Q151 Dr Harris: My last question is to Dr Fisher. In your written submission to us, which I read, and in your answer, you talked about the basic science that shows a basis for the function of how homeopathy might work. I think it is fair to say that some of it is radical stuff. Why do you think that there has been no Nobel Prize given to the people who have made these astonishing discoveries of the potential for the memory of water and a physiological impact of some homeopathy remedies where the dilution is such that it is accepted that there is unlikely to be a single molecule left?
Dr Fisher: It may yet happen. I think we are at a very early stage. The research has burgeoned in the last few years and it needs more work. We are talking about a sociological phenomenon within the scientific community and of course new ideas often encounter strong resistance. I think that is what is going on. People say loosely that it challenges the basic laws of physics; it does not. It may yet happen.
Q152 Dr Harris: On that basis then why is it that when you have a solution of water that used to have some homeopathic substance in it but it has been diluted that the water is said to retain that memory but does not remember all the poo, you could call it, that has been in it, because all water has bits of our effluent.
Dr Fisher: I am surprised you did not mention Oliver Cromwell's bladder. In this context it is traditional to mention Oliver Cromwell's bladder because apparently somebody once calculated that in each glass of water you drink it is statistically probable that one of those molecules once passed through Oliver Cromwell's bladder.
Q153 Dr Harris: The point I am making is that you have a higher chance of having that molecule but you do not believe the molecule is necessary, so why is it that the specific effect is from the homeopathic element that has been in it and not someone's ammonia that has been in it?
Dr Fisher: It is quite straightforward. The point is that we use highly purified water and highly purified ethanol there. There is no such thing as absolutely pure water but this is highly purified, it is double-distilled and deionised.
Q154 Dr Harris: It has not even got sugar in it?
Dr Fisher: At that stage no, so the impurities are a concentration of parts per million or parts per billion. You then add something at a concentration of parts one in ten or one in 100 and shake it. .
Q155 Dr Harris: The shaking is important?
Dr Fisher: The shaking is important.
Q156 Dr Harris: I would have thought it would have less memory if you shook it. I can understand if you left it alone it might form a memory.
Dr Fisher: This has been looked at and the answer is that it does not induce the same structural effects. You are inducing structural effects which may involve silica and which may involve dissolved oxygen molecules - it is not quite certain - but you can show that this water is different from water that is just shaken without the stuff being in it.
Q157 Dr Harris: How much do you have to shake it?
Dr Fisher: That has not been fully investigated.
Q158 Dr Harris: A random amount of shaking?
Dr Fisher: You have to shake it vigorously but exactly how much you have to shake it, no. If you just gently stir it, it does not work.
Q159 Dr Harris: Does the MHRA check how much it has been shaken before it approves it for treatment?
Dr Fisher: You would have to ask the MHRA, I do not know.
Q160 Chairman: Dr Harris, I am going to leave the shaking at that point. Professor Ernst, you just wanted to have a last word on that.
Originally Posted by polomint38
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks