Should FDA Crack Down On "Homeopathic" Remedies?

Can soap even be homeopathic? If you’ve read very much of what we put out here at LisaBarger.com you know that I am an unapologetic disbeliever in homeopathy. I had to study it repeatedly while working on my N.D. and the more I studied it the more convinced I became that it had nothing to do with science and everything to do with wishful thinking. Despite some of the giants of my industry—Andrew Weil is the best example I can think of—keeping an open mind, I can’t. There’s just no way I can buy the whole “water has memory” or “vibrational energy” nonsense that is now being used to “explain” homeopathy.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration disagrees with me, though, and in 1938 even took steps to formally recognize homeopathy. In that decision, FDA decided that any homeopathic remedy already listed in the official “dictionary” of homeopathy—the Homeopathic Pharmacopeia—could be manufactured, marketed and sold with the full blessing of the federal government. There have been a few tweaks to the regulations along the way but that’s pretty well where things stand now.

But is it time for FDA to start cracking down on folks using the “homeopathic” exemption? I say “Yes” and I say that based on years of watching manufacturers and retailers stretch the term “homeopathic’ so thin you’d think it was made of rubber. Here are a few examples:

• Blue Ridge Soap Shed markets what they call a “homeopathic soap” for chemotherapy patients. There’s no mention of what supposedly makes this soap “homeopathic”—just the claim that it is. Yet nowhere in any of my homeopathic texts can I find any mention of “soap” being considered a homeopathic remedy. Homeopathic remedies are highly dilute preparations designed to stimulate the immune system. Lathering up a bar of soap doesn’t begin to fit into that definition.
• Zicam’s lozenges are listed as having a “1X” dilution of zinc gluconate but given that a “1X” dilution is only the first step in the process of making a homeopathic tincture, even the earliest homeopaths considered that far too strong. Yes, zinc gluconate is listed in the homeopathic pharmacopeia but to a homeopath a 1X dilution would be like using a sledgehammer to drive in a finishing nail.
• SinoFresh claims to be the “only homeopathic antiseptic nasal spray that in lab tests has been proven to kill bacteria, viruses, mold and fungi”. We don’t doubt that it kills germs because it’s “active” ingredients are essential oils like eucalyptus, peppermint and wintergreen. The problem is that in authentic homeopathy, essential oils are considered far too overwhelming for the body and would never be used with homeopathic remedies of any dilution.

These are just 3 examples of products we’ve seen in the past year or so that wear the label “homeopathic” but which don’t actually fall under the homeopathic umbrella at all. So what’s really going on here? Are manufacturers and retailers simply choosing to ignore what homeopathy is really supposed to be? Are they counting on their customers not understanding that “homeopathic” and “natural” aren’t the same thing? Or are they trying to slip under the FDA’s radar by slapping a homeopathic label on a product in the hope that they won’t be asked to back up their claims?

What do YOU think? If something you were using claimed to be “natural” or “botanical” or “homeopathic” but actually wasn’t, wouldn’t you want to know?

Sources:

The Blue Ridge Soap Shed. (2010). www.soapshed.com/store/Homeopathic-Soap-c-316.html Accessed June 2, 2010.

Ziacam, LLC. (2010). http://zicam.com/HomeopathyandZicam Accessed June 2, 2010.

SinoFresh Health Care, Inc. (2009). www.sinofresh.com. Accessed June 2, 2010.

Comments

[Dave Lance]

I for one like to know what I am taking. I think the FDA SHOULD CRACK DOWN ON THESE COMPANIES. They are getting rich and trusting consumers are getting screwed!

[Lisa Barger]

I agree, Dave. I'm all for freedom-of-choice but you can't make an informed choice if the folks making and selling the stuff aren't playing fair.

[Susan B.]

The only reason why homeopathic medicines were approved by the FDA is because a senator who happened to be homeopathic physician railroaded it through in 1938. Almost all of these approvals have since been withdrawn. You can read more here: http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/homeo.html

[DM]

It’s too bad people that have been helped by homeopathy have not written in on this .There are thousands if not millions of us. I agree that some manufacturers have stretched the term too far but your basic homeopathic remedies have helped so many! I have found that infants, children and animals are among those that have been helped most…no placebo there! Also, Stephen Barrett from QuackWatch apparently has it in for all alternative medicine. He has nothing better to do all day than write about it…maybe being paid by big pharma, now that’s who the FDA should go after!

