Anti-Science.

In the USA, which is a country that I love, there is a strong creationist movement. These people are deluded. Nothing this crazy could happen in the UK. Not in the land of tea and cricket on the village green, and Dylan Thomas. Not from the country that produced Newton, and Faraday, and Darwin, and Hooke. Such a nation, with such a rich scientific heritage would never embrace superstition, witchcraft or good old quackery.

Unfortunately, that's not the case.

Homeopathy, kind of like a virulent parasitic organism, has infested pharmacy back in the UK. However, pharmacy does not seem too bothered about this. And there was me thinking that pharmacy was based on science! How stupid I must be!

This a link to Boots whoring itself out to a homeopath http://www.eveshamjournal.co.uk/news/ejnewslatest/display.var.2325387.0.homeopathy_in_action.php

I would love to see how homeopathy can help with heart disease, depression and diabetes. Perhaps I should ask someone in Boots about it. Of course, what is more depressing is that the current president of the RPSGB, Mr Steve Churton is "Head of Professional Practice, Boots, UK". Interestingly, his spouse is also emplyed by Boots. Now, call me Mr. Stupid, but I was not aware that "Professional Practice" included the promotion of homeopathy. However, Mr Churton is a figurehead of pharmacy, so I am sure he knows what he talking about.

However, it does make you wonder how large the malign influence of Boots and their promotion of pharmacy is.

This is an email I received from the Fitness to Practice and Legal Affairs Directorate of the RPSGB recently

Further to your e-mails dated 8th May and 8th June 2008, I can provide you with the following information.
The Society has not made any overarching statements about the place of homoeopathy in healthcare. (My colleague has provided a link to previous statements that the Society has made about homoeopathy, www.rpsgb.org/pdfs/scifactsheethomoeo.pdf ).
The Society has issued guidance (in the form of Standards forming part of the Code of Ethics www.rpsgb.org/pdfs/coepsgssmeds.pdf ) to assist pharmacists on the ethical aspects of selling or supplying complementary medicines. Ethical issues can be, and often are, grey areas rather than black or white.

These Standards do not make reference to the pharmacist needing to ensure the efficacy of the complementary medicines before selling or supplying them. The prime concern of all pharmacists must be for the well-being and safety of patients. Hence the Standards require that the pharmacist ensures that they: “recommend a remedy only where you can be satisfied of its safety and quality, taking into account the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency registration schemes for homoeopathic and herbal remedies.”. The absence of the word “efficacy” in the Standards does not signify that efficacy is not important. However, it is the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) that is the licensing government regulatory body for medicines in the UK, and via its various licensing schemes (Product Licences of Right and Registration schemes) decides whether medicines are safe or not and whether certain products can be lawfully supplied or not. The MHRA allows various licensed and registered homoeopathic medicines to be lawfully sold and supplied in the UK .


Considering that I asked them whether or not the RPSGB thinks that homeopathy is an effective treatment, one could say that the "Ethical issues" bit, is a bit of a smokescreen. After all, the science is out there for all to see-homeopathy is nothing more than an expensive placebo. It is not like I asked the RPSGB for their position on abortion, or euthanasia.

I wonder if this reluctance to look at things in a scientific fashion has anything to do with the appointment of a Boots pharmacist as President. Boots push this kind of alternative/complementary/homeopathic crap a lot, and having their own man in a position to quash dissent must be very appealing.

So there we have it, the offical position of the RPSGB is that science is not worth a jot, and it does not matter if things work or not, so long as the customer gets what they want.