<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Homeopathic remedies have been touted on this list recently as useful
remedies. Please, before you spend your hard-earned money on outrageously
priced water, read "Homeopathy - The Ultimate Hoax" by Dr. Stephen Barrett.



www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/homeo.html



Please spare me the flames and anecdotes about how you or a friend or
relative was helped by some so-called homeopathic brew or how conventional
medicine has failed you. (No denying there are problems there.) Well
intentioned people can easily believe that there is a cause-and-effect
relationship between taking such a potion and relief. The placebo effect is
well documented in medicine. Patients not taking a trial drug actually
report relief or cure even though they are only taking a placebo. To be
shown as efficacious, a drug must be shown as performing better than a
placebo.



Think about this simple case. Most people would agree that taking two common
aspirin tablets will provide relatively quick relief for a mild headache.
Would you take a quarter or eighth of an aspirin and expect the same effect?
The homeopaths would have you believe that if you dissolved that quarter of
an aspirin in a volume of water equal to that in the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans combined and you drank a teaspoon of that water the "essence of
aspirin" would give you relief. Believe that? Well it might just work. Most
headaches do eventually go away.



In any event, before you put your faith in Dr, Samuel Hahneman's theories
from the 1800's take a peek at Dr. Barrett's more recent analysis and make
an informed decision.



Joel

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