University of Maryland and Homeopathy

[Quixote]

I e-mailed the Univ. of Maryland asking about their statement on homeopathy. The only contact e-mail on the site was the webmaster, but it was stated on the site that he was the point of contact for content as well as presentation. I received the following reply on March 17. I ain't much, but ...

Thank you for your e-mail about the homeopathy content on our Web site. You raise some very valid points. I am going to forward your e-mail today to Dr. Brian Berman, who is the Director of our Complementary Medicine Program, for his review. I'll let you know the outcome of this.

Dr. Berman reviews the Complementary Medicine Health Guide on an annual basis, and I'm in the process of getting him to review this health guide content once again.

Thanks again for your e-mail; comments from Web site visitors are something we take very seriously, and often result in our making changes to our Web site content.

Sincerely,

Chris Lindsley
Web Site Editor
University of Maryland Medical System


I'll let you know if I hear from them again.

Well you have some names now so you can hunt down their email addy's. :)

[Quixote]

I just got an e-mail from UMMS. They say they've deleted the homeopathy info from their site. I haven't checked yet.

[DrMatt]

University of Michigan is still trumpeting Reiki as a "new discovery"--and spending funds and human resources "investigating" it. I vote for the Emily Rosa Protocol.
:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Meanwhile, yesterday in the laundromat, a cardiology researcher from my work stopped in and told me she had a bit of a cold but had found that homeopathic medicine did as much for it as sudafed. I asked her whether she understood Avogadro's number, and was stunned to learn that she couldn't recall 9th-grade chemistry! :o:o:oShe stomped away. When I got home I sent her an e-mail:

To: {}
Subject: Your investigation

Dear {},
I'm delighted to hear that you're investigating homeopathy. With your
background in cardiology research, you're in a great position to
design a scientifically valid protocol. Here are some references on
homeopathy which you may find helpful:

* http://www.homeowatch.org -- Homeowatch, by Stephen Barrett, MD, famed
editor of Quackwatch.

*
http://www.randi.org/cgi-bin/apbsearch11/search.cgi?search=homeopathic
and
http://www.randi.org/cgi-bin/apbsearch11/search.cgi?search=homeopathy
-- Columns by James "The Amazing" Randi which include articles about
homeopathy, including his repeated demonstration of eating an entire
bottle of homeopathic sleeping pills at once, and the interesting
results of a brand new double-blind placebo-controlled study of
homeopathy by British homeopaths.

* http://www.csicop.org/cgi-bin/search/search.cgi?q=homeopathy --
Articles mentioning homeopathy on the web site of the Committee for
the Scientific Investigation of Claims Of the Paranormal. In
particular, may I call your attention to
http://www.csicop.org/si/9709/park.html which covers the use of
Avogadro's number, as I mentioned to you in the laundromat.

You mentioned the interesting results that homeopathic medicines are
doing as much good for your current condition as Sudafed. I suspect
they're doing less harm than Sudafed (which is a decongestant with
real side-effects, and which may be drying out your lungs and
preventing you from coughing), and I recommend that you also give
Butterscotch-chip cookies a fair trial too: they're much cheaper and
easier to swallow, and I'm quite honestly betting that they work
better for your current condition than both Sudafed and homeopathic
medicines. Best wishes on your recovered health and further pointed
investigations!

Matt the composer, computer dude, and science enthusiast


:cool:

So far, she has not replied.

[CurtC]

Dr Matt wrote:
Meanwhile, yesterday in the laundromat, a cardiology researcher from my work stopped in and told me she had a bit of a cold but had found that homeopathic medicine did as much for it as sudafed.Could she have been talking about Zicam? From what I've pieced together about this remedy:

* A medium-sized study found that Zinc in a 1% gel form, administered into the nose, gave a reduced severity and duration to colds. I'm not sure I believe that the study was well-controlled and could be replicated, but...

* The manufacturer couldn't get the FDA to approve the product without expensive tests to show that it's safe and effective, which would cost lots of money and take a long time, so...

* They instead got the homeopathic pharmacopia keepers to test Zinc and found that it gave cold-like symptoms to healthy people, so it was added to the list of homeopathic remedies, which the FDA can't regulate, so...

* The manufacturer gets to advertise the product as helping with colds, without FDA approval. So they say it's "homeopathic," at a strength of "2X," which means it's been diluted 10:1 two times. In other words, 1%.

So in this case, the Avogadro argument doesn't apply.

[Quixote]

University of Michigan is still trumpeting Reiki as a "new discovery"--and spending funds and human resources "investigating" it.

I got the homepathy section pulled. You can take on Reiki. I have actually managed, despite weekly exposure to new agers a few years back, never to have had Reiki explained to me. I don't intend to break that streak.

Besides, you owe me for dissing my Sudafed without suggesting an alternative. I doubt that butterscotch cookies would do much for my allergy related aches, even if I liked butterscotch.

[hgc]

I bet you could get the homeopathy people to certify butterscotch chip cookies as a weight loss therapy. Dilute in milk.

[DrMatt]

Originally posted by Quixote


I got the homepathy section pulled. You can take on Reiki. I have actually managed, despite weekly exposure to new agers a few years back, never to have had Reiki explained to me. I don't intend to break that streak.

Besides, you owe me for dissing my Sudafed without suggesting an alternative. I doubt that butterscotch cookies would do much for my allergy related aches, even if I liked butterscotch.

Sudafed is the right stuff for congestion. For stuff where homeopathy works, I can guarantee sweets work better!

[thatguywhojuggles]

Originally posted by Quixote
I e-mailed the Univ. of Maryland asking about their statement on homeopathy.

kudos for getting them to take down the homeopathy webpages. I am curious what your email said. If you have it, would you post the email you sent?

Thanks