Ending the Regulatory Free Ride for Homeopathy

Homeopathy is pseudoscience. Its practitioners—peddlers of magic potions and potential poisons—prey upon the most vulnerable, taking cynical advantage of the human desire to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe.  

Homeopathy does not work. It cannot work, because it is derived from principles that are not based in reality.

What is Homeopathy?

Where did it come from? Why am I able to buy pseudoscience at my pharmacy?
Get your questions answered about Homeopathy >

In homeopathic remedies, toxic “active” ingredients are diluted so thoroughly that literally no trace of the original substance remains. Ingesting these preparations cannot have any effect, apart from the effects of drinking a small amount of water or swallowing a tiny sugar pill. 

All of this amounts to an egregious consumer fraud; an estimated $3 billion dollars annually wasted on false promises. But ripping off consumers is not even the worst harm that comes from this pseudoscientific practice. When homeopathic manufacturers negligently fail to sufficiently dilute their toxic ingredients, these dangerous products can lead to poisoning in patients who ingest them. For example, in 2010, the Food and Drug Administration issued a recall of Hyland’s homeopathic Teething Tablets after infants across the United States fell ill to Deadly Nightshade poisoning.

Yes, you read that correctly: Deadly Nightshade is the active ingredient in a homeopathic remedy marketed for infants. 

All “active” homeopathic ingredients are, by definition, toxic substances. But most homeopathic manufacturers obscure this fact on their product labels by listing the active ingredients exclusively in Latin. Federal law requires active drug ingredients to be listed in English, but homeopathic manufacturers have been ignoring this commonsense requirement for decades. Unfortunately, regulatory agencies have largely responded with indifference to this blatant, systematic violation of law.

Homeopathic products should be subject to the same standards for safety and efficacy to which all other drug products are held. Ultimately, it is fantastically unlikely that a single homeopathic product will ever meet these standards. Indeed, such an event would demand a reexamination of humanity’s understanding of fundamental physics, chemistry, and biology.

In the meantime, there are numerous regulatory steps that could mitigate the harm and deception that occurs from the widespread marketing of homeopathic products:

• The federal government should strictly enforce the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act requirement that active drug ingredients be listed in English, and should consider requiring other languages that are commonly spoken in the United States.
• No homeopathic product should be marketed without clear disclaimers that there is no evidence to support the safety and efficacy of the product, and that the theory of homeopathy is incompatible with modern medical science.
• The Food and Drug Administration should fulfill its long-abandoned commitment to review the safety and efficacy of all homeopathic preparations listed in the Homeopathic Pharmacoepia of the United States (HPUS).

Homeopathy Regulation Timeline

A Timeline of Homeopathy Regulation in the United States

---

Homeopathy is marketed under a confusing set of regulations. Our interactive timeline helps make sense of it all.

Lawsuit

CFI v. Walmart

Lawsuit

CFI v. CVS

It is legal for pharmacies and other retailers to sell homeopathy in the United States. What isn’t legal is for them to misrepresent its efficacy to customers. 

CFI’s claim against Walmart and CVS is simple. By placing a product such as Oscillococcinum under a sign reading “Cold and Flu,” the retailer is representing to consumers that Oscillococcinum is a treatment for symptoms of colds and the flu. By placing a product such as Arnicare in the Pain Relief section alongside Advil and Tylenol, the retailer is seeking to present the homeopathic product as the equivalent of the science-based, tested, and proven remedies.

Homeopathic products don’t work. They cannot work. If retailers like CVS and Walmart want to go on selling them, they need to place the products in a different section of the pharmacy, clearly labeled for what they are. And they need to include the FTC’s recommended warning regarding homeopathic products clearly and legibly in the homeopathy section and on the shelves. This recommended disclaimer states that:

1. there is no scientific evidence that the product works; and 
2. the product’s claims are based only on theories of homeopathy from the 1700s that are not accepted by most modern medical experts.