James Randi e homeopatia

[Vitor Moura]

letters@theherald.co.uk

In a May 24th editorial you write :

"It is the $1m question. Some four years ago, James Randi, an American illusionist, offered that sum to anyone who could prove, under laboratory conditions, that homeopathic remedies cured ailments. No-one has risen to the challenge."

In January of the year 2000 I applied for James Randi's Challenge to homeopathy; in response over the following year he sent me and others over 70 emails on the subject.
The protocol he agreed to was, if high dilutes, as used in homeopathic preparations, could be distinguished from their aqueous vehicles in a double blind test, then that would win the prize.
Randi refuse to agree to a time and place for the test. The actual test bogged down after he attacked me personally, insisted I was a nobody, and generally took an attitude of dismissal and denial. Finally he demanded a notarized statement from a clinical psychologist to prove that I wasn't crazy. He then went to China and subsequently had a heart attack.
The antipathy encountered with Randi was of little difference from the antipathy he has heaped on others who present evidence for unusual phenomenon.
In the interim, however, the test for homeopathy was discussed with Jacques Benveniste and Nobel Prize laureate Brian Josephson, who wrote that Randi was being dishonest.
The fact of the matter is, that there have been numerous tests to identify high dilutes. One in particular, which among others I suggested to Randi, was the dielectric stress test.
Two French researchers, Alphonse Gay and Jean Boiron, discovered in the early 1950s that high dilutes can affect the conductivity of water, and demonstrated their findings in exhaustive testing that met the requirements Randi called for in his protocol. The dielectric test was replicated in the 1960s by two American researchers and later by Indian physicists..
A British investigator, William E. Boyd, MD, did remarkable research into the biochemical effects of high dilutes throughout the mid 20th century. His studies reportedly would be cost prohibitive now at today's rates. His reporting they say was "elegant."
Certainly you must also be aware of the work of Jacques Benveniste, and Madeleine Ennis et al's replication of his work.
The BBC wrote to me about tests I had come up with for the staging of a replication of Benveniste's work for Randi's Challenge, and I suggested they contact Rolland Conte, a French investigator who used NMR to analyze high dilutes.
Inevitably, what they did though was to contract out the work to an inexperienced investigator, who as one might expect, failed to replicate Benveniste's work.
There's been a lot of research done to understand the mysterious phenomenon produced by high dilutes. What happens is, as soon as you validate high dilutes, you're disqualified as a quack by those who refuse to believe in the specificity of the sub atomic field. Any positive finding is dismissed as rubbish. And wouldn't you agree that mysteries make better stories unsolved?
What I did was to eventually come up with simple tests anyone can do to win Randi's million dollar challenge, a test using baker's yeast and one using seeds.
In the yeast test, I take a bottle of sugar water and yeast, and by placing a balloon over the neck, observed the gas output of the homeopathically treated and non treated yeasts. The homeopathically treated yeast produced gas longer before being re-absorbed.
For the seed test I wetted cotton placed over seeds in clear plastic cups. After the coleoptiles had sprouted and died, I measured them. The homeopathically treated sprouts were 150% longer.
In both cases I used homeopathic Staphysagria.
Randi dismissed the tests as being "unscientific" or messy. However, since that time, the use of homeopathic medicines has exploded, growing at 20% a year. And Randi's had another cardiac arrest. Maybe more than one person took it to heart.
So if Randi's told you no one's stepped up to take the Challenge for homeopathy, he's lying. Check with Josephson if you don't believe me.
The point is, there's a lot of proof for homeopathy, scientific and common. To see it, all you have to do is use your eyes when the truth isn't being obscured by the fluttering hands of illusionists.
Try it. You'll like it.
John Benneth
PS: Homeopathic aurum (gold) is good for the heart and does wonders for depression.

[Fernando Silva]

Randi aceitou o desafio de Benveniste. O teste foi feito com culturas de células vivas, não com animais ou pessoas, para descartar a possibilidade de fatores psicológicos. E foi o próprio Benveniste que quis assim.
A homeopatia não funcionou e Benveniste ficou desmoralizado diante da comunidade científica.