Hocus-pocus at state expense: Bavaria's expensive rendezvous with homeopathy#
Welcome to the free state of unlimited possibilities – at least when it comes to replacing scientific facts with political gut feeling. In Munich, it was decided that physical laws and medical evidence are more like non-binding recommendations for action, especially when state elections are just around the corner or the electorate likes to suck sugar balls.
It is about the irritant topic of homeopathy. While the rest of the scientific world agrees that no effect is detectable beyond the placebo effect, the Bavarian state government bravely clings to dilution. CSU and Freie Wähler have defended a planned study on homeopathy in the state parliament. The argument? "No prohibitions on thinking".
When thinking becomes forbidden#
You have to stop smirking. "No prohibitions on thinking" sounds like innovation, like lateral thinking in the best sense, like Galileo Galilei. In this context, however, it rather means: "We ignore the piles of existing studies that prove that there is nothing there, and prefer to spend taxpayers' money to check again to see if there may be elven dust in it."
It is the intellectual capitulation to the noisy minority of globule devotees. Instead of pouring pure wine (or in this case: pure water) to the citizens and explaining how modern medicine works, one prefers to capitalise on political favours.
Expensive Nothing#
We're not talking about peanuts here. Studies cost money, money that is lacking at all corners of the Bavarian healthcare system. Nursing emergency? Ailing hospitals? Oh what, let's explore whether water has a memory. If the Bavarian state government invested as much energy in recruiting nurses as it did in defending placebos, Bavaria would probably be the healthiest place on earth.
Proponents often argue for the "variety of therapies". Pluralism is great – in politics, in art, in society. But in medicine? Do we really want pluralism between "demonstrably works" and "might work if you firmly believe in it"? Would we have a bridge built by an architect who says: "Static is just an opinion, I build by feeling"? Hardly.
Der bayerische Sonderweg#
It is another chapter of the Bavarian Sonderweg. One likes to behave as a high-tech location, as a Silicon Valley of the Alps, with laptop and leather pants. But when it comes to health, some in the State Chancellery seem to prefer to mutate into dowsers.
"No prohibitions on thinking" – if you consistently think this sentence through to the end, the Free State would soon have to finance studies on the effectiveness of aluminium hats against 5G radiation or have them research whether Bielefeld really exists. Because hey, we don't want to discriminate against anyone's faith.
Conclusion: An expensive placebo for the voter's soul#
This defense of the homeopathy study is nothing more than an expensive placebo for a specific voting clientele. It's politics along the lines of, "We know it's no good, but it reassures people, and they hopefully vote for us again."
This is not only hostile to science, it is also irresponsible towards the taxpayer. Real problems are not solved with potentized sugar globules, but with evidence-based policy. But maybe we should just settle the issue. Who knows what the outcome will be.