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[ethercat]

Protesters in Oxford take massive overdoses of homeopathic remedies such as 'belladonna' and 'arsenic' as part of the 10:23 campaign

Their protest video at http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/video/2010/feb/05/homeopathy-medicine.

Interesting way to call attention to an issue.   

[Lorelei]

Is it still homeopathy if the ingredients aren't diluted into non-existence? That's how I define homeopathic: ingredients diluted to the point of uselessness or non-existence. (The linked site has a good page on why no one should be complacent about quacks being permitted to flourish unchallenged, placebo effect be darned.)

(FWIW, I suspect some miracle cures attributed to homeopathy had more to do with the daily snootfull of brandy that the ingredients were diluted into. Some companies dilute their ingredients into water, but brandy remains an option.)

[ethercat]

Is it still homeopathy if the ingredients aren't diluted into non-existence?

No, I don't think so.  I think then it's just drugs or poison.

That's how I define homeopathic: ingredients diluted to the point of uselessness or non-existence. (The linked site has a good page on why no one should be complacent about quacks being permitted to flourish unchallenged, placebo effect be darned.)

From http://www.1023.org.uk/whats-the-harm-in-homeopathy.php about a homeopathic malaria "remedy":

'The remedies should lower your susceptibility; because what they do is they make it so your energy – your living energy – doesn't have a kind of malaria-shaped hole in it. The malarial mosquitoes won't come along and fill that in. The remedies sort it out.'

OMG!  Your living energy won't have a malaria-shaped hole in it if you drink this!  What has happened to people and their critical thinking skills?

Isn't energy (whether living or not <snicker>) a non-tangible thing?  No mass, no form?  In that case, how could it possibly have a hole in it? 

(FWIW, I suspect some miracle cures attributed to homeopathy had more to do with the daily snootfull of brandy that the ingredients were diluted into. Some companies dilute their ingredients into water, but brandy remains an option.)

Especially for psychosomatic illnesses (or neuroses).  Either that, or they got too drunk to notice the symptoms.