scorecardresearch
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Support Our Journalism
HomeWorld‘Homeopathy is pseudo-scientific nonsense’: US NGO sues Walmart for selling such drugs

‘Homeopathy is pseudo-scientific nonsense’: US NGO sues Walmart for selling such drugs

NGO accuses Walmart of 'misleading' customers by equating homeopathic products 'as an equal alternative to science- and evidence-based medication'.

Follow Us :
Text Size:

New Delhi: Homeopathy is once again under scrutiny as an American not-for-profit organisation has sued the multinational retailer, Walmart, for selling “alternative therapy that is pseudo-scientific nonsense”.

The Center for Inquiry (CFI), a charitable organisation, claims to defend science and evidence-based thinking rather than superstition, pseudoscience or prejudice.

According to a report in the American business magazine Fast Company, CFI filed a complaint against Walmart Monday, on behalf of the residents of Washington, claiming that the company was “deliberately creating a false and misleading impression in customers regarding homeopathic products, presenting them as an equal alternative to science and evidence-based medication”.

“It’s a very specific type of pseudo-scientific nonsense,” Nick Little, vice-president and general counsel of CFI, was quoted as having said.

Walmart is accused of selling over 1,000 homeopathic drugs — from common household medicines to stress aids — in its stores and online platforms across the United States.

“Walmart uses the trust placed in it by customers as a provider of medicines to profit from the sale of these products in full knowledge of the absence of evidence for their efficacy,” the article quotes the CFI complaint as having read.

“By displaying homeopathic products alongside science-based medicines, without any distinction between them, Walmart is failing to provide truthful information to its customer base, and deliberately creating the false idea in its customers that there is no difference between these two radically different sets of products, in violation of D.C. law.”


Also read: US drug authority warns Indian homoeopathy firm after it finds insects & rodents at factory


Doubts on homeopathy, one after another

This, however, isn’t the first time that homeopathy is under the scanner. According to the international science journal, Nature, homeopathy treatment is based on the claim that illnesses can be treated using substances that produce similar symptoms.

The claims, however, aren’t backed up by scientific evidence. According to the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council, “homeopathic products are no more effective than placebos in treating health problems”. A placebo is a substance that has no therapeutic effect but rather provides only psychological benefits.

Homeopathy is also not regulated or verified like other medications. The world’s largest drug regulator, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has warned against consuming such drugs in a press statement issued on 14 May. “Products labeled as homeopathic have not been approved by the FDA for any use and may not meet modern standards for safety, effectiveness, and quality,” it said.

It further said that the homeopathy drugs can be made from a wide range of substances, including ingredients derived from plants; healthy or diseased animal or human sources; minerals and chemicals.

“These products are often marketed as natural, safe and effective alternatives to approved prescription and nonprescription products and are widely available in the marketplace,” the statement said. “These unapproved drugs may cause significant and even irreparable harm if they are poorly manufactured, which can lead to contamination, or may contain active ingredients that are not adequately tested or disclosed to patients.”

Last year, a study published in a peer-reviewed journal, Scientific Reports, concluded that homeopathic treatment can ease pain in rats. It, however, caused an uproar as several researchers cast doubt over the claims. The journal later added an editors’ note to the homeopathy paper alerting readers to criticisms regarding the study.

Endorsed in India

In contrast, India, the home of homeopathy, has a separate ministry for ‘alternative medicines’ — AYUSH, or the ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga, and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy.

In the ministry, a research unit — Central Council of Research for Homeopathy — conducts tests and studies on it across the country. India’s drug controller or medical agencies have so far not issued any alerts or advisories casting doubts on the benefit of the treatment.

Moreover, it is regarded as an ancient therapy, with an endorsement from the ruling establishment.

“Homeopathic treatment is individualised or tailor-made to each person. It is a line of therapy which is not standardized, but customized to suit different people with the same condition,” Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat’s had said while addressing a meeting of eminent homeopathic doctors at Nagpur in April.


Also readNearly 20% of all pharma products sold in India are counterfeit, US trade body claims


 

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube, Telegram & WhatsApp

Support Our Journalism

India needs fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. ThePrint – with exceptional reporters, columnists and editors – is doing just that.

Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.

Whether you live in India or overseas, you can take a paid subscription by clicking here.

