Homeopathy/PreviousVersion: Difference between revisions

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===Attempts to provide a scientific foundation for homeopathy===
{{PreviousVersion}}
{{main|Memory of water}}
<div class="usermessage plainlinks">The Editorial Council has made a unanimous decision on December 17, 2010, to blank this draft article and to place a minimum of a one-year moratorium on any further edits to this article. The discussion concerning this decision may be found at [http://locke.citizendium.org/cz_ec/DR-2010-006].  The Talk page remains, but its present contents will be moved to an archive.  The Approved Main Article also remains in place. This page is now protected by the Constabulary and no further edits can be made to it. After one year has passed, Citizens may ask the Editorial Council to reconsider their decision but there is no guarantee that they will do so.  
Homeopathy was developed at a time when many important concepts of modern [[chemistry]] and [[biology]], such as molecules and germs, were understood poorly if at all. In Hahnemann's day, many chemists believed that matter was infinitely divisible, so that it was meaningful to talk about dilution to any degree. Although the hypothesis of atoms can be traced back to the ancient Greeks, their size was not calculated until 1865 (by [[Josef Loschmidt]]).
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The Secretary of the Editorial Council, [[User:Hayford Peirce|Hayford Peirce]] 04:09, 17 December 2010 (UTC)  


We now know that, for example, a teaspoon of seawater (roughly 5 ml) contains about 160 mg of [[table salt|NaCl]]. The molecular weight of NaCl is 58.4, so by [[Avogadro's number]], (or, in German-speaking countries, Loschmidt's number), 58.4 g of NaCl (one [[mole]]) contains 6.02×10<sup>23</sup> molecules. We can thus calculate that our teaspoon contains about 2×10<sup>21</sup> molecules of NaCl. A 12''C'' dilution of seawater will have about one molecule of NaCl ''per litre''.
==== Moratorium extended ====
The moratorium has been extended by another year. [http://ec.citizendium.org/wiki/EC:D-2012-002 EC:D-2012-002]. --[[User:Peter Schmitt|Peter Schmitt]] 01:20, 20 January 2012 (UTC)
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Thus homeopathic remedies diluted to more than about 12''C'' are virtually certain to contain not even a single molecule of the initial substance. This is recognized by advocates of homeopathy, who assert that the essential healing power is not to be found in the chemical action of molecules, but perhaps in the arrangement of the water molecules, giving rise to the expression "the [[memory of water]]".  In the homeopathic literature<ref name="Homeopathy2007">The special issue of the journal "Homeopathy", vol. '''96''', issue 3, pp. 141&ndash;230 (2007), [Editor Martin Chaplin], is dedicated to the problem, see the URL [http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/14754916 The Memory of Water]. Copies of the articles in this special issue along with discussion are available at [http://www.badscience.net/?p=490 Homeopathy Journal Club] ''Bad Science'', a blog by [[Ben Goldacre]].</ref> widely differing explanations are proposed for the alleged existence of  this water memory. It appears that the community of homeopaths has not yet converged on a single explanatory paradigm.
<hr><br>
 
For instance, homeopaths like to point out that water is not simply a collection of molecules of H<sub>2</sub>O, but contain [[isotopologue]]s, molecules with different isotopic compositions such as HDO, D<sub>2</sub>O and H<sub>2</sub><sup>18</sup>O.  [[Mass spectroscopy]] can indeed detect different isotopologues, but their relative concentration is the same before and after homeopathic treatment&mdash;the concentration ratios can only be changed by nuclear reactions&mdash;so that the presence of  isotopologues in water cannot explain its memory.
 
Also the fact that the molecules H<sub>2</sub>O appear in two proton-spin forms (''ortho'' and ''para'') has been suggested as a source of memory of water. These two spin forms, which appear in a ratio 3:1, are chemically  non-distinguishable and are very difficult to separate or to convert into each other. It is therefore highly unlikely that a homeopathic treatment could change this ratio. Moreover, even if it is assumed that homeopathic tinctures would give somehow rise to  ''ortho'':''para'' ratios other than 3:1, it requires much further explanation that these (chemically undetectable)  ratios have different healing qualities. 
 
Another suggestion is that double-distilled and deionized water contains trace amounts of contaminating ions.  In particular, water, as a result of repeated vigorous shaking, might include dissolved atmospheric gases in the form of nanobubbles, molecular ions produced from water reacting with airborne contaminants, and [[silicate]]s&mdash;tiny glass "chips". These possibilities are discussed in Ref.  <ref>D.J. Anick, J.A. Ives, ''The silica hypothesis for homeopathy: physical chemistry'', Homeopathy,  vol. '''96''', pp. 189-95 (2007). [http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.homp.2007.03.005 doi]</ref> and Ref. <ref> J.L. Demangeat, P. Gries, B. Poitevin, J.J. Droesbeke, T. Zahaf, F. Maton, C. Piérart and R.N. Muller, ''Low-Field NMR water proton longitudinal relaxation in ultrahighly diluted aqueous solutions of silica-lactose prepared in glass material for pharmaceutical use'', Applied magnetic resonance, vol. '''26''',  pp. 465-71 (2004)</ref> But see for further discussion  Ref. <ref> J-L Demangeat, ''NMR water proton relaxation in unheated and heated ultrahigh aqueous dilutions of histamine: Evidence for an air-dependent supramolecular organization of water'', Journal of Molecular Liquids, vol. '''144''', pp. 32-39 (2009). [http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.molliq.2008.07.013 doi]</ref> in which it is concluded that: "it [observed variation in NMR relaxation rates upon ultra dilution] might merely reflect a trivial air-dependent phenomenon, or an unsuspected bias, and should not be extrapolated to the so-called memory of water, often alleged to explain the effectiveness of homeopathy." 
 
