Horizontal Perspective 横顾天下

In an announcement made last Monday, MPs sitting on the UK House of Commons Science and Technology Committee urged the UK government To withdraw NHS funding and MHRA licensing of Homeopathy. In its report: Evidence Check 2 – Homeopathy [PDF 1.6Mbytes], the committee concludes that the NHS should cease funding homeopathy. It also concludes that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) should not allow homeopathic product labels to make medical claims without evidence of efficacy. As they are not medicines, homeopathic products should no longer be licensed by the MHRA.

The Committee carried out an evidence check to test if the Government’s policies on homeopathy were based on sound evidence. In preparing its report, the committee, which scrutinizes the evidence behind government policies, took evidence from scientists and homeopaths, and reviewed numerous reports and scientific investigations into homeopathy. It found no evidence that such treatments work beyond providing a placebo effect. The Committee found a mismatch between the evidence and policy. While the Government acknowledges there is no evidence that homeopathy works beyond the placebo effect, it does not intend to change or review its policies on NHS funding of homeopathy.

This was a challenging inquiry which provoked strong reactions. We were seeking to determine whether the Government’s policies on homeopathy are evidence based on current evidence. They are not.

It sets an unfortunate precedent for the Department of Health to consider that the existence of a community which believes that homeopathy works is ‘evidence’ enough to continue spending public money on it. This also sends out a confused message, and has potentially harmful consequences. We await the Government’s response to our report with interest.

The committee also urges governments in other European countries where homeopathy is popular – notably Germany, France and Austria – to be equally wary of funding homeopathy. “We feel there’s a real message, not just in the UK,” says committee chairman: Liberal Democrat MP Phil Willis.

The report draws attention to homeopathic remedies derived from body parts such as hip joints and colons, animals such as iguanas and dragonflies, and even products exposed to different kinds of sunlight. In the case of remedies derived from fragments of archaeological monuments such as the Great Wall of China and Stonehenge, they point out that it is hard to understand how even homeopathy’s own principle of “like cures like” could apply.

Edzard Ernst of the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, Devonshire says the MPs’ report should be noted in other countries where homeopathy is widely practised but not subjected to serious critical scrutiny. “The evidence is negative, and it’s internationally negative, because there’s no difference between countries in terms of evidence,” he says.

The Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health, which backs complementary therapies, including homeopathy, acknowledges that homeopathy is “scientifically implausible”, but defends the use of such remedies nonetheless.  In a published response to the committee’s report, the foundation wrote “For patients suffering from long term disease, where no scientific, evidence based medicine can offer effective treatment, it does not matter how it works. What matters to them is whether they get better, whether pain and other symptoms are alleviated.” It added that “Science is a vital tool in healthcare, but so are compassion and caring and treating patients with dignity. It is not clear that the Committee took that into account.”

More extensive coverage in New Scientist – Stop funding homeopathy, say British MPs

Hundreds of patients of Type 2 diabetes taking Avandia (rosiglitazone – GlaxoSmithKline) needlessly suffer heart attacks and heart failure each month, according to confidential government reports that recommend the drug be removed from the market. The reports say that if every diabetic now taking Avandia were instead given a similar drug named Actos (pioglitazone HCl- Takeda), about 500 heart attacks and 300 cases of heart failure would be averted every month. Avandia was linked to 304 deaths during the third quarter of 2009.

“Rosiglitazone should be removed from the market,” one report, by Dr. David Graham and Dr. Kate Gelperin of the Food and Drug Administration, concludes. Both authors recommended that Avandia be withdrawn.

(more…)

In my last post I wrote of how measures to obviate Nian’s attack become incorporated into our customs and practices during New Year, so much so that most are unaware of the painful origin of them all. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as it serves little purpose to inflict these memories of suffering on the modern generation. So it came as no surprise that our ancients seeking to keep Nian on our mind would transform the much dredged beast into a more palatable form.

There are no detailed description of  Nian [年兽], presumably because no one ever survived an encounter with the beast. So the ancient conjured up a creature that is a direct opposite of what they knew.  So instead of a beast of ill fortune, it becomes a harbinger of great fortune.  Instead of living in remote seclusion and invade our habitat come spring time, it now hibernates in our midst, and comes awake to usher in the annual spring festival [春节 chun1 jie2]. In its presence, crops grow and flowers bloom. Instead of an ugly and ferocious beast, it’s a big, athletic cat with a collar bestowed with bells and plums, implying that it’s somewhat domesticated. (more…)

Today is the Lunar New Year eve. Chinese everywhere will be making their way home for reunion dinners with their family, and then keeping a vigil for the arrival of the new year with homes brightly lit. Children will look forward to receiving blessing from their elders in the form of red packet [红包 hong2 bao4] stuffed with money. It’s an event of joy and anticipation for all.

But it had not always been like this. In fact, according to ancient Chinese folklore, this used to be a time of fear and misery, a time to leave home en mass for the refuge of the jungle. How so ? The Chinese term 过年 [guo4 nian2] is taken to mean ‘transition to a new year’ in modern time, but [年] dose not mean year in an earlier period (before the Zhpu dynasty 周朝 in 1020 BC), when year is represented by the characters 岁 (sui4) and 载 (zai3, one revolution of the heavenly bodies). Thus the passage of time is 过岁月 (literally to ferry across years and months). So a more accurate translation for 过年 is ‘make it through Nian’. In fact in Chinese literature there are commonly found expressions such as 熬年 (ao2 nian2, endure or suffer through Nian) and 过年关 (guo4 nian2 guan1, to survive the Nian ordeal) to describe the event.

(more…)

One thin slice at a time.

During my second year in the university, I was elected to the position of social secretary for the students’ Pharmaceutical Society, not because I was popular, but because it was a job that nobody wanted. You see the social secretary exists mainly for one purpose: to raise fund and to organized the society’s annual dinner and dance. It was a monumental task for any team imaginable. I had a hard time forming a team because I can’t find even one person in my class who’d sit on my committee. (I don’t blame them, I would have done the same under the circumstance.) To make matter worse, the school decided from that year on to stop direct admission, choosing to select from those who had completed first year in Science. As I don’t have a pool of juniors to fill my committee, I am alone holding a very hot potato.

I called some hotels for quotes and did a quick estimate. Due to the small number of seat (the total number of students in Pharmacy is under 60) and the resultant high overhead, the price per head came to a whopping $120. As i didn’t want to ask the society of limited means to subsidies, I would have to raise about $6,000 (excluding door gifts and prizes) just to keep ticket price at $40 each. I realize right away I stood no chance of raising that kind of money on my own. In addition, there are also the work of coordination, getting sponsorship for prizes, hiring a band, games, etc; way too much details for just one person to handle. (more…)