If you’ve been following the campaign to stop the funding for homeopathy on the NHS, and the mass overdose outside branches of Boots, you’ll be delighted to hear that Parliament’s Science and Technology Select Committee, after hearing all the evidence, has called for the complete withdrawal of NHS funding and official licencing of homeopathy.

Peter Fisher, director of the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital, told the committee that the remedies’ efficacy depended on how you shook them (Note: shaken, not stirred):

Dr Fisher stated that the process of ‘shaking is important’ but was unable to say how much shaking was required. He said ‘that has not been fully investigated’ but did tell us that ‘You have to shake it vigorously […] if you just stir it gently, it does not work.

Note that the BHA referred to in the news report is the British Homeopathic Association, not the British Humanist Association. I have, however, been dismayed to learn from a reliable source that there are members of the latter organisation who use homeopathy:

… a surprising number of humanists dabble with altmed … because they haven’t really grasped the point about scientific enquiry and evidence, etc.

Oh dear. get your brains in gear people! Didn’t you see Richard Dawkins’ ‘Enemies of Reason’ on TV? Members of SH&S can borrow the DVD from our library.

For more on homeopathy, see Skepticat’s blog, and Homeopathy by the (mind-boggling) numbers.