Sign the Statement in Opposition to Wal-Mart's Sale and Marketing of a Homeopathic Flu Remedy On January 26, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) and the Center for Inquiry (CFI) issued a public statement rebuking Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (“Wal-Mart”) for selling and marketing an ineffective homeopathic flu remedy, Boiron Oscillococcinum, through the company's website, www.walmart.com. (Boiron is the manufacturer; oscillococcinum is the homeopathic product.) Leading names in the scientific and medical community signed the statement, including Venki Ramakrishnan, Ph.D., the 2009 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry; Simon Singh, Ph.D., MBE, and Edzard Ernst, M.D., Ph.D., F.Med. Sci., FSB, FRCP, FRCP (Edin.), authors of Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts About Alternative Medicine; and many others. On March 23, 2011, CSI and CFI announced the names of additional leading scientists and physicians who have endorsed the statement. We are now inviting the public to sign the statement and help urge Wal-Mart to end its promotion of Boiron Oscillococcinum.



There is no credible scientific evidence to support the effectiveness of Boiron Oscillococcinum beyond what is expected from the placebo effect. The product's allegedly active ingredient consists of mere liquefied duck liver and duck heart, substances early 20th century homeopaths thought contained a nonexistent bacterium they dubbed “oscillococci.” Moreover, Boiron Oscillococcinum’s homeopathic preparation requires repeatedly diluting the “active ingredient” in water until the odds that the solution contains even a single molecule of it are effectively zero.



CSI and CFI’s statement reads, in part: “We urge Wal-Mart to cease marketing this ineffective product immediately. Although we recognize that doing so might not serve Wal-Mart’s financial interest, we hope Wal-Mart will act appropriately out of a sense of ethical obligation. The cooperation of good corporate citizens is indispensable if public consumers are to rely on the claims of health-remedy producers and the companies that market their products.”



Wal-Mart's marketing of oscillococcinum is a profound disservice to the public. Influenza is a serious illness. It can lead to complications resulting in hospitalization or even death, especially among the elderly, the very young, and individuals with certain health conditions. It is imperative that consumers not be led to believe that effective preventive and therapeutic measures can be ignored in favor of something that amounts to “snake oil.” A product that is useless is a product that is harmful.



Please help us to persuade Wal-Mart to cease marketing this ineffective product immediately. Add your name to the petition. 50th: Gordon McGregor, Blaine, WA

100th: Steven Philips, Bothell, WA

250th: Wesley Wolf, Lake Barrington, IL

500th: Janos Palotai, New Britain, CT

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Remember me. What's this? If you take action and have not already registered, you will receive periodic updates and communications from Center for Inquiry. Urge Wal-Mart to Stop Selling and Marketing Homeopathic Flu Remedy Dear Walmart, We are deeply concerned about Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.'s ("Wal-Mart's") irresponsible marketing and promotion of Boiron Oscillococcinum, an ineffective homeopathic "flu medicine," through its website, www.walmart.com . Wal-Mart's website states that the product, manufactured by Boiron, is to be used "for flu-like symptoms." The website further states that the product's alleged active ingredient, Anas Barbariae Hepatis Et Cordis Extractum 200CK Hpus, is used "to Reduce The Duration and Severity of Flu Symptoms." The website also features an image of the product's package, which indicates that the product "Reduces [the] Duration and Severity of Flu Symptoms," including "Fever, Chills, Body Aches and Pains."



Wal-Mart's misleading promotion of this "homeopathic medicine" as a treatment for flu is not limited to the webpage on which the product is displayed. Consumers will reach this page only after visiting Wal-Mart's "Medicine Cabinet" page, which assures customers that the products Wal-Mart carries will "fight colds and the flu." From there, website visitors will navigate to the "Cough, Colds & Flu Wellness Shop" page, which promises to help the customer "Stay on top of cold and flu season by learning about products that can help you and your family stay well, relieve symptoms and recover fast." In its "Cough, Cold, and Flu Buying Guide," Wal-Mart asserts that its products will provide the customer "with everything you and your family need for battling a cold or the flu."



In short, Wal-Mart's entire website is replete with assurances that the products Wal-Mart offers as flu remedies are, in fact, effective for preventing and treating the flu. People are buying Boiron Oscillococcinum based on these assurances.



Wal-Mart's assurances regarding Boiron Oscillococcinum, however, are false and irresponsible. Boiron Oscillococcinum is ineffective against the flu and flu symptoms. Homeopathic oscillococcinum solutions were first produced in the early 20th century on the mistaken assumption that they contained "oscillococci," microscopic bacteria that proved to be imaginary. The allegedly active ingredient of Boiron's Oscillococcinum consists of mere liquefied duck liver and duck heart, substances that were thought to contain the nonexistent bacteria. Moreover, manufacturing a "200 CK" homeopathic preparation requires repeatedly diluting the "active ingredient" in water until the odds that the solution contains even a single molecule of it are effectively zero.



There is no credible scientific evidence to support the effectiveness of Boiron Oscillococcinum's "200CK" homeopathic preparation beyond what is expected from the placebo effect. The premise upon which the effectiveness of this "homeopathic medicine" is founded--that highly diluted preparations of substances that cause symptoms in healthy individuals will reduce similar symptoms in patients--has no basis in reality and has been disproved repeatedly.



This statement should not be interpreted as offering a legal opinion. By marketing Boiron Oscillococcinum through its website, however, Wal-Mart may be in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act ("FFDCA") and the regulations it implemented. The Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission have issued warning letters to other marketers of Boiron Oscillococcinum stating that online marketing of the product for the treatment of flu symptoms violates the FFDCA.



