Slanderers of homeopathy
Homeopathy strikes back
On July 9, a court session will be held at which the claim of the manufacturer of homeopathic medicines for animals to the Russian Academy of Sciences, or rather to the Commission of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Combating Pseudoscience and Falsification of Scientific research will be considered. Although the volume of objective evidence of the ineffectiveness and anti-scientific nature of homeopathy is huge, manufacturers of such tools are trying to prove that this is only the private opinion of certain hostile scientists who, on principle, do not want to "hear and understand".
The lawsuit was filed by the company "AleksAnn", which demands to recognize the information published in Memorandum No. 2 (homeopathy) as untrue, and from the Russian Academy of Sciences – to refute them publicly. In addition, the manufacturer of homeopathy for animals intends to collect compensation for moral damage from the WOUNDS – 30 million rubles.
Memorandum No. 2 was issued by the RAS Commission on Combating Pseudoscience and Falsification of Scientific Research on February 7, 2017. The document states that the treatment of ultra-small doses of substances used in homeopathy has no scientific basis, and "homeopathic methods of diagnosis and treatment should be qualified as pseudoscientific."
The Pseudoscience Commission believes that homeopathy contradicts the main goals of Russian healthcare and should meet organized state opposition. The document recommends that pharmaceutical manufacturers label homeopathic remedies as having no proven effectiveness, doctors should not prescribe homeopathy to patients, and journalists should emphasize its anti–science on a par with magic, healing and other extrasensory.
The text is signed by 34 scientists who stated that homeopathy is not harmless, since patients spend considerable money on it and do not receive truly effective treatment because of it.
On March 23, 2018, another similar lawsuit followed from another manufacturer of homeopathic medicines for animals – the Helvet company. The CEO of Helvet and AleksAnn are one and the same person. The court hearing on the claim of Helvet will be held on July 24.
"From a purely legal point of view, we consider the claims unfounded and have already voiced our legal position in one of the courts. We also draw your attention to the fact that the attempt of commercial companies to challenge the publication of the Academy of Sciences in court on a scientific issue looks strange," Alexander Sergeev, a journalist, a member of the Commission on Combating Pseudoscience, told the Attic.
The commission's lawyer, Yaroslav Cherny, believes that manufacturers of homeopathic remedies infringe on freedom of opinion and are simply being promoted. "The analysis of the claims shows that <> an attempt is being made to restrict the right of the RAS and the entire scientific community to freely express their opinions about certain scientific phenomena. In the case under consideration, this phenomenon is homeopathy.
At the same time, the right to freedom of expression is guaranteed both by international legislation, including the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, ratified by Russia in 1998, and by national legislation, primarily the Constitution of the Russian Federation," Cherny said.
In 2016, homeopaths have already tried to sue journalists for their reputation. Then the reason for filing a lawsuit was the article "Dissolved Magic" in the magazine "Around the World", which claimed that the effectiveness of homeopathy as a whole is indistinguishable from placebo. Then the "National Council for Homeopathy" filed a lawsuit with the wording "for an article discrediting the method of homeopathy." The magazine, however, easily won the case.
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