Alt Med - Homeopathy (2 of 20)

(from Quackwatch.org)

Introduction
In the late 1700’s, Samuel Hahnemann , German physician, began formulating homeopathy’s basic principles. He postulated the “Law of Similars” --- symptoms of disease can be cured by extremely small amounts of substances that produce similar symptoms in healthy people when administered in large amounts. At first he used small doses of accepted medications. But later he used enormous dilutions and theorized that the smaller the dose, the more powerful the effect—a notion commonly referred to as the "law of infinitesimals."

What are in Homeopathic products?
Homeopathic products are made from minerals, botanical substances, and several other sources. These substances are diluted up to 1 in 100²⁰⁰ (vastly greater than the estimated number of molecules in the universe). They are then vigorously shaken or pulverized, with each step of dilution leaving behind a "spirit-like" essence—"no longer perceptible to the senses"—which cures by reviving the body's "vital force."

Further history
Because homeopathic remedies were actually less dangerous than those of nineteenth-century medical orthodoxy, many medical practitioners began using them. At the turn of the twentieth century, homeopathy had about 14,000 practitioners and 22 schools in the United States. But as medical science and medical education advanced, homeopathy declined sharply in America, where its schools either closed or converted to modern methods. The last pure homeopathic school in this country closed during the 1920s.

The 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which was shepherded through Congress by a homeopathic physician who was a senator, recognizes as drugs all substances included in the Homeopathic Pharmacopeia of the United States.

Present day

Homeopathic "remedies" enjoy a unique status in the health marketplace: They are the only category of quack products legally marketable as drugs. The FDA has not held homeopathic products to the same standards as other drugs. Today they are marketed in health-food stores, in pharmacies, in practitioner offices, by multilevel distributors, through the mail, and on the Internet.

Summary

The homeopathic concept violates known science and any positive effects are purely placebo.