Homeopathy+Case+Study

In this case study you will be looking to extract **Knowledge Issues** from the **Real Life Situation** (RLS) of controversy over homeopathic medicine. In particular we will look at the drama surrounding the publication of Jacques Benveniste's findings in the science journal [|Nature] and the later criticism of Benveniste by a team from Nature. For an explanation of Knowledge Issues as well as guides on how to extract them and phrase them from a Real Life Situation (RLS) link here: Knowledge Issues =There are two basic positions on Homeopathy=

Homeopathic Educational Services - Nine Common Homeopathic Medicines
These medicines should be taken in the 6th or 30th potency. Generally, if there is minor pain or discomfort, you should take the medicine three times a day, stopping once health has been restored. If there is more severe the pain, you can consider taking the medicine every one to three hours, decreasing the doses as symptoms are reduced. If you do not observe some improvement after 24 hours in an acute condition, the medicine is probably not the correct one. If symptoms persist, consider another medicine or seek professional homeopathic care.
 * Writings by Dana Ullman, MPH © 1991**


 * **Allium cepa (onion):** Because it is known to cause tearing of the eyes and dripping of the nose, it is a frequent remedy for the common cold and hay fever, especially when there is a thin, watery, and burning nasal discharge that irritates the nostrils. Typically, the person's symptoms are worse in a warm room and are relieved in a cool room or in the open air.
 * **Arnica (mountain daisy):** This is the #1 remedy in sports medicine and first aid. It is used for shock and trauma from injury. It also helps to reduce pain from injury and to speed the healing process. Whether you're into competitive sports or exercise regularly or if you simply don't like to feel the pain of an injury, Arnica is the place to start.
 * **Chamomilla (chamomille):** Many parents owe their sleep to homeopathy, not because it helps them directly, but because it is so good for their infant. Chamomilla is THE remedy for the irritable infant, especially from teething or colic. The infant cries incessantly, and nothing seems to provide any relief, except carrying them, and even then, the crying begins recurs as soon as the parent puts the child down.
 * **Hypericum (St. John's wort)**: This remedy is the first medicine to consider for injuries to the nerves or to parts of the body rich with them, including the fingers, toes, and back. Any injury with shooting pains should be given this remedy.
 * **Ignatia (St. Ignatius bean):** One day this remedy will be used by the majority of psychiatrists. It is one of the leading homeopathic medicines for acute grief, anxiety, and depression, especially after a death or separation from a loved one. The person sighs frequently, has a lump in the throat, and may tremble.
 * **Magnesia phosphorica (phosphate of magnesia):** This is the most effective remedy for cramps, including menstrual cramps. It has helped prevent many women turn from Dr. Jekkyl into Ms. Hyde as a result of menstrual cramps. It is particularly indicated when a woman's cramps cause her to bend over and when they experience some relief from warm applications.
 * **Nux vomica (poison nut):** This is the premier medicine for ailments exacerbated by conventional or recreational drugs. It is also a common remedy for treating symptoms of overeating or from drinking too much alcohol. Considering how many people have these vices, this is an all too frequent medicine today.
 * **Pulsatilla (windflower):** Perhaps the most common remedy given to both children and women, this medicine is not indicated for a specific disease but for a specific pattern of physical symptoms and psychological characteristics. Physically, these people are warm-blooded: they wear less clothes than others, prefer open air, and don't feel as well in the heat. Psychologically, they are a gentle, mind, and yielding person, with a quickly changing emotional state and a strong tendency to want to please others.
 * **Rhus tox (poison ivy):** This medicine is the most common remedy for sprains and strains. It is especially indicated when a person experiences a "rusty gate" syndrome, that is, pain on initial motion which is reduced the more the person continues to move. It is also often given to people with the flu or arthritis who experience this similar rusty gate syndrome.

Examine the Packaging for a Homeopathic Product

 * What is in this medicine?
 * Is a practitioner the same as a doctor?
 * Would you give this to a very sick family member? Why? Why not?

= Use the materials below to familiarize yourself with our Case Study. Read the obituary below for Jacques Benveniste and watch the 43 minute documentary on the drama surrounding the claims for homeopathy that he and his lab made. There are extension materials below that you may use if you wish to. Be prepared for your Case Study or you will not be able to participate in class. =

====A team of French allergy researchers led by Jacques Benveniste, who has died aged 69, described how an allergy test worked even when the reagent - the substance to be used in the chemical reaction - was so diluted with water that the odds were against a single molecule remaining. Benveniste, a biologist and immunologist, argued that the water used for dilution "remembered" the molecule that had been diluted out of existence.====

