Spare a thought for the 130+ individuals who lost their sense of smell after taking various zinc-containing Zicam intranasal products. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned users to stop using said cold remedies, and advised its manufacturer – Matrixx Initiatives – that these products cannot be marketed without FDA approval. But they were. Why? Because of homeopathy, as this great Associated Press piece by Jeff Donn explains. Royal Copeland, a New York Senator, homeopath, and principal author of the 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, discreetly amended said law so that homeopathic remedies were granted the same legal status as regular pharmaceuticals. But here’s the sinister part: as long as a remedy is listed by the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia Convention of the United States, it is granted full FDA approval. Proof that it works and is safe? Not needed. Just a place on HPUS’s list will do. The AP also reports: Active homeopathic ingredients are typically diluted down to 1 part per million or less, but some are present in much higher concentrations. The active ingredient in Zicam is 2 parts per 100. The FDA has set strict limits for alcohol in medicine, especially for small children, but they don’t apply to homeopathic remedies. The American Academy of Pediatrics has said no medicine should carry more than 5 percent alcohol. The FDA has acknowledged that some homeopathic syrups far surpass 10 percent alcohol. The National Institutes of Health’s alternative medicine center spent $3.8 million on homeopathic research from 2002 to 2007 but is now abandoning studies on homeopathic drugs. “The evidence is not there at this point,” says the center’s director, Dr. Josephine Briggs. At least 20 ingredients used in conventional prescription drugs, like digitalis for heart trouble and morphine for pain, are also used in homeopathic remedies. Other homeopathic medicines are derived from cancerous or other diseased tissues. Many are formulated from powerful poisons like strychnine, arsenic or snake venom. Key to the matter is how homeopathy is defined. We may know it as being medicine devoid of medicine, but to define it as such would be fallacious: a 30C solution may indeed bear no active ingredient, but one diluted to 2 parts per hundred most certainly does. But Zicam’s products do not stand alone: the AP identified up to 800 homeopathic ingredients potentially implicated in health problems reported last year. I see little point in commenting on the obvious federal legal implications regarding improperly labeled drugs, not to mention the harm caused by trading objectionably on an already objectionable concept, but in my last post, I brought forward the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s decision to licence Nelsons Arnicare Arnica 30c homeopathic pillules. Well, ladies and gentlemen – assuming you can still hear me as I shout through this gaping chasm of a loophole, if ever there were confirmation that allowing medicines to be sold without any proof of their efficacy or safety is a monumentally stupid idea, this story is undoubtedly it. If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Spare a thought for the 130+ individuals who lost their sense of smell after taking various zinc-containing Zicam intranasal products. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned users to stop using said cold remedies, and advised its manufacturer – Matrixx Initiatives – that these products cannot be marketed without FDA approval.

But they were. Why?

Because of homeopathy, as this great Associated Press piece by Jeff Donn explains. Royal Copeland, a New York Senator, homeopath, and principal author of the 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, discreetly amended said law so that homeopathic remedies were granted the same legal status as regular pharmaceuticals.

But here’s the sinister part: as long as a remedy is listed by the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia Convention of the United States, it is granted full FDA approval. Proof that it works and is safe? Not needed. Just a place on HPUS’s list will do.

The AP also reports:

Active homeopathic ingredients are typically diluted down to 1 part per million or less, but some are present in much higher concentrations. The active ingredient in Zicam is 2 parts per 100. The FDA has set strict limits for alcohol in medicine, especially for small children, but they don’t apply to homeopathic remedies. The American Academy of Pediatrics has said no medicine should carry more than 5 percent alcohol. The FDA has acknowledged that some homeopathic syrups far surpass 10 percent alcohol. The National Institutes of Health’s alternative medicine center spent $3.8 million on homeopathic research from 2002 to 2007 but is now abandoning studies on homeopathic drugs. “The evidence is not there at this point,” says the center’s director, Dr. Josephine Briggs. At least 20 ingredients used in conventional prescription drugs, like digitalis for heart trouble and morphine for pain, are also used in homeopathic remedies. Other homeopathic medicines are derived from cancerous or other diseased tissues. Many are formulated from powerful poisons like strychnine, arsenic or snake venom.

Key to the matter is how homeopathy is defined. We may know it as being medicine devoid of medicine, but to define it as such would be fallacious: a 30C solution may indeed bear no active ingredient, but one diluted to 2 parts per hundred most certainly does. But Zicam’s products do not stand alone: the AP identified up to 800 homeopathic ingredients potentially implicated in health problems reported last year.

I see little point in commenting on the obvious federal legal implications regarding improperly labeled drugs, not to mention the harm caused by trading objectionably on an already objectionable concept, but in my last post, I brought forward the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s decision to licence Nelsons Arnicare Arnica 30c homeopathic pillules. Well, ladies and gentlemen – assuming you can still hear me as I shout through this gaping chasm of a loophole, if ever there were confirmation that allowing medicines to be sold without any proof of their efficacy or safety is a monumentally stupid idea, this story is undoubtedly it.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!