Paris (AFP)

The end of the reimbursement of homeopathy confirms Agnès Buzyn in his image of minister prioritizing the scientific arguments on political and economic considerations, a positioning claimed by this doctor since his appointment.

"We must not mix politics with scientific decisions," she insisted Wednesday on RTL, to justify the decision to end in 2021 to the care by the Social Security of some homeopathic treatments.

We can not "decide by petition, lobbying, the reimbursement rate of a drug," she argued, saying assume "not to be popular with the French who take homeopathy."

Despite the verdict of the High Health Authority, which concluded that "these drugs have not demonstrated scientifically effective enough to justify a refund", many elected representatives have defended in recent weeks the arguments of pro-homeopathy (popularity of these small granules among the French, risks for employment, low cost for Social Security ...)

And some government ministers seemed to be sensitive to it, like the spokesman of the government, Sibeth Ndiaye, who felt last week that a "balance" should be made between "what is scientifically known about the contribution of the homeopathy, obviously economic questions, since behind there are jobs, but also (the) well-being of the French population ".

Or the arbitration at the Elysee has given reason to Agnès Buzyn, a political victory for this hematologist, former president of the National Cancer Institute (INCa) and who headed the High Authority of Health (HAS) before being named Minister.

One way to comfort the "good student" of the government as it prepares to bring several crucial issues politically in the coming weeks (revision of bioethics laws and pension reform) ...

"She fought for this decision to be made," recognizes Jérémy Descoux, president of the collective Fakemed, at the forefront of the fight against the refund.

"Any decision contrary to a scientific decision, which would have responded to electioneering aims would not have been very glorious," said the doctor, interviewed by AFP.

Disbursement of drugs against Alzheimer's, judged to be equally inefficient, expansion of the number of compulsory vaccinations in young children to counter the mistrust of vaccines, forced increase in the price of the pack of cigarettes ... In two years, Agnès Buzyn will have had many times the opportunity to highlight science to justify its decisions.

It is tantamount to incarnating for its detractors the contempt of "knowing", astonished that scientific evidence does not impose itself.

- Failed on alcohol -

"The word of a minister is immediately analyzed, dissected, criticized, while the word of expert that I carried for years was never questioned," she discovered shortly after his appointment, in an interview with Madame Figaro.

"She had difficulties at the start, it was complicated to plunge into this world of politics," said Corinne Vignon, MP (LREM) of Haute-Garonne.

But "it has taken a terrible force politically" and "all doctors find that they finally have a minister at the height," says the member of the Social Affairs Committee of the Assembly.

Her commitment to evidence-based medicine has given her a strong credibility with health professionals.

But this does not prevent savings claimed at hospitals, say trade unionists, who would like to see a medicine based more on the needs of patients.

His fight for science is also failing. She must turn to alcohol early 2018, when Emmanuel Macron entrusts "drink wine at noon and in the evening" and says that as long as he is president, there would be no "amendment to harden the Evin law "restricting advertising for alcoholic beverages.

The National Plan against Addictions published end 2018 will leave specialists on their hunger, pushing the Academy of Medicine to call on the government to "return to an evidence-based policy and implement measures that have a demonstrated and proven effectiveness ".

"Alcohol is a bit of a blind spot for public health policies," said Michel Reynaud, president of the Equity Addictions Fund, interviewed by AFP.

"We support the minister in his actions, which seem to us still insufficient," he adds, saying that "it does what it can."

? 2019 AFP