Regardless of whether Wal-Mart is violating the law, its marketing of this product is a profound disservice to the public. Influenza is a serious illness. It can lead to complications resulting in hospitalization or even death, especially among the elderly, the very young, and individuals with certain health conditions. It is imperative that consumers not be led to believe that effective preventive and therapeutic measures can be ignored in favor of something that amounts to "snake oil." A product that is useless is a product that is harmful.



The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and the Center for Inquiry wrote to Wal-Mart in November 2010 regarding its inaccurate and misleading marketing of Boiron Oscillococcinum. To date Wal-Mart has neither issued a response to nor acknowledged receipt of CSI and CFI's letter. Because Wal-Mart has misled consumers about the product's effectiveness and ignored private pleadings to correct the situation, we are compelled to speak out publicly against Wal-Mart's irresponsibility.



We urge Wal-Mart to cease marketing this ineffective product immediately. Although we recognize that doing so might not serve Wal-Mart's financial interest, we hope Wal-Mart will act appropriately out of a sense of ethical obligation. The cooperation of good corporate citizens is indispensable if public consumers are to rely on the claims of health-remedy producers and the companies that market their products.



Signed,*





Center for Inquiry and Committee for Skeptical Inquiry Representatives



Ronald A. Lindsay, J.D., Ph.D.President and CEO, Center for Inquiry and Committee for Skeptical Inquiry



Barry Karr

Executive Director, Committee for Skeptical Inquiry



Derek C. Araujo, Esq.

General Counsel, Center for Inquiry





Signatories from the Scientific and Medical Community



Kimball C. Atwood IV, M.D.

Assistant Clinical Professor, Tufts University School of Medicine



Stephen Barrett, M.D.

Psychiatrist, Author, Consumer Advocate



Willem Betz, M.D.

Professor Emeritus of Medicine, University of Brussels VUB

Chair, Medicine Branch, European Council of Skeptical Organisations



Susan Blackmore, Ph.D.

University of the West of England



Sandra Blakeslee

Science writer and author



Mark Boslough, Ph.D.

Physicist, Sandia National Laboratories



Shawn Carlson, Ph.D.

Founder and Executive Director, LabRats Science Education Program

MacArthur Fellow



Frederick Crews, Ph.D.

Essayist, literary critic, author, and Professor Emeritus of English, University of California, Berkeley



Edzard Ernst, M.D., Ph.D., F.Med. Sci., FSB, FRCP, FRCP (Edin.)

Laing Chair in Complementary Medicine, Peninsula Medical School, Universities of Exeter and Plymouth



Taner Edis, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Physics

Truman State University



Bryan Farha, Ed.D., LPC, NCC

Applied Behavioral Studies & Counseling Graduate Programs, Oklahoma City University



Ken Feder, Ph.D.

Department of Anthropology

Central Connecticut State University



Barbara Forrest, Ph.D.

Professor of Philosophy, Southeastern Louisiana University

Author and pro-science activist



Luis Alfonso Gámez

Scientific journalist



David H. Gorski, M.D., Ph.D., FACS

Managing Editor, Science-Based Medicine blog

Leader, Breast Cancer Multidisciplinary Team, and Co-Leader, Breast Cancer Biology Program, Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute



Harriet Hall, M.D.

Physician (ret.); Writer



Terence Hines, Ph.D.

Department of Psychology, Pace University



Manfred Kroger, Ph.D.

Professor of Food Science Emeritus, The Pennsylvania State University



William M. London, Ed.D., M.P.H.

Professor, Department of Health Science

California State University, Los Angeles



Eugenie V. Mielczarek

Emeritus Professor of Physics, George Mason University



David Morrison, Ph.D.

Director, Carl Sagan Center for Study of Life in the Universe

Former director, NASA Lunar Science Institute

Senior scientist, NASA Astrobiology Institute



Jan Willem Nienhuys, Ph.D.

Mathematician, Waalre, The Netherlands



Steven Novella, M.D.

Assistant Professor of Neurology, Yale University School of Medicine



Jay Pasachoff, Ph.D

Field Memorial Professor of Astronomy

Williams College



Massimo Pigliucci, Ph.D.

Graduate Center & Lehman College, City University of New York



Philip Plait, Ph.D.

Astronomer, author

Science blogger, Bad Astronomy



Gary P. Posner, M.D.

Former contributing editor, Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine



Anthony R. Pratkanis, Ph.D.

Professor of Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz



Venki Ramakrishnan, Ph.D.

Nobel Laureate (Chemistry, 2009)

Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine (2007)



James Randi

Founder and Chair, James Randi Educational Foundation



Wallace Sampson, M.D.

Clinical Professor, Emeritus of Medicine, Stanford University

Former Editor-in-Chief, Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine



Amardeo Sarma

Senior Manager, NEC Laboratories Europe, Heidelberg



Brahm Segal, M.D.

Roswell Park Cancer Institute



Robert Sheaffer

Science writer

Columnist, Skeptical Inquirer magazine



Eugenie C. Scott, Ph.D.

Executive Director, National Center for Science Education



Simon Singh, Ph.D., MBE

Author, Critic, Television Director and Producer



Victor Stenger, Ph.D.

Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, University of Colorado

Professor Emeritus of Physics and Astronomy, University of Hawaii



Karen Stollznow, Ph.D.

Linguist, writer

Managing Editor, Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice



Carol Tavris, Ph.D.

Psychologist and author



Mahlon W. Wagner, Ph.D.

Professor Emeritus of Psychology, State University of New York at Oswego



David Willey, Ph.D.

Department of Physics, University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown



* Titles for purpose of identification only. .

