There is scientific agreement that evidence based medicine should be used in healthcare and that systematic reviews with strict protocols are essential. Organisations such as the Cochrane Collaboration and Bandolier publish such reviews. The Cochrane Collaboration found insufficient evidence that homeopathy is beneficial for asthma, dementia and induction of labor. They also found no evidence that homeopathic treatment can prevent influenza, but reported that it might shorten the duration of the disease. Bandolier found insufficient evidence that homeopathy is beneficial for osteoarthritis, migraine prophylaxis, flu, delayed-onset muscle soreness,migraine or symptoms of menopause

n 1997, the following statement was adopted as policy of the American Medical Association (AMA) after a report on a number of alternative therapies including homeopathy:

"There is little evidence to confirm the safety or efficacy of most alternative therapies. Much of the information currently known about these therapies makes it clear that many have not been shown to be efficacious. Well-designed, stringently controlled research should be done to evaluate the efficacy of alternative therapies."

In 2006 Australia's Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code Council (TGACC) found that a homeopathic Hangover Relief Oral Spray marketed by Brauer Natural Medicine P/L was "in breach of section 4(1)(b) of the Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code 2005 ( the Code ), which states that an advertisement must contain correct and balanced statements only and claims which the sponsor has already verified , and section 4(2)(c) which prohibits misleading advertisements." The TGACC is established under Australian law and the Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code is generally consistent with the World Health Organisation's "Ethical Criteria For Medicinal Drug Promotion 1988"

Composition of homeopathic remedies

It is a common misconception that homeopathic remedies use only natural herbal components (akin to herbology). Herbs are used, but homeopathy also uses non-biological substances (such as salts) and components of animal origin, such as duck liver in the remedy oscillococcinum. In herbology, measurable amounts of herbs are used, while in homeopathy the active ingredient is diluted to the point where it is no longer measurable. Homeopathy also uses substances of human origin, called nosodes. Some people have the opposite misconception, that homeopathic remedies are only based on toxic substances like snake venom or mercury.

As the term homeopathy is well known and has good marketing value, the public can be confused by people who have adopted the term for other forms of therapy. For example, some companies combine homeopathic with non-homeopathic substances such as herbs or vitamins, and some preparations marketed as homeopathic contain no homeopathic preparations at all. Classical homeopaths argue that only remedies prepared and prescribed in accordance with the principles of Hahnemann can be called homeopathic. Many producers of homeopathic remedies also produce other types of alternative remedies under the same brand name, which can create confusion for the public.

To some, homeopathy, particularly the use of nosodes, resembles vaccination, in that vaccines contain a small dose of the "disease" against which they are to protect. Hahnemann interpreted the introduction of vaccination by Edward Jenner in 1798 as a confirmation of the law of similars, but the two practices are fundamentally different. A vaccine is usually a bacterium or virus whose ability to produce symptoms has been deliberately weakened, while still providing enough information to the immune system to afford protection. By preparing the immune system of a healthy organism to meet a future attack by the pathogen, vaccination hopes to prevent disease, in contrast to homeopathy's hope, which is to cure it. Another important difference between homeopathic preparations and vaccine, is that vaccine contains measurable amounts of the "disease," whereas homeopathic remedies have been diluted to such an extent that they are unlikely to contain any active substance at all.