[stephen connel]

You miss a more fundamental point in this debate about the legitimacy and effectiveness of homeopathic remedies and that is why so many people move away from modern medicine to these alternatives? A lack of faith in the medical profession and the pharmaceutical companies that underpin them could be one reason and why is that? Answer why people turn from modern medicine to the murky world of alternative healing then we will finally begin to understand why these quacks continue to attract business and take advantage of gullible and desperate people.
One point I have always found when dealing at the GP level is that good GP's look at your life as a whole and how you can make changes there to improve health and only move to drugs when absolutely necessary! As one told me"The less crap in you system the better off you will be'

Good sane advice from a trained professional ,who needs the alternative?

[Sue Apito]

As a mother of a child whose life was saved by the use of homeopathic medicine, I think the FDA should make sure the remedies sold are what they claim to be as far as being correctly manufactured according to correct homeopathic methods, but I believe they should be allowed to be sold. I spent years working for a licensed (CT) Naturopathic Doctor whose practice included homeopathy. In this state, only Medical Doctors can be called "homeopaths" and I am pleased our state recognizes this medical practice. I realize many people think homeopathy works by the placebo effect. Well I experienced it working on my two-year-old child, and gifted as he was...I don't think he had a belief system! And I totally believe in homeopathy, but unfortunately it does not work for me! Just like with conventional medicne, people are individuals and not everything (cancer drugs, allergy shots, even surgery) works for everyone! (Hey Lisa!! Long time no see!!)

[Pat D]

Our child began seizing (epilepsy) at 17 months. Lost most of what she had learned and was increasingly taking more and more Anti epi meds as she grew.... weight wise. By age 7 and having been cared for by some of the best epileptologists on the west coast she was a living drugged out zombie and still averaging 40 -55 tonic clonic seizures monthly, the best could be controlled by drugs.

Afriend of the family urged us for months to try ionized water. Finally in desperation we let her drink it. She began speaking in real multi word sentences for the 1st time in her life within a few days. After 2 months her seizures dropped by about 50% and we began, under doctors direction to wean down some of her meds. That was over 2 years ago now of which I have studied non- stop the importance of water / hydrology / hydrolysis in the body and brain. (If interested I can show you how "Water really does have memory" molecular wise.)
She is still Autistic to an extent and last month only had 5 seizures. Thank God for water!

[Susan Sawhill Apito]

"But is it time for FDA to start cracking down on folks using the “homeopathic” exemption? I say “Yes” and I say that based on years of watching manufacturers and retailers stretch the term “homeopathic’ so thin you’d think it was made of rubber."

I disagree with cracking down on "true" homeopathic remedies, prepared using the principles of homeopathic medicine. I have personally witnessed my baby be successfully treated for asthma when every allopathic, conventional medicine failed. We turned to this alternative medicine as a last resport, when I honestly believed my child would die unless we found something to help him. And it did - which led to me eventually working for a ND in her medical practice, where I saw patient after patient either cured or symptoms resolved through the use of constitutional homeopathy. Does it work for everything and everyone,no, but neither does any other kind of medical treatment.

That said, I do think the FDA should crack down on the products making claims of being homeopathic when it is not based on the principles of either acute or constitutional homeopathy. Just like the FDA chould crack down on the soaps and cosmetics that violate FDA regulations for making health and medicinal claims for those products - labeling and marketing which actually turn the products into misbranded OTC drugs.

Lisa, I understand there’s just no way you can buy the whole “water has memory” or “vibrational energy” nonsense that is now being used to “explain” homeopathy; but we know magnets actually work on the physical body, and practices such as Reiki and healing touch, Chi Gong, etc. They don't work physically but through some unseen method best described using terms we recognize like vibrational energy. I don;t understand the "String Theory" to explain the origins of the universe but that does not mean it is not the answer. There are things unseen we can't explain but that does not make them any less real.

Sue