"51 Facts about Homeopathy"...and they're nonsense

[paximperium]

Great blog entry from the Science Based Medicine Blog by Mark Crislip MD on homeopathy:

"The best example of different ways of seeing the same thing is homeopathy. Homeopathy is utterly and completely ridiculous with zero plausibility or efficacy. Only therapeutic touch is its rival. Yet Louise Mclean can suggest there are 50 facts that validate homeopathy (2). These facts were presented as an attempt to counter criticism that homeopathy is only water with no therapeutic effects.

Lets evaluate each fact. There are two parts to the evaluations: whether the fact is true and what, if any, logical fallacy is being used. Deciding on which logical fallacy is being used is not my strong point, feel free to correct me in the comments, and I will add to the text later."
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=264

[paximperium]

My favourite:
Fact 16 - Homeopathic medicines are non-addictive.
Logical Fallacy: none.
Error: you try going without water.

[Baron Samedi]

Fact 20 - Homeopaths treat genetic illness, tracing its origins to 6 main genetic causes: Tuberculosis, Syphilis, Gonorrhoea, Psora (scabies), Cancer, Leprosy.I was going to say something smarmy, but I think this "fact" just broke my brain.

[Wowbagger]

Yeah, Fact 20 is where I spit soda all over my keyboard.

These yokels can't tell the difference between an infectious disease and a genetic disease, and yet people entrust them with their health?!!

[Rolfe]

My favourite:
Fact 16 - Homeopathic medicines are non-addictive.
Logical Fallacy: none.
Error: you try going without water.


Nit-pick 1: Not all water is homoeopathic medicine. You can easily consume water without consuming homoeopathic medicine.

Nitpick 2: Not all homoeopathic medicine is water. Most of what is taken by the patient is in fact sugar pills. And many manufacturers use 95% ethanol as the solvent for preparing the potencies, not water (see correspondence surrounding Rustum Roy's spectroscopy experiments).

Of course, the liquid-phase ethanol-based remedies my be very addictive indeed
:D ! And then, one can start to examine the subject of psychological addition....

Rolfe.

[Professor Yaffle]

Strangely the logical fallacies that are listed often aren't very appropriate to what the homeopaths said. Quite disappointing I thought.

[Mojo]

Nitpick 2: Not all homoeopathic medicine is water. Most of what is taken by the patient is in fact sugar pills.


And so presumably relies not so much on the "Memory of Water" as the "Hearsay of Lactose".