefer a hospital that provides CAM treatments rather to one that is limited to conventional medical care.

Beginning in 1998, the government of Switzerland decided to broaden its national health insurance to include certain complementary and alternative medicines, including homeopathic medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, herbal medicine, anthroposophic medicine, and neural therapy. This reimbursement was provisional while the Swiss government commissioned an extensive study on these treatments to determine if they were effective and cost-effective. The provisional reimbursement for these alternative treatments ended in 2005, but as a result of this new study, the Swiss government's health insurance program once again began to reimburse for homeopathy and select alternative treatments. In fact, as a result of a national referendum in which more than two-thirds of voters supported the inclusion of homeopathic and select alternative medicines in Switzerland's national health care insurance program, the field of complementary and alternative medicine has become a part of this government's constitution (Dacey, 2009; Rist, Schwabl, 2009).

The Swiss Government's "Health Technology Assessment"

The Swiss government's "Health Technology Assessment" on homeopathic medicine is much more comprehensive than any previous governmental report written on this subject to date. Not only did this report carefully and comprehensively review the body of evidence from randomized double-blind and placebo controlled clinical trials testing homeopathic medicines, they also evaluated the "real world effectiveness" as well as safety and cost-effectiveness. The report also conducted a highly-comprehensive review of the wide body of preclinical research (fundamental physio-chemical research, botanical studies, animal studies, and in vitro studies with human cells).

And still further, this report evaluated systematic reviews and meta-analyses, outcome studies, and epidemiological research. This wide review carefully evaluated the studies conducted, both in terms of quality of design and execution (called "internal validity") and how appropriate each was for the way that homeopathy is commonly practiced (called "external validity"). The subject of external validity is of special importance because some scientists and physicians conduct research on homeopathy with little or no understanding of this type of medicine (some studies tested a homeopathic medicine that is rarely used for the condition tested, while others utilized medicines not commonly indicated for specific patients). When such studies inevitably showed that the homeopathic medicine did not "work," the real and accurate assessment must be that the studies were set up to disprove homeopathy... or simply, the study was an exploratory trial that sought to evaluate the results of a new treatment (exploratory trials of this nature are not meant to prove or disprove the system of homeopathy but only to evaluate that specific treatment for a person with a specific condition).

After assessing pre-clinical basic research and the high quality clinical studies, the Swiss report affirmed that homeopathic high-potencies seem to induce regulatory effects (e.g., balancing or normalizing effects) and specific changes in cells or living organisms. The report also reported that 20 of the 22 systematic reviews of clinical research testing homeopathic medicines detected at least a trend in favor of homeopathy.* (Bornhöft, Wolf, von Ammon, et al, 2006)

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more @ link

I was considering that the dude who brought up "Homeopathy" last time & got dogpiled under American-embedded-definitions while reading this......

[Don Coyote]

So what is the Swiss definition?

[LMNO]

The article veers from "homeopathy" into "CAM" treatments, which is a MUCH wider umbrella.

[AFK]

It also contains no puns!

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

The article veers from "homeopathy" into "CAM" treatments, which is a MUCH wider umbrella.

Yes, this.

Also, Telarus, by "American-embedded definitions" did you mean "German"? Because homeopathy originated in Germany, and has an existing definition.

Some people seem to think that "Homeopathy" is a non-specific word that covers a variety of alternative medical treatments. It is not; it is a word that means something quite specific, which is the treatment of ailments with highly diluted substances which, if administered at full strength, would cause symptoms similar to the ailment.

The reason that guy got "dogpiled" (the fun and popular word that means "argued with by multiple people", usually occurring when someone is making false statements) is not because his country has a different definition, but because he was refusing to use the existing definition, or even to look it the fuck up.

The article you posted specifically mentioned "homeopathy and CAM treatments". Does that imply that CAM treatments are a form of homeopathy?

[Telarus]

:edit: I apologize if my first comment [along w/ the article] came across as snark. I've been sick this past week, and have noticed it's been effecting the way I communicate.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

:edit: I apologize if my first comment [along w/ the article] came across as snark. I've been sick this past week, and have noticed it's been effecting the way I communicate.

No worries.

[navkat]

Homeo + Pathy.
Homeo/Homo = same
Pathy = Pathology, disease.

Homeopathic Medicine = Medicine derrived from the same shit that made you sick in the first place...commonly understood to be diluted a whatever-fold with water.

Ensue hilarity.

[LMNO]

Vaccines are homeopathy!?!?!

[navkat]

Vaccines are homeopathy!?!?!

Nope. Prevention. You aren't experiencing a pathological condition when you get them and in fact; they rely on your body's current state of and tendency to return to Homeostatic conditions.

A good example of Homeopathy would be getting drunk to cure a hangover. "Hair of the dog that bitcha."

[LMNO]

Speaking of which, I would kill someone's cat for a glass of red wine right now.

[Cain]

Talk about a flawed argument:

The Swiss government has a long and widely-respected history of neutrality

Yeah, in diplomatic matters.

Ireland's also neutral.  Does this mean we should accept that Catholicism is the one true religion, given it's popularity there? Idiot.

[navkat]

I feel like this thread should be merged with the poop thread since they're both gonna end up in the same place.
Poop + Homeopathics = Dysentery.

Mmmmm...