[Alex]

[I may have typoed quack, as you so helpfully pointed out, but if we're going to pick at minor errors, at least I know the name of the person you believe has completely revolutionized medical science.]

So why do you reject the many more double blind, placebo controlled that show absolutely no benefit at all to homeopathy?

Nothing about science says that if homeopathy is utter bull**** that evidence of its effectiveness will never be found. In fact, it says just the opposite: even if a remedy is complete bunk, if you look for evidence enough times and chunk the results, every once in a while you'll be misled by the outcome. That is, if you do 400 small random, double-blind, properly controlled experiments it is completely expected that a few of them (20 or so, actually), simply through random chance would show -- even if incorrect -- a significant benefit to homeopathy.

As the 2005 Lancet large-scale metanalysis of more than 110 homeopathic trials found, positive results were much more likely to be found in small scale studies with only a dozen or two participants. Large studies with many hundreds of participants were much less likely to find a benefit beyond placebo.

Many studies that claim a benefit are also found to have been improperly blinded or to have other procedural problems. However, my larger point there remains. This article offers no new evidence for homeopathy as all of the articles referenced are many years old and most are 10-20 years old. It is just one of the main American proponents of homeopathy reiteration what he's been saying for years, using the same sites he has for years. So I'm not sure why were so excited by his new article. I was quite aware of Dana Ullman and his writings the last time I said homeopathy is BS.

I have no doubt at all that you believe your hayfever was cured homeopathically. I also have very little doubt that you're wrong. But I understand why believing in the magical properties of water would have appeal. And if I choose to try homeopathy I have my own free source of the magic elixirs. It's built into my house, with access points in the kitchen and bathroom. And it is uber powerful since those water molecules have at some point been in the vicinity of pretty much every molecule that might be helpful to me and so it cures everything and has no side effects except when I inhale it or mix it with scotch. In fact, as you'd expect, everybody drinking this stuff has lead to the end of illness and death in our world. Or have I forgotten the precept of homeopoathy that says it is only effective if it is put in proximiaty to the magic "$" symbol?