Federal Trade Authority: Homeopathy's foundation is shaky and defies physics, chemistry, and biology
The Federal Trade Authority required that homeopathic products be labeled to emphasize that they do not work. This is a huge market in the US alone, estimated at over 3 billion dollars in a controversial system of alternative medicine created in 1796 by Samuel Hahnemann and which has long been rejected by the mainstream of science.
On November 15, the Federal Trade Commission issued an enforcement policy statement on the labeling of homeopathic medicines and products. Homeopathic treatments are increasingly marketed in drug aisles in stores and supermarkets alongside over-the-counter drugs such as Advil and Mucinex.
Some homeopathic medicines have a disclaimer according to which these products are not supervised and regulated by the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Many products had no warning attached at all and one product claimed that homeopathic treatment is regulated just like other medicines, which is not true.
The US government now requires that manufacturers of homeopathic products ensure that if they want to claim that their treatment is effective, they must provide the proof. Otherwise, they will have to emphasize to their customers that "there is no scientific evidence that the product works".
The FTC said that the warning requirement will be considered valid and not misleading if the advertisement or label effectively communicates the following disclaimers: 1) there is no scientific evidence that the product works, and 2) the claims of the product's activity are based on the 18th century theory of homeopathy that is not accepted by most The modern medical experts. "
Now the US government demands that manufacturers of these products guarantee that if they want to claim that their treatment is effective, they must provide the proof. Otherwise, they will have to emphasize to their customers that "there is no scientific evidence that the product works".
Homeopathy, whose roots as mentioned in the late 18th century are based on the idea that disease symptoms can be treated using a tiny dose of a substance that causes similar symptoms when it is given in large quantities to a healthy body." It was said in the announcement of the trade authority.
"Many homeopathic products are so diluted that their active ingredient is below the detection threshold. In general, the claims of homeopathy are not based on modern scientific methods and are not accepted by modern medical experts. However, despite this, homeopathy has many followers."
Does homeopathy work?
There is a wall-to-wall consensus in the scientific community that the proposed mechanism of action of the American drugs - an extreme dilution of an ingredient that will allow "like makes like" goes against the basic principles of chemistry, biology and physics.
The FTC didn't stop there. On the label, the disclaimer must be close to the medical claims the product makes or even be integrated within the claims themselves. It would be impossible to hide the message in a footnote at the bottom of the box or label.
It's unclear how long it will take for the FTC to crack down on homeopathic products with misleading labels or packaging. In past cases, the FTC has waited several months with enforcement after such notices to allow companies time to comply or change their practices. And even then, they will initially send warning letters and eventually take action against the worst offenders.
Understandably, the homeopathic community is not satisfied with these regulations. But Skip Neville, president and CEO of clear, a small San Diego-based company that makes homeopathic products, tells NPR that he will update the labeling on his product packages if his lawyers agree that it is necessary. "We follow FDA guidelines and requirements. I can't talk about that. Obviously there is a legal problem."
Some people within the natural medicine community do not believe that the FTC has the authority to enforce labeling claims. Daniel Fabricant, president of the Natural Products Manufacturers Association, says that "this is a clear example of judicial coercion."
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my father
It is absolutely forbidden to give placebo treatment to a patient!!! The use of placebo is only allowed in clinical trials, when the patient knows that he may be receiving a placebo.
Anyone who sells homeopathic garbage should be in jail, for a long time. Not only is he a charlatan (or a fool) who cheats and steals from innocent people - he endangers their health. There are known cases of people dying because they were treated with this garbage.
Please (and not the first time) - will you study before you write?
According to pure science, a homeopathic medicine is a medicine with no active substance at all or with an amount below the therapeutic level, therefore it is actually a placebo.
That's why healing with homeopathy is healing with placebo.
As a result of this conclusion, a homeopathic medicine should not be tested against a placebo.
The fact that placebo works has already been proven and needs no further proof.
Because the placebo works and heals every drug is tested against a placebo and not against a person who received nothing.
So dear scientists and respected regulators! In your scientific lexicon and in your laws, homeopathy is called "placebo healing" and you only check if it is harmless like you check placebo.
