Homeopathic Medicine: A Magical Solution?

Jeremy Hunt: 'The minister for magic' (image from
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/cabinet-reshuffle-whos-up-whos-1302793)

As any of you who know me will know, I have two loves in my life: science and Harry Potter. So, imagine my delight when I see an article posted in New Scientist that spoke of both! Here I am, casually browsing Facebook for the umpteenth time today when an article shared by numerous friends catches my eye entitled: 'Hail Jeremy Hunt, the new minister for magic'. Intrigued, I open the link and read the article. Contrary to my initial thoughts, this article did not bring good news. It informed me that the new UK health minister, Jeremy Hunt, believes homeopathic medicine, that is, alternative medicine, to work and therefore 'should be provided at public expense by the NHS'. For those who don't know, homeopathy involves using a substance that causes the symptoms of a disease in healthy people to cure said disease in a sick person. Samuel Hahnemann (the man who first came up with the idea of homeopathy), developed the idea from studying Cinchona bark (the bark of a family of plants found in South America). When he ingested the bark, he developed symptoms similar to those of malaria; as malaria is treated by the bark from the Cinchona plants, he proposed the 'law of similars'. In the words of Wikipedia: the 'law of similars' is 'based on the belief that a substance that in large doses will produce symptoms of a specific disease will, in extremely small doses, cure it.'

So far, this idea seems plausible. I mean, Hahnemann had carried out experiments with the Cinchona plants and had come up with a theory. Why then, you may ask, do I and so many others believe homeopathic medicine to be rubbish? Firstly, there insufficient scientific and statistical evidence to suggest that homeopathy actually works. Secondly, the substance that supposedly would cure a disease is diluted so much that there is practically none of the original substance left. The patient is effectively given a vial of water and as we all know, water is unlikely to cure anyone of anything except dehydration.

Or is it? 

One possible explanation to support homeopathy is water memory This idea suggests that water 'remembers' substances that have been dissolved in it and was originally proposed by.  Jacques Benveniste. Although Benveniste's studies and a few others support water memory, most contradict it and the theory is not supported by scientific laws and is therefore not generally accepted. And so, we return to my view that homeopathy (and theories to support homeopathy) are unfounded. 

As there is no evidence to suggest such medicines actually work, why is the new health minister proposing they should be provided on the NHS? I have no idea. Although the idea seems ridiculous to me, people do claim that homeopathic medicines work for them. This is all well and good, if people want to drink a vial of water and claim that they are cured, good for them. However, it would be ridiculous if these 'medicines' were to be made available on the NHS due to a minister's personal beliefs. It is true that homeopathy would save a hell of a lot of money that would have otherwise been spent on researching and developing real treatments, and we all know the government needs to find ways to save money, but I doubt patients will be satisfied when a vial of water fails to cure whatever disease they may have.