It's that time of year again. World Homeopathy Awareness week is this week (nonsensically, like all things homeopathic, from Tuesday to Monday.) Although we can only assume that the intended goal is for homeopaths to raise awareness of their homeopathic remedies and promote their practices, we would like to take this opportunity to raise awareness of how homeopathy is the poster child of pseudoscience. How it does not work. And how it can harm people, as well.
Each year, homeopathy awareness week has a theme. This year's theme is even more upsetting than past years' themes of "Homeopathy in Sport’s Medicine" or "Homeopathy and the Musculoskeletal System." The theme for 2018 is ‘Homeopathy for Pregnancy and Childbirth’. Because what you really want in a life or death situation that can get very complicated and very stressful, very quickly is a few drops of a plant infusion diluted in water. And, homeopathy seems to have a way of really hurting kids, whether during childbirth or later in life.
For example, the story of the nine-month-old who died at the hands of her parents (Thomas and Manju Sam) who treated her eczema with homeopathic remedies instead of something that would work. They were found guilty of manslaughter by criminal negligence. The story is long, but, the point is that a baby died of eczema - a commonly treatable disease - because the parents choose homeopathy over medicine. This story is, unfortunately, not the only one. There are many more like it.
Then there is the case of the homeopathic teething tablets who left hundreds of babies sick and up to a dozen dead because of their unregulated belladona content that, in short, poisoned the babies. This is because homeopathic products are not regulated by the FDA. And, when the company that made the products was investigated, the investigation uncovered an operation where the left did not know what the right was doing.
At best, homeopathy is simply a waste of money and energy. However, when someone chooses a homeopathic remedy over a medical course of treatment, it starts to enter into very harmful territory. Thankfully, the pro-science community of twitter is speaking out and calling out homeopathy for what it is. See some of the best tweets about homeopathy awareness week below and for more, go to #homeopathyawarenessweek
