Fury as royal chemist Ainsworths backs anti-vaxxers

The Queen’s chemist has been condemned as ‘dangerous and irresponsible’ for claiming homeopathic remedies can provide a ‘complete alternative to vaccination’.

Ainsworths, which has two royal warrants, prints and sells a book for new mothers which claims homeopathy ‘will strengthen the child’s immune system more ably than any vaccine’.

The 114-page guide, which has the coat of arms for the Queen and the Prince of Wales printed on its cover, also claims that vaccine-preventable infectious diseases including mumps and measles can be treated homoeopathically.

In addition the pharmacy sells tablets which are often promoted by other homeopaths as vaccine alternatives for diseases including measles, polio and meningitis.

Last night leading doctors criticised Ainsworths for promoting ‘irresponsible anti-vaccine propaganda’ and putting the health of children at risk. It now faces calls for its royal warrants – meaning it has supplied products to the two royal households for at five years – to be withdrawn.

Daily Mail campaign: Give The Children Their Jabs

The revelation comes after Simon Stevens, the head of NHS England, warned yesterday that homeopaths are spreading ‘misinformation’ about jabs which pose ‘a significant danger to human health’.

Two weeks ago the Daily Mail launched a major campaign to improve the uptake of childhood immunisations amid rising cases of measles and mumps.

We bought a copy of the Ainsworths book, called the Mother & Child Remedy Prescriber. The guide, which costs £4.95, promises to ‘help parents through the emotional and physical challenges of pregnancy, childbirth and baby/infant stages’.

Homeopathic pharmacy Ainsworths, which has two royal warrants, in Marylebone, London

In a section titled ‘Vaccination’, the ‘self-help’ booklet says: ‘Homeopathy was the forerunner of conventional vaccination and offers the clearest answer as to how to deal with the prevention of disease.

‘Homeopathy offers two clear options for mothers confronted by the emotional pressure to have their child vaccinated, enabling a well-considered and safe outcome. The first is a as a complete alternative to vaccination, the second is a means of damage limitation for the ill-effects of conventional vaccinations administered.’

It continues to explain how ‘remedies based on childhood diseases’ including measles, mumps, rubella, polio and meningitis can form ‘an alternative preventative programme’.

NHS England’s chief executive Simon Stevens (pictured)  has launched an outspoken attack on the homeopathy industry

The book claims these ‘will strengthen the child’s immune system more ably than any vaccine’.

The guide also claims that vaccine-preventable infectious diseases including mumps and measles can be treated homoeopathically. 

 It lists seven different clinically unproven homeopathic remedies for measles including aconite, which it says ‘is a remedy for the very early stages of measles’, and pulsatilla which it calls ‘is one of the most important remedies for measles’.

Separately, Ainsworths also sells substances online which other homeopaths say provide ‘natural immunity’ against infectious diseases including measles.

The pharmacy does not make any claims on their website about what the substances should be used for. However, they are all used in a practice called homeoprophylaxis – which involves administering tiny doses of diseased tissue called ‘nosodes’.

Critics say this amounts to ‘dangerous quackery’ and that the pills are typically so dilute that not a single molecule of the substance remains. They include morbillinum, promoted as an alternative to the measles jab, and a ‘polio nosode’ and a ‘meningeoma nosode’, promoted by some homeopaths as ‘natural’ ways to prevent polio and meningitis.

Ainsworths is continuing to sell the remedies despite the Government’s medicine watchdog, the MHRA, taking action against it in 2013, aiming to ensure it was ‘no longer advertising homeopathic products as alternative treatments to proven, conventional vaccines’. The labels have now been changed and no longer contain the word vaccine.

Leading doctors last night accused Ainsworths of spreading ‘dangerous misinformation’.

Edzard Ernst, emeritus professor of complementary medicine at Exeter University, said its royal warrants should be withdrawn ‘as a matter of urgency’.

Yesterday’s Mail: NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens accused practitioners of spreading toxic ‘misinformation’ about jabs, posing ‘a significant danger to human health’ 

He added: ‘Ainsworths has a long history of promoting the most irresponsible anti-vaccination propaganda… It is hard to think of any UK enterprise for which royal warrants are less justified.

‘The homeopathic remedies sold as an alternative to proper vaccinations are not just ineffective, they are a serious danger to public health.’

Michael Marshall, of scientific charity the Good Thinking Society, said: ‘It’s enormously dangerous for organisations like Ainsworths to be spreading this misinformation that homeopathy is a credible alternative to vaccinations.

‘They are using reputation and legitimacy of royal crest to spread vaccine misinformation. If you’re a parent of a young child you will see the royal crest on there and think the royal family are backing it and endorsing it.’

Mr Marshall added: ‘Homeopathic remedies contain no active ingredients at all. They’re so dilute that they contain virtually nothing but sugar and water – that is not going to prevent you from catching measles.’

Experts say that although homeopathy is not in itself harmful, parents who forego vaccination in favour of homeopathic alternatives lower herd immunity – putting their own children and others at risk of diseases including measles.

Ainsworths has previously been criticised for selling treatments including a ‘lamentable’ homeopathic remedy said to contain essence of the Berlin Wall that it said helped treat depression.

Ainsworths, Buckingham Palace and Clarence House all declined to comment.