BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION MOTIONS ON HOMEOPATHY

leave out from `House' to end and insert `welcomes the policy adopted by the British Medical Association (BMA) concurring with the conclusions of the Science and Technology Select Committee's Fourth Report of Session 2009-10, Evidence Check 2: Homeopathy, HC45, and opposing the funding of homeopathy on the NHS; recognises that the BMA decides its policies democratically whereby any member can stand for election as a representative to its Annual Representative Meeting or to its Council; considers that a professional medical organisation is better placed to judge the evidence for the efficacy and the cost-effectiveness of a treatment, and the ethics of prescribing placebos based on a pseudo-scientific explanation of a non-existent mode of action, than the homeopathy industry itself; regrets that a small minority of doctors seek to use placebos in preference to appropriate reassurance or effective medicines; believes that the number of people who choose to use homeopathy or other non-evidence-based approaches is a separate question from whether the NHS should spend scarce resources on such things; further believes that the existence of anecdotes and books, even hardback ones, that suggest that homeopathy is effective merely highlights the importance of differentiating, through techniques such as randomised controlled trials, between evidence and anecdote; notes that those who want to use homeopathic treatments are not prevented from accessing them through commercial outlets; and agrees with the Select Committee that putting patients through pointless further clinical trials, and the spending of scarce public sector funds on any more research into homeopathy, cannot be justified.'.