Mass "overdose" planned in protest of Boots pharmacy sale of "homeopathic remedies"

[friendly_iconoclast]

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/01/19/mass-overdose-planne.html

Mass "overdose" planned in protest of Boots pharmacy sale of "homeopathic remedies"

10:23, a pro-science, anti-homeopathy group, is planning an "overdose event" for Jan 30 at 10:23 AM UK time: "more than three hundred homeopathy sceptics nationwide will be taking part in a mass homeopathic 'overdose' in protest at Boots' continued endorsement and sale of homeopathic remedies, and to raise public awareness about the fact that homeopathic remedies have nothing in them. Sceptics and consumer rights activists will publicly swallow an entire bottle of homeopathic 'pillules' to demonstrate that these 'remedies', prepared according to a long-discredited 18th century ritual, are nothing but sugar pills."

http://www.1023.org.uk/the-1023-overdose-event.php


The 10:23 Event

The protest will raise public awareness about the reality of homeopathy, and put further pressure on Boots to live up to its responsibilites as the 'scientist on the high street' and stop selling treatments which do not work.

If you want to get involved with the event, contact your nearest skeptics in the pub organisation. National press enquiries should be directed to Martin Robbins ([e-mail])

[Deep13]

1. It's pretty disturbing how they connived their way into drugstores...

...in USA too.

[Ian David]

11. I always hide the childrens' homeopathic ear ache and teething placebos when I see them.

It should be considered child abuse to give a placebo to a child in pain, especially one too young to be tricked by the placebo effect.

[tekisui]

2. How stupid. Inability to overdose does not mean they are ineffective

as treatment. Maybe it just means they are safer than the pharmaceuticals. It is a really stupid protest.

[MineralMan]

5. Of course they're safer. They have no active ingredients.

That's the point.

[HuckleB]

6. Homeopathic suicide.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bg1mSo7JQM

[MineralMan]

9. Funny!

[friendly_iconoclast]

7. They're ineffective whether you can overdose on them or not

I think the 10:23 people are protesting the sale of placebos falsely touted to be effective.

[Deep13]

12. Or, they don't do anything.

Homeopathy was discredited in the 19th century as quack "medicine." The only reason it can legally survive is because they don't actually contain any active ingredients and, therefore, are not banned as patent medicine. You even imply as much when you distinguish it from "pharmaceuticals." If they aren't pharmaceuticals, then what are they?

Every legitimate therapy has side effects. Even drinking water can kill you if you drink too much. If this were legitimate medicine, there would be a real danger in overdosing.

[friendly_iconoclast]

3. I should add that this might be dangerous for some

All that sugar at once can't be good for you...

[HuckleB]

4. Sugar Sugar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANtMdzOFIVQ&feature=related

[timeforpeace]

8. They cynically take advantage of the placebo effect, and get rich doing it, while patients suffer.

[Better Today]

10. If they want to prove they're nothing but sugar pills, how about a chemical test.

What they're doing is stupid in that people who believe in natural alternatives will not be convinced in the least, but may rise up and campaign to Boots in a positive way to overcome the negatives.

[MineralMan]

13. Oh, they've done that many times. There's no there there.

We all should drink more water, though, and sugar is a decent carbohydrate, if you like that sort of thing. Medicine. Nope. None there.

[Better Today]

16. Actually the "drink more water" meme has been debunked, and

unless it's sugar in those pills which I seriously doubt, perhaps nothing useful, but I seriously doubt they're sugar either. So I'm going to determine that you opinion is of no more use than the homeopaths you're raging against.

[MineralMan]

20. Thank you for your expert assessment.

I am taking it under advisement. I'll get back to you soon...

[Deep13]

14. This is a public relations event, not an actual test.

And yeah, they should analyze the products chemically.

[JDPriestly]

15. Actually, my daughter was prescribed homeopathic medication

for allergies and it worked.

[Better Today]

17. Many do. I know a man who took a homeopath's advise for allergies

to eat a hot pepper everyday to clear his sinuses. It works great, he does have to set aside time to a bunch of blowing of the nose every morning, but he doesn't have any of the side effects of the OTC or prescription meds he had been taking since teen years.

[HuckleB]

18. That's not a homeopathic remedy.

And the effects are likely similar to using a neti pot, which is recommended by many MDs:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19552352?itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&ordinalpos=6

and has a basis of study behind it:

http://www.jfponline.com/Pages.asp?AID=1355

I always cook up something spicy when I'm stuffed up. But that's not a homeopathic treatment either.

Hot drinks might be of assistance too:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/health/27really.html

[Better Today]

19. It's not meds, it's entirely natural, and it was "prescribed" by a homeopath.

Sorry, but you can't have it both ways. If some of what Homeopath's prescribe are effective, as are SOME of what MDs prescribe, then they shouldn't be anymore demonized than MDs.

[HuckleB]

21. I'm not the one trying to have it both ways.

This discussion is about homeopathy, and you're apparently try to defend it with examples that are not homeopathy.

That "natural" part doesn't have a thing to do with a discussion about homeopathy.

[trotsky]

23. Please consult a definition for homeopathy.

The word does not mean what you think it means.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

25. That isn't homeopathy.

Homeopathy != Anything Natural

Homeopathy is the belief in "like cures like" dilution nonsense.

[HuckleB]

22. Studying homeopathy in Third World countries, revisited

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2010/01/studying