Policy on homeopathy is “mind-meltingly stupid”
The government has released its eagerly anticipated response to the Science and Technology Committee’s Evidence Check on Homeopathy and, incredibly, it’s even worse than I thought it would be. The verdict is “business as usual”, with the main recommendations of the committee ignored in a fog of confusion and double-think.
You get a sense of this confusion very early on, with lines like: “given the geographical, socioeconomic and cultural diversity in England, [policy on homeopathy] involves a whole range of considerations including, but not limited to, efficacy.” I actually have no idea what this means – do medicines work differently in Norfolk from the way they work in Hampshire? The report doesn’t elaborate.
Continues: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jul/27/choice-fetish-homeopathy-policy
Cretins! They seem to agree that it doesn’t work, but for the sake of ‘choice’ and public-safety (lest the morons turn to black-market sources) they’re prepared to allow the National “Health” Service provide products that don’t work! I’m reminded of a quote by Voltaire’s prospective philosopher-king, Fredrick the Great;
“His Majesty is not disposed to rest the security of his state upon the stupidity of his [religious] subjects.”
Alternative medicine is a choice between something that works (“medicine”) and something that doesn’t (“homeopathy”), the government seems to be allowing the stupid to have a say in how qualified, scientifically based, institutions facilitate the health and well-being of the nation. The patients are literally running the asylum when a government kowtows to such ludicrous claptrap as homeopathy!