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I really wish there was a law that forbids using the Homeopathic label on a product that isn't really homeopathic, but just non-medicinal. For example, there a

by derekp7 10y ago

I really wish there was a law that forbids using the Homeopathic label on a product that isn't really homeopathic, but just non-medicinal. For example, there are some teas or cough drops that are soothing when you have a bad cold (in a similar way to how lemon or honey helps you feel better). Often these are labeled as homeopathic, even though they contain no homeopathic poisons. I don't mind getting non-medicinal remedies, but when I see the homeopathic label I tend to shy away.

kwhitefoot 10y ago
> even though they contain no homeopathic poisons. Something that is genuinely homoeopathic doesn't contain any of the poisons either. Or at least at such a low concentration that it is insignificant. From Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathic_dilutions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathic_dilutions): Hahnemann advocated 30C dilutions for most purposes (that is, dilution by a factor of 1060). ... Dilution advocated by Hahnemann for most purposes: on average, this would require giving two billion doses per second to six billion people for 4 billion years to deliver a single molecule of the original material to any patient.
- derefr 10y ago
  I think the parent's point was that things marketed as "homeopathic" usually have their active ingredient diluted into non-existence, so they're pointless to take for relief of the claimed symptom. Slapping the label "homeopathic" on something that actually does something is really annoying, then, because it'd make you assume it did nothing.
  - derekp7 10y ago
    Or, things get the homeopathic label when they really aren't homeopathic at all -- they use it as a synonym for natural, or non-medicinal. Which is what I want sometimes. But I never want anything that is homeopathic, because to me that means fake.
neolefty 10y ago
Haha, or the opposite -- "homeopathic" cough drops with significant zinc in them, which is actually therapeutic according to solid research that somehow hasn't registered with the popular consciousness. Maybe zinc's problem is that it got claimed as homeopathic, discrediting it in most people's eyes?

by derekp7 10y ago

kwhitefoot 10y ago

> even though they contain no homeopathic poisons. Something that is genuinely homoeopathic doesn't contain any of the poisons either. Or at least at such a low concentration that it is insignificant. From Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathic_dilutions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathic_dilutions): Hahnemann advocated 30C dilutions for most purposes (that is, dilution by a factor of 1060). ... Dilution advocated by Hahnemann for most purposes: on average, this would require giving two billion doses per second to six billion people for 4 billion years to deliver a single molecule of the original material to any patient.

derefr 10y ago
I think the parent's point was that things marketed as "homeopathic" usually have their active ingredient diluted into non-existence, so they're pointless to take for relief of the claimed symptom. Slapping the label "homeopathic" on something that actually does something is really annoying, then, because it'd make you assume it did nothing.
- derekp7 10y ago
  Or, things get the homeopathic label when they really aren't homeopathic at all -- they use it as a synonym for natural, or non-medicinal. Which is what I want sometimes. But I never want anything that is homeopathic, because to me that means fake.

neolefty 10y ago

Haha, or the opposite -- "homeopathic" cough drops with significant zinc in them, which is actually therapeutic according to solid research that somehow hasn't registered with the popular consciousness. Maybe zinc's problem is that it got claimed as homeopathic, discrediting it in most people's eyes?