Doctors condemn 'alternative medicines'

More than 100 doctors and health professionals have written an open letter protesting against the use of alternative medicines such as homeopathy.

The letter, published in Le Figaro, with 124 signatories says such 'esoteric disciplines' are 'fed by charlatans' and 'have no scientific basis' but are 'based on beliefs promising miraculous healing'.

"We wish to dissociate ourselves completely from practices that are neither scientific nor ethical, but rather irrational and dangerous," the letter reads.

They said that alternative medicines promote a 'mistrust' of conventional treatment and can 'delay diagnosis'.

The writers demand that the Conseil de l'ordre des médecins et[des] pouvoirs publics to stop recognising alternative treatments as medical, stop teaching them in medical training, and call for a halt to covering the costs of such treatments.