Homeopathy

Memory of Water?

One of the basic principles of homeopathy is that like cures like: that an ailment can be cured by small quantities of substances which produce the same symptoms. For example, it is believed that onions, which produce streaming, itchy eyes, can be used to relieve the symptoms of hay fever. However, many of the ingredients of homeopathic cures are poisonous if taken in large enough quantities. That is why homeopathic treatment involves giving very small doses of substances called remedies


By MARIJA MITROVIĆ
from Belgrade, SERBIA


Is it homeopathy an ultimate fake? Politicians, pop stars, football players and even Prince Charles, they all use homeopathic remedies. Their influence can change the way of people thinking, they can use their popularity to promote their life-style. Many will be purblind with their light. Do you want to be one of them.

What is homeopathy? Homeopathy, also known as homeopathic medicine, is a form of health care that developed in Germany, by Samuel Hahnemann, and has been practiced in the world for last 300 years. One of the basic principles of homeopathy is that like cures like: that an ailment can be cured by small quantities of substances which produce the same symptoms. For example, it is believed that onions, which produce streaming, itchy eyes, can be used to relieve the symptoms of hay fever. However, many of the ingredients of homeopathic cures are poisonous if taken in large enough quantities. That is why homeopathic treatment involves giving very small doses of substances called remedies. Remedies are a drop of ultra dilute solution of original substance placed onto sugar pills. They are select according to a total picture of the patient, including not only symptoms but lifestyle, emotional and mental states, and other factors.

The way of how remedies are produced is a reason why science and homeopathy have been at war for over 100 years. Homeopaths are using method called serial dilution. A drop of the original substance, whether it's snake venom or sulphuric acid, is added to 99 drops of water or alcohol. Then the mixture is violently shaken by hitting the tube against a hard surface. It is believed by homeopaths this is a vital stage. It somehow transfers the healing powers from the original substance into the water itself! The result is a mixture diluted 100 times, so called 1C solution. You then take that 1C solution and dissolve it in another 99 parts and now you end up with a 2C solution, and so on. And this is where the conflict with science begins. For example, 6C solution is equivalent to one drop of original substance in 20 swimming pools, and 12C is equivalent to one drop in the Atlantic Ocean. The typical dilution is 30C, a truly astronomical level of dilution. The fact that the least amount of a substance in a solution is one molecule, leads to a conclusion that in 24C or more solutions we don't have any molecules of substance left.

So how homeopath can cure people with plane water? They believe that the vigorous shaking or pulverizing with each step of dilution leaves behind a "spirit-like" essence-"no longer perceptible to the senses"-which cures by reviving the body's "vital force." Modern proponents assert that even when the last molecule is gone, a "memory" of the substance is retained. It is proven that this notion is unsubstantiated. Moreover, if it were true, every substance encountered by a molecule of water might imprint an "essence" that could exert powerful (and unpredictable) medicinal effects when ingested by a person.

What about a memory of water? Is it possible? In 1988 the scientific journal Nature, had received an article written by celebrated French scientist Jacques Benveniste. He claimed to have found the evidence that made a homeopathy scientifically credible. Benveniste experimented with very dilute solutions. To his surprise, his research showed that even when the allergic substance was diluted down to homeopathic quantities, it could still trigger a reaction in the basophils. Nature's editor Sir John Maddox decided to publish a paper, but under one condition, to be allowed to Nature's team of investigators to inspect Beveniste's laboratory. When Maddox named his team, he took everyone by surprise. Included on the team was a man who was not a professional scientist: magician and paranormal investigator James Randi. Randi and the team watched Benveniste's team repeat the experiment. They went to extraordinary lengths to ensure that none of the scientists involved knew which samples were the homeopathic solutions, and which ones were the controls - even taping the sample codes to the ceiling for the duration of the experiment. This time, Benveniste's results were inconclusive, and the scientific community remained unconvinced by Benveniste's memory of water theory.

Since the Benveniste case, more scientists have claimed to see measurable effects of homeopathic medicines. In one of the most convincing tests to date, Dr. David Reilly conducted clinical trials on patients suffering from hay fever. Using hundreds of patients, Reilly was able to show a noticeable improvement in patients taking a homeopathic remedy over those in the control group. Tests on different allergies produced similar results. Yet the scientific community called these results into question because they could not explain how the homeopathic medicines could have worked.

Another distinguished scientist and a skeptic about homeopathy, Professor Madeleine Ennis of Queen's University, Belfast, performed an experiment almost identical to Benveniste's using the same kind of blood cell. She added a chemical, histamine, which had been diluted down to homeopathic levels, and was mystified by what she found. Although the homeopathic water couldn't have had a single molecule of histamine, it seemed to have an effect on the cells.

Where is the catch? When scientists perform an experiment of any kind, it is very important that it is conducted in controlled conditions. In experiments related to medicine it's important to have control group. For example if some new cure is put to testing, it is obligatory to have two groups of people. One group is receiving a tested cure, and the other one, control group, is receiving placebo pills. Only if the group that receiving cure have statistically better results than control group, than it is possible to claim that new drug is efficient. Most of experiments conducted in order to prove that memory of water exist were not preformed in controlled conditions. That is why when these experiments were repeated in by other persons different results were obtained.

On his website (www.randi.org), Randi offers a $1m prize to anyone who can show, under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power or event. The BBC and Horizon decided to take him up on his challenge and tried to replicate Ennis's experiment, under the supervision of the vice president of the Royal Society and in conjunction with University College London and Guy's Hospital. Randi flew in from the United States to watch. As with Benveniste's original experiment, Randi insisted that strict precautions be taken to ensure that none of the experimenters knew whether they were dealing with homeopathic solutions, or with pure water. Two independent scientists performed tests to see whether their samples produced a biological effect. Only when the experiment was over was it revealed which samples were real.

To Randi's relief, the experiment was a total failure. The scientists were no better at deciding which samples were homeopathic than pure chance would have been.

Horizon has proven that homeopathy is scientifically impossible. It is your choice, to whom you will believe, to pop stars and politicians or to scientist.


(Published: 10.10.2007.)

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