Britain's leading pharmacists' organisation is being urged to crack down on high street chemists that sell homeopathic remedies, amid accusations that they are in breach of their own ethical guidelines.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has been asked to take action following allegations that pharmacists are failing to give customers proper information about the shortcomings of homeopathic treatments before they buy them.
In an open letter to the society, Edzard Ernst, the country's only professor of complementary medicine, criticises high street pharmacists for selling homeopathic remedies without informing customers that they contain no biologically active agents and are no more effective than sugar pills.
The ethical code states that pharmacists who sell homeopathic remedies, herbal medicines or other complementary therapies, "must assist patients in making informed decisions" by providing them with "necessary and relevant information".
According to the letter, "customers are frequently misinformed ... by promotional material available in UK pharmacies and verbal advice given by pharmacists. Thus pharmacists breach their own mandatory ethical code on a daily basis."
"If the pharmacists have written down an ethical code in which they clearly say that important and relevant information must be provided, then they must provide it," writes Ernst, who is based at Exeter University.
"My plea is simply for honesty. Let people buy what they want, but tell them the truth about what they are buying. These treatments are biologically implausible and the clinical tests have shown they don't do anything at all in human beings. The argument that this information is not relevant or important for customers is quite simply ridiculous," he says. "If they are unable to stick to their ethical code, then they should change their code and be clear that it is alright to put profits before patients."
The letter, published in the society's journal on Saturday, calls for "urgent action" to make sure that the body's ethical standards are followed by high street chemists.
An accompanying editorial agrees that it is an issue pharmacists must debate: "Guidance supporting the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Code of Ethics states that when an over-the-counter medicine is supplied, sufficient advice to ensure its safe and effective use should be provided. But the Society seems to accept that pharmacists are unable to give such advice in the case of homoeopathic medicines."
It adds: "There may be a place, where the patient demands it, for harmless faith-based therapies. Whether that place is in a pharmacy is what the profession must address."
Ernst, who earlier this year claimed that the high street chemist Boots was rapidly becoming the country's largest seller of "quack remedies", writes that he fears patients will delay seeking proper medical advice and treatment while waiting for homeopathic remedies to work.
In a statement, a Boots spokesperson said: "Homeopathy is recognised by the NHS and many health professionals and our customers choose to use homeopathy. Boots is committed to providing our customers with a wide range of healthcare products to suit their individual needs, we know that many people believe in the benefits of complementary medicines and we aim to offer the products we know our customers want. Our pharmacists are trained healthcare professionals who provide professional advice within guidance issued by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain regarding the supply of homeopathic products."