(CNN) Great Britain Prince Charles was criticized after becoming the patron of a group that supports homeopathic medicine.
The Prince of Wales, next in line to the throne, has been announced as patron of the Faculty of Homeopathy (FoH) Wednesday.
The FoH is a UK professional body which regulates and promotes homeopathy, a form of complementary medicine based on the philosophy that “like cures like.” In homeopathy, if something causes a symptom in your body, you take it in diluted form to increase your body’s ability to fight it. These remedies generally contain a plant or mineral in tiny quantities.
“It is a huge honor for us to receive the patronage of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales,” FoH president Gary Smyth said in a statement.
“I look forward to working with members, friends and supporters of the Faculty, continuing our important work, promoting homeopathy in public and professional circles and maintaining awareness of this system of medicine.”
However, the Good Thinking Society – a non-profit organization which promotes evidence-based science and which has campaigned against homeopathy – called Charles’ endorsement “obscene”, adding that it was a “missed opportunity” and “counterproductive” to support such a cause with “so many pressing health issues in the world today.”
“This news sadly comes as no surprise, given how Prince Charles has regularly used his royal platform to advocate an anti-science stance on homeopathy, but it is obscene to think that the next head of the “State of the United Kingdom considers this to be an appropriate decision to use its considerable public profile to promote”, the group said in a statement posted online.
“If Prince Charles wants to have a truly positive effect on the health of the nation he intends to one day lead, he should stand against those who give dangerously misleading advice, rather than fight for them. “
A spokesperson for Clarence House, the official residence of the prince and his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, defended this patronage, saying that Charles “believes that safe and effective complementary medicine can play an important role in health systems, provided that the approaches are integrated with conventional treatments , a position he reached after years of talking to experts in many areas of medicine. »
In 2010, the Science and Technology Committee of the House of Commons of the British Parliament presented a report who described homeopathic remedies as “scientifically implausible” and no different from placebos.
He added that homeopathy’s principle of treating “like like” using substances that cause similar symptoms in a healthy person is “theoretically weak” and that it is a “established view of medical science”.
In a statement, the FoH reiterated that homeopathy “should be seen as a complementary treatment rather than an alternative to conventional medicine”, adding that the two “can work very well together”.
