Homeopathic Medicine Labels Now Must State Products Do Not Work
scientificamerican.com
scientificamerican.com
"Homeopathy 'treatments' must be labelled to say they do not work, US government orders"
The products are required to state that there is no scientific evidence that the products work. Even that is not entirely true. There is plenty of evidence that placebo and "nocebo" effects are powerful, real aspects of the healing process. Homeopathy engages this shamelessly.
If you wanted to make use of the placebo effect from what I recall syringes have a more powerful effect than pills etc.
We have homeopathic "cold pills" available at our local (mainstream) drugstore that visibly reduces a runny nose in our toddler when he has a cold.
I've never _not_ seen these specific pills work in this way on small children. Does it defy conventional science? Sure. Do other homeopathic remedies work this well? No. Will I stop recommending them? Not to people with the brains to make a objective judgement about them. (Confirmation bias is the best friend of the placebo effect.)
You just have to try different ones to find what works and what doesn't. Body chemistry is more complicated than big pharma would have us to believe ("ask your doctor if * is right for you").
It could be something simple like the act of swallowing that briefly clears up the runny nose. Next time you could just try a glass of water and see if that has the same effect.
> I've never _not_ seen these specific pills work in this way on small children.
I think it really could just be the action of swallowing. It could be the placebo effect. Or it could just be the running nose clearing up by itself.
Next time you should try some NyQuil Cold & Flu. It's very safe, and it contains a nasal decongestant (phenylephrine). Homeopathic medicine doesn't contain any medicine, by definition. And even if they did contain some medicine, the active ingredient is supposed to be bad for you! It just makes no sense.
> You just have to try different ones to find what works and what doesn't.
It's good when you find one that works, because then you can use any of them.
> Body chemistry is more complicated than big pharma would have us to believe
Homeopathy chemistry is quite simple, though (H2O).
I'm sorry if that's too harsh.
I should mention that I've actually learned some new things about medicine recently. I always thought that generic drugs were identical to brand-name drugs, and that buying drugs from the original manufacturer was always a waste of money. That belief quickly disappeared after reading this article: http://fortune.com/2013/01/10/are-generics-really-the-same-a...
It's easy to see how a poorly imitated time-release mechanisms can lead to problems when the drug is released too quickly or too slowly. I don't know how something like that slips past the FDA. I also didn't realize that generic companies have to reverse engineer drugs like hackers. I guess I assumed that the whole process would be made open source whenever the patent expires, because hacking together a cheap drug seems a little bit reckless.
(I also just realized that this article could have been commissioned by someone in the pharmaceutical industry, since it's sort of encouraging people to buy more expensive drugs. But I don't think so, it looks like the author has a very good reputation and track record: http://katherineeban.com/about/biography/)
Swallowing could account for a minutes-long change but I doubt hours long as I was seeing.
Your criticism is not too harsh, it's just a strawman.
vs.
> ‘not accepted by most modern medical experts’ and that ‘there is no scientific evidence the product works’
In other words, "doesn't work." If there is no evidence of something working, an acceptable shorthand translation for this in the english language is, "it ain't gonna work."
Obviously, I am not in favor of perpetuating myths, but strictly speaking it is more neuanced than what you said.
It's a disgrace.
They even do shit like:
Patient: "I'd like some paracetamol please."
Pharmacist: "Do you have a cold?"
Patient: "Yes."
Pharmacist: "Here, try this X instead, it's the best."
If you don't happen to know that X is homeopathic they will literally just sell you water.