You don't have to spoil those for whom this treatment does help.
Miracles,
You're right. I wrote comprehensively that there is no problem with people receiving this treatment, but - there is a problem if they are not aware of the fact that there is no backing for it in the field.
rival,
I'll just say with a smile - that was expected.
I promised three weeks ago that immediately after finishing a project - which is ending these days, I would return to the discussion with K.
Save that quote there.
"Recently, I spoke with mature people about the subject, and no rational argument that I used removed from their minds the appreciation for homeopathy: for every immunological mechanism that I presented - I received explanations about locating the body's self-healing power. For every statistical argument I presented, they brought an exciting personal story."
Sorry but this is so required... with a few minor changes this text looks just like it was written about religious belief:
I recently spoke with mature people about the subject, and no rational argument I used removed their belief in God from their minds: for every immunological mechanism I presented - I received explanations about God's hidden ways. For every statistical argument I presented, they brought an exciting miraculous story.
not like this ?
waiting
I agree with the intention, but not with the method. You cannot lie to a patient and tell him that you are giving him medicine. 🙂 Even when conducting a clinical study - the patient knows that there is a possibility that he is receiving a placebo.
got it
Homeopathy has no foundation, but it has the ability to warmly wrap the patient in need of human contact.
Homeopathy touches the emotions deeply: Bach flowers, applying oils, water that remembers...
The vaccine has a deep anchor in reality and results on the surface, but it has a deterrent effect starting with a sharp needle, through a cocktail containing virus components and "chemicals", and ending with the very cruel lie that it causes autism.
I recently spoke with mature people about the subject, and no rational argument that I used removed from their minds the appreciation for homeopathy: for every immunological mechanism that I presented - I received explanations about locating the body's self-healing power. For every statistical argument I presented, they brought a moving personal story.
These are ordinary and smart people - but without extensive knowledge on the subject.
After the conversation, I realized that imparting knowledge is a good way for the long term, and probably starting from school age. But for the short term - an experiential and accessible description of the action of the vaccine is required, and a lot of patience.
They should be told: "In homeopathy, there will be nothing - because there is nothing".
And on the other hand, it's worth admitting that it has a calming effect, and why not go for it, why not let a person smell Bach's flowers in the background of Beethoven's playing.
As long as you don't neglect any duty that the health system points to.
rival
Antibiotics are not given for the flu. Not even a dog.
In any case - if a person is sick due to a certain bacteria or virus, the treatment is not by injecting that bacteria/virus. A vaccine causes the body to develop the ability to recognize the bacteria/virus and produce antibodies. The treatment in case of disease is by injecting the antibodies themselves.
Miracles,
Are there no situations in which a person is given a vaccine after he has already been injured? For example, what about a person who was given a vaccine after being bitten by a snake? (Yes, I know that here it is a toxin and not a virus) or after he was bitten by a dog with rabies? And what about antibiotics against the flu?
rival
Homeopathy does not talk about a mechanism of vaccination - the idea is different. Suppose substance X causes a fever in a healthy person. If so - Hahnemann (the inventor of the method) thought that the same substance X would lower a fever in a sick person. Homeopathy does not give an explanation for this. It might be worth noting that Hahnemann probably really believed that there was an evidentiary basis for this method. Today - we know for sure that the method does not work and cannot work.
Vaccination is something completely different - giving a weakened/killed bacteria/virus to a healthy person. That person develops antibodies against the bacteria/virus.
A vaccine is not a cure. A homeopathic ingredient claims to be a medicine.
Vaccines have doubled life expectancy. Homeopathy has killed a few people, and is mainly used to transfer money from stupid people to fraudulent people.
Miracles,
ok i got it sorry 🙂
Again, we are on the same side and it is clear to both of us that homeopathic medicine is nonsense, I just pointed out that the principle of giving a weakened agent of a disease in order to develop resistance against it is the basis of the entire medical immune system... although obviously not in such a state of dilution where not even one molecule of the substance remains in solution.
rival
I meant "come to understand something". Sorry 🙂
And I still stand by what I said. It has nothing to do with vaccination and the idea of homeopathy.
