Lightly Seared On The Reality Grill

Italian blogger, Samuele Riva is being sued by Boiron, a French company that sells homoeopathic quackery. In fact, Boiron is the largest manufacturer of homoeopathic products in the world and the second largest manufacturer of over-the-counter products in France. This is big business, which is probably why the company was so stung when some random Italian pointed out just how silly this pseudoscience really is.

The product that Riva picked up on is Ooscillococcinum – and this really does deserve all the mockery that can be piled onto it. The company claims that the product has been made by diluting “oscillococcinum” (which doesn’t actually exist) at 1:100 dilution 200 times. This is the equivalent of diluting 1ml of original ingredient into a volume of water that is the size of the known universe.

Or, as Steven Novella of Science Based Medicine very eloquently puts it:

[E]ssentially Boiron takes fairy dust and then dilutes it out of (non)existence.

Novella summarises by saying:

I hope Boiron does draw a line in the sand over their oscillococcinum product, and that it becomes the center piece of a broader public discussion about homeopathy. Most of the public does not understand what homeopathy actually is. They think it means “natural” or “herbal” medicine. They have no idea that homeopathy is about taking fanciful ingredients with a dubious connection to the symptoms in the first place, and then diluting them into oblivion, then placing a drop of the pure water that remains and placing it on a sugar pill. The resultant pill is then supposed to contain the magic vibrations of the original substance.

This rank pseudoscience, which has no place in 21st century medicine, is the business of Boiron. Let’s see them try to defend themselves and their products. Let’s see them harass bloggers and those who are just trying to expose the public to the truth. Let’s see them argue in public how air bubbles in duck liver fantastically diluted can treat the flu.

Riva’s blog is in Italian, but he has set up an English Page, Boiron vs Blogzero, to provide updates on the affair.

Via BoingBoing

Most homeopathic remedies are sold at dilutions of 30C and, according to the homeopaths, diluting the active ingredient makes it stronger. So what happens if you drink homeopathic bleach:

Via Crispian Jago, who did something similar almost two years ago.

It is important to realise that homeopathy is not ethically neutral; it is wasteful and potentially dangerous, and conflicts with fundamental ethical principles.

- Dr Kevin Smith, a bioethics expert from the University of Abertay Dundee, as quoted by New Humanist.

One of the defences wheeled out for quack remedies, such as homeopathy, is that it’s harmless. If there are no active ingredients, its supporters claim, then there is no harm in someone choosing to try a homeopathic remedy.

This argument works, as far as it goes, if we are talking about an adult who has decided to disregard the available medical advice when looking for a treatment for him or herself. Such people are ignorant – possibly deliberately so – but most of them will turn to real medicines when their symptoms persist.

But what if the adult in question is not looking for a treatment for herself, but for her colicky baby? What if, in all good faith, she goes to a chemist and picks up a remedy with nothing in it?

Enter Brauer Colic Relief. It even comes with a medical looking dosage:

Infants under 6 months: Give 0.5 mL every half hour for up to 4 doses if required until symptoms abate. May be given 4 hourly thereafter. Infants 6 months and over: Give 1 mL every half hour for up to 4 doses if required until symptoms abate. May be given 4 hourly thereafter. Use only as directed. If symptoms persist consult your healthcare practitioner.

So what is in Brauer Colic Relief? Nothing, as it happens:

Contains equal parts of:
Bryonia 30C, Chamomilla 6C, Colocynthis 6C, Mag. phos. 6C.

To put these numbers into perspective, I recommend you take a look at the Mad Art Lab’s attempt to put homeopathy into perspective. But the shorter version is that at a dilution of 6C there is unlikely to be a single molecule of the “remedy” in in the solution. At a dilution of 30C you’d be left with less than one molecule per universe.

Brauer Colic Relief are despicable.

They are selling overpriced water to concerned mothers whose children have real complaints and need real treatments. They are profiting off the pain of babies and giving nothing back in return.

Hat tip to Furious Purpose via Pharyngula.