The Geek Manifesto by Henderson Mark

Author:Henderson, Mark [Henderson, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781446438848
Publisher: Random House UK
Published: 2012-05-09T16:00:00+00:00

Why science matters in healthcare

IT WAS AN eminently sensible public health initiative – clear, succinct and impeccably founded in the available evidence. ‘Alternative remedies which could be dangerous are being targeted by the Government in a major drive to improve health and welfare,’ read the departmental press release.1

John FitzGerald, the civil servant responsible for the campaign, explained why the British authorities were taking the misleading claims made for many alternative medicines, particularly homeopathy, so seriously. ‘Some of these products are claiming to be effective and safe when no scientific evidence has been presented to us to show they are,’ he said. ‘[Citizens] have a right to know if a product does what it claims. The products claim to treat diseases which can cause serious welfare problems and in some circumstances kill … if not properly treated.’

To lay claim to a medicinal indication without evidence was at best a deception, a way of making money under false pretences, the government had decided. At worst, it could be dangerous: while homeopathic pills might be harmless in and of themselves, they could encourage the use of ineffective treatments for serious conditions in place of proven ones. If manufacturers of homeopathic remedies were unable to present data showing the safety and effectiveness of their wares, they would have to label them accordingly as devoid of medical benefit. Homeopathy wouldn’t be banned, but ordinary people, the government was clear, had a right to a properly informed choice.

This was just the sort of public-health advice for which geeks have been calling for years. Homeopathy is a system of medicine founded on faith rather than science, and while few of its critics wish to see it outlawed, those of us who care about the scientific method think it should be advertised to the public as what it is, not what its proponents would like it to be. But there was a catch. The ministry that issued this press release was the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), and FitzGerald is director of operations at the Veterinary Medicines Directorate. The word ‘citizens’ appears in square brackets in the quote above because the word that was actually used was ‘animal owners’.

This admirable clampdown on quack cures was designed to protect pets, not people.

It is rather a different story for human medicine. While the evidence base for homeopathy is so dubious that senior vets now consider its use unethical in animal medicine, another branch of government has deemed it perfectly acceptable for health practitioners to use identical techniques for treating patients. Not only does the Department of Health fail to insist on the evidence-based labelling requirements that Defra demands for veterinary medicine; the agency that regulates pharmaceuticals has explicitly exempted homeopathy from tough standards that apply to conventional drugs. Worse, the state implicitly endorses its use by paying for thousands of patients each year to be treated with homeopathy on the NHS.

We usually expect humans to enjoy better standards of medical care than animals. Drugs, indeed, must be tested on animals before they can be given to people.

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