#notwithoutevidence

Scientific evidence is one of the pillars on which modern medicine rests. This has not always been the case: for years, medical treatments were applied without first checking their effectiveness and safety. Some were effective, although many had disastrous results.

However, at a time when the most scientific knowledge in the history of mankind is being accumulated, there are still pseudo-sciences that pretend, without demonstrating any effectiveness or safety, to pass through disciplines close to medicine and reach patients.

We, the signatories of this manifesto, health professionals and professionals from other branches of science, journalists and others, are aware that our responsibility, both legal and ethical, is to provide the best possible treatment to patients and to look after their health. For this reason, the appearance in the media of news about the opening of a process of regulation and approval of homeopathic medicines concerns us as health professionals, scientists and citizens, and we believe that we must act on this. The statements made by the Director of the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Healthcare Products (AEMPS) assuring us that "not all homeopathic medicines have to prove their efficacy" and that "safety does not have to be demonstrated with specific clinical trials" only increases our concern.

Therefore, we request:

1. That no treatment be approved that has not demonstrated, through reproducible clinical trials, conditions of efficacy and safety at least superior to placebo. The regulation of so-called homeopathic medicines with no therapeutic indication is a serious contradiction in itself and must be rejected. If it is not indicated at all, why should it be given?
2. That the AEMPS withdraw from the market those medicines, of any type, which despite being approved, have not demonstrated greater efficacy than placebo or have disproportionate adverse effects.
3. That the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality and the other health authorities pursue those companies that attribute curative or beneficial health qualities to their products without having scientifically proven them.
4. That the General Council of Medical Associations of Spain / Organización Médica Colegial, in compliance with Article 26 of the Code of Medical Ethics, disapproves of doctors who prescribe treatments without proven scientific evidence.