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Homeopathic Remedies Recalled For Containing Real Medicine

Posted by timothy on from the fake-fake-vs-real-fake dept.

ananyo (2519492) writes "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recalled homeopathic remedies made by a company called Terra-Medica because they may contain actual medicine — possibly penicillin or derivatives of the antibiotic." Diluted enough times with pure water, though, maybe these traces would be even more powerful.

12 of 173 comments (clear)

  1. Sarcasm by ZombieBraintrust · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think many people are going to miss the sarcasm in the summary.

    1. Re:Sarcasm by mwvdlee · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I though the idea of homeopathic water was to dilute the percieved cause* of the ailment. Should diluting a helpful ingredient be considered harmful then?

      *) for very, VERY loose definitions of "cause".

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    2. Re:Sarcasm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Except that the sarcasm gets it wrong. The idea of homeopathy (as its name indicates) is to cause the body to fight against the effects of the diluted substances. So diluted penicillin would make the body fight antibiotics rather than bacterial infections.

      If you believe in homeopathy, traces of antibiotics are a really bad idea to have in homeopathic medication. And if you don't believe in homeopathy, there is no point in buying the medication in the first place.

      So yes, it makes complete sense to withdraw the medication that is contaminated with penicilline. Depending on the dosage, it can actually be dangerous or counterproductive to people with penicilline allergies. But even if we are talking about homeopathic traces, you don't want them in there if homeopathy is supposed to make sense.

    3. Re:Sarcasm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      The research claiming to show that was sponsored by trial lawyers, many attempts were made to replicate it but they all failed,

      Worse than that, it was shown that Wakefield (the fraud who did the bogus study) selected the children in the study because they were already showing the symptoms he was looking to blame on vaccination, then gave them vaccines, blamed their symptoms on the vaccines, and gave them painful, unnecessary tests to "prove" how harmful the vaccination was. This was all so that he could (after being paid to do so) discredit vaccines in order to promote a snake-oil "alternative" immunization method, which was also shown to be completely useless. And of course, blind to the irony, the anti-vaccine movement quite often claims vaccines are there only because the doctors are being paid off, and you should "follow the money" to see proof. (which they never actually do...)

      the journal which published it (and, eventually, even the doctor who performed it) withdrew it.

      Well, the journal withdrew it, yes. Wakefield didn't though, instead he himself was withdrawn, and had his medical license taken away as a result of his unethical behavior.

  2. Homeopothy ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Even though it's been diluted to the point where just about every single molecule has been replaced, it can somehow remember all the good stuff it used to contain.

    And yet, for some strange reason, it doesn't remember the fact that it used to contain bovine fecal matter and all sorts of other bad stuff.

    That's the bit I find curious, although maybe that's where the bovine fecal matter shines through :-)

    1. Re:Homeopothy ... by MiniMike · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And yet, for some strange reason, it doesn't remember the fact that it used to contain bovine fecal matter

      This condition is transferred to the homeopathic practitioner.

      I've met a few, and the transfer is very effective.

  3. That's okay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Diluted humor is funnier to those who actually get it.

    1. Re:That's okay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Humoropathic remedies?

    2. Re:That's okay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Whoosh fulfillment.

  4. Re:+5 Funny for TFS by Maria_Celeste · · Score: 5, Funny

    Agree. Sometimes the glass is 1/2^1,000,000 full.

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  5. Many pharmacies carry these by Sir+Holo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I got marked troll last time I said this, but it is true.

    Several of my local pharmacies have "homeopathic cures" sections.

    A pretty clear violation of ethics, I would think.

  6. Re:Homeopathic principles by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Funny

    Or both.

    Question: How can a homeopath do it right?

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