FDA’s ominous threat to alternative therapies
It’s the centuries-old alternative health treatment that Big Pharma would like to become extinct — homeopathy.
If you’ve ever used a homeopathic remedy, you’ve taken part in a 200-year-old method of treating conditions and illnesses using the principle that less is more.
But for the FDA and all of its friends at Big Pharma, however, the fewer homeopathic remedies they see on the shelf competing against mainstream drugs, the more they like it!
In an ongoing attempt to get this therapy out of our hands, the FDA has now revved up its attack on homeopathy by issuing a “draft guidance” outlining how it intends to slowly but surely do away with it.
Even if homeopathy is something you’ve never used, it’s urgent that you get involved in opposing any such effort. Because what’s at stake is more than just well-established and effective treatments — it’s our freedom to choose what we believe is best for ourselves and our families.
And believe me, the FDA’s attempted strike on homeopathy is only the beginning.
Your health freedom under fire
You know that when Mr. Vaccine himself — Dr. Paul Offit — praises the FDA’s actions, it’s something that will benefit Big Pharma in a big way.
And his comment about the new FDA guidance that was just issued was as snooty as can be. He said that it’s about time the “snake oil salesmen were held accountable for what they’re selling.”
Held accountable? Maybe it’s time for all Dr. Offit’s buddies at Merck and Pfizer and AstraZenica to be held accountable for the deadly drugs they produce. Please, don’t get me started on that!
But what the FDA is doing now that has Dr. Offit so excited is introducing a new policy that is being called a “risk-based approach” to regulating homeopathic treatments. In other words: The FDA is trying to put more regulatory hoops in its way than you’ll find in a dog and pony show!
What irks Big Pharma the most is that these products are allowed (right now, anyway) to say on their labels what they’re best used for — such as to treat congestion, a sore throat, or the flu.
And while the FDA is telling reporters that the public will still have access to “many” of them, it’s also saying that it’s going to “address situations” where homeopathic treatments are being marketed specifically for diseases and conditions — which is exactly how they’re sold!
Seriously, why doesn’t the FDA come right out and say what it means, instead of feeding us confusing bureaucratic lingo meant to disguise its real intent?
Remember, this is the same agency that, back in 1988, established regulations for homeopathic remedies that didn’t require them to go through the same approval process as Rx drugs.
The basic principle — that by using the smallest amount of an active ingredient (including plants and even insects) diluted hundreds of times, you can achieve the most benefit — has a long-running track record of helping people all over the world. Actually, it’s the leading alternative treatment used by European doctors.
HSI panel member Dr. Mark Stengler, a long-time supporter of homeopathy, says you won’t “find a safer treatment in all of medicine.” And as these remedies are so highly diluted, he says, there is “virtually no chance of side effects when taken at their proper doses.”
But the very fact that homeopathy really works is what appears to frighten FDA officials and their pharma allies the most. As Dr. Stengler says, there are dozens of studies backing the therapy for pain, allergies, mood disorders, and more.
As I said, it’s important that you speak up on this issue. Because like an avalanche that starts with a snowflake, this could be the beginning of the end for all kinds of alternative treatments that you’ve come to depend on.
The FDA will be accepting comments on its proposal for the next few months, and you can add yours by going to federalregister.gov and putting this docket number into the search box: 2017-27157.
“Food and Drug Administration plans crackdown on risky homeopathic remedies” Rob Stein, December 18, 2017, NPR, npr.org
