Thursday 1 July 2010

Homeopathy References

The reason, of course, that the homeopathy strip has upset so many people, is that when writing negatively about such a subject, you are inevitably tramping on people's deeply held beliefs. Such criticism can seem like a personal attack. I don't think for a minute that a comic strip on homeopathy is going to change the mind's of people who are really invested in it. That's not going to happen. Only some event in their own experience will do that (maybe). The strip is primarily aimed at readers who only have a vague knowledge of the subject, and think perhaps that there must be something to the practice, as why otherwise would the British National Health service divert funds to it, and why would so many celebrities, politicians, journalists, members of the royal family, etc, believe in it?

The strip has done extraordinarily well, having had over 30 thousand views in the first two days. By far the single most successful strip I've ever had online.

Thanks to all the many people who took the time to email me and leave me notes. Far too many for me to ever get back to. A special thanks to those who have sent me links.

My next science strip will be on the subject of the supposed Moon Hoax.

References for the homeopathy strip.

Wikipedia entry on Homeopathy

What is Homeopathy. The Society Of Homeopaths.

Homeopathy: What's The Harm by Simon Singh.

Homeopaths 'endangering lives' by offering malaria remedies, Alok Jha, science correspondent, The Guardian, Friday 14 July 2006

The Lancet – “Benefits and risks of homoeopathy by Ben Goldacre.

Death By Homeopathy. Steven Novella, Neurologica Blog.

Homeopathy pdf, Sense About Science.

Statement on homeopathic remedies for malaria, Health Protection Agency.

Learn From This Tragedy, Andrew Bolt of the
 Herald Sun on the death of Penelope Dingle.

Coroner questions why Dr Peter Dingle didn't confront homeopath, Chris Robinson From: PerthNow

4 comments:

Nescio said...

You might be interested in my post detailing how homeopathy is falling on hard times in the UK. Here: http://contusio-cordis.blogspot.com/2010/06/homeopathy-in-bad-weather.html

Anonymous said...

I think your comics are great and I really like the fact that you're posting your references. What would you think if you had inline citations matched with your references list so we can better verify your sources. Do you think that would detract from the overall comic format. I see these comics about general misinformation regarding science and health so maybe they are warranted.

Gary Northfield said...

Ha, you're tackling the Moon Hoax next. Brilliant. You are my new hero Darryl!

Gary Northfield

Anonymous said...

Great debunking. Will use with my students in a health academy in SF. BTW, are you using water photos from Walter Wick?