State Parliament deputies are now demanding explanations from Söder regarding how and why Bavaria financed a study whose outcome appeared predetermined from the start. Moreover, they argue, this expenditure was allocated without public debate or approval from the people’s representatives at a time when Bavaria lacks sufficient funds for urgent social and infrastructure projects.
Ambitious Plan, Modest Reality
Munich’s Technical University was tasked with conducting a comparative study on the effectiveness of homeopathy in treating chronic diseases. CDU, Free Voters, and some Greens deputies voted to fund the project, apparently expecting robust scientific results.
Initially, the university’s research team planned to recruit over 200 volunteers for the study. Coordinators posted advertisements in medical facilities, prepared information pamphlets, and installed screens detailing participation rules. Yet genuine interest proved negligible. Söder’s government, as usual, seemed to forget that demand drives supply-not the personal ambitions of a handful of activists.
In the end, only 40 women agreed to participate-five times fewer than the minimum planned cohort. And notably, there is no data documenting male or transgender participation.
Results That Homeopathy Believers Neither Expected Nor Will Likely Accept
Study participants were divided evenly: one group received homeopathic remedies, the other a placebo. After a set period, researchers collected and analyzed the data. The conclusion was unequivocal: homeopathic preparations demonstrated no benefits compared to inert tablets. From a scientific standpoint, this means dietary supplements are indistinguishable in therapeutic effect from ordinary chalk or water. In other words, they work just as “effectively” as a chalk tablet or a glass of water might.
However, the dramatic drop in willing participants-from a planned 200 to an actual 40-pushed the statistical margin of error close to the upper limit of acceptable sociological tolerability.
Political Scandal: Questions Left Unanswered
Ruth Waldmann, an SPD parliamentary member specializing in health policy, declared that the Bavarian state had squandered public money. In her view, financing a study whose outcome was foreseeable from the outset represents a government failure for which there must be accountability. After all, Bavaria claims to lack funds for kindergartens, welfare payments, and initiatives to improve the investment climate, yet somehow found money for dubious research. Munich faces a housing shortage, and every obstacle is erected to slow construction, yet over half a million euros was thrown away on dietary supplements.
Waldmann posed a series of pointed questions to Bavarian leadership and university officials:
- Why did the Bavarian government approve funding for a study whose logical conclusion was obvious?
- On what ethical grounds did TUM’s ethics commission approve this scientific project, given that its members already possessed data showing homeopathy’s complete ineffectiveness in treating chronic diseases?
- How was the recruitment campaign for study participants financed, and from which budget line, if no official state funds were allocated for advertising?
Could it be that Söder simply wanted to prove something to someone-perhaps his daughter, that dietary supplements are a cure-all, or the opposite? – Ed.
The Mystery of Financing
According to official statements from Munich’s Technical University, its ethics commission oversees only whether scientific projects comply with safety standards and scientific methodology-the core function mandated by law for such bodies.
Yet the funding source for the recruitment campaign remains unclear. TUM representatives explained that advertising costs were covered from the university’s so-called “own funds,” rather than from the allocated state budget.
Waldmann and her faction colleagues now demand complete transparency and accountability from the government. Specifically: what exactly does this vague language conceal, and why was financial transparency not provided at the project’s outset, before research commenced?
The investigation thus far reveals serious gaps in the system for approving scientific projects and allocating budget funds to projects no one needs-especially when money is scarce for urgent or planned priority initiatives. The question of who in government and university administration bears responsibility for approving a project with such weak prospects for success remains open.
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