Media Release         August 31, 2005
		FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 31, 2005 West Coast Homeopathic Society #101 - 1001 West Broadway, Unit 120 Vancouver, BC  V6H 4E4 604-803-9242 www.wchs.info Lancet Conclusions are Unfounded The Board of Directors of West Coast Homeopathic Society rejects the findings published in the August 27th issue of the medical journal The Lancet that question the effectiveness of homeopathic medicine. The study itself contains serious flaws and weaknesses, which illustrate the authors’ lack of understanding of the unique nature of homeopathic principles.  The accompanying editorial predicting the end of homeopathy suggests an underlying bias within the publication as well. Homeopathy is a distinct system of medicine, completely different from conventional medicine.  It uses extremely diluted substances to gently stimulate the body’s natural mechanisms toward improved health.  It was first developed just over 200 years ago and, for most of that time, a debate has raged about its effectiveness. According to recognized laws of chemistry, diluted homeopathic medicines ought not to work, which leads denouncers of homeopathy to assume that therefore they do not work.  However, millions of people around the world know that homeopathy does work, based on their personal experiences and their observations of its effectiveness in the treatment of infants and animals. Homeopathy is not based on our current understanding of chemistry and therefore it is unreasonable to expect that chemistry-based methods can evaluate its effectiveness.  This is similar to testing wind speed with an odometer.  To test homeopathy effectively, a new protocol needs to be developed that is firmly based on homeopathic principles.  This means that trials must incorporate the basic tenet of individualization: that the selection of a homeopathic medicine is based on the total symptom picture of the patient (not on the disease symptoms) and that individuals react differently to the potencies selected. For too long the scientific community has wasted precious intellectual and financial resources in attempting to discredit homeopathy.  It is time now to start expanding our understanding of how homeopathy works, rather than attempting to suppress its use. West Coast Homeopathic Society joins many other international organizations in inviting the scientific community to work with qualified homeopaths when conducting any future trials of homeopathy. ABOUT WEST COAST HOMEOPATHIC SOCIETY: West Coast Homeopathic Society is a not-for-profit organization celebrating its 10th year of informing the public, media, and government about the benefits of homeopathy.  We represent over 200 classical homeopaths and students from most provinces in Canada. CONTACT: Jo Twiss, DCH (President), 604-828-7242 Nathalie Desrochers Allen, ND (Treasurer), 604-889-2219 ADDITIONAL REFERENCES Background Information ► Evaluation of the effectiveness of conventional trials when studying homeopathy by Georges Vithoulkas Another point of view for the homeopathic trials and meta-analyses ► Aickin, Mikel, University of Arizona End of Biomedical Journals; there is madness in their methods A Selection of Responses from International Organizations ► European Council of Classical Homeopathy Are the clinical effects of homeopathy placebo effects? – A full critique of the article by Shang et al ► National Center for Homeopathy Prominent U.S. Research Scientists Counter Lancet Claims On Homeopathy ► British Homeopathic Association Lancet article is fundamentally flawed ► Irish Society of Homeopaths Universal Condemnation for The Lancet's Stance on Homeopathy ► Homoeopathic Association of South Africa Prominent Doctors and Scientists Reject Lancet Report on Homoeopathy END                                                                                                         NOTE:  These documents have been saved                                                                   in Adobe Acrobat PDF (Portable Document                                                                   Format), which retains all original fonts and                                                                   formatting and can be displayed and printed                                                                   reliably on both Macintosh and Windows                                                                   computers.                                                                   The FREE Acrobat Reader application is                                                                   required to view and print the document, it                                                                   can be downloaded using the hyperlink below.                                                       Download Acrobat Reader