More than half of all doctors in Germany and Switzerland are writing out prescriptions for what they regard as “placebos” – homeopathic remedies and nutritional supplements.
The German Medical Association has said that prescriptions for “placebos” are booming, a view supported by a study from the Medical University of Hannover which discovered that 53 per cent of doctors in Germany are regularly prescribing them.
In a separate study, around half of all doctors in Switzerland revealed they would also prescribe a “placebo”.
(Source: New Scientist, March 11, 2011).