Some homeopaths believe that there might be an effect of successive shaking on water structure leading to "clustering" of water molecules. This contradicts the dominant scientific view that motions in liquid water are on the picosecond (10<sup>&minus;12</sup> second) time scale and that such clusters could not live longer than a few picoseconds. 
 
People sometimes wonder if the water used to make homeopathic medicines already has other memory imprints from its history prior to use in medicine. However, the water used by homeopathic manufacturers undergoes double-distillation, a process that homeopaths contend eliminates or substantially reduces previous memory. This raises the question: how do homeopaths know that this reduction is sufficient? If the ''presence'' of homeopathic qualities is below detection threshold, then surely the ''absence'' of such qualities is also undetectable.
 
In brief, for homeopathy to receive serious scientific consideration, there needs to be plausible explanations for the following:
*how the process of manufacturing a homeopathic remedy could yield a biologically active substance or solution
*why the principle of similars might apply in the case of homeopathic remedies
*how a biological mechanism could have evolved to recognize the specific nature of homeopathic remedies
 
There also needs to be
*clear and irrefutable evidence for the efficacy of homeopathic remedies, evidence that cannot be explained by placebo effects
 
These stringent demands are often summarised by the maxim "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof".<ref>Coined by [[Marcello Truzzi]] and popularized in slightly different form by [[Carl Sagan]].</ref>
 
Meanwhile, homeopaths,  working towards an elucidation of the effectiveness of their medicines, complain that they are up against a double standard in medicine and science. They point out that there is a long history of  conventional medical treatments that are applied with positive effects, although  their mechanism of action is not known.  Only relatively recently, for instance, has it been understood how aspirin works, but before that doctors used it regularly despite an inadequate understanding of its actual mechanism. In due time, the homeopathic community asserts, the scientific basis of their methods will be unveiled.
 
<!-- The following seems duplicative to me, therefore commented out [Paul Wormer]
Some [[Materials science|materials scientists]], physicists, and other scientists have investigated how homeopathic medicines might work <ref name="pmid14619985">{{cite journal |author=Khuda-Bukhsh AR |title=Towards understanding molecular mechanisms of action of homeopathic drugs: an overview |journal=Mol Cell Biochem |volume=253 |pages=339–45 |year=2003 |pmid=14619985 |doi= |url=http://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Biochem/Chm_357/Articles/homeopathy_molecular%20mechanisms.pdf}}</ref><ref name=Bellavite2>{{citation | url = http://ecam.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/3/1/13
|journal = Evidence-based Compl Alt Med
|year =2006 | volume = 3| pages = 13-24| doi=10.1093/ecam/nek018
|title = Lecture Series, Immunology and Homeopathy. 2. Cells of the Immune System and Inflammation
|author= Bellavite P ''et al.''
}}</ref>
<ref>Mastrangelo D (2006) Hormesis, epitaxy, the structure of liquid water, and the science of homeopathy. ''Med Sci Monit'' 13:SR1-8 PMID 17179919</ref> <ref>Eskinazi D (1999) Homeopathy re-revisited: Is homeopathy compatible with biomedical observations? ''Arch Intern Med'' [http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/extract/159/17/1981 159:1981-7]</ref>
including some reports of the alteration of water by homeopathic preparations, but there are no generally accepted theories about how these occur or about how those altered properties could affect biological systems.
-->

Latest revision as of 09:28, 14 February 2021

This is an out-of-date version of the article that was created separately (possibly in error). It is retained here to preserve the edit history.
Do not edit this version: see 'Homeopathy' for the latest one.
The Editorial Council has made a unanimous decision on December 17, 2010, to blank this draft article and to place a minimum of a one-year moratorium on any further edits to this article. The discussion concerning this decision may be found at [1]. The Talk page remains, but its present contents will be moved to an archive. The Approved Main Article also remains in place. This page is now protected by the Constabulary and no further edits can be made to it. After one year has passed, Citizens may ask the Editorial Council to reconsider their decision but there is no guarantee that they will do so.


The Secretary of the Editorial Council, Hayford Peirce 04:09, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Moratorium extended

The moratorium has been extended by another year. EC:D-2012-002. --Peter Schmitt 01:20, 20 January 2012 (UTC)


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