Homoeopathy is Plausible: Rome Conference

Joanne Greenland President, AHA Vic/Tas

The Homoeopathy Research Institute’s International Research Conference held in Rome the first weekend of June this year was i n s p i r i n g a n d empowering. I went along with several agendas, but to come away with the realisation that homoeopathy is plausible was not one of them. I had actually expected the conference to be partly informative and mostly boring and had planned to disappear most afternoons into the Roman sunshine to shop, swim and sightsee – not to sit hanging on the edge of my seat hearing scientists tell me that homoeopathy works.

After many years in the industry I thought I knew homoeopathy was a credible form of medicine but I now realise that years of criticism in the media had taken their toll. Despite a full-time practice, I had become disheartened by the current crisis homoeopathy finds itself in, the constant media attention declaring homoeopathy to be nothing more than placebo, bogus or worse dangerous to the health of our patients.

To hear the speakers at this conference suggesting the plausibility of homoeopathy determined from high standard research was nothing short of brilliant and I could not get enough of it.

Some of the tantalising talks were: Dr. Alexander Tournier presented his research in physicochemical investigations of homoeopathic potencies. It is a literature review of methods researched and their results to date. It made a pleasant change to be shown homoeopathic research with a positive outcome.

The work of Professor Robert Mathie pinpoints the current RCT’s that meet scientific standards in the present definition of a scientific study. It is true that there are not many that fit within the modern day science guidelines due to its incompatibility with the requirements asked for – but there are some that do and still show homoeopathy to be plausible.

Dr. Christian Endler laid out the repeatability of fundamental research proving that homoeopathy is repeatable and reproducible, giving further evidence in the laboratory that homoeopathy is credible.

Dr. Debora Olioso’s research showed definitive changes from the effects of Arnica Montana on gene expression of human macrophages. In a test tube Arnica makes changes to the immune response.

Dr. Gustavo Aguilar-Velazque investigates and evaluates the cytotoxic and apoptotic effects of several homoeopathic dilutions of Echinacea angusifolia on human breast, cervical and prostate cancer cells, repeatedly noting effect.

Most excitingly – Prof Dr. Steven Cartwright explained how Solvatochromic dyes detect the presence of homoeopathic potencies in high dilutions. That is to say he can do experiments using dyes that show the presence of high dilutions of homoeopathic remedies in water.

It is no longer a satisfactory argument to say homoeopathy works because my patients get better – but is a good response to criticism to say homoeopathy is plausible because Steven Cartwright can detect the presence of high potencies using dyes in a science laboratory. We lose credibility when we become passionate or emotional about homoeopathy in debate but it is also a good counterargument to know there are valid RTC’s in homoeopathic research despite the outcry that there are none.

This beautifully run event with over 250 participants was exciting and heartening. The venue was good, the catering delicious, the city exotic, and the fact that the program ran like clockwork with talk after talk every 10-20 minutes was a credit to the organisers.