Saturday, 30th January 2010, however, was different.
At precisely 10:23am that morning, over 400 protesters took to the streets of cities around the UK as part of the 10:23 campaign, aiming to demonstrate the ineffectiveness of homeopathic pills. Gathering in a dozen town centres the length and breadth of the land, activists bravely took their lives into their hands by “overdosing” on entire bottles homeopathic remedies. Unsurprisingly, no skeptics were harmed in the making of this protest — for, as we know, there's nothing in homeopathy. Zip. Zilch. Nil. What's more, the event didn't go unnoticed. With prominent press coverage from the BBC, The Guardian, The Telegraph and even the Huffington Post, amongst many, many other sources. Radio stations had phone-ins on the the story. It made the TV news. All in all, this wasn't a day for skeptics to wince.
For this particular skeptic, the whole event had an extraordinarily surreal quality. Less than four months earlier, we at the Merseyside Skeptics Society hatched the ludicrously ambitious plan to have hundreds of people join us in a mass “overdose.” The idea was simple: If we could show that it was possible for hundreds of people to take a whole tube of homeopathic pills and suffer no effects (positive or negative), then it would help get people interested in what homeopathy is, and why it can't possibly work. We had no budget, no experience and no right to expect to pull it off. All we had to rely on was the energy and passion of the skeptical community, and the hard work of those involved. Fortunately, come the day of the event came, the skeptical community didn't disappoint...
In London, over 100 people gathered in Red Lion Square in what was the most high-profile event of the day. Sporting the stylish-yet-practical-yet-obligatory 10:23 T Shirts, the crowd heard speeches from Simon Singh and Dr Evan Harris MP — the latter recounting comic highlights from the Parliamentary Science and Technology Sub-Committee's homeopathy evidence check session in November last year. Counting down to the “overdose” at precisely 10:23 a.m. was comedian and author Dave Gorman, who learnt about the protest when it was brought up during his appearance on a TV chat show. Meanwhile, back in campaign headquarters in Liverpool, 40 of us took to the steps of the iconic St George's Hall to overdose on a variety of Boots-brand 30c-dilution “remedies,” before promptly heading to the nearest pub to await reports from around the country. (Those wanting to see a real overdose might have wished to witness the levels of merriment in the bar.)
Elsewhere, events were successfully taking place outside branches of Boots pharmacy in Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds, Leicester, Manchester, Oxford and Southampton. (Footage and photos from these events make for entertaining viewing.) What's more, the UK weren't alone in hitting the streets with their sugar pills — following suit were groups in Sydney, Perth, as well as Madrid — and even a charming family affair in Tampa, Florida. Other events were planned in Ohio, US and Vancouver, Canada. In short, the level participation across the country — and indeed across the world — was staggering.
Besides the level of participation and the attention of the press, what impressed me most about the day was the spirit and atmosphere of the events. This wasn't the grumpy, nay-saying, self-righteous skeptic we see so often in media reports. Instead, the protests were peaceful and jocular, the onus very much on raising awareness and having fun. Personally, I'm delighted at what we've managed to achieve with the 10:23 campaign so far — and with further actions planned for the coming weeks and months, I hope we're able to build on this fantastic momentum to help reach even more people with the message: Homeopathy: There's Nothing In It.
The affairs in Sydney and Perth (Is that Australia or Scotland?) must have been particularly effective - I haven't seen any mention of them at all in the national press.
One question though: aren't you just proving the homeopaths' claims that their remedies are safe?
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... written by doninwales,
February 03, 2010
I heard about this in the news. Excellent. If I knew about it in advance I would have considered joining in.
I did hear one argument from a homeopathic practitioner..... 'There would only be an effect if the person taking the pills had the specific ailment that could have been improved by the specific remedy taken.'
Now, of course, 'I' know that homeopathic remedies are useless. They contain nothing. BUT......I 'can' see some logic in this argument. I can imagine a theoretical remedy that only tacked a particular ailment, and had no effect otherwise. Equivalent to some sort of chemical reaction - add water to a vast range of substances, and vey little will happen. But add it to some specific chemicals and you might get a chemical reaction.
Of course, I KNOW homeopathic remedies do NOT work.
BTW...do we still have tax-funded homeopathic hospitals in the UK? I recall some decision recently to have them closed down, but don't know the current status of this.
