In February of this year, homeopathy in our country was outlawed. So, in any case, this news was presented to the media. In reality, things are a little different. Nobody forbade homeopathy. It's just that the Commission for Combating Pseudoscience and Falsification of Scientific Research under the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences recognized it as a pseudoscience, considering that in the entire long history of its existence, homeopathy has not presented convincing arguments for its effectiveness. Is it so? Or is homeopathy another innocent victim of the fight against pseudosciences, which once included genetics, cybernetics, cytology, sociology, and even ecology?..
PLACEBO EFFECT
For the sake of fairness, it should be admitted: the theoretical explanation of the mechanisms of action of homeopathy today contradicts the well-known chemical, physical and biological laws. Still, this science is based on theories of the 18th century. To say that a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then is to say nothing. Anyone who has ever resorted to homeopathic remedies can be conditionally divided into two camps. In the first, there will be those who have not been helped by homeopathy, in the second - those who, thanks to it, said goodbye to their sores. The problem with the latter is that no one can say for sure what caused them to be healed. Maybe the magic peas helped, but it is no less likely that the disease went away by itself, or the notorious placebo effect - the "empty" pill, had an effect. Actually,on him and write off all the successes of this type of alternative medicine representatives of official medicine. One thing is certain - there is definitely no harm from homeopathy. Even if you count on it …
ON THAT LIGHT?
In 2009, the daughter of the famous musician Billy Joel, singer Alex Ray Joel, decided to commit suicide, for which she swallowed as many as 15 tablets of Traumeel, an anti-inflammatory and analgesic homeopathic remedy with a wide spectrum of action. If you believe the instructions, then Traumeel is equally good in the treatment of sprains, bruises, sinusitis, rhinitis, bronchitis, and the drug also copes well with postpartum complications. But Alexa needed the pills for another purpose. However, barely accepting them, the girl got scared and hurried to call an ambulance. The doctors took Alex to the hospital, from where she was soon released without any medical assistance. For Traumeel had no effect on her body. The key phrase here, of course, is "no impact", that is, no negative (and this is good - the girl did not suffer,although cleansing the stomach as a preventive and educational measure would not hurt her), nor positive (and this is bad, because many people take the drug in the hope of getting relief).
This case became widely known. And not least thanks to him, in 2010, a flash mob (a pre-planned mass action) took place in three countries at once - Great Britain, Canada and Australia: 500 people tried to commit a demonstrative mass suicide by overdosing with homeopathic remedies. Bearing in mind that only a dose makes a medicine a poison and vice versa, people gathered at pharmacies selling homeopathic preparations, and in front of the respectable public they devoured the notorious sugar balls by hand. But, no matter how hard they tried, they did not go to the next world: the drugs had no effect. Actually, the participants of the flash mob were counting on this: their goal was to demonstrate the absolute uselessness of homeopathy.
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INFORMATION WAR
Recently, a war with homeopathy has begun in various countries, but the war is informational. After all, he is forewarned who is armed. In 2016, the US Federal Trade Commission demanded that manufacturers of homeopathic medicines must indicate on medicines information that, firstly, magic peas were made on the basis of a 200-year-old recipe, and secondly, they did not pass the necessary clinical trials. and thirdly, have not received the approval of medical experts.
The calculation is simple: a potential buyer, having familiarized himself with these facts, will inevitably think: is it worth the candle, or maybe it's better to go to the pharmacy in the old fashioned way for good old paracetamol?
In the same 2016, the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission followed the path of the United States and decided to label homeopathic medicines with the inscription: "Homeopathic medicinal product without an approved indication for use." In fact, these new rules make it possible to shift all responsibility to the end user - they say, we warned you, and you decide for yourself.
DO NO HARM
It would seem that everything is correct: a person can only make meaningful and balanced decisions when he possesses all the information. But let's say you have a terrible headache. And at hand is a pack of aspirin, the instructions for the use of which, among other things, informs about possible complications of taking the drug - from ringing in the ears to stomach bleeding and ulceration of the gastrointestinal tract. Will you take a pill? Most likely, yes: drink, although you are warned of the possible consequences. Agree, against this background, all accusations against homeopathy somehow immediately lose their meaning. Maximum - it will not help, but - will not harm. And this is exactly what the oldest principle of medical ethics sounds like: primum non nocere - do no harm! And the Hippocratic oath, which is taken by all doctors without exception, promises: “I will direct the regime of the sick to their benefit in accordance with my strength and my understanding,refraining from causing any harm and injustice."
In short, it is too early to prohibit homeopathy. First, there is a great risk that, turning away from her, people will self-medicate, and this will be a real sabotage. Secondly, homeopathy has already been abolished in our country. It was outside the law from 1968 to 1995. During this period, it was impossible either to teach science itself, or to use its preparations, or even to write about it. Did not help. Yes, the ranks of homeopathic doctors and their patients thinned, but when all the prohibitions were lifted, their "population" grew even larger.
ABOUT SALE GIRLS
Homeopaths themselves partly see the root of their troubles in their current popularity. Pharmaceutical companies are not profitable for their activities, because as a result they lose customers-patients, that is, money. Ask any young mother what she would prefer to treat her precious child - with traditional pills (with a huge train of contraindications and side effects) or an extract from, say, the liver of a Barbary duck?
