Is it more than water? FDA scrutinizing homeopathic “medicine”

just water

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. 

The FDA is taking aim at homeopathic remedies — pills and preparations sold over-the-counter that claim to cure diseases with tiny doses of stuff that makes people sick.

Homeopathy, which debuted in Germany more than 200 years ago, is now a $6.4 billion business nationwide, and growing. After decades of ignoring these products, U.S. drug regulators are finally asking hard questions about what has long been derided by mainstream doctors and scientists as quack medicine.

“Consumers are constantly being misled about homeopathics,” Edzard Ernst, a professor of complementary medicine at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, told BuzzFeed News. “They believe that they are natural, safe, and effective — none of this is true.”

That’s not just Ernst’s view. Doctors since Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. in 1842 have mocked homeopathy. An Australian government review found “no health conditions for which there is reliable evidence that homeopathy is effective.” And, the U.S. CDC noted that “there is little evidence to support homeopathy as an effective treatment for any specific condition.”

Homeopathic products can also pose rare safety risks, according to the FDA. In 2009, for example, the agency received more than 130 accounts of people who lost their sense of smell after taking Zicam homeopathic cold remedies. One expert testified to the FDA that those accounts raised concerns about toxic levels of zinc.

Read full, original post: 200-Year-Old Homeopathy “Cures” May Face Modern Medical Testing

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