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.

Comments

I know it's fun to make fun of Homeopathy

[rsilvergun]

but from what I've heard there's been some deaths (10?). Why the hell don't we give our FDA enough power to shut this company down? They're still selling the stuff. And in packaging that makes it look like medicine.

Cutting back on bureaucracy and regulations sounds great in theory but, well, this is what it gets you.

Re:I know it's fun to make fun of Homeopathy

[MightyMartian]

I think the United States will be lucky if there is an FDA. Remember, it's all about deregulation now. Who needs food safety anyways? Only fucking Commies.

Re:I know it's fun to make fun of Homeopathy

[MightyMartian]

Which would be fine if it was just morons poisoning themselves, but they're poisoning small children, and that's the chief problem here.

Re:I know it's fun to make fun of Homeopathy

[PCM2]

There are over 7 billion people on this planet, we can afford to lose a few, especially ones as dumb as this.

Ignoring for now the blatantly sociopathic nature of your comments, shouldn't it be the stupid person who suffers, and not the helpless child who depends upon that person for health care? Maybe the child isn't as stupid as the parent?

Re:Hyland's teething tablets

[kencurry]

I am a father of 8, and I have plenty of anecdotal evidence that Hyland's teething tablets are effective, and I want to continue to use them for my baby. ...

Um, shouldn't your focus be on contraceptives?

Homeopathic Baby Products?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is that where you start out dissolving one baby per unit of inert carrier fluid, and then perform series of repeated dilutions until you are left with a substance that statistically contains no atoms of the original baby?

Does this have anything to do with the making of baby oil? I've always been afraid to know what happens inside those factories.

Re:TIL

[james_gnz]

See it from their point of view: Homeopathy uses the same logic as vaccines.

Superficially the idea may appear the same. The idea of vaccines, however, is to introduce a weakened form of the disease's cause, before the disease is contracted (or at least before it spreads), so the immune system can prepare for it. (Modern) homeopathy involves introducing (water which was indirectly in contact with) a substance which produces the same symptoms, after the disease is contracted. Notable differences are:

• Homeopathy involves a substance other than the cause of the disease. The immune system could not learn about the cause of the disease this way.
• Homeopathy is administered after the disease is already contracted. It may be too late for the immune system to learn about the disease at this time.
• Homeopathic remedies are taken orally, not injected, reducing the likelihood that the immune system could learn anything from them.
• (Modern) homeopathy actually only administers water, no active substance, so it does nothing (except act as a placebo, and hydrate, I suppose).

These are significant differences.

Also, I've never heard of a homeopath suggesting a similarity between homeopathy and immunisation. (I'd love to see this though, if anyone has a link to such.)

Re:Exposing babies to peanuts

[Anonymous Coward]

They're not diluting a peanut until there's barely any trace of the peanut left and then giving the barely-peanut water to the kid. They're using a peanut product that's of the appropriate texture and consistency for the age of the child.

Good rule of thumb: If you can look at something and say 'Hey! That is or used to be a peanut!', it's not homeopathy. If it looks like water, it might be homeopathy.

Re:TIL

[michelcolman]

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.