Karl and Veronica Carstens Foundation

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The Karl and Veronica Carstens Foundation was founded in 1982 by the then German Federal President Karl Carstens and his wife Veronica Carstens . Its purpose is the promotion of naturopathy and the pseudoscience homeopathy , the seat is Essen .

Foundation purpose and activities

The purpose of the foundation is allegedly the "promotion of the scientific penetration of naturopathy and homeopathy as well as unconventional methods in medicine." (Statutes of the Karl and Veronica Carstens Foundation, § 2)

The foundation has the vision that in the future doctors will be able to master both naturopathy and homeopathy as well as conventional medicine in order to be able to decide “which procedure is best”.

The foundation's funding extends to homeopathy , phytotherapy , Kneipp medicine , acupuncture / TCM , kinesiology , electro- acupuncture and complementary medicine .

The foundation has so far had a total budget of 30 million euros and is trying to massively expand its influence at the universities on many levels: a professorship for complementary medicine / integrative medicine at the Berlin University Hospital Charité is being financed with one million euros over a period of 5 years . In addition to the administrative support of universities that offer homeopathy as a compulsory elective and the promotion of student working groups, medical doctoral theses are financially supported. In addition, the Wilseder Forum (student working groups homeopathy) , a homeopathy camp held twice a year, is financially and logistically supported.

history

The foundation was established during Carstens' tenure as the couple saw the risk of sudden accidental death on their many trips. Since they had no children, a regulation had to be made. Since one cannot join a foundation, the Friends of Nature and Medicine was founded in 1983 to finance the foundation's work through membership fees and donations. According to its own information, the Friends of Nature and Medicine has 34,000 members (as of 2008) who pay at least 36 euros a year.

criticism

In an article in Spiegel magazine, Markus Grill and Veronika Hackenbroch refer to the foundation as a “lobby association” for pseudo-scientific homeopathy. With 1.5 million euros annually, no other institution would support this at German universities so massively. The foundation promises financial support to all medical faculties in Germany if they offer homeopathy as an elective for students. Homeopathy has long been scientifically refuted. Hundreds of studies have shown that its basic principles are untenable. All reported healing successes are due to the placebo effect alone. Grill and Hackenbroch judge this funding as a "relapse into the Middle Ages". Bernd Kramer also shares this criticism in an article in the magazine taz . The professorship for complementary medicine at the Berlin Charité , which is financed by the foundation , is apparently not about a serious review of complementary medicine, but only about "scientifically cloaked confirmation". Edzard Ernst criticizes the chair holder Claudia Witt for her attitude to consider the proof of effectiveness according to the established criteria of evidence-based medicine for alternative medical treatment methods to be inadequate.

Even Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker , longtime president of the German Research Foundation, criticized the collection of esoteric in the academic world and the activities of the Foundation. A university “doesn't have to do everything, and homeopathy and anthroposophy are clearly not part of their duties”. Here "things get a scientific coating that they don't deserve."

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Christian Weymayr, Nicole Heissmann: The homeopathy lie. That is how dangerous the doctrine of white globules is. Piper, Munich 2012, chapter: The infiltration of the universities ( limited preview in the Google book search).
  2. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.naturundmedizin.de
  3. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.naturundmedizin.de
  4. ^ Medicine: Relapse into the Middle Ages. In: Der Spiegel. November 22, 2010, accessed February 17, 2020 .
  5. ^ The daily newspaper: Die Zauberschule an der Oder ( Memento from March 17, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), from March 14, 2013.
  6. ↑ Netzeitung.de: Thousands of pounds for a counter-study ( Memento from July 31, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Interview from July 2008 (archive version).
  7. ↑ Die Zeit: Anthroposophy as a substitute religion for the educated middle class , from May 31, 2011