====Nature had printed the article on condition that it could appoint three experts to observe the experiment being replicated. The trio were John (now Sir John) Maddox, editor of Nature; James Randi, a professional magician, and Walter Stewart, an expert on science fraud.====

====The three spent a week in Benveniste's Paris laboratory. The first day was spent talking; the second, planning; the third preparing blood cells and reagents for the test; and the fourth was devoted to the experiments. At the end of that session, the raw data was wrapped in tinfoil and taped to the ceiling, so that any attempt to tamper with it overnight would be noticed.====

====The next morning, the tinfoil had been disturbed but not opened, as if an attempt to open it had been abandoned. The data was interpreted by Elisabeth Davenas, who had done the original research, and the results were significant; but when the labels were removed and she analysed the results "blind", they were shown to be random. It emerged that Benveniste had never performed the experiment himself, but had left it to Davenas, who had a special interest in homeopathy. She told the investigators that the experiment often did not work for months on end. In reality, she was examining very small amounts of data at a time, and discarding data that she felt was insignificant.====

====After the investigation, Benveniste accused the investigators of McCarthyite witch-hunting. Maddox's view was that Benveniste was self-deluded, extraordinarily credulous, and so ignorant of the scientific methods that he did not understand that small samples of anything will vary according to chance. Randi's defence of the investigation was to argue that if he, Randi, said he kept a goat in his garden, people might be mildly surprised but they would be unlikely to disbelieve him. If, however, he said that he kept a unicorn in his garden, they might want to check how firmly its horn was attached.====

====The results of the investigation appeared in Nature shortly afterwards. The findings earned the approval of the scientific community, but the opprobrium of homeopaths everywhere. Benveniste, who by now had a cult following, had abandoned his original research and steered his entire labora tory into investigating the idea that water molecules had memory.====

====Benveniste published 230 scientific papers, many of them in reputable journals. Towards the end of his life he compared himself with Galileo and repeatedly stated that he was in the running for a Nobel Prize. He won not one but two of the satirical Ignobel prizes awarded by a gang of Harvard scientists - the 1991 chemistry prize for showing that water has memory, and the 1998 one for a paper showing that information can be transmitted over telephone lines and the internet.====

====After seven years in the wilderness, Benveniste set up a company, DigiBio, in 1997, to promulgate his ideas. It was funded by France's largest manufacturer of homeopathic medicines, and by sympathisers. Its website, www.digibio.com gives its own account of the Nature debacle and appeals for funds from believers and supporters.====

source: [|The Guardian]

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=The Placebo Effect= media type="youtube" key="yfRVCaA5o18" height="315" width="560"

=Your Task: Essay= **Summary** Homeopathic medicines are widely used. They are big business and represent a huge money making industry. With scrutiny, they should be able to be shown to be effective or not as medicines.

In traditional medicine the Scientific Method has to be followed to draw any valid conclusions. What happens when Beneviste’s claims are put to the test? If Science can falsify his theory, then why is Homeopathy such a big money maker? Why do people believe it works? Is it a Pseudo-science? Is it based on a superstitious belief in magic masquerading as science? If Homeopathy works, then is this an example of the scientific world's (and hence most scientists') difficulty in leaving behind a flawed paradigm?

Using the materials from your case study, you will write a 1000 word essay focusing on at least one of the following Knowledge Issues:

 * ===To What extent do we need evidence to support our beliefs in different areas of Knowledge? (Including of course, natural sciences)===
 * ===What is it about scientific explanations that makes them so convincing?===
 * Come up with one of your own

You may wish to consider and answer //some// of the following questions in your discussion of your knowledge Issue
 * How is language used in homeopathy?
 * How is reason used to justify homeopathy?
 * How does the scientific method fit into this real life situation RLS?
 * What are some of the limitations of the scientific method seen here (i.e. problems with observation, testing, falsification)?
 * Is there any scientific evidence to back the claims of homeopathy?
 * Is there a pragmatic truth element to homeopathy? Does it work even if it shouldn't?
 * Where and with whom does confirmation bias come into play in Benveniste’s story?
 * Who benefits from which claims?
 * What were the results of testing Beneviste’s theory? What could be the reasons for this?
 * Any other questions of your own...

Be sure to use course vocabulary. This gives your writing the benefit of greater precision in the meaning rather than "writing around" concepts.

submit your essay to managebac
=__Extension Materials that you may use at your discretion__= Extension materials are optional readings that you may wish to look over to further your knowledge and satiate your curiosity



**[|Thanks for the memory]** (Professor Ennis' findings)

**[|Disinformation on Homeopathy: Two Leading Sources]**

===[|An Overview of Positive Homeopathy Research]. The European Network of Homeopathy Researchers publish just the research that supports their case in this paper. Is this good science? Is it science? Is this an advisable method for searching for knowledge?===