I hate homeopathy more than I hate most things. It's utter rubbish --worse than rubbish, because it actively misrepresents itself in ways that discourage people from seeking legitimate treatment for serious conditions.A lot of the business of super-kooky alternative medicine comes from misdiagnosing made-up allergies and "curing" them with wacky treatments. When that's a self-contained cycle--made-up allergies; made-up cures--it doesn't do anyone any harm. But when snake-oil salesmen start shilling their miracles to people with actual allergies, it gets really scary.This week's scam du jour is ALLERTHERAPY(TM), which I'm not going to link to--you can google them if you're that curious. ALLERTHERAPY(TM) claims to offer a convenient alternative to allergy shots: homeopathic solutions you spray into your mouth. Each of these contains traces of a zillion "potential allergens," and presumably regular use will render you non-reactive to these substances.Most homeopathic preparations are essentially distilled water, with no detectable traces of the material they claim to carry. If that were the case with ALLERTHERAPY(TM), it would be less of an issue. But ALLERTHERAPY(TM) contains detectable traces of allergens.For example, their food allergy preparation apparently has about the same PPM of peanuts that you'd find in hot-pressed peanut oil.Congratulations, ALLERTHERAPY(TM)! You've found a way to make homeopathy not only dangerously misinformative, butWhat really burns me up is that someone is going to believe this, and they are going to give this shit to their severely food-allergic and trace-sensitive kid. By all accounts I've seen, this is a pretty popular product, and it's designed to prey on precisely the population it has the most potential to hurt: parents who are scared and desperate because they've given up on conventional medicine curing or even substantially mitigating their kids' live-threatening allergies (which despair is, to some extent, legitimate. The only treatment for food allergies that shows any promise--sublingual immunotherapy--is still only available in closely regulated clinical trials. Most of us are basically told "Avoid it. Here's an epi-pen. Have a nice day." and sent on our merry way).So, please warn your friends. And ask them to warn their friends. Write letters to stores who carry ALLERTHERAPY(TM). Ask your doctor or allergist to mention it to their patients.In general, the umbrella of "alternative medicine" is home to a few legitimate therapies and a whole, whole lot of scams. Please do your research. Understand placebo effects. Mock any doctor or chiropractor who claims to diagnose via "applied kinesiology." Chirobase.org and its affiliated sites are a great jumping-off point.