A second ASA adjudication in two weeks against misleading marketing from Homeopathy UK

Summary: Homeopathy UK, formerly the British Homeopathic Association (BHA) has had its second (in two weeks) Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) adjudication upheld against its marketing.

Edit 20 May 2021: Les Rose has submitted a Serious Concern to the Association's Trustees about the failure to meet the public benefit requirement of the Charities Act (the Association is registered as a charity). I've also re-arranged bits of the post below and added a Table of Contents for clarity.

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Table of Contents
1. Preamble
2. My ASA complaint
3. Further reading
4. Screenshots (that go with (2))

1. Preamble
On 5 May 2021 I spotted that the ASA had published its rulings including one about Homeopathy UK. As I also had a complaint about Homeopathy UK's website in the pipeline I was a bit puzzled and initially assumed it was mine (until I read and discovered that the complaint was made by the Good Thinking Society) and that mine was next in the queue. 

I didn't know that GTS had put in a complaint, and to be fair I don't think I'd mentioned mine to them either so they happened independently. I see from the statement** put out today by Homeopathy UK that they suspect we're all working together behind the scenes on these complaints but that wasn't the case in this particular instance - I'm not sure if they realise that several people keep an eye on homeopaths' (and homeopathy societies' and associations') websites.

The story has been picked up in The Times (including an opinion piece) and Mail Online. Prof Edzard Ernst has also written about it and it's also in the BMJ (see 3. Further Reading).

Below is my original complaint, I've not included the follow up discussions though as you can read the final output in the adjudication. My complaint didn't mention depression but it's not that unusual that the ASA might add in another concern after looking at the information for themselves. I did mention a page about cancer which has also been taken down - normally that would be referred to Trading Standards but presumably no need for that now it's been removed.

I've deliberately mangled the links that no longer work in the text below - if you want to visit them (all links now point to the main 'conditions' landing page anyway) you'd need to paste them into a browser address bar and delete the ^^.

2. My ASA complaint: relevant screenshots are at the end
Why is the British Homeopathic Association (now known as Homeopathy UK) allowed to have a page on its website listing almost 50 conditions "where homeopathy can help"? https://homeopathy-uk.org/homeopathy/how-homeopathy-helps/conditions 

None of that is true and several of the conditions are quite serious (allergies, asthma, cancer (!), circulatory problems, Crohn's etc). Each of these pages is written by a single author, drawing on their experiences of treating people who have the relevant condition. Of the 4 pages I've viewed in more depth (below) no evidence is offered beyond purely anecdotal. 

I was amazed to see cancer included (https://home^^opathy-uk.or^^g/homeopathy/how-homeopathy-helps/conditions/cancer), given the Cancer Act 1939, but on clicking through the claims are at least a bit softer (not claiming that homeopathy can help directly with cancer) though I think this phrase is concerning "A preparation of Mistletoe would be an example of a complementary medicine which has been shown to stimulate the immune system and when given alongside chemotherapy and radiotherapy can reduce fatigue and improve quality of life" as I don't think that homeopathic levels of mistletoe can do anything. 

Later on that page the author references this rather theatrical example "Along with Mistletoe injections, I also prescribed X-ray 30c on the morning of radiotherapy, along with Belladonna in the afternoon, both of which have been shown in one placebo-controlled trial to reduce the inflam­mation of the skin and deeper tissues that is caused with radiotherapy" - I can only wonder how diluted X-rays are prepared, or what they might be supposed to do. 

The diabetes page (https://home^^opathy-uk.or^^g/homeopathy/how-homeopathy-helps/conditions/diabetes) is also misleading - implying that numbness arising from nerve damage can be 'helped' with hemlock and (hopefully very diluted) lead. This is unlikely to be true. Worse, there is mention of 'helping' infected (leg / foot) ulcers by the application of calendula lotion, or 'helping renal function' with other remedies. 

The page on infertility (https://home^^opathy-uk.or^^g/homeopathy/how-homeopathy-helps/conditions/infertility) seems cruel, implying that homeopathy can help in any way in having a healthy pregnancy. The phrase "I prescribed Tub bov 10M, three tablets in one day, and two months later she missed her period" implies a causal relationship between the remedy and the pregnancy which is probably unwarranted. 

The page on psoriasis (https://home^^opathy-uk.or^^g/homeopathy/how-homeopathy-helps/conditions/psoriasis) suggests that conventional treatment can temporarily suppress the effects of the condition and includes the line that "Some patients are, therefore, looking for a more permanent “cure” for their condition", implying that homeopathy might offer that. I think that's incredibly unlikely and misleading, and I’m not sure that putting ‘cure’ in quotes minimises that. 

