A couple of years ago researchers in Queens University in Belfast undertook a study on homeopathy.

Basically the idea behind homeopathy is that like cures like. This is a belief that illness can be cured by small doses of a substance that causes the same symptoms as the illness itself. Homeopaths dilute these substances to the point where there may be none of the original active ingredient left in solution. They claim that the potions still work because the water or alcohol used for dilution retains a memory or imprint of the original ingredient. Not surprisingly this does not go down well with the scientific community. None the less homeopathy is very popular and many people believe in it.

The study conducted in Belfast came about when Professor Madeleine Ennis attended a conference where a speaker was promoting the concept of water memory. Expressing scepticism she was given a challenge to investigate this matter for herself.

Her study involved the use of basophils which are white blood cells. Basophils produce histamine during inflamation. When sufficient histamine is produced the cells stop producing any more. In other words, histamine at high concentrations, causes basophils to stop producing histamine. Professor Ennis and her team found that solutions that were so dilute they probably contained no histamine at all were successful in deactivating the basophils. This was a completely unexpected result for the team. Their work was published and the authors encouraged others to conduct further investigations.

This brings me to the James Randi Education Foundation. This foundation offers a million dollars to anyone who can show evidence of paranormal activity. Although I don’t know that I would regard homeopathy as paranormal, in any event the foundation accepted a challenge from the BBC to hand over a million dollars if it could prove the efficacy of a homeopathic remedy. The experiment was carried out for the Horizon programme by Wayne Turnbull  at Guys Hospital in London. The experiment was similar to but not identical to the Belfast experiment. Fortunately for the Randi Foundation the experiment failed to show a positive homeopathic result and their million dollars is safe.

Homeopathy was founded by Samuel Hahnemann about 200 years ago. Hahnemann was a doctor disillusioned by medical practices of the day claiming that they did more harm than good. This is not in any doubt and in fact his concept of like curing like is pretty much the basis of modern immunisation. There is no denying his commitment to science and his attempts to improve matters for patients. Conventional medicine has come a long way since those days but it does not take homeopathy seriously. I admit I am a non believer in homeopathy but the real issue here is not whether it is true but whether scientists are prepared to keep an open mind. If something cannot be proven does that make it false?

The Randi Million Dollar challenge remains open until 2010.