iblog

Anna: Three eminent figures of the British scientific establishment yesterday dismissed complementary medicine as “quackery”. Speaking at the twentieth Guardian Hay Festival of Literature, the scientists advocated rational thinking and rigour rather than medicines whose efficacy is rarely backed by scientific findings.

The panel, made up of the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, Steve Jones - a professor of genetics at UCL, and Martin Rees, President of the Royal Society, tackled the issues surrounding “alternative medicine” head on. They dismissed many of the treatments touted by homeopaths, considering them on a par with astrological readings and water-divination.

The outburst comes only a few days after the publication of a letter, written by medical professionals describing themselves as “a group of physicians and scientists who are concerned about ways in which unproven or disproved treatments are being encouraged for general use in the NHS.” The open letter asks almost 500 acute and primary care trusts to review their practices with regard to the promotion of homeopathy, and the use of complementary and alternative medicine as a component of healthcare provision. Hillingdon Primary Care Trust spends a not atypical £60,000 annually on homeopathy, and the authors of the letter believe this money would be much better spent on mainstream scientific treatment.

Dawkins’ views, in particular, seem to be in line with the letter. He believes the public is best served by treatments that are based on solid, scientific evidence. Well-known for his atheism, Dawkins compared the belief in ineffective complementary medicines with a belief in God. The suggestion was also made by the panel that our dwindling interest and participation in organised religion was opening the door for ever wackier, fringe faiths and belief systems. Asked what he felt homeopaths and other “quacks” would do if they were no longer allowed to practice “alternative” medicine, Dawkins retorted that he couldn’t care less. The trio are certainly not alone in their views, and concern in the scientific community seems to be growing about the continuing conflict between belief and evidence in modern society.

Dawkins is the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford, and his latest book which he is promoting this week at Hay, is likely to add to his list of enemies in religious circles. “The God Delusion” deals with what Dawkins’ asserts is a wholly irrational belief in God and the grievous harm religion has inflicted on society, from the Crusades to 9/11. Though he admits that much of religion is benign, he does argue strongly that religion fuels war, forments bigotry, and abuses children. For Dawkins, belief in God is not just wrong, but potentially deadly. Hundreds of years after the Enlightenment, the Religion vs Science debate seems hotter than ever.