Support Our Journalism

8 COMMENTS

  1. now govt dept studies are also validating action of homeopathy,as bromium 30c research useful for atopic respiratory allergic disorders,ijrh dot org research note refers.release of histamine in tissues cause exert vasodilation resulting wheals edema.for internal pathogen auto immune diseases echinacea is credited by research.for sub acute symptoms go to a homeopath govt dispensary only as they will be qualified plus has to write prescription. most of private homeopaths do not write name remedy use code words.

  2. for general public homeopathy 360 journal article by dr narendra sharma govt homeo college bhopal has given in english and hindi covid details plus simple nebulization inhalers take steam.high branded tea has flavoids.ginger cloves dalchini elaichi grand mother formulae best.joshina kadha of some reputed ayurvedic co keeps chest clean.there is one article worth reading ,the mechanism of death by e prescott shorrell in feb 1927 homeopathic recorder journal matches indian ancient views of birth new life after death,fine hint about last minute much publicised mechanical ventilator versus action of angeles..

  3. homeopathy works but disease symptoms have to match remedy picture also potency,leave this get acutes treated by allopathy.major benefit is constitutional treatment will improve overall health immunity,but help of experienced homeopath is required,hit and trial homeopathy is annoying rather makes symptoms complex to understand.likes of prafull vijayakars homeopaths are counted and neither they are interested in getting their names highlighted advertised by govt agencies.some journalist reports homeopathy are genuine some to highlight practice of unknown doctors who say i have treated this and that without telling core issues connected to homeopathy.plethora of journalist reports have downgraded homeopathy as for as present is concerned.

  4. Science on Homeopathy

    1. ‘The principles of homeopathy contradict known chemical, physical and biological laws and persuasive scientific trials proving its effectiveness are not available.’
    Russian Academy of Sciences

    2. ‘Homeopathy should not be used to treat health conditions that are chronic, serious, or could become serious. People who choose homeopathy may put their health at risk if they reject or delay treatments for which there is good evidence for safety and effectiveness.’
    National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia

    3. ‘These products are not supported by scientific evidence.’
    Health Canada

    4 “Homeopathic remedies don’t meet the criteria of evidence based medicine.”
    Hungarian Academy of Sciences

    5. ‘The incorporation of anthroposophical and homeopathic products in the Swedish directive on medicinal products would run counter to several of the fundamental principles regarding medicinal products and evidence-based medicine.’
    Swedish Academy of Sciences

    6. ‘We recommend parents and caregivers not give homeopathic teething tablets and gels to children and seek advice from their healthcare professional for safe alternatives.’
    US Food and Drug Administration

    7. ‘There is little evidence to support homeopathy as an effective treatment for any specific condition.’
    National Centre for Complementary and Integrative Health, US

    8. ‘There is no good-quality evidence that homeopathy is effective as a treatment for any health condition.’
    National Health Service, UK

    9. ‘Homeopathic remedies perform no better than placebos, and the principles on which homeopathy is based are scientifically implausible.’
    House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, UK

    10. ‘Homeopathy has not definitively proven its efficacy in any specific indication or clinical situation.’
    Ministry of Health, Spain

    11. ‘There is a constant increase in the quantity of evidence and the conviction of the scientific community in medicine, that homeopathy should be treated as one of the unscientific methods of so-called “alternative medicine”, which proposes worthless products without scientifically proven efficacy.’
    National Medical Council, Poland

    12. ‘From a purely clinical perspective, the fact remains that there is no valid empirical proof
 of the efficacy of homeopathy (evidence-based medicine) beyond the placebo effect.’
    Federaal Kenniscentrum voor de Gezondheidszorg, Belgium

  5. The Center for Inquiry (CFI) is just another surrogate of the pharmaceutical industry which has been financing these contrived lawsuits. The pharmaceutical industry wishes to destroy all competition to it’s expensive, toxic drugs.

    • More like you guys are the homeo lobby.

      CFI is a group of well reputed scientists that tackle all manners of pseudoscience in society. The entire scientific society in the world agrees with them, including the fact that homeopathy is a fraud that fools patients with sugar pills that contain nothing as medicine.

      Google: pseudoscience homeopathy site:sciencemag.org

  6. For something that’s suppose to be pseudo-scientific nonsense, homeopathy certainly sells very well and the market analysis for the years to come predict it will be selling even better. That’s because it’s curative, safe and inexpensive.

    • Sales and scientific proof are completely different.

      Homeopathy is extremely expensive given that it is nothing but sugar. It is sugar sold at medicine prices.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular