Homoeopathy in America: A status report

Abstract

At the turn of the 20th century, American hom~eopathy epitomized the highest standards of hom0eopathic training and care in the world. Despite the fact that it was not accepted by the medical orthodoxy in America, homceopathy was an integral part of the lives of massive numbers of Americans. In 1900, statistics indicate that approximately 15% of the American doctors considered themselves to be homoeopaths. 1 There were 22 homeeopathic medical colleges, including Boston University, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, University of Iowa, and Hahnemann Medical College. 2 There were also over 100 homceopathic hospitals, including New York City's Metropolitan Hospital with its 1,897 beds, Massachusetts Homoeopathic Hospital in Boston with its 534 beds, and Middletown State Homoeopathic Hospital (the famed mental health facility) with its 2,162 beds. 3 These impressive statistics do not alone provide an accurate picture of the high degree of acceptance and respect that homoeopathy maintained in America, since many of the country's educated, business, artistic, political, and religious elite were its advocates. William James, Mark Twain, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Harriet Beecher Stowe, John D. Rockefeller, William Wrigley, William Lloyd Garrison, Daniel Webster, and William Seward were but some of homoeopathy's supporters. 4 Despite homoeopathy's significant status at the turn of the century, its numbers sharply declined after 1915. American homoeopathy dwindled to near extinction until the early 1970s due to various sanctions imposed on homoeopaths by their orthodox colleagues, due to the infamous Flexner Report which led to the closing of many homoeopathic medical colleges, due to the decreasing quality of homoeopathic education in the hom0eopathic colleges, and due to infighting amongst homoeopaths. In part as the result of the emerging holistic health movement, the self-care movement, the women's movement, and human potential movement in the early 1970s, new interest in homoeopathic medicine was generated. Homceopathy was no longer declining and was now beginning to grow, albeit slowly. By the early 1980s, homoeopathy's growth had significantly increased, though it still was largely unknown to the vast majority of Americans. According to the American government's Food and Drug Administration, sales of homoeopathic medicines grew by 1000% from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. 5 To capitalize on and to augment the growth of homoeopathy in the US, several European homoeopathic manufacturers have entered the American market. Boiron purchased Bornemann and sons, VSM/Schwabe purchased Boericke and Tafel, and Dolisos opened an American office. Since there are still a relatively small number of practising homoeopaths in the US, the general public mostly relies on self-treatment. The largest number of people purchase the combination medicines or cell salts from health food stores. There is growing interest in learning how to prescribe the single medicines, though these medicines usually must be ordered by mail from a distant homoeopathic pharmacy. Sales of homeopathic medicine kits have alleviated this problem, but only slightly, since these kits usually have a limited number of medicines (2035), and many Americans prefer the ease in prescribing the 'user-friendly' combination medicines. One recent development which threatens the reputation of homceopathy today has been the recent marketing of a weight-loss product which is a combination of five homoeopathic medicines. Several of these new products were initially introduced as a 'diet patch' for the transdermal absorption of homoeopathic medicines. As part of the marketing approach, it has been recommended that the patch be placed on a specific stomach meridian acupuncture point. Several television and newspaper reports on these prod 7 ucts have brought embarrassment to hom0eopathy. The Food and Drug Administration stopped the sales of these diet patches since