Jan's Column: Theorising?!

Professor Savekool reacted to the result with the following words: "There are indeed examples of the proven clinical efficacy of some homeopathic remedies, but there is not a single known physico-chemical mechanism that can scientifically explain the effect of homeopathy." This is a typical reaction for many scientists, but it is not scientific thinking. Facts are facts and any theory that cannot explain those facts is either limited or wrong. In physics and chemistry the theories are simply too limited to be able to explain homeopathic results. Physics and chemistry lack the foresight that would be necessary to explain homeopathy.
Of course Professor Savekool tries to dismiss these results by claiming that the selection was not random and that the group was too small (etc., with similar arguments). As a scientist, however, a result that does not fit existing theories should make him curious. He should in fact repeat the study to find out whether his arguments hold up or not. It is, however, not surprising that this does not happen. 
We see the same phenomenon in the '7 Meta-Analysis' on homeopathy. All the results show that homeopathy cannot be dismissed as a placebo. More research is recommended, but then no new research follows. No funding is made available for such research, and research proposals are regularly blocked by ethics committees who claim it would be immoral to test an unproven therapy on patients!
This type of reaction is relatively far removed from scientific thinking. Scientists should actually become attentive when they see facts that do not agree with their theories. Such phenomena have always led to new discoveries and theories; inexplicable research results are always the most promising. Of course there can be errors in studies, and a thorough analysis will then show that the facts were not correct. However, such issues must be investigated. In other words: in such cases even more research is necessary.
As homeopaths, let us not do the same and deny facts that do not fit existing theories; instead let us develop theories based on the facts already established.

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