Mark Hanna at the Society for Science Based Healthcare has complained recently about the Napier Courier's column written by a local homeopathy business, called "Homeopathy Hub". the weekly column made many daft claims about the effectiveness of homeopathy, such as:

"Homeopathic medicines are natural, toxin-free, safe and very effective medicines which will help you rebalance, relax and find your inner strength and focus. With that comes a better quality of life, enjoyment and happiness."

"Travelling with homeopathic medicines gives you many options for dealing with physical or emotional emergencies. Depending on the country you are travelling to, this may include help for injuries, heatstroke, diarrhoea from contaminated food, adverse exposure to different climates, and so on."

"If I had clotting problems, I would take a homeopathic medicine that reduces this risk"

"Homeopathic medicines assist with a range of common ailments experienced, such as pain, discomfort, inflammation and bleeding."

"homeopathic medicines can help with every facet of dental work"

The Editor has said that they are now dropping the column, which is great news:

"I understand where you are coming from regarding homeopathic medication. To put things in context, Hawke's Bay has a strong following of homeopathic medicine, being the original home of Weleda. The column in question was written by qualified homeopaths and we felt no outrageous claims were made nor did they suggest replacing prescribed medicines.

We run other medical articles as well, regularly. So our coverage of health and health related issues is not unbalanced. Our readership is wide and varied and we cater for everyone, not excluding people interested in alternative medicine.

Having said that, our Editor of Community Newspapers and I had been planning to drop the column and have gone ahead and done that. The column will not appear again."