Documentary: “Homeopathy, an alternative therapy, is controversial and frankly, a little odd”
A BBC documentary on homeopathy in the NHS in Scotland. Interviewees claim that “magic water” cures cancer, and the BBC reveals how, with no clinical evidence, NHS funding is being spent on homeopathic remedies in Scotland at ten times the level of England.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00tvfw1/Magic_or_Medicine_Homeopathy_and_the_NHS/
Homeopaths in Scotland are offering alternatives to vaccinations that doctors say could leave patients vulnerable to potentially fatal diseases, according to a BBC investigation.
Three alternative practitioners told a BBC investigation they gave patients a homeopathic medicine designed to replace the MMR vaccine.
The documentary also discovered the Scottish NHS is spending more money per person on homeopathy than in England.
The investigation examined claims that members of the Homeopathic Medical Association, which has around 300 members across the UK, were offering replacement vaccines. It approached the association’s six members in Scotland.
Doctors said the replacement of vaccines such as MMR with homeopathic alternatives and remedies was “extremely worrying”.
Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the British Medical Association’s director of science and ethics, told the programme: “Replacing proven vaccines, tested vaccines, vaccines that are used globally and we know are effective with homeopathic alternatives where there is no evidence of efficacy, no evidence of effectiveness, is extremely worrying because it could persuade families that their children are safe and protected when they’re not.
“And some of those children will go on to get the illness.”
