If you’ve been following the campaign to stop the funding for homeopathy on the NHS, and the mass overdose outside branches of Boots, you’ll be delighted to hear that Parliament’s Science and Technology Select Committee, after hearing all the evidence, has called for the complete withdrawal of NHS funding and official licencing of homeopathy.

Peter Fisher, director of the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital, told the committee that the remedies’ efficacy depended on how you shook them (Note: shaken, not stirred):

Dr Fisher stated that the process of ‘shaking is important’ but was unable to say how much shaking was required. He said ‘that has not been fully investigated’ but did tell us that ‘You have to shake it vigorously [...] if you just stir it gently, it does not work.

The blog goes on to say that:

Note that the BHA referred to in the news report is the British Homeopathic Association, not the British Humanist Association. I have, however, been dismayed to learn from a reliable source that there are members of the latter organisation who use homeopathy:

… a surprising number of humanists dabble with altmed … because they haven’t really grasped the point about scientific enquiry and evidence, etc.

Oh dear. get your brains in gear people!

http://www.suffolkhands.org.uk/node/1175

The British Humanist Association has in fact welcomed the Select Committee’s findings, with the BHA’s Head of Public Affairs quoted as saying, “There has been enough testing of homeopathy to provide plenty of evidence showing that it is not efficacious. Public policy should be rational and evidence-based and the government should be ensuring that public funds are spent on treatments that have been proven to work, and on research that is backed up by scientific evidence. To do otherwise is irrational, unethical and a waste of public money.” http://www.humanism.org.uk/news/view/490

Suffolk Humanists and Secularists are affiliated to the British Humanist Association.