CFI Calls on FDA to Label Homeopathic Drugs As Untested and Unproven
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[ NEWS AND COMMENT CFI Calls on FDA to Label Homeopathic Drugs as Untested and Unproven Consumers spend $3 billion a year on homeopathic drugs, yet most remain unaware that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not evalu- ated them for safety and effectiveness. In comments filed with the FDA the week of August 17, the Center for Inquiry (CFI) urged the FDA to sub- ject homeopathic drugs to the same testing requirements as conventional drugs. Failing that, CFI urged the FDA to at least require homeopathic prod- ucts to be clearly labeled as untested and unproven. Homeopathy is a centuries-old pseudoscience, developed before the discovery of disease-causing pathogens, based on the false beliefs that “like cures like” and that the more an ingredient is diluted the more potent it is, due to water’s “memory” of the diluted ingre- for not distinguishing between effec- tive remedies and pseudoscience Homeopathy is a centuries-old dient. As CFI stated in its comments, from the 1700s if both products “By its own definition, homeopathy share the same store shelves, and pseudoscience, developed cannot work.” Yet for historical reasons there is no labeling on homeopathic relating to the passage of the original drugs to indicate they are given a before the discovery of Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act in 1938 pass by the FDA. Clear labeling on disease-causing pathogens. (which had a homeopathic practitioner homeopathic products, that catches consumers’ attention and informs as a key sponsor), homeopathic prod- them that the FDA does not evalu- can result in people becoming sicker or ucts can be marketed even though they ate these products for safety or effec- even dying for lack of real, scientifically are not subject to the rigorous testing tiveness, is an easy way to ensure that for safety and effectiveness that conven- people looking to treat their illnesses proven treatments. tional drugs must undergo. are not fooled into thinking that In the meantime, the Federal Trade homeopathic drugs are real medi- In late March, the FDA announced Commission (FTC) responded to the cine. Study after study demonstrates it was reconsidering its position on ho- FDA’s requests for public input with its that at most they have a placebo own criticism of the FDA’s slack reg- meopathic drugs. The Center for In- effect. quiry, which advocates for science and ulatory policies on homeopathy. The reason and is home to the Committee “We believe that true freedom of FTC complained, among other things, for Skeptical Inquiry, had previously choice is impossible unless one is fully that the FDA’s policy guide “does not petitioned the FDA to address the in- informed about the choices,” writes require that over-the-counter (OTC) adequate regulation of homeopathic CFI in its comments. “The public homeopathic drugs be approved by products. It was then invited by the needs the guidance of an expert agency FDA as safe and effective if they satisfy FDA to provide testimony at public when it comes to buying drugs as they certain conditions, including that the hearings on the subject in April (SI, are not in a position to evaluate their product’s label contains an indication July/August 2015). effectiveness themselves, without in- for use. Yet the policy guide does not Said Ronald A. Lindsay, president curring unacceptable risks.” require sellers to have competent and and CEO of CFI: One such risk highlighted by CFI reliable scientific evidence to support is the risk of those suffering from real the indication for use.” When people get sick or hurt, they are confronted with countless prod- medical conditions who might rely on The full comments submitted to the ucts that claim to be able to make homeopathic products to the exclusion FDA can be read at bit.ly/CFI_Home- them better. They cannot be blamed of proven scientific remedies, which opathy_FDA. Skeptical Inquirer | November/December 2015 5 Ten Distinguished Scientists and Scholars Named Fellows of Committee for Skeptical Inquiry Ten distinguished scientists, scholars, educators, and investigators from five countries have been elected fellows of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), copublisher of the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER. CSI (formerly CSICOP) is one of the world’s leading organizations for the promotion of scientific thinking and the critical examination of extraordinary claims from a scientific point of view. Fellows of CSI are selected for their “distinguished contributions to science and skepticism.” They are nominated and elected by CSI’s twelve-member Executive Council. In addition, CSI named four new Scientific and Technical Consultants. The new fellows join a list of notable CSI fellows that includes