Do not go to the fortune-teller - he will choose a duck: because it is safe. Mom is good - her conscience is calm. The baby is also good: as you know, a runny nose, if treated, disappears in a week, and if not treated, then in seven days. It's only bad for pharmacists, because through a duck they lose two clients at once. So they are trying to get rid of the competitor by completely banning homeopathy. Of course, this is only a version. Is she true? Only time will give the answer to this question. After all, homeopathy is not the first or last science to be declared false. Academician Trofim Denisovich Lysenko called the same today's favorite of pundits and housewives - genetics - as "the corrupt girl of imperialism." This is because genetics, who studied the laws and mechanisms of heredity, proved an unforgivable thought in the USSR: oranges will not be born from an aspen. And this ran counter to the lines of the party and government, whose task was to bring the scientific picture of the world under the ideology of dialectical materialism. How else can the cook be able to run the state? Geneticists, by the way, knew for sure: the cook would not pull it, her genes were not the same, and it was useless to teach her - the physical, mental and cognitive qualities of this special person were determined from birth, almost impossible to adjust. And who is genetics after that? Fascists are not killed, that's who! And only when they killed all those who were not killed, and this orgy continued until the mid-1960s, they were forced to admit the obvious: genetics is an advanced science, behind which is the future.her genes are not the same, and it is useless to teach her - the physical, mental and cognitive qualities of this special person are determined from birth, practically cannot be corrected. And who is genetics after that? Fascists are not killed, that's who! And only when they killed all those who were not killed, and this orgy continued until the mid-1960s, they were forced to admit the obvious: genetics is an advanced science, behind which is the future.her genes are not the same, and it is useless to teach her - the physical, mental and cognitive qualities of this special person are determined from birth, practically cannot be corrected. And who is genetics after that? Fascists are not killed, that's who! And only when they killed all those who were not killed, and this orgy continued until the mid-1960s, they were forced to admit the obvious: genetics is an advanced science, behind which is the future.
THE BIRTH OF THE BEST
A different fate befell eugenics - a science that proclaimed its task to improve the human race and prevent human suffering. Alas, it was adapted to their needs by the Nazis, in the presentation of which the ultimate goal of eugenics was the breeding of a new race. It is not for nothing that in translation from Greek "eugenics" means "the birth of the best." In fact, the founder of eugenics, Sir Francis Galton, said: “We define this word for a science that is by no means limited to the question of correct mating and the laws of marriage, but, mainly in relation to man, studies all influences, which improve the race, and seeks to strengthen these influences, as well as all influences that worsen the race, and seeks to weaken them. " But in order to strengthen or weaken something, selection is needed. And the main postulate of any selection is implacable:the worst (weak) should not participate in reproduction. Of course, in the case of humanity, it is absolutely unacceptable. Therefore, there was a split in the ranks of the eugenics. Representatives of positive eugenics decided to help people with high intelligence, not burdened with hereditary diseases. And representatives of negative eugenics suggested going much further: first, prohibit reproduction of those who are physically and mentally defective, who suffer from dangerous diseases, and then completely sterilize them. It is clear which of the two eugenics was accepted with a bang by the Nazis and developed into an extensive network of concentration camps with gas chambers.not burdened by hereditary diseases. And representatives of negative eugenics suggested going much further: first, prohibit reproduction of those who are physically and mentally defective, who suffer from dangerous diseases, and then completely sterilize them. It is clear which of the two eugenics was accepted with a bang by the Nazis and developed into an extensive network of concentration camps with gas chambers.not burdened by hereditary diseases. And representatives of negative eugenics suggested going much further: first, prohibit reproduction of those who are physically and mentally handicapped, who suffer from dangerous diseases, and then completely sterilize them. It is clear which of the two eugenics was accepted with a bang by the Nazis and developed into an extensive network of concentration camps with gas chambers.
Eugenics fell out of favor. But not everything is so simple. In the end, any research related to human DNA is also a manifestation of eugenics. Genome decoding is a kind of password for an encrypted "medical record". You have the opportunity to find out what diseases you are predisposed to, and spread the straw in time. Moreover, even now, both in our country and in a number of other countries, future parents have the opportunity to investigate the karyotype in advance - a set of chromosomes in order to identify the presence of possible chromosomal rearrangements in future offspring and to reduce all risks to "no". What is this if not the "birth of the best"? And what's wrong with that?
And what's wrong with sociology, psychoanalysis, ecology, the theory of relativity, cytology, cybernetics? Now it seems to us that nothing. But we argue from the perspective of a person living in the 21st century. Our point of view would have changed radically if we had immersed us in the atmosphere of the Soviet Union of the last century. Then many of us would probably have protested against Einstein, finding his theory "untenable, unscientific and hostile." They would swear at cytology, the sister of the "corrupt girl of imperialism." They would blame cybernetics with its "inhumanity and desire to turn workers into an appendage of the machine." And we would be completely sure that environmental problems are experienced only in the “decaying West”: smoldering has a bad effect on the atmosphere.
Who knows how our perspective will change in the future? Perhaps, in 50 years, the same us, regularly swallowing little white peas, will laugh at ourselves today, demanding proof of effectiveness from homeopathy …
Max Maslin