No, I’m not going off about the CFIDS Association of America again. This time my sights are set on the ME Association in the U.K. If you click that link, you’ll see a survey — with, as of this writing, sadly equal “Yes” and “No” responses — concerning the coverage of homeopathy by the National Health Service. (I don’t have the power to Pharyngulate a poll, obviously, but maybe with your help we can “nerf” it a little.)
Taken by itself, this poll isn’t too worrying, since this is a hot topic at the moment. But once you learn more about the MEA, as I have thanks to Margaret Nelson, it’s extremely irksome. Margaret wrote a letter in response to an article in the MEA’s publication ME Essential. The part she quotes in her letter is bad enough:
If you are thinking of choosing homeopathy as a complementary form of treatment for ME/CFS/PVFS, it is vital that you find a qualified practitioner who understands the need for a gentle approach when treating ME/CFS/PVFS.
What would constitute a non-gentle homeopathic approach? Waterboarding?
While I don’t have the original article, the very first sentence (as can be seen in Margaret’s link) is telling enough:
Within the scientific and medical press and popular media there is continued debate for and against homeopathy, particularly its continued provision within the NHS.
Equating science with popular media in this “debate” is misleading to say the least. There is no information in this sentence to dissuade the perception that science is just as much perpetuating this debate as popular media. The fact is, of course, that scientific disciplines of all kinds have completely closed the book on homeopathy. There is absolutely no reputable science to support it. Meanwhile, the popular media has no interest whatsoever in promoting reputable science, unless that just happens to intersect with their goal to grab as many eyeballs as possible. (Not, I hope, literally.) For a perfect example, see Time magazine’s decision to go to Jenny McCarthy for their autism report.
I maintain that providing patients with information about how to get tested for XMRV right now is bad advocacy. However, this goes well beyond that. Shame on the MEA for the same kind of wishy-washy attitude towards poor alternative medicine that I’ve reported about on chronic illness “support” forums. A group that’s supposed to advocate for very sick patients should not be entertaining the notion that homeopathy is an acceptable form of treatment. It should be promoting valid medical treatments, and any alternative ones discussed for its members’ edification should not include those that have been roundly proven to be garbage. They could redeem themselves by providing information as to why the NHS should not be paying for homeopathy, once this poll closes…but does anyone want to lay odds on that happening?
Otherwise, I want to thank everyone for the support I’ve gotten on my new exercise plan. Since Monday, I’m four for four. Hopefully I’ll keep it up and have a more impressive number next Friday. For now, I send you off with a hilarious video that demonstrates what a homeopathic emergency room might look like.
“What would constitute a non-gentle homeopathic approach?”
Enema?
“Homeopathy: Stick it up your ass.”
Whenever there is a chronic illness that modern medicine has difficulty treating, you can rest assured that some quack has a “cure” for it. Sad however that a patient advocacy group has been taken in by them and actively promotes them.