French Scientist Produces ‘Unbelievable’ Solution

Dr. Jacques Benveniste has an “unbelievable” problem.

The French allergist has produced experimental results that other scientists find difficult, if not impossible, to believe. In essence, he has observed a biological effect produced by solutions so dilute that, theoretically, they contain nothing that could cause the effect.

Taken at face value, the work suggests that the solution has some form of bizarre “memory” of substances that it once contained.

Today, the prestigious British journal Nature has taken the unprecedented step of publishing Benveniste’s results, even though the journal’s editors themselves think that his conclusions “have no physical basis” and that his findings are “unbelievable.”

Had this result been produced by a lesser scientist, it would have been dismissed immediately. But Benveniste is a respected researcher at INSERM, the French equivalent of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. He was once asked by French President Francois Jacques Mitterand to become minister of health.

And his results have been replicated by scientists at five other laboratories in four countries.

Nonetheless, he is still not believed. Colleagues at INSERM recently issued a communique criticizing and dismissing his work. Other scientists scoff. “Sometimes, even I have trouble believing it myself,” Benveniste said in a telephone interview.

Nature editors have taken the unique step of convening a panel of independent experts who will travel to Benveniste’s laboratory in Paris sometime during the next two weeks to observe a repetition of the experiments and attempt to find a flaw in them.

Benveniste first submitted a paper to Nature more than a year ago. Since then, said deputy editor Peter Newmark, “we have set a number of hurdles over which they have been able to jump.” Those hurdles included special tests to rule out experimental error and confirmation of the results in other laboratories.

Meanwhile, the work is receiving a great deal of attention in France because it seems to lend credence to the folk-medicine practice of homeopathy, in which exceptionally small quantities of toxic materials are often used therapeutically. “Statistically speaking, (Benveniste’s results) shouldn’t be possible, but it’s a daily occurrence in homeopathy,” said Jay Borneman, director of marketing for Standard Homeopathic Co. in Los Angeles. “We find his results very encouraging.”

The newly reported work involves a solution that is sometimes used in Europe--but not in the United States--to determine if individuals are allergic to specific chemicals, called allergens, such as ragweed pollen and dust. White blood cells called basophiles from an individual to be tested are combined in a test tube with the chemical thought to be causing an allergic reaction.

If the person is allergic to the allergen, the basophiles will interact with it and be changed so that they can no longer be stained by a certain dye. The results are readily determined by counting the number of cells whose color changes when the dye is added. Benveniste is one of the developers of the technique and is trying to promote its use.

At the urging of two homeopathic practitioners he knew, Benveniste decided to see what would happen if the concentration of the allergen in solution were reduced to very low levels. Using a special antibody known to react with the basophiles, he observed that the basophiles continued to react no matter how much he diluted the solution.

But he found that positive results were obtained only if the mixtures are shaken violently for at least 10 seconds after the dilution--a process that homeopathic pharmacists call succussion.

‘Ran Out of Hurdles’

After the confirmations, “Things finally got to the stage where we felt it was unreasonable to try to find reasons not to publish the paper, partly because we ran out of hurdles to set,” Newmark said.

Newmark said the editors decided to publish even though they were disturbed that the results tend to support homeopathy, a medical practice that is undergoing a small renaissance in the United States.

Homeopathic physicians believe that diseases can be treated with small quantities of natural chemicals that produce the same symptoms as the disease. For instance, ipecac is a drug that induces vomiting, and that is often used in emergency treatment of poisoning.

Homeopathic physicians, however, prescribe diluted solutions of ipecac to treat nausea and vomiting. Such practices have been criticized because the homeopathic drugs often contain, at best, only a few molecules of the active agent--not enough to have an effect according to the conventional wisdom. Benveniste’s results suggest that they can have an effect.