Evidence profile for the efficacy of homeopathy – A new paradigm for medical sciences.pdf

ECH GENERAL ASSEMBLY – XVIII Symposium of GIRI 1
12 to 14th of November 2004
Scientific Report
Evidence profile for the efficacy of homeopathy – A new paradigm for medical sciences:
“The Body Information Theory”.
• First question addressed: The activity of very highly diluted preparations.
Homeopathic practitioners will argue that the use of preparations that are diluted beyond
Avogadro’s number (. potencies greater than C10) happens in only 25% of the prescribed
homeopathic medications. Nevertheless, for some people this question is the most important
obstacle to the acceptance of homeopathy.
A/ The experimental model that is cheapest, most reproducible and also the most easily
researched is probably the “acetylcholine-induced contraction of the rat ileum”. It is a well-
recognized scientific model (Chang FY, Lee SD, et al. Rat gastrointestinal motor responses
mediated via activation of neurokinin receptors. Hepatol 1999; 14: 39-45).
This model has been devised for the verification of very high dilutions of Belladonna by A.
Cristea, a Romanian researcher; results have already been published (Bastide M (ed). Signals
and Images. Kluwer Academic Publishers 1997: 161-170).
Professor Wolfgang Süß, Institute of Pharmacy at the University of Leipzig, has used this
model to test the transfer of the activity of a homeopathic remedy (in this case Atropinum
sulphuricum D60) from the original liquid form to the homeopathic tablet. As usual, several
controls were performed. Alpha-lactose monohydrate tablets impregnated with the highly
diluted Atropinum had systematically efficacy, on the contrary with anhydrous alpha-lactose
tablets no effect can be ascertained. Thus, the quality of homeopathic tablets can be tested
before daily use in pharmacy (constant reproducibility). This very simple model therefore has
the potential to remove doubts about the activity of very highly diluted homeopathic remedies
(Schmidt F