Alternative therapies have long had powerful supporters. King George VI helped to ensure that homeopathy would be part of Britain’s newly created National Health Service (his grandson, Prince Charles, is also a fan). Royal Copeland, an American senator and homeopath, saw to it that the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938 authorised homeopathic products. Sixty years on another senator, Tom Harkin, helped to set up the National Centre for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) at the world’s leading medical-research outfit, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which has hitherto received $1.5 billion from taxpayers. In 2009 Mr Harkin said it had “fallen short” (and bemoaned its focus on “disproving things” rather than approving them). There are plenty of similar outfits. The Consortium of Academic Health Centres for Integrative Medicine now has 50 members, some offering master's degrees.

In Britain and Australia, horrified scientists are fighting hard against the teaching of alternative therapies in publicly funded universities and against their provision in mainstream medical care. They have had most success in Britain. Some universities have been shamed into ending alternative courses. The number of homeopathic hospitals in Britain is dwindling. In 2005 the Lancet, a leading medical journal, declared “the end of homeopathy”. In 2010 a parliamentary science committee advised that “the government should not endorse the use of placebo treatments including homeopathy.” So, should alternative medicine be treated on a par with the traditional sort and taught in medical schools? Cast your vote and join the discussion.