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Every homeopathic eye drop should be pulled off the market, FDA says (arstechnica.com)

submitted 11 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/health@lemmy.world

12 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Eye drops are uniquely risky because the eye is an immune-privileged site.

This year has been marked by many terrifying things, but perhaps the most surprising of the 2023 horrors was … eye drops.

The seemingly innocuous teeny squeeze bottle made for alarming headlines numerous times during our current revolution around the sun, with lengthy lists of recalls, startling factory inspections, and ghastly reports of people developing near-untreatable bacterial infections, losing their eyes and vision, and dying.

...

Homeopathy is an 18th century pseudoscience that produces bogus remedies that work no better than a placebo and, if prepared improperly, can be toxic, even deadly. The practice relies on two false principles: the "law of similars," aka "like cures like," meaning a substance that causes a specific symptom in a healthy person can treat conditions and diseases that involve that same symptom, and the "law of infinitesimals," which states that diluting the substance renders it more potent. As such, homeopathic products begin with toxic substances that are then extremely diluted—often into oblivion—in a ritualistic procedure. Some homeopaths hold that water molecules can have "memory."

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[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 22 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

It's worth recognizing that Homeopathy predates the scientific method, and was actually instrumental in the discovery of several valid treatments. In the absence of actual knowledge of pharmacology or physiology, the "law of similars" is far more scientific than "the gods told me in a dream to bury a potato under a full moon." This poison causes chest pain, so maybe if I'm having chest pain, a little bit of this poison will help? Bam, nitroglycerin. Too much poison would kill you, though, so maybe diluting helps? Oh, that worked, let's keep diluting and think of a theory for why that works.

Homeopaths didn't understand the disease or the mechanisms of action at the time, but it would be another 50+ years before medical science had gotten its boots on. They should have understood that the law of infinitesimals was stupid even then, but when most of your cures are actually poisons, a little bit of placebo water probably has statistically better outcomes anyway.

It's total bunk. But we should understand that it was part of the evolution of human discovery, an outdated form of pre-science that tried to examine medicine before humans knew how. Anyone selling it today is a charletains, but it's easier to dismiss the theories when you understand why they became popular and how they managed to stumble onto some effective treatments. Nitroglycerin is not a validation of homeopathic theories. It's the manifestation of a stopped watch existing as the time on its face passes by.

[–] bluGill@kbin.social 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Homeopathy is legal today because when the laws regulating medicine took effect they were able to show - unlike the "snake oil" of the time they didn't harm people. Since they were not actively and obviously harmful to someone they (like chiropractors) got a pass. Today we know far more and it is time to update our laws.

[–] protist@mander.xyz 20 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Homeopathy is legal today because of the Dietary Health & Supplement Education Act of 1994, bought and paid for by the "natural" remedy industry. Prior to that, the FDA had the power to require efficacy testing for all supplements and "remedies," but this bill let them slap a "This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA" on the bottle and proceed to sell lies.

[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com -2 points 11 months ago

Honestly I think that's fine unless the product is actively harming people like described in OP. Paying your way through the FDA approval process is expensive and there can be treatments that work but which it does not make financial sense for anyone to foot the bill, and people have a right to make their own choices about their own bodies and health.