Last month, the Commons science and technology committee published a detailed report into the evidence for the efficacy, or otherwise, of homeopathic remedies. You can read it here.

After taking oral testimonies from scientists, doctors and homeopathy advocates, the committee recommended the government halt NHS funding for this kind of alternative medicine and said the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency should ban false statements of medical efficacy on the labels of homeopathy products.

In forming their conclusions, the committee heard evidence from, among others, David Harper, the chief scientist at the Department of Health; Kent Woods, the chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency; Robert Wilson, chairman of the British Association of Homeopathic Manufacturers; Peter Fisher, director of research at the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital; and Robert Mathie, research development adviser at the British Homeopathic Association.

The evidence sessions were by turns interesting, depressing and downright hilarious. The standards director at the high street chemist, Boots, admitted he had no evidence to suggest that homeopathy worked beyond the placebo effect. In other words, the products they sell, which contain no active ingredients, are no more effective than sugar pills.

And then there was Peter Fisher talking about how shaking homeopathic products (which are diluted to within an inch of their lives) is crucial for the substance to have a memory and so work. The comment prompted Evan Harris, the Lib Dem science spokesman to say: "I'd have thought shaking it would make it more likely to forget." To which Fisher replied: "You have to vigorously shake it. You can't stir it."

But I digress. Two weeks ago, Tory MP David Tredinnick, set down an early day motion expressing concern about the science committee's report. He's not happy that evidence was taken from a limited number of people and wanted to hear more views from people who are fans of homeopathy.

The early day motion itself is by the by. There is a long and colourful history of nonsense EDMs that come and go with no one noticing. But what is staggering about this one – as pointed out on David Colquhoun's blog – is that 58 MPs have signed it. As Colquhoun, a professor of pharmacology at University College London, says, that's 9% of all MPs.

We don't have the most scientifically literate bunch of MPs in the House today and what a desperately depressing thing that is. For a full list of EDM signatories, see Prof Colquhoun's article.

Here is some sensible background on homeopathy.