ROLE OF VETERINARY HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINE IN INCREASING LIVESTOCK FARMER’S INCOME
Dr. Smruti Smita Mohapatra
Ph.D. Final year
Department of Veterinary Physiology,
Faculty of Veterinary & Animal Sciences,
WBUAFS, Kolkata
Homeopathy is a sweet method of medication. It is mostly preferred by children and elderly to avoid bitter allopathic medicines. It has growing takers from an unusual quarter. This age old therapy is gaining acceptance in the veterinary field in the recent times. Veterinary homeopathy aims to enable production with lower use of chemicals, reduce cost production and provide greater autonomy and income to the local farmers. This practice is developed by professionals for farmers. Efficient animal (mastitis) and plant treatment with 70% reduction in costs is important with increasing number of farmers who are using homeopathy. There is engagement of the local pharmaceuticals who conduct scientific research on use of homeopathy in pests and diseases control. The western countries have always been a major producer of food, but also uses intensely agrochemicals. Thus, one of its major challenges is the implementation of technologies for sustainable agricultural production. In this context, homeopathy, as affordable and proven results science, has contributed significantly towards sustainability. In Brazil, the use of homeopathy in agriculture is authorized and regulated since 1999. The major environmental imbalance and the constant attacks of pests and diseases, together with lack of viable and affordable alternatives, is what made the choice for the use of homeopathy in veterinary field. Mastitis in dairy cattle is a glaring example which reaches constantly and repeatedly. In the chemical treatment (allopathic) costs are high, the milk is contaminated and the results are limited. With the homeopathic treatment, it is much more efficient, without side effects and lower costs. In the intensive poultry farming, the use of homeopathy reduces the mortality of over 50%. Homeopathy pharma companies have started approaching cooperative dairies and veterinary clinics to make the homoeopathic treatment popular for cattle. At a time, when a recent Livestock Census data showed encouraging growth in livestock population in the state of Gujarat at about 15.36 per cent against a drop of 3.33 per cent in national average, homoeopathic remedy in veterinary has found big potential in the state. Educating farmers about benefits of homeopathy for their milch cattle with cost effectiveness vis-à-vis allopathic treatment for the same is important. Homeopathy can cure some of the commonly found yet critical illness among animals. Like mastitis, a type of infection in udder, which restricts milk flow, can be cured in a shorter span of time than antibiotics and without affecting hormones. Another serious complication is infertility, which is largely caused by misuse of hormone injections. Homoeopathy has sure cure for animal infertility. Excess antibiotics and hormone dosages to milch animals are found to be adversely affecting milk quality. The milk increasing dosages for cow and buffalo costs at Rs 50 for 10-day course. “These dosages can be administered on those animals which are producing below their original milk production capacity and results are seen after 10 days,”. Any domestic milch animal can be administered homoeopathy. Homeopathy is widely used in livestock, especially in order to reduce the use of antibiotics, within the scientific community and veterinary practice. There is evidence that homeopathic remedies are widely used in these animals (Hovi 2001, ECCH 2007, IMPRO 2015). For organic agriculture, the use of homeopathy is even promoted. According to the European Commission Regulation (EC No 889/2008, Article 24[2]) (European Commission 2008) on organic agriculture, homeopathic products should be used in preference to chemically synthesised allopathic veterinary treatment, provided that the resultant therapy is effective for the species of animal and the condition for which the treatment is intended. Homeopathy is most frequently used to treat chronic conditions with fluctuating signs, or acute, self-limiting conditions (Jacobs and others 1998, Mathie and others 2007, 2010). In case of infectious bacterial diseases, antimicrobial drugs have been used in livestock production for decades as the first and often only effective option for individual or group treatment. Nowadays, the use of antibiotics in food-producing animals is often unpopular among consumers (Midan Marketing 2014, Mintel Group 2015, Niamh 2015). ‘Antibiotic-free’ or ‘raised without antibiotics’ labelled products are enjoying increased popularity in both Europe and the USA. This development is fuelled by, among others, mis- and overuse of antibiotics in human and animal medicine, which has promoted the development of resistant strains of bacteria worldwide (Laxminarayan and others, 2013). Correspondingly, many farmers and veterinarians see homeopathy as an alternative for treating diseases in farm animals and thus reducing the consumption of antibiotics. Homeopathy was introduced by Samuel Hahnemann as early as 1796 and claims as a method to treat diseases with dilute remedies that cause the same symptoms undiluted in healthy individuals as the disease does. Those symptoms are seen as very specific and individual, resulting in the requirement for a detailed diagnostic procedure where not only the symptoms and cause of the disease are considered, but also the patient's behaviour, constitution and conditions that may cause aggravation or amelioration of symptoms, to find the corresponding remedy for each patient (Hahnemann 1869). Reviews on the efficacy of homeopathy in people have found that the success of homeopathic treatment in general cannot be completely due to placebo effects, but studies have provided insufficient evidence that homoeopathy is efficacious (Linde and others 1997). Up until now, only a few scientific publications have reviewed the efficacy of homeopathy in animals (Kowalski 1989, Hektoen 2005, Rijnberk and Ramey 2007, Ruegg 2008), revealing diverse results. Previously, a review and meta-analysis of randomised placebo-controlled trials in veterinary homeopathy with a special focus on medical conditions were published by Mathie and Clausen (2014, 2015). Due to the low number and quality of studies available, particularly regarding the risk of bias, they found very limited evidence for distinguishable differences between homeopathy and placebo in clinical interventions, demanding the need for new and higher quality research in veterinary homeopathy. A recent study considers and addresses the efficacy of homeopathic drugs in cattle, pigs or poultry in production diseases under European or comparable conditions in respect to housing, breeds, intensive farming. In medicine, efficacy indicates the capacity for beneficial change or therapeutic effect of a given intervention (e.g. a drug). When talking in terms of efficacy vs effectiveness, effectiveness relates to how well a treatment works in the practice of medicine, as opposed to efficacy, which measures how well treatment works in clinical trials or laboratory studies (Thaul 2012). In general, two types of homeopathic remedies are available: remedies including only one active ingredient in the initial tincture (used for classic or individualised homeopathy) and remedies combining two or more active ingredients in the initial tincture (used for complex homeopathy). The ‘evidence-based medicine’ approach is premised upon the current knowledge level based on clinical studies and scientific publications, which confirm or invalidate the efficacy of a certain measure or remedy (Panesar and others 2010). In single clinical trials, double-blind randomised-controlled trials (RCTs) are regarded as the ‘gold standard’ for proving the empiric evidence of efficacy of a remedy tested (European Medicines Agency [EMA] 2001, Kaptchuk 2001). The structures of the selected trials are examined with respect to their ability to measure the efficacy of homeopathy on the level of evidence-based medicine. Kowalski (1989) evaluates homeopathic treatment in veterinary literature and finds that homeopathy has certain effects. Thus the role of veterinary homeopathic medicine in increasing livestock farmer’s income is indispensable.
ROLE OF VETERINARY HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINE IN INCREASING LIVESTOCK FARMER’S INCOME
