Ten years ago, when I was pregnant, I sought homeopathic assistance with labour and childbirth. I didn't believe in homeopathy any more than I believed attending weekly "Pregnant Yoga" sessions, in which we were encouraged to imagine our bodies "opening up like a flower", would help with a process that,
Shelley Bridgeman: Is homeopathy a sham?

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Does homepathy really work? Photo / Thinkstock

The College of Natural Health & Homeopathy explains that: "By utilising the principle of 'Similars' or 'Like Cures Like' and using only the smallest doses of non-toxic medicinal substances, the therapy is both safe and effective." While information about a four-year course for budding homeopaths lends some gravitas, it can't quite compensate for the peculiar use of language: "Similars" and "Like Cures Like" sound as if they owe their heritage more to superstition and ancient belief than, say, the fields of science or medicine.
Yet the NZ Council of Homeopaths (NZCH) states: "There is an abundance of evidence for their effectiveness." It lists an eclectic array of conditions said to have been eased by homeopathy, including: chronic ear infections, post-vaccination difficulties, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after childbirth, learning difficulties, night terrors, dyslexia and withdrawal from P.
But NZ Skeptics remains unconvinced. It interprets the NZCH's admittance that "[i]n homeopathic remedies above the 12th potency no molecule of the material substance remains" as evidence that the "expensive concoctions" of this "multi-million-dollar industry" are "just water".
The NZCH describes homeopathic remedies as being "ultra dilute using a method of dilution called potentization. This involves a dilution process and a succussion process (ie vigorous shaking) ... Converse to conventional medicine, the more dilute the medicine the greater the potency or strength (because it has been succussed more times)".
If the process of succussing strikes you as a bit dodgy, you're not alone. The people at Quackwatch call homeopathy "The Ultimate Fake" while the Huffington Post reveals its "dangerous transition from the quackosphere to the halls of academic institutions across the globe".
And perhaps that's the greatest concern. It's one thing for homeopaths to simply ply their dubious trade from artsy suburbs like Grey Lynn but when homeopathy is taught at tertiary institutions and promoted in supposedly trustworthy outlets such as pharmacies, it lends the controversial practice an elevated level of credibility many would claim it doesn't deserve.
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