The Homeopathy Challenge

In Homeopathy news, Edzard Ernst, retired academic physician and specialist in complementary and alternative medicine (and skeptic hero) has created a “challenge for all homeopaths of the world”. In a similar way to the James Randi Educational Foundation's one million dollar paranormal challenge, Ernst has come up with a scientific way for homeopaths to “prove” their worth. What entrants need to do is identify the contents of 6 homeopathic solutions that they have chosen, but that have been transferred into containers marked 1 – 6 by a notary and sent back to them.

How do they identify which is which? By doing a homeopathic process called a “proving”.

A “proving” is a test where a healthy person (e.g. someone without insomnia), would take that a remedy intended for someone with insomnia (for example one containing Coffea which is caffeine) and then note down their symptoms. Homeopathyeurope.org claims “These responses are temporary and vary from person to person, but the total information has a pattern unique to that substance and is used as the basis of treatment”.

The challenge also says the solutions should be potentised to least 12C, which means diluted to one part in a hundred, 12 times. Homeopaths claim the remedy is more powerful the more the ingredient it is put through the ‘succussion' process, which is where the ingredient is diluted in alcohol or water, and then shaken to activate its ‘vital energy'.

So, we'll be keeping an eye on this challenge to see if anyone bites. Share the challenge – we wouldn't want any New Zealand homeopaths to miss out on the fun.