The scientific community regards homeopathy as nonsense,[11] quackery[12][13][14] or a sham,[15] and homeopathic practice has been criticized as unethical.[16] The axioms of homeopathy are long refuted[17] and lack any biological plausibility.[18] Although some clinical trials produce positive results,[19][20] systematic reviews reveal that this is because of chance, flawed research methods, and reporting bias.[21][22][23][24] The postulated mechanisms of action of homeopathic remedies are not only scientifically implausible[21][25][26][27] but precluded by the laws of physics.[28]
"does it do harm?"
yes, it exists, so it prevents people from accessing real medicine. It is a distraction.
Steve Jobs is a good example...
"Despite his diagnosis, Jobs resisted his doctors' recommendations for medical intervention for nine months,[174] instead consuming a pseudo-medicine diet in an attempt to thwart the disease. According to Harvard researcher Ramzi Amri, his choice of alternative treatment "led to an unnecessarily early death."[206] Cancer researcher and alternative medicine critic David Gorski "disagreed with Amri's assessment," stating, "My best guess was that Jobs probably only modestly decreased his chances of survival, if that."[209] Barrie R. Cassileth, the chief of Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center's integrative medicine department,[210] said "Jobs’s faith in alternative medicine likely cost him his life.... He had the only kind of pancreatic cancer that is treatable and curable.... He essentially committed suicide."[211] According to Jobs's biographer, Walter Isaacson, "for nine months he refused to undergo surgery for his pancreatic cancer – a decision he later regretted as his health declined."[212] "Instead, he tried a vegan diet, acupuncture, herbal remedies and other treatments he found online, and even consulted a psychic. He also was influenced by a doctor who ran a clinic that advised juice fasts, bowel cleansings and other unproven approaches, before finally having surgery in July 2004."
Yet, it still exists, and people are still buying it, using it, and buying into it. That is an indication the free market doesn't work in drugs. I can go on and on and on, but we need to be protected from ourselves.
So you're advocating doing harm to my life (by blocking legitimate medicine), for the sake of supposedly protecting irrational hippies from themselves (which you may be able to do in this one area---but what about all the other ways they harm themselves)?
I can make my own decisions. Just like 99% of rational people, who are able to judge for themselves that homeopathy is nonsense.
Nobody is blocking legitimate medicine. It is just asked that you prove that it is legitimate medicine before you are allowed to sell it as medicine. That way consumers don't go into a store, find 30 "cures" 3 of which have actual evidence that they work. They might harm themselves by taking the treatment that doesn't work, thus delaying access to the evidence based treatment.
> Just like 99% of rational people, who are able to judge for themselves that homeopathy is nonsense
Rational people fall for pseudo science too, especially if it has a good salesperson behind it. Most people believe what others tell them without questioning. Very few look at the world skeptically. We need to blame the scam artist not the victim.
"does it work as advertised?" No.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy
The scientific community regards homeopathy as nonsense,[11] quackery[12][13][14] or a sham,[15] and homeopathic practice has been criticized as unethical.[16] The axioms of homeopathy are long refuted[17] and lack any biological plausibility.[18] Although some clinical trials produce positive results,[19][20] systematic reviews reveal that this is because of chance, flawed research methods, and reporting bias.[21][22][23][24] The postulated mechanisms of action of homeopathic remedies are not only scientifically implausible[21][25][26][27] but precluded by the laws of physics.[28]
"does it do harm?" yes, it exists, so it prevents people from accessing real medicine. It is a distraction.
Steve Jobs is a good example...
"Despite his diagnosis, Jobs resisted his doctors' recommendations for medical intervention for nine months,[174] instead consuming a pseudo-medicine diet in an attempt to thwart the disease. According to Harvard researcher Ramzi Amri, his choice of alternative treatment "led to an unnecessarily early death."[206] Cancer researcher and alternative medicine critic David Gorski "disagreed with Amri's assessment," stating, "My best guess was that Jobs probably only modestly decreased his chances of survival, if that."[209] Barrie R. Cassileth, the chief of Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center's integrative medicine department,[210] said "Jobs’s faith in alternative medicine likely cost him his life.... He had the only kind of pancreatic cancer that is treatable and curable.... He essentially committed suicide."[211] According to Jobs's biographer, Walter Isaacson, "for nine months he refused to undergo surgery for his pancreatic cancer – a decision he later regretted as his health declined."[212] "Instead, he tried a vegan diet, acupuncture, herbal remedies and other treatments he found online, and even consulted a psychic. He also was influenced by a doctor who ran a clinic that advised juice fasts, bowel cleansings and other unproven approaches, before finally having surgery in July 2004."
Yet, it still exists, and people are still buying it, using it, and buying into it. That is an indication the free market doesn't work in drugs. I can go on and on and on, but we need to be protected from ourselves.