RAS Commission - homeopathy is pseudoscience

ASTANA. KAZINFORM The Commission to Combat Pseudoscience at the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, advised the Ministry of Health to withdraw homeopathic medicines from public clinics, reports Russian Kommersant.

The Commission has prepared a memorandum "On pseudoscientific homeopathy", in which the mechanisms of its proposed action are called contradictory to "known chemical, physical and biological laws". It is also noted that there are no "convincing experimental confirmation of its effectiveness".

The document stresses that in the more than 200-year history of homeopathy, scientists have sought to apply a theoretical basis to it, but all attempts proved unsuccessful.

The Commission advised the Ministry of Health to withdraw homeopathic medicines from public hospitals. It also recommended the Federal Antimonopoly Service to protect public against misleading advertising of their medicinal properties. Pharmacies are advised not to place homeopathy in among conventional medications, and pharmacists - to cease to recommend them to customers, says "Kommersant".

The Ministry of Health promised to consider the arguments of the Commission and to respond accordingly, as soon as the document reaches the agency.

The media has reported earlier, that graduates of the First Moscow State Medical University appealed to the Minister of Health Veronika Skvortsova to ban teaching homeopathy in medical schools. According to them, "homeopathy was proved to be ineffective by many studies... At the same time, it can be extremely dangerous, e.g. when treating cancer, cardiovascular diseases, mental disorders, and etc.". says the petition on change.org.