Homeopathy: It is right to submit herbal remedies to scientific scrutiny

Edzard Ernst, who took on the claims of alternative practitioners, has been awarded the 2015 John Maddox Prize for Standing up for Science

Wednesday 04 November 2015 21:21 GMT
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Rationalists will rejoice – but supporters of homeopathy and herbal remedies may feel the need of a soothing tincture. Edzard Ernst, the emeritus professor of alternative medicine, has been awarded the 2015 John Maddox Prize for Standing up for Science.

Since the early 1990s, Professor Ernst has devoted himself to examining the claims of alternative practitioners, applying the same scientific rigour that is standard in orthodox medicine. His appointment at the University of Exeter was at first greeted with enthusiasm by those who rejoiced at the prospect of academic recognition for their curious treatments. Their joy did not last long. To the dismay of many, Ernst became the scourge of alternative medicine.

He has always denied he is a “quackbuster”, insisting he is guided by the evidence. When it is positive, he says so. But he admits most remedies are rubbish, and only a very few are to be encouraged. Alternative medicine is hugely popular and he is rightly enraged by the lies used to promote it.

His work has made him enemies – most notably Prince Charles, to whom he mischievously dedicated his 2008 book, Trick or Treat. He was a persistent critic of the Prince and his Foundation for Integrated Health; the Foundation closed in 2010 after 17 years following allegations of fraud. Ernst claimed it was Charles’s influence that led to the University of Exeter closing his own department and forcing him into early retirement in 2011, a claim that was always denied.

Despite the seeming weight of royal disapproval, Ernst has maintained an unswerving commitment to scientific principles in testing the claims of the practitioners whom he studied. Rather than simply dismissing those he critiques, he has called time and again for a return to the evidence and to the first principles of scientific inquiry. For his method alone, he is a worthy winner of this award.

During two decades patrolling the boundary between magic and medicine, he has protected our dignity, our pockets and our health. For that, we salute him.

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