Homeopathy sceptics have staged a mass "overdose" of homeopathic remedies, in a bid to prove they are worthless.

Protesters ate whole bottles of tablets at branches of Boots in towns including Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, London, Leicester, Edinburgh and Birmingham.

They have asked the pharmacy chain to stop selling the remedies, which they call "scientifically absurd".

The Society of Homeopaths called it a "stunt". Boots said it followed industry guidelines on homeopathy.

'Placebo effect'

Supporters of homeopathy say it is a system that uses very highly diluted substances to trigger the body to heal itself, but critics argue there is no evidence they work.

The demonstrations were organised by the Merseyside Skeptics Society (MSS).

Michael Marshall, from the MSS, said: "We believe that they shouldn't be selling sugar pills to people who are sick. Homeopathy never works any better than a placebo. The remedies are diluted so much that there is nothing in them."

Mr Marshall said demonstrations were also planned in Canada, Spain, the US and Australia.

The Society of Homeopaths said it did not expect the protesters to suffer any adverse reactions from taking large quantities of the remedies.

'Ill-advised stunt'

The society's chief executive, Paula Ross, said: "This is an ill advised publicity stunt in very poor taste, which does nothing to advance the scientific debate about how homeopathy actually works."

Paul Bennett, professional standards director from Boots, said the company follows advice from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain on the correct selling of complementary medicines.

He said: "Homeopathy is recognised by the NHS and many health professionals and our customers choose to use homeopathy.

"Boots UK is committed to providing our customers with a wide range of healthcare products to suit their individual needs, we know that many people believe in the benefits of complementary medicines and we aim to offer the products we know our customers want.

"We would support the call for scientific research and evidence gathering on the efficacy of homeopathic medicines. This would help our patients and customers make informed choices about using homeopathic medicines."

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/8489019.stm

Bunch of nutcases. If it doesn't harm anyone and has only a placebo effect, why are they getting so wound up over it?

Personally I believe in it and know first-hand that it works. These people who swallowed bucketfuls - I wonder if they would go and have dozens of TB jabs on the same day? Same principle.

Bunch of nutcases. If it doesn't harm anyone and has only a placebo effect, why are they getting so wound up over it?

Personally I believe in it and know first-hand that it works. These people who swallowed bucketfuls - I wonder if they would go and have dozens of TB jabs on the same day? Same principle.

I suspect homeopathy works too. I've never used homeopathy, but I've been to an acupuncturist and I damn well know that acupuncture works and it's not the placebo effect.

Does any of this make sense to a scientist--no. And who cares? I have university degrees in both mathematics and physics and I know this: Our modern science knows little to nothing about the way reality is structured. Newton may have been the last honest scientist. After documenting his mathematical description of gravity he was asked what gravity was. His answer was that he had no idea, whatsoever. He was right, and I guarantee you, that has not changed.

I'd like to think that someday we will actually gain some deep knowledge into the true structure and nature of reality. It may happen, or not. Until then, I shall remember the words of Julius Evola. "Any man who trusts science and ignores the evidence of his senses, is a fool."

Mike