Placebocide

By Smitha Mundasad

A mass overdose of homeopathic pills, involving thousands of people across the globe, took place on 30 January 2010 at 10.23am in an attempt to prove that homeopathy is ineffective.

“What we are really trying to do is just to make that key point to the public that homeopathy – there is nothing in it,” said Martin Robbins, press officer of the so-called 10:23 campaign. “10:23 comes from Avogadro’s number which is 6 times 10 to the 23. It is a number you can use to calculate how many molecules of something are in a certain amount of it.”

This name is in reference to the method of dilution used in homeopathic practices. Remedies are prepared by a serial dilution of a certain active substance. According to widely held homeopathic beliefs the more diluted a mixture becomes, the more powerful it is deemed to be. Skeptics argue, however, that due to serial dilution, there can be no active ingredients left.

The 10:23 event was prompted by an on-going evidence check by the Science and Technology parliamentary sub-committee into the use of homeopathy. “I have no evidence to suggest before me that they [homeopathic remedies] are efficacious,” said Paul Bennett, professional standards director of Boots, at the committee’s meeting in November 2009.

While this comment shocked protesters such as Robbins, Evan Harris, the science spokesman of the Liberal Democrats, questions the use of homeopathy in the NHS. “Why it is that the NHS is spending millions of pounds on that particular therapy when it cannot afford to provide treatments for very serious conditions which have proven efficacy in serious trials,” he asked the protestors gathered in central London.

“Homeopathy is still in the NHS and we are fighting to keep it in the NHS as this is about choice,” said one of the few homeopaths present at the event. “We have over two hundred years of homeopathy working. It is used in India in major hospitals for example. …People get better with homeopathy; people still want to use it.”

Asked how he was feeling after the overdose, Evan Harris said: “The serious point is you cannot overdose on homeopathy because there is no active ingredient… clearly if you dilute something so much that there is nothing left and then say this is effective then I think you are relying on people’s gullibility or desperation.”

Dave Gorman, the British comedian, who also took part in the proceedings, commented: “I’m taking arnica, I should never bruise again.”

Twitter activity around the world, suggests that weeks on, the so-called placebocide has caused the overdosers no harm. According to Evan Harris, the select committee will announce the conclusions of its evidence check in the near future.