"Bor understand something..."
Miracles, what will happen? Are you unable to have a normal conversation without going into obnoxious speech? What do you think I am in favor of homeopathic medicines?
All in all, I was referring to the claim you made that you said had no basis, so what are you attacking?
Miracles…………………… Dhahaha
rival
So you suggest giving the polio patient a little more viruses? Do me a favor and don't study medicine 🙂
Do you think that an attenuated virus at a concentration of 400-^10 would vaccinate anyone? Bor, understand something - at this concentration, we will join 320^10 universes like ours to have one virus in the vaccine.
What's up with you?
Miracles,
"A substance that causes a negative effect in a healthy person will cause a positive effect in a sick person"
It seems to me that this is the basis of the whole subject of vaccines... a person is given a weakened component of the cause of the disease in order for him to develop resistance against it.
Joseph
More and more irrelevant examples prove nothing...
Homeopathy has no theoretical basis and no evidence base.
Yossi - a common homeopathic preparation is called Oscillocoxinum. The concentration of the active substance in this thing is 400-10. You're a smart guy - how many molecules do you think there are in a ball of this junk?
May I ask why you are trying to defend this stupidity? It really doesn't suit you…
At resonance frequency for example - the signal can be so small as to be noise and it will be amplified in the system.
In the physics of condensed matter in phase transitions, which is an echoelent of a complex system which is the body, sometimes a small push is needed to move in a certain direction among several. A kind of push on the slope where physics contains itself.
In artificial intelligence in the field called big data, it is possible to extract a negligible amount of signal from a much larger amount of noise. This is how, for example, images from deep space are deciphered, this is how COBE calculated the temperature distribution of the vacuum during the day to demonstrate the Big Bang. In a deterministic world, to eliminate a strong problem, you need a stronger hammer. This is the current generation of drugs. In the probabilistic world, the information is in infinitely small structures and it is possible to make the system move far beyond the strength of the drug signal.
Joseph
Many experiments were done. Homeopathy has been proven to be bullshit.
Beware of false analogies. A good analogy for you is this: take an amplifier and connect an input signal to it. Now, filter the signal so that the signal level is much, much lower than the noise level - does it now seem possible for us to get the desired signal at the output? This is partly what these charlatans claim.
The second part of their claim is even more refutable. They claim, for example, that a substance that causes high blood pressure in a healthy person will lower the blood pressure in a person suffering from high blood pressure.
The problem here is threefold - they lie to steal money and at the same time endanger human lives.
The burden of proof on homeopathy. That there is a possibility of a scenario is not proven in science, but only a hypothesis.
You can give a drug to an experimental group and a placebo group and compare. Even without understanding the mechanism of the drug, this is a reasonable probability test.
In order for homeopathic medicine to enter the classics, an examination of empirical scientific tools is required first. In more distant times, proofs will emerge in which biological models are modeled by control systems and physics. Such control models are used in DNA research. I am currently taking a course in electrical and electronics engineering where tools from control and systems theory, which are a strong field in electronics and electrical engineering, are used for DNA analysis. And it works. They reach conclusions that a normal biologist would not reach. For example, contraction - two starting conditions that start in a system called contractive, eventually reach the Sabbath point regardless of the conditions, entrainment - the output signal (DNA production) follows the input signal in frequency without phase locking. more and more. A biologist has nothing to do with it, but today they learn at least mathematics. Interdisciplinarity is required. In complex control systems, one can think of a case where a small input signal will trigger a large effect. I'm not sure that homeopathy will pass such tests, but it gives the possibility of such an effect. What is convincing right now is that you see people that the treatment works for them. I don't think it's a placebo.
There is no technological obstacle for a homeopathic medicine to be tested with scientific tools. All you need is a pharmaceutical company that will finance research.
This is the root of the problem. I believe that medicines in the style of medicine for a diseased organ are first generation. A holistic scientific approach to the body with control models that integrate functioning organs together is a vision for the future. And there can happen an effect that a low dose will greatly affect the response.
