[karajorma]

About 1,000 of the UK's vets have signed a petition calling for a ban on homeopathy being prescribed to animals.

The petition calls on the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons to stop vets from offering homeopathy on animal welfare grounds.

But the veterinary regulator says "it is difficult to envisage any justification" for a ban.

About one in seven practices offers some form of complementary therapy.

Figures suggest about 500 farmers and 40 vets are trained in homeopathy.

Danny Chambers, the Devon vet who started the petition on Change.org, said it had been signed by more than 1,000 British vets as well as others from around the world.

There are some 22,000 vets in the UK.

"We think vets these days should be offering 21st Century medicine," he told BBC News.

"It's been shown that homeopathy doesn't work, so it probably shouldn't be offered any more even if it is offered with good intentions."

More on the actual article but the main reason I had to post this was cause of this particular gem.

"Because if you ban homeopathy through veterinary surgeons, it will only go underground."

I do have to wonder what is the dreadful future this man envisions? Does he picture drug pushers on street corners asking people if they want to buy a homeopathic dog de-wormer?

[The E]

shhhhhh, you are disrupting my carefully laid plans to sell water for millions.

[Luis Dias]

If only homeopathic stuff only had water in it.... at least that would be harmless.

[karajorma]

Well the damage homeopathy does is that it prevents people from doing something that actually might work.

[Blue Lion]

It's always upsets me when treatment is given to those who cannot choose what or how they get it and it is something like this. Kids/pets are at the mercy of their parents/owners. It does kinda make me a little upset that there are pets suffering on some scale and a person is basically doing nothing.

[NGTM-1R]

shhhhhh, you are disrupting my carefully laid plans to sell water for millions.

My ditch clippings herbal supplements will outsell your water.

[Luis Dias]

Yeah, but water is way cheaper. Count me in that deal, The_E.

[AdmiralRalwood]

"I dunno, sometimes I think a trace solution of deadly nightshade or a statistically-negligible quantity of arsenic just... isn't enough."

[MP-Ryan]

The French medical system should take a lesson from British vets.

Some friends of ours moved to France last year.  Instead of actual antibiotics if the infections are bacterial, or pain meds if viral (which they can't apparently buy Tylenol or Advil in children's formulations over the counter), their doctor has been prescribing (as in a honest-to-goodness real prescription) homeopathic remedies when their 4 year old has gotten ear infections.  The mom was a registered nurse in Canada, while dad is an engineer.  Neither is impressed.

"I dunno, sometimes I think a trace solution of deadly nightshade or a statistically-negligible quantity of arsenic just... isn't enough."

Ahahahahaha.  That video is awesome.

[Grizzly]

It's always upsets me when treatment is given to those who cannot choose what or how they get it and it is something like this. Kids/pets are at the mercy of their parents/owners. It does kinda make me a little upset that there are pets suffering on some scale and a person is basically doing nothing.

This makes me wonder, are animals suspectible to the placebo effect?

[karajorma]

From what I understand it can actually work for animals but only with prior conditioning. Without that, the animal has no reason to expect the placebo to make them feel any better.

[Bobboau]

I think the best way to handle this would be for this to be legally treated as if no medication is being administered at all, so if there is some neglegence law on the book, that should be applied in this case. Otherwise if there is no legal compulsion for you to treat an animal's malady, I don't see why treating it with completely ineffective treatments should be considered worse.