Dec 1, 2009: A wonderful day for British Homeopathy

Here follow the immortal words of Health Minister, Mike O’Brien: ‘We take the view that it is not our job to stop clinicians prescribing these medications if they feel they are appropriate.’ The Honorable Minister went on to say that cutting the (NHS) funding would be “illiberal” and “a denial of personal choice”. He also said there were a range of opinions amongst clinicians and scientists which could not be ignored.

This was after being grilled by the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee which comprised many people less than friendly to homeopathy such as Edzard Ernst, Ben Goldacre and Tracey Brown all of whom lambasted homeopathy in the hearing. But the Health minister hinted at the essential point: NHS homepathy is practised by trained doctors who have to take responsibility for what they do. That is the headline and the bottom line and the middle line and all the other lines in between. Mike O’Brien knew it and had the guts to say it in the face of massive negative publicity in the media. Bravo Minister!