Everyone is brainwashed at the top
Homeopathy is based on two principles:
1) A substance that causes a negative effect in a healthy person will cause a positive effect in a sick person.
2) The more you dilute the substance, the greater its effect.
There is no evidentiary basis for any of the claims. Many studies have proven that the claims are wrong. And experience shows that taking these substances is sometimes dangerous.
And there are too many cases where people have died because they took this homeopathic garbage and not real medicine.
Dr. Ilan Zamir
Can you please state the NNT of any homeopathic ingredient that you recommended for use?
Can you provide us with links to some of these countless studies? I ask not to hear anecdotes - we both know that they are far from proof.
For Yossi, in order for a drug from conventional medicine to receive approval, it has to go through a difficult system of tests and approvals
Like the 7 sections of hell and it takes many years, unfortunately part of this is also expressed in the expensive price of medicines,
With one of the homosexual "medicines" successfully passing the approval system and such tests, it will immediately become a part of conventional medicine, and contrary to the conspiracy theories, there will be no shortage of companies that will be happy to rush again and again
and take a large financial stake for it, a hint this will probably never happen,
Quantum physics is something that has been proven over and over again in laboratories around the world even if it is not yet fully understood how it is fully performed, it has a prediction and there is a statistical result that repeats itself over and over again,
But showing that it has a medical connection to an effect requires proof so that doesn't make something scientific
You mention something scientific, the analogy and the connection do not exist. The "memory of water" is not proven and let's assume that there is one, then we need to further analyze its effect on the human body.
The terms of homeopathy are not understood in scientific terms because they are not scientific and they are contrary to the scientific concept though
It can be proven in their experiment even if all the scientists think it's impossible and it will work no matter what
On this and the scientists will look for where they went wrong, hint: this probably won't happen, it should rightly be marked as a type of substance for which there is no scientific proof of its cure so that it can be distinguished from conventional drugs and in the end like in cigarettes
People will decide whether they want to or not, the pretense that there is a cure here is the problem when it cannot stand
in the burden of proof, and the duty of proof is on the person who declares that he has a cure and not on the covenional system
which is based on a system of evidence, conventional drugs that have passed the system of evidence continue to be monitored
And if they fail the truth test, they will come off the shelf,
Joseph
Homeopathic "medicine" is not only fundamentally disproved (by many studies and basic intelligence) it has even killed people!
Anyone who claims otherwise is a dangerous criminal! And those who think there is a connection between homeopathy and quantum theory do not understand anything, neither in this nor in that.
You have to understand something - you don't give a placebo as a medical treatment! Woe betide the doctor who would do such a thing, without the patient's knowledge.
I have been practicing homeopathy for 36 years and can provide countless proofs of the tremendous effectiveness of homeopathy and also a version of its action for curing diseases! Strange, how can you determine that homeopathy is ineffective??? Everything - interests and money, a lot of money and prestige that the establishment medicine is losing in its business in competition with homeopathy. This also happens in Israel - persecution and closure of pharmacies, constant and delusional worsening of regulation, etc.!
I don't think the foundation of homeopathy is shaky. It is similar to quantum physics versus deterministic physics.
Modern pharmacy is based on deterministic rules and hence its strength. The basics of homeopathic medicine are not clear in scientific terms. Chinese yin and yang terms are not appropriate. The shortcoming of western medicine is that it treats a single organ at a time and there is not always a systemic view nor is there a non-deterministic view. I have seen cases of healing in homeopathic medicine and they worked (not on me) and I would not automatically accept that it is pagan medicine. Cure asthma and allergies. What is more - proof of a scientific basis by experiment is possible. If you take an active sample and a placebo sample, you can test the effectiveness of a preparation. Also, the invention of new homeopathic medicines lacks a scientific basis and researchers, in my opinion, are afraid to enter this field. I would be afraid. It is possible that this is a pagan medicine and it is possible that it is real. If it is real - we lack knowledge on how to access it. A non-deterministic view is the basis of quantum theory, statistical physics, numerical communication theory, artificial intelligence. In medicine there is no non-deterministic view in terms of drug - mechanism. Sometimes there is healing and sometimes there is no healing.