KEY FINDINGS
Key findings of the report
The report made several conclusions, including:
- That some remedies can be effective (patients feel better) without being efficacious (being scientifically proven), but that homeopathy was no more effective than the placebo effect
- That the concept of like-curing-like was “theoretically weak”; and that it was “scientifically implausible” that ultra-dilutions could retain the imprint of any substances previously dissolved
- That the NHS should no longer fund homeopathic treatments (as it would be seen as an endorsement) and that the MHRA should no longer license homeopathic products
- That the Government Chief Scientific Adviser and the Chief Scientist of the Department of Health should discuss the merits of further research into homeopathy (though also recognised such research funding was highly competitive)
The full report can be read online here:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/
cmselect/cmsctech/45/4502.htm
Findings agreed to by only 3 MPs
The key findings were agreed to by a bare minimum of MPs, with only 3 out of a committee of 14 voting on the matter.
One member of the committee MP Ian Stewart called for an amendment to the report as follows:
"this Committee declines to read the report a second time because it contains an evaluation of homeopathy which is outside the terms of reference of the inquiry as published by the Committee on 20 October 2009 and instead decides to write to the Government to call on it to fund a rigorous research programme into homeopathy."
This amendment was ignored.
