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FDA Confirms Toxicity of Homeopathic Baby Products; Maker Refuses To Recall (arstechnica.com)
Last year in November, the Federal Trade Commission issued an enforcement policy statement that requires over-the-counter (OTC) homeopathic drugs and product makers to disclose in their advertisement and labeling that there is no evidence that homeopathic products are effective. At around the same time the FTC issued the statement, the Food and Drug Administration was investigating homeopathic teething gels and tablets, which may have been improperly diluted, thus causing serious harm to infants. The FDA investigated 10 infant deaths and more than 400 reports of seizures, fever, and vomiting and confirmed Friday that belladonna, also known as deadly nightshade, was the prime suspect. When the FDA notified the products' maker, Hyland's, the company would not agree to recall the products. Ars Technica reports: Hyland's has been defensive since the FDA first opened the investigation last September. In an October press release, the company referred to agency's warnings as a source of "confusion" and assured consumers that the products are safe and effective. Still, the company discontinued distribution in the U.S. The National Center for Homeopathy, which has ties with Hyland's, slammed the FDA, calling the agency's warnings "arbitrary and capricious." In an "action alert," the organization went on to suggest that warning was prompted by "groups interested in seeing homeopathy destroyed" and led to "fear mongering" by the media. As before, the FDA is urging parents to avoid the homeopathic teething products and toss any already purchased. The FDA does not evaluate or approve the homeopathic products, which have no proven health benefit. Belladonna is an active ingredient in those products, but is supposed to be heavily diluted. Homeopaths belief that ailments and diseases can be cured by trace amounts or "memories" of toxic substances that mimic or cause similar symptoms. Homeopathy is a pseudoscience that has been squarely debunked, offering no more than a placebo effect. In its announcement Friday, the FDA said it had found inconsistent amounts of belladonna in Hyland's products. Some of the amounts were "far exceeding" what was intended.
See it from their point of view: Homeopathy uses the same logic as vaccines.
However, unlike vaccines, with homeopathy, the undereducated are only damaging the likelihood of diminishing the number of their own offspring. Ignoring vaccines designed to protect herd immunity hurts the rest of us, too.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
We read your post. You're trying to defend giving your children a toxin, Mr. Christian Anarcho-capitalist...
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Which would be fine if it was just morons poisoning themselves, but they're poisoning small children, and that's the chief problem here.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Benadryl (diphenhydramine) works similarly to belladonna. It also has the bonus of being a regulated product, properly labeled, and with a known dosage. Iirc that's 12.5 mg for children's benadryl. How much belladonna is in the hyland product? It probably doesn't say on the box, but it seems like its enough to kill the kids, sometimes.
One which has been used in herbal medicine for centuries as a pain reliever, muscle relaxer, and anti-inflammatory, and to treat menstrual problems, peptic ulcer disease, histaminic reaction, and motion sickness.
Secession is the right of all sentient beings.
It seems some people confuse "homeopathic" with "holistic". Those are of course two very different things.
A short explanation of homeopathy for those unfamiliar:
For any ailment, you find something that will *cause* that ailment (ie a poison).
You then place a drop of the poison in a bucket of water and mix it up.
Then you take a drop from that bucket and put it into another bucket of water.
Do this several hundred times. (This is why it's labeled "300X", it's been diluted 300 times).
In the end, they'll be no poison left the last bucket, but because you had put poison in the other bucket, the water in the last bucket will do the opposite of what the poison does.
That is of course, utterly and completely ridiculous. If done correctly, there will be zero molecules of the poison in the bucket - it's 100% water. You just paid $8.99 for WATER. If it's done incorrectly, as Hyland's did, you end up with poison in the product.
How about exposing babies to peanuts so they don't develop life-threatening allergies later on?
The packaging for the product described in the OP looks no different from five similar and safe products that are on the shelf at your local drugstore. The word "homeopathic" is in small type compared to other marketing words - which are the same words used on much safer products - and many people have no idea what "homeopathic" means in any case.
So yeah, no. This is a clear case of misleading packaging and marketing; whether it is a criminal case remains to be seen.
Done! http://www.health.harvard.edu/...
"In 2015, a study showed that giving peanut products to babies could help prevent peanut allergy. This was exciting news, given that 1-2% of children suffer from peanut allergy, an allergy that can not only be life-threatening but last a lifetime, unlike other food allergies that often improve as children get older. "
In the forest of anti-FDA and/or pro-homeopathic comments above, I was curious, so as far as I can determine, this is the FDA timeline for this...
September 30, 2016
The FDA is analyzing adverse events reported to the agency regarding homeopathic teething tablets and gels, including seizures in infants and children who were given these products, since a 2010 safety alert about homeopathic teething tablets. The FDA is currently investigating this issue, including testing product samples. The agency will continue to communicate with the public as more information is available.
Reference to adverse event reports here. Multitudes of reports reference events of seizures by infants.
January 27, 2017
Laboratory Analysis of Homeopathic Teething Tablets
FDA has completed testing of homeopathic teething tablets labeled as containing belladonna and other ingredients and marketed by CVS and Hyland’s Inc. Our testing found that the belladonna alkaloids (atropine and scopolamine) content and coffea cruda (caffeine) content is not uniform among the manufactured tablets. FDA analysis found the levels of atropine and scopolamine in some of the CVS tablets and the levels of scopolamine in some of the Hyland’s tablets far exceeded the amount stated on the products’ labels.
This is despite Standard Homeopathic Corporation (the manufacturer of Hyland brand Teething Tablets) insistent claims in voluntary reports that "Manufacture and processing occurred within established procedures to ensure product quality."
So you are the administrator of the FDA and are sitting on the pile of adverse event reports and have this completed laboratory testing report.... What would you do?
Good occasion to watch Tim Minchin's "Storm" again, about alternative medicine and such. (Skip the first minute)
Best quote from that video: By definition, alternative medicine has either not been proved to work, or been proved not to work. Do you know what they call alternative medicine that's been proved to work?...
Medicine.