Prince Charles’ irresponsible support for homeopathy

You might have thought that many of the world’s scientists and doctors had come to an unequivocal decision on homeopathy: that it doesn’t work. There has been extensive research into homeopathy, and the unambiguous conclusion is that it has no more benefit than any other placebo. This is not to say that it’s harmful, unless it prevents the patient seeking conventional medical advice. It’s simply ineffective, except for the optimism it may engender.

In 2017, Simon Stevens, the NHS England’s chief executive, said homeopathy was ‘at best a placebo and a misuse of scarce NHS funds’, and ruled that homeopathic ‘treatments’ should no longer be available on the NHS. In 2010, a House of Commons Science and Technology Committee report stated that it was no more effective than a placebo. Back in 1986, the BMA set up an inquiry into homeopathy, after Prince Charles gave a speech on the subject four years earlier. It