James Randi first shot to fame as a stage magician but currently seemed to have had a rebirth as a scientific skeptic. In his bid to challenge and discredit supernatural claims about occult and the paranormal, he has gained certain amount of notoriety if not actual popularity and he has now turned his attention to discrediting homeopathy and homeopaths.
Randi has claimed that homeopathy doesn’t work and went so far as to ‘overdose’ on homeopathic sleeping pills (supposedly to demonstrate inefficacy) and to offer one million dollars to anyone who can prove that homeopathy works.
Randi has managed to stir up plenty of interest by virtue of his attack on homeopathy and this has been reported in many other online publications as well.
Randi has also issued the challenge to retailers and homeopathic pharmacies to label products more clearly.
According to Randi the buyer needs to know what he or she is buying which is currently not clear given the labeling of homeopathic products.
He also alleged that there are no active ingredients in the formulations, nor any testing of federal approval of homeopathic products.
The doctrine of Homeopathy was first propounded by German physician Samuel Hahnemann around the end of the 18th century, based on the law of similars; or ‘Like cures Like’.
In other words homeopathy functions on the premise that the substance that is causing the problem for the individual, when administered in very minute quantities will help the body heal itself, and it is this very basis that Randi is questioning.
