

 NHS money 'wasted' on homeopathy - prat
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8524926.stm

======
seven
I do not see why to put 'wasted' in quotes.

I am always shocked to see how many people, who should know better, fall for
the homeopathy scam. Some do believe that it is 'medicine with natural
ingredients' and start to argue that our modern medicine is based on the
natural medicine. While this is true, it has nothing to do with homeopathy.
The concept of homeopathy is fundamentally flawed and is based on crazy pseudo
science.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy>

Then there is this 'but if it helps with the placebo effect it is not that
bad' argument. It is that bad because some people put too much faith into it
and try to cure for example Malaria with sugar pills. It wont work. People
will die.

I am just shocked that this stuff is still available in 2010...

~~~
rauljara
The BBC's common practice is to put quotes around headline elements that are,
in fact, quotes. The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee are the
ones making the claim that said the money is wasted, and the headline title is
quoting them.

It took me a while to get used to that practice, myself. After years of
reading American headlines, a lot of BBC headlines look like they are trying
to be ironic or something.

~~~
eli
Right, they're called "scare quotes."

It's not meant to convey irony, just that the accusation that the money was
wasted is not an objectively verifiable fact and, anyway, that the BBC itself
does not necessarily agree with that characterization.

~~~
timthorn
No, this isn't saying that the accusation is not an objectively verifiable
fact, simply that it's not the BBC stating it. These are quotes being used as
they are meant to be.

~~~
eli
Right, and the BBC isn't stating it because it isn't a fact. It's almost the
same thing. And of course they're being used properly.

Scare quotes can be used to quote a person and to provide distance from their
words

Look at another example off the homepage: _Hope over peanut allergy 'cure'_
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7899383.stm>

Cure is in quotes because it's not yet proven that the technique is indeed a
cure. Not because the BBC wants to give proper credit to whichever person
called it a cure.

~~~
acg
In your example they give credit through the article. Bad example?

Sure you can call them scare quotes but these quotes can be used for various
reasons, I'm pretty sure as a news organisation the BBC intended use–mention
distinction: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use%E2%80%93mention_distinction>

They occasionally be used for other reasons like jargon.

------
CWuestefeld
If the homeopaths could just _prove_ that it works, James Randi would give
them $1million, free and clear.

 _Sceptic James Randi is so convinced that homeopathy will not work, that he
has offered $1m to anyone who can provide convincing evidence of its effects._

<http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2002/homeopathy.shtml>

~~~
idleworx
Please stop it with the James Randi defense. He's just as biased as the people
he claims to investigate. He's a pseudo-skeptic as much as a pseudoscientist
is a pseudoscientist. Just because Randi is offering 1million $ for anything
is not proof that homeopathy (or anything else for that matter works).
[http://www.sfweekly.com/2009-08-26/news/the-demystifying-
adv...](http://www.sfweekly.com/2009-08-26/news/the-demystifying-adventures-
of-the-amazing-randi/1)

~~~
billpg
But if it worked as well as people say it does, I'd cheerfully take a day out
of my life to earn a million dollars.

They don't even have to demonstrate it works, just that you can tell
homeopathy from water.

------
metabrew
You know what they call alternative medicine that has been proved to work?

Medicine.

------
billpg
I make the sun raise every morning.

No, seriously. Every morning, I wake up and the sun has risen. Clearly I made
it happen. It happens while I'm asleep so it can't have been the placebo
effect.

------
prat
Does anyone know if the US/NIH spends on such techniques?

~~~
tokenadult
See

<http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=3344>

for information about United States federal funding of "alternative medicine"
research. I think homeopathy is not as routinely covered by health insurance
in the United States as in some other countries, but of course the insurance
system in the United States is not really a national system at all, but a
collection of varied private contracts state by state.

------
djhomeless
I've used homeopathy here in the UK and it does work. However, I seriously
doubt any GP here would refer someone to a homeopath unless already suggested
by the patient. Different strokes for different folks you know? It's not for
everyone.

Personally though, I prefer acupuncture, which is also available via the NHS.

~~~
seven
Just because you got ill, used homeopathy and then got better, does not mean
that homeopathy does work. Not even if the same happened to your uncle and
your brother in law.

Science is currently the best way we have to look at the world from a not that
subjective perspective. Homeopathy does no better than the placebo effect. If
something claims to 'work'.. then I expect it to 'work' better than a placebo.
Homeopathy is not better. Not a bit.

Believe me, I would be very happy if some of the pseudo science stuff would
work. Live would be great!

edit: fixed typo

