Open letter to the editor of The Lancet.

Preliminary Remark The study on homoeopathy by Aijing Shang et al. from the ISPM (University of Berne, Prof. Egger), published in the Lancet on the 27/8/2005, has been part of the Swiss ‘Programme Evaluation Complementary Medicine’ (PEK). For the last 2 years the authors have been stating in the media that homoeopathic effects are placebo effects, but have withheld the basis of their statement until this year. We do not consider this procedure as very fair. Being directly affected by this study we have had a serious interest in sending our comments on it to the Lancet. Professor Egger from Berne has also invited us in a letter to make our criticism of his study public in a formal ‘Letter to the Editor’. We have sent our comments to the Lancet in a ‘Letter to the Editor’ on 1/9/2005. However, the Lancet has decided not to accept it for publication on 21/9/2005. For that reason we have decided to make our comment public in the form of this open letter.