A Win For Common Sense!

I just noticed these two stories on BMA that gave me a little more faith in sense in humanity.First, they've voted to ban the NHS funding of Homeopathic medicine, and even better it now has to be clearly placed on a shelf labelled 'placebo' in pharmacies. Second, they also voted that so called 'conversion therapy' for homosexuals (Therapy where they attempt to turn gay people straight, or 'correct' them as they phrase it) should not be available through the NHS.

It's quite disturbing that these two things have been allowed to hang around for so long, but hopefully this is the beginning of the end for junk medicine. Next in the firing line; Chiropractic, Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine. At least I hope they are.

Here's my favourite part from the article:

In a debate at the BMA junior doctors’ conference in May one delegate, Tom Dolphin, had caused controversy by likening homoeopathy to witchcraft. He then apologised to witches, who were "apparently offended by the association with homoeopathy."

Brilliant. Poor witches, getting insulted like that.

As for the conversion therapy, its a no-brainer to scrap it. In order for something to be 'corrected' it has to be a disorder in the first place. Being gay isn't a mental illness, it's built into who a person is. You can't change that without disastrous consequences, and there's absolutely no reason for anyone to be trying to change it even if it could be done. There aren't any clinics helping straight people become gay are there? So why the other way around.

This sums it up:

"Sexual orientation is such a fundamental part of who someone is that to attempt to change it will just result in significant conflict and depression, and even sometimes suicide."

Two great decisions, but I hope its just the beginning.