Homeopathy Clinic Violating ASA Adjudication

Scrolling through Twitter I saw a gem of a tweet from 'so-called' Evidence Based Homeopathy. Now I'm not going to address all that is wrong with combining 'Evidence-Based' and 'Homeopathy'. Frankly, I have better things to do than say 'THERE'S NO EVIDENCE' in as many ways I can think of.

This is especially true when people such as a little organisation called the Advertising Standards Authority agree with me. Back to the tweet that prompted this:

UK Homeopathy sites which rejected 'ASA private limited' ruling http://www.homeopathyislington.co.uk/  http://www.stevehomeopath.co.uk/Core/steve-homeopath/Pages/Default.aspx …

Yes, that's right - a pro-homeopathy account is telling you who is flouting a rather damning adjudication from the ASA. Naturally being a good little skeptic, I checked out the websites and it turns out Dr Nancy Malik (the lady who runs the account, more on her later) is only half right. The second appears to have cleaned up its act and now tells visitors the conventional medical treatments for the all the conditions it purports to treat.

The first website is less of a happy sight though. 'Homeopathy is a safe and effective treatment' - this is always a bit scary to see but is especially terrifying when the list of conditions homeopathy can apparently treat includes:

• Psoriasis - a potentially lethal skin condition
• Food poisoning - this includes Botulism, a Class A terrorist agent
• Asthma - again a killer
• Lupus - IT'S NEVER LUPUS! But again a killer
• PTSD - pretty serious
• Infertility - maybe see a qualified professional instead
• Mumps, measles, whooping cough - specifically helpful at weeding out immunocompromised infants
• Traumas - seriously, what the actually f**k? Been in a road traffic accident? Here, have a bit of diluted Mondeo. Speaking of diluted Mondeo...

Even more terrifying, homeopathy is apparently 'especially suitable for pregnant women, children and newborns'. Given that the ASA specifically warns homeopaths against saying they can treat conditions (beacuse they can't), its particularly ballsy of Islington Homeopathy Clinic to claim their magic water can safely treat three groups of patients that are all at high risk of illness anyway. Especially when underneath a sentence saying '87% of patients reported reducing or stopping prescribed medication', specifically violating the ASA ruling that homeopaths should not discourage people from seeking actual medical help.

Naturally, I have fielded a complaint to the ASA about this website, thank you Dr Nancy Malik for sending in the right direction. Who is Dr Nancy Malik? Well, it turns out she's a Indian homeopath. Here is a quote from a tweet she chose to highlight in her latest blog post.

If a surgeon knows the use of few remedies like veratrum album,arnica and camphora,many deaths from surgical shock can be prevented.

Having shown just how rational and clearly sane Dr Malik is, I think I'll leave it at that.