See the previous article on this topichttp://www.berkshirehumanists.org.uk/?p=2340

From a Berkshire Humanist supporter who attended the event

“At 10:23am on January 30th, more than four hundred homeopathy sceptics nationwide took part in a mass homeopathic ‘overdose’ in protest at Boots’ continued endorsement and sale of homeopathic remedies, and to raise public awareness about the fact that homeopathic remedies have nothing in them.

“Sceptics and consumer rights activists publicly swallowed an entire bottle of homeopathic ‘pillules’ to demonstrate that these ‘remedies’, prepared according to a long-discredited 18th century ritual, are nothing but sugar pills.”

1023.org.uk

I got to my local Boots shortly after it opened.  The Chemist didn’t seem reluctant to serve me until after I presented him with a bottle homeopathic pills.  I suspect ethical concerns over selling me placebos and respect him for it, but it’s also possible he knew about today’s 10^23 event.  Fortunately by then one of the regular tills was open, so I bought my sugar pills and caught a train to Oxford.

I got there early, and it was impressive to see everyone gradually arrive.  Like The Hobbit’s unexpected party.  There were 30 of us in white t-shirts printed with the 10^23 slogan (“Homeopathy, there’s nothing in it”) by the time we were ready to move, mostly worn over pullovers or displayed under unbuttoned coats, as it was a very cold January morning.

When we reached the place we were going to demonstrate, and formed into a semi-circle.  Some people took out cameras, and everyone else took out their Homeopathic ‘remedies’.  There was some difficultly with the packaging which seemed designed to thwart us, but at 10:23 we chanted our slogan then took all the pills.  Up and down the country, many other groups did the same.

The protest was sparked when Paul Bennett, professional standards director for Boots, admitted to a committee of MPs that there is no medical evidence that homeopathic pills work, and that Boots sell them for reasons of consumer demand alone.  Homeopathic ‘remedies’ are made by a process of dilution.  It starts with one drop of the supposedly active ingredient being mixed with 99 drops of water, then the process repeats.  The pills we were taking were “30C” which means the process had been repeated 30 times, which makes us statistically more likely to win the lottery five weeks running than for there to be a single molecule of the relevant substance in any given pill.  Therefore it should go without saying that none of us suffered any ill effects from taking the ‘overdose’, which is exactly what and why we were demonstrating.  The pills were generally agreed to be very pleasant and sugary, like overpriced sweets.  They were a little too sweet for some peoples tastes, but others found them quite more-ish.  Then we leafleted outside of Boots until the pub opened at 11am.

The Oxford event was organised by Skeptics In The Pub, it was my first time with them, and they seem like a very friendly bunch, and there was lots of good humour.  Most people seemed acquainted with Mitchell and Webb’s “Homoeopathic A & E” sketch, which is well worth tracking down on YouTube if you are not.  They were mostly quite young (whereas at every Humanist event I’ve ever attended, I’ve felt young at 35).  They meet in The Chequers one Tuesday evening every month.  They have had an impressive array of speakers, and I liked the Chequers, especially the wide choice of bitters.  Thanks to Rosie for organising the protest.  I had a lot of fun.