Google stops promoting adverts for homeopathy ‘MMR’ pills in victory for Mail campaign 

Google has stopped promoting adverts linking homeopathy pills to childhood vaccinations after a Daily Mail investigation.

The search giant had been promoting sales of medically ineffective tablets branded under names such as ‘MMR’ and ‘Rubella’ to those who searched on related topics.

The so-called ‘vaccine tablets’ are manufactured by Guernsey-based firm Homeoforce as part of a range of homeopathic ‘remedies’ sold at £3.50 a bottle.

The company had used a Google service called AdWords, which meant that when users put in the keywords ‘MMR’, ‘homeopathic’ and ‘vaccines’, Homeoforce tablets would come up in the search results.

When scientists at the University of Liverpool tested the promoted treatments – including one called Chemotherapy Mix A – they found that they contained ‘nothing more than sugar’. 

Google has now halted display of the adverts after the Mail’s findings, but the search giant refused to reveal how much money it had made from the search adverts.

The search giant had been promoting sales of medically ineffective tablets branded under names such as ‘MMR’ and ‘Rubella’ to those who searched on related topics. Google has now halted display of the adverts after the Mail’s findings

Edzard Ernst, emeritus professor at Exeter University, said: ‘It is surprising and arguably irresponsible for a platform like Google to advertise and promote treatments that are not only ineffective but represent a significant risk to public health.

‘Homeopathic remedies are based on the unproven principle that ingesting a dilute amount of a disease enables the body to immunise itself.’

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

The newspaper has revealed that many homeopaths are putting parents off vaccination, instead promoting ‘remedies’ they claim will work better to protect children against disease.

Simon Stevens, the head of NHS England, last week accused homeopaths of spreading toxic ‘misinformation’ about jabs, posing ‘a significant danger to human health’. 

He urged the medical watchdog to delist the Society of Homeopaths from its official register of professional organisations, saying its inclusion sends a message to patients that homeopathic remedies are as safe and effective as clinically tested medicines.

The newspaper has revealed that many homeopaths are putting parents off vaccination, instead promoting ‘remedies’ they claim will work better to protect children against disease [File photo]

Michael Marshall, of the pro-science charity Good Thinking Society, said: ‘No sugar pill can be an effective replacement for vaccination and nobody should be selling homeopathic – and therefore ineffective – forms of chemotherapy. These products are a health risk to the public.’

The Advertising Standards Authority said it had alerted local government health authorities and an investigation was under way.

A Government spokesman warned that online companies had a duty of care to limit the spread of disinformation.

Homeoforce founder Hillius Pretorius, a pharmacist registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council, insisted his company does not market the products as vaccines.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency confirmed that the products highlighted by the Daily Mail are not licensed, adding homeopathic medicines ‘making claims for serious conditions, such as vaccination, are prohibited’.

Google said: ‘We have policies against misrepresentative or misleading ads. If we discover sites that are breaking this rule, we take appropriate action.’