{"id":73,"date":"2009-02-07T23:10:11","date_gmt":"2009-02-07T22:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/?p=73"},"modified":"2009-02-08T10:33:39","modified_gmt":"2009-02-08T09:33:39","slug":"homeopathy-healing-the-world-in-very-very-very-small-doses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2009\/02\/07\/homeopathy-healing-the-world-in-very-very-very-small-doses\/","title":{"rendered":"Homeopathy: Healing the World (in very very very small doses)"},"content":{"rendered":"

PZ Meyers has picked up a strange story<\/a>: apparently, there’s an organisation called Homeopaths Without Borders<\/a> – clearly picking up on MSF’s name<\/a> – that intends to send crack teams of homeopaths to disaster areas. \u00a0Their site’s mainly in German at the moment – they promise updates – but here’s a taste of what they have to say about themselves so far:<\/p>\n

It is our main aim to transfer homeopathy to those countries, [sic<\/em>] where public health care and medical supply of [sic<\/em>]the people is sub-standard, for whatever reasons. Homeopathy also proves very effective in healing physical and mental injury in situations of war or political crisis.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My understanding of homeopathy is limited – culled from reading Ben Goldacre<\/a>\u00a0and (for the other side) working on the same bar as a vegan hippie for 15 years – but I believe that one of its principles is that it is possible to get big improvements in a state of affairs from vanishingly small interventions. \u00a0Now, I’m sure I’m being unfair – in which case, please forgive me, and certainly don’t sue – but does that mean that HWB will do the most good by largely doing nothing in impoverished countries? \u00a0For once, that’s something about which homeopaths and real<\/span>\u00a0mainstream doctors ought to be able to agree. \u00a0Homeopathic interventions, both will admit, ought to be imperceptible.<\/p>\n

For my part – one day I plan not to open my own homeopathic clinic. \u00a0I’m sure it’ll be wonderful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PZ Meyers has picked up a strange story: apparently, there’s an organisation called Homeopaths Without Borders – clearly picking up on MSF’s name – that intends to send crack teams of homeopaths to disaster areas. \u00a0Their site’s mainly in German at the moment – they promise updates – but here’s a taste of what they […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[472,407],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thinking-aloud","category-wtf"],"yoast_head":"\nHomeopathy: Healing the World (in very very very small doses) - Journal of Medical Ethics blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2009\/02\/07\/homeopathy-healing-the-world-in-very-very-very-small-doses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Homeopathy: Healing the World (in very very very small doses) - Journal of Medical Ethics blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PZ Meyers has picked up a strange story: apparently, there’s an organisation called Homeopaths Without Borders – clearly picking up on MSF’s name – that intends to send crack teams of homeopaths to disaster areas. \u00a0Their site’s mainly in German at the moment – they promise updates – but here’s a taste of what they [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2009\/02\/07\/homeopathy-healing-the-world-in-very-very-very-small-doses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Journal of Medical Ethics blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-02-07T22:10:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2009-02-08T09:33:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"BMJ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"BMJ\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2009\\\/02\\\/07\\\/homeopathy-healing-the-world-in-very-very-very-small-doses\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2009\\\/02\\\/07\\\/homeopathy-healing-the-world-in-very-very-very-small-doses\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"BMJ\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe\"},\"headline\":\"Homeopathy: Healing the World (in very very very small doses)\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-02-07T22:10:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-02-08T09:33:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2009\\\/02\\\/07\\\/homeopathy-healing-the-world-in-very-very-very-small-doses\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":265,\"commentCount\":145,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Thinking Aloud\",\"WTF?\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2009\\\/02\\\/07\\\/homeopathy-healing-the-world-in-very-very-very-small-doses\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2009\\\/02\\\/07\\\/homeopathy-healing-the-world-in-very-very-very-small-doses\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2009\\\/02\\\/07\\\/homeopathy-healing-the-world-in-very-very-very-small-doses\\\/\",\"name\":\"Homeopathy: Healing the World (in very very very small doses) - 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