astronomers Neil deGrasse Tyson and Jill Tarter; biologists Richard Dawkins and E.O. Wilson; Nobel laureate physicists or chemists Leon Lederman, Murray Gell-Mann, Steven Weinberg, and Sir Harry Kroto; philosophers Daniel C. Dennett, Susan Haack, and Mario Bunge; anthropologist Eugenie C. Scott; psychologists James Alcock, Ray Hyman, Steven Pinker, and Richard Wiseman; magician/author James Randi; science educator and television host Bill Nye; Cosmos creator/writer Ann Druyan; plus many prominent physicians and medical scientists who critique questionable medical claims. The full list of fellows is on the inside cover of each issue of SI and on the organization’s website at csicop.org/about/csi_fellows_ and_staff/. Past fellows now in CSI’s Pantheon of Skeptics (http://www.csicop.org/about/the_pantheon_of_skeptics/) include Isaac Asimov, Carl Sagan, Martin Gardner, Nobel laureates Francis Crick and Glenn T. Seaborg, Stephen Jay Gould, B.F. Skinner, and philosopher and CSICOP founder Paul Kurtz. The Committee’s newly elected fellows are: JOHN COOK, Climate Communication DONALD R. PROTHERO, paleontologist/ John Cook is the Climate Communication Research Fellow for the Global geologist, Natural History Museum of Fellow for the Global Change Institute at the Change Institute at the University of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA University of Queensland, Australia. He created Queensland, Australia. and maintains the Skeptical Science website, STUART VYSE, psychologist, former one of the top online sources of information KRISTA FEDERSPIEL, science journalist, Joanne Toor Cummings ’50 Professor about climate science and climate denialism, expert on complementary and alter- of Psychology, Connecticut College; and is coauthor of Climate Change Denial native medicine, Vienna, Austria. author of Believing in Magic: (2011) and the 2013 college textbook Climate The Psychology of Superstition, JULIA GALEF, host of the Rationally Change Science: A Modern Synthesis. He also Stonington, CT Speaking podcast; cofounder, Center was lead author of the paper “Quantifying the for Applied Rationality, Berkeley, CA Consensus on Anthropogenic Global Warming in the Scientific Literature,” awarded the best STEPHAN LEWANDOWSKY, psychologist, The Committee’s newly elected paper published in Environmental Research School of Experimental Psychology Letters in 2013. He has a BS in physics and and Cabot Institute, University of Scientific and Technical Consultants is currently completing a PhD in cognitive psy- Bristol, United Kingdom are: chology, researching how people think about DANIEL LOXTON, author, editor of Junior SUSAN GERBIC, founder and leader of climate change. He and colleague Stephan Skeptic at Skeptic magazine (US), the Guerilla Skepticism on Wikipedia Lewandowsky (also a newly elected CSI fellow) artist, Vancouver, B.C., Canada (GSoW) project, skeptic activist, pho- wrote “The Debunking Handbook,” a guide tographer about the problems of, and best strategies for, PAUL OFFIT, Professor of Pediatrics; debunking anti-science myths. Director of the Vaccine Education GABOR HRASKO, chairman of the Center, the Children’s Hospital of European Council of Skeptical Krista Federspiel of Vienna, Austria, is a medi- Philadelphia Organizations (ECSO), president of cal journalist and author with a PhD in folklore. Hungarian Skeptics She worked as a freelance journalist and edi- NAOMI ORESKES, geologist and pro- tor for several Austrian and German magazines fessor, Departments of the History JOHN R. MASHEY, computer scientist/ and newspapers. She also became known of Science and Earth and Planetary executive (Bell Labs, then Silicon as a radio and television presenter. She is a Sciences, Harvard University, Valley), analyst of climate-change member of the Science Council of the Society Cambridge, MA denial, contributor to DeSmogBlog and for the Scientific Investigation of Para Sciences Skeptical Science, Portola Valley, CA JAMES L. POWELL, geochemist, author, (GWUP, the German skeptics group) and regu- professor; executive director, National larly publishes articles in their magazine, Skep- Physical Science Consortium; retired JULIA OFFE, neurobiologist, science tiker. She is cofounder and an active member college and museum president, journalist, creator of German Science of the Society for Critical Thinking, the Vienna Buellton, CA Slam Regional Group of GWUP. Her focus is on so- cial and women’s issues, consumer protection, 6 Volume 39 Issue 6 | Skeptical Inquirer [ NEWS AND COMMENT medicine, and psychotherapy. Federspiel has as “Why Is There a Skeptical Movement?” shall College, Reed College, the Franklin Insti- become well known as a critic of alternative (2014) exploring the roots, founding princi- tute, and the Los Angeles County Museum of medical procedures. She is author, coauthor, ples, and purposes of scientific skepticism.