Jo

 

3. Further reading

1. Homeopathy site banned from discussing depression (19 May 2021) The Times, Kat Lay
2. Clamp down on bogus science of homeopathy (19 May 2021) The Times, Oliver Kamm
   
3. Homeopathy charity is hit by ad ban after claiming the treatment can be used for depression, diabetes and infertility (19 May 2021) Mail Online, Isabella Nikolic
4. Clamp down on the bogus science of homeopathy (19 May 2021) Edzard Ernst's blog  
5. Homeopathy UK told to take down articles saying remedies can help depression and asthma (20 May 2021) BMJ, Clare Dyer 
6. Re: Homeopathy UK told to take down articles saying remedies can help depression and asthma (21 May 2021) BMJ: Rapid Response, Jo Brodie (me!)
7. ASA to charity: Remove claims homeopathy helps diabetes and asthma (21 May 2021) C+D (Chemist + Druggist), Grace Lewis
   

ASA Adjudications against Homeopathy UK aka British Homeopathic Association 

• ASA Ruling on Homeopathy UK (19 May 2021) - mine 
• ASA Ruling on Homeopathy UK (5 May 2021) - Good Thinking Society's

**Homeopathy UK have shared their "A message from our Chief Executive" statement several times on Twitter (though apparently not on Facebook) and the quote tweets for several of them are rather more critical. If you've been blocked and need to view the tweets in a private window while logged out you won't be able to see them via the Quote Tweet button (it requires login). Ignore that and just paste each link below into the search bar or visit https://twitter.com/explore - this, in essence, shows you mentions of that tweet (logically identical to the quote tweet format).

https://twitter.com/bhahomeopathy/status/1395005017741041671
https://twitter.com/bhahomeopathy/status/1395046861581455362
https://twitter.com/bhahomeopathy/status/1395281901116608515
https://twitter.com/bhahomeopathy/status/1395402698388873226
https://twitter.com/bhahomeopathy/status/1395674487429996546
https://twitter.com/bhahomeopathy/status/1396460917001494532

4. Screenshots (these were attached to my original ASA complaint): 

Homeopathy UK 01 - list of conditions

Homeopathy UK 02 - list of conditions

Homeopathy UK 03 - cancer and diabetes

 Homeopathy UK 04 - infertility and psoriasis

 

Wonder what happened to the blogger Lucky Jimm, courier / Mayfair squatter - say hi if you know him :)

On a Sunday in January 2009 a friend and I went to see Kind Hearts & Coronets in a squat at 39A Clarges Mews, Mayfair. It was part of a week long series of events and classes under the 'Temporary School of Thought' banner. As it was so close to Burns' night we took some veggie haggis from Fortnums around the corner. There were lots of people there admiring the incredible property and the ornate wallpaper etc and I got chatting to some of the squatters. One of them - Lucky Jimm / luckyjim - was hosting the film screening and I later came across his blog, which was an amazing read. Here's what I said about it in 2011.

"In an equivalent of discovering a book that you just can't put down, since coming across his blog I've been hooked, beguiled, ensorcelled (feel free to throw the thesaurus at this, as one word won't do) by the writing and can only hope he gets a shift on and writes a book. I usually read blogs because I'm interested in the topic and nice writing is a pleasant bonus. In this case the topics (squatting, gambling, cycling and drinking) aren't of particular interest to me but the (often poignant) mix of humour, angst, frankness and occasional whimsy has meant that I've found the blog electronically unputdownable." 

Sadly a few years later his blog, outlining his 'degenerate lifestyle', had entirely disappeared and none of it is available on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine either though a few of his guest posts on other people's blogs are still extant, along with a Reddit AMA he did a few years ago. 

He moved his blog to a poker site so I signed up to read them there. Literally never played a poker game in my life but I enjoyed his writing that much. At some point that site went down ('gutshot', doesn't sound very comfortable) but I chatted to him several years later on another poker site, wishing him well and hoping he'd write a book. I will have to see if I can find the site, log in and say hello* ;) I vaguely remember something about a Hendon mob and various poker-playing groups but it's not my world so I've not kept up with any of it.

I'm hoping he's still alive and well and has a life that gives him pleasure, but I also hope he's written a book or two, or that he has a career writing something. If you know him don't tell me who he is (Lucky Jimm is obviously an assumed name!) but do tell him some random from 2009 and the internet hopes he's doing well :)

Lucky Jimm's guest posts on Harry's Place blog

A Trip To The Ocean (20 May 2009) - about the Ocean Estate which, weirdly, is the bus stop I sometimes alight at when going to work, at Queen Mary University of London.

Free (4 February 2010) - writing about Katharine Hibbert's book (she was a journalist who squatted to write about it, later lost her job and started to squat in earnest)

Outside Alexander McQueen's Flat, 5pm, Thursday (15 February 2010) - as a courier Jimm had collected packages from McQueen's offices.

I squatted mansions in Mayfair, London. AMA! (29 January 2010, date of archive capture) - Reddit

Temporary School of Thought (13 January 2009) - Londonist's visit.

*I created an account on the '2+2' poker forum but I can't work out how to send a message to anyone and am very much out of my depth haha so I will probably leave it for now.