Canadian homeopaths and homeopathic professional organizations are reeling from a one sided and unfair piece on homeopathy by the CBC television network. Not only that, they are questioning the unscrupulous methodology of producers of the show.
As the sales of homeopathic and aruvedic remedies increase faster than pharmaceutical drugs in strong economies like Brazil and India, conventional pharmaceutical companies have created and funded skeptic organizations like “Sense about Science” in western countries to discredit them. There are over 400,000 registered homeopaths in India with 13,000 new ones registering each year and more than 70,000 in Brazil.
Now a number of organizations directly funded by pharmaceutical companies have developed aggressive and hostile tactics to fight homeopathy and discredit its practitioners. Infiltrating conventional media sources is one method just as the head of one of the largest pharmaceutically sponsored organizations “Sense about Science” is a former public relations consultant for pharmaceutical companies.
In Canada, homeopathic practitioners are now being regulated in the province of Ontario by an act of provincial parliament. They are also being targeted by skeptic organizations. Producers at CBC Marketplace decided to do a show on it and took the skeptical premise that homeopathy was simply belief and unscientific, questioning the regulation and even what is in a homeopathic remedy.
Experienced Canadian homeopaths are complaining that these producers at this Canadian Broadcasting Corporation television show comprimised journalistic integrity by taking such a strong one sided point of view right from the beginning and to the very end.
As word of the show spread to the homeopathic community some organizations and homeopathic supporters contacted the producers and continued to discuss the show with them. The producers did not wish to have any experienced homeopaths on the show, (not asking the most experienced Canadian practitioners at all) but rather sought new and poorly trained homeopaths to be able to highlight their negative premise and create an aura of danger. Pro-homeopathy scientists, experienced practitioners and other journalists were frustrated in their attempt to give the producers positive information and emphasize its safety. The producers even ignored the body of scientific information and papers that demonstrate and scientifically prove homeopathic remedies are more than “sugar and water” or placebo. They sought opinions and gave final say from individuals who were well known skeptics and know little if nothing about homeopathy.
Homeopathy is a 200-year-old system of medicine used successfully by tens of millions daily worldwide, and the second most utilized complementary health discipline in the world. It has a laudable 200-year clinical record. There are literally hundreds of high quality basic science, pre-clinical and clinical studies showing it works.
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