MPs

MPs Express concern at the conclusions of the Report

Immediately following the publication of the report, on the 23rd February 2010 an Early Day Motion was created in the UK parliament by David Tredinnick MP and was critical of the Science and Technology Committee’s findings. It was signed by 70 Members of Parliament across all political parties.

It called for Homeopathy to remain funded by the NHS and for it to remain in the hands of local NHS practitioners who understood their local communities.

It had the following criticisms of the report:

• That the Committee took oral evidence only from a limited number of witnesses, including known critics of homeopathy who have no expertise in the subject such as:

  - Tracy Brown, the Managing Director of Sense About Science

  - Journalist Dr Ben Goldacre
  
  

• That evidence should have been heard from:

  - Primary Care Trusts that commission homeopathy,

  - Doctors who use it in a primary care setting,

  - Other relevant organisations, such as the Society of Homeopaths,
  
  

• That evidence should have been considered from:

  - Countries such as France and Germany, where provision of homeopathy is far more widespread than in the UK,

  - India, where it is part of the health service
  
  

• That the Committee ignored the 74 randomised controlled trials comparing homeopathy with placebo, of which 63 showed homeopathic treatments were effective, and that the Committee recommends no further research
  
  

The Early Day Motion can be found here, including all MPs who signed the motion:

http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2009-10/908