Thursday, January 21, 2016

NEJM on Homeopathy 2016

here, the New England Journal of Medicine on homeopathy:

001. at nejm.org, in "Regulating Homeopathic Products — A Century of Dilute Interest" (2016-01-21), by MDs Podolsky and Kesselheim, we're told:

"according to the 2012 National Health Interview Survey, about 5 million U.S. adults and 1 million children had used a homeopathic treatment in the previous year [...]";

ka-ching.

"unlike dietary supplements, which were explicitly excluded from rigorous FDA regulation in 1994, homeopathic products can actually be substantially regulated by the FDA, since the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act allows them to be sold as 'therapeutic' [...]";

do it.

"although homeopathic drugs are generally considered to be safe — they consist of preparations so diluted that no trace of the original active ingredients may even remain — some physicians worry that even inert homeopathic remedies will redirect patients away from effective conventional remedies or clinicians [...]";

a figmentation.

"we believe that, at minimum, regulators should reconsider the way homeopathic drugs are marketed, so that consumers who are seeking conventional medicines at pharmacies don’t become confused [...] reconsidering the over-the-counter sale of homeopathic remedies entirely would be an even more drastic step and would require the FDA to take on the entire industry for propagating remedies that don’t meet the same standards of scientific proof applied to conventional medicines. The recent actions by the FDA and FTC may finally signal the end of homeopathic drugs’ century-long evasion of regulatory scrutiny [...]";

no more special privledge!

there is also an MP3 with one of the authors.

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