Cheers, Don
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It's was all about raising awareness. written by Twm Sion Cati,
February 03, 2010
The whole point of the exercise was to raise awareness and get people talking. Most people who are not sceptics, assume there must be something in Homoeopathy because Boots and other reputable pharmacies stock them. In the UK we have a particular problem because our heir to the throne and the NHS accept Homoeopathy. Perhaps the dialogue started by the event will get the ball rolling to, at the very least, marginalise homoeopathy.
Surely to overdose on homeopathic drugs you would need to take less than the recommended amount.
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Sheffield was only small.....but it mattered! written by Funkyfredfrog,
February 03, 2010
I couldn't get to an organised UK demo but took part in my own way by making a small demo inside Boots and outside in Sheffield UK and took 30c of Sulphur.....but the main thing is I passed on the details to other people and will continue to do so....We're making headway and it can only be a good thing!
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You really can overdose on water written by eternalcontrol,
February 03, 2010
There was a water drinking contest in the USA where a lady died from drinking too much water. Homeopathy can be dangerous is not taken lightly.
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Great idea, but needs to be better organized written by Puddinhead,
February 03, 2010
I've thought about doing this for a lecture on homeopathy, but decided against it for one reason. Since the goofballs who market this stuff are either 1) willing frauds or 2) are utterly clueless about fundamental principles of dosing and dilution, how do trust what is on the packaging? We all know that a "properly" prepared homeopathic product has no chance of doing anything to you one way or the other, but what about those which are improperly prepared? Keep in mind that reports of variously labeled "herbal viagra" products containing actual viagra are not unheard of:
So how can you be certain the guy mixing the batch (who is at the very least unconcerned with fundamental principles of chemistry) is not adding pharmaceuticals to make it actually work? Or loading up the pill with lead, cyanide, arsenic, or what have you because *he believes* it will add to the potentiation? If they can make up the whole field of homeopathy with no regard for demonstrable fact, why trust that they won't modify it as they go with other nonsense which is actually harmful?
I'd suggest running a sample from each batch you intend to OD on through a gas chromatograph to be certain there is nothing in there.
My other concern is that the BBC article put no effort into explaining exactly what homeopathy is. I meet many people who believe "homeopathy" is synonymous with "herbal". You don't want anyone staging their own OD festival where they are scarfing down bottles of herbal extracts. While they generally don't do what they claim to do, you are dealing with dozens or hundreds of likely biologically active chemicals and god knows what an overdose of any of those would do.
Great idea overall, but needs a little better PR package methinks.
Ahh, hadn't seen that rjh02, but should have know these concerns would have already been raised. Thanks for the heads up.
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... written by rjh02,
February 04, 2010
Just about any serious issue like this would be discussed at the forum. I often suspect that the people who write SWIFT look for interesting threads and then write an article on the subject.
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... written by JonK,
February 06, 2010
Why this just shows how safe homeopathic medicines are, compared to the dangerous drugs put out by money-grubbing Big Pharma! (OK, OK, I'm kidding. But you know that will be the response.)
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... written by rjh02,
February 06, 2010
Yes water is safe, except when used as a substitute for a deadly treatment.
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... written by Andis,
February 07, 2010
In Latvia, homeopathy is science. they are all medical doctors, holding university degrees. they have an association or something. and only approved homeopaths, holding a medical university degree, may practice homeopathy. and they have this Homeopathic Pharmacy. like the only one and THE official. well, you get stuff from local pharmacies (supplied by the only and official Homeopathic Pharmacy) as well, but to get the whole range, go to the capital city (which is OK, considering the size of Latvia). and they are all wearing white clothes and they are all medical doctors there. And they have this woman, Head of Homeopathy Association (of course, a trained and official medical doctor). I asked her for proofs, and she provided me with a link to some French experiment of water having memory. I kept asking questions. Finally, I got the feeling she thinks I am insane to doubt her magic medicine, and she told me that she is too busy working to communicate with me (probably shaking a bottle, when writing that to me)... Why this lengthy comment from me. Just to tell how lucky other countries are - having that c**p sold at Boots, not by an official pharmacy and Homeopathy Association run by a goofy medical doctor, who believes that some German chap ingeniously discovered water memory centuries ago, when leaches was the only alternative in medicine, and that modern "science" is struggling to support it. The fact that homeopathy has been made OFFICIAL (oxymoron) in this (and many other countries, I believe) is saddening.
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Homeopathy and the Logical Fallacies associated with it. written by skeptheist,
February 21, 2010
If you're interested in the logical fallacies associated with Homeopathy, by all means check out my short tube cast on the subject:
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One question though: aren't you just proving the homeopaths' claims that their remedies are safe?