Scottish GPs use of homeopathy

Abstract

The conclusions reached in the article by Ross et al.[1] are very unhelpful. In ‘What is already known about this subject’, you state: ‘Doctors and regulatory authorities have expressed concerns about their efficacy and safety’. What concerns have been expressed about the safety of homeopathic medicines? There are no published studies which have ever recorded harms from homeopathic medicines. To state that there are concerns about the safety of homeopathic remedies is erroneous and, I suspect, deliberately misleading. I wonder about the authors' motivation in conducting this study. They are clinical pharmacologists, after all, not experts in either Primary Care or Homeopathy, despite their claims to know better than the 60% of Scottish general practitioners (GPs) they accuse of acting either carelessly or inappropriately (see McLay's remarks as reported in the Glasgow Herald, 2 December 2006). It is considered to be good publishing practice to make a statement about conflicts of interest and funding, but, in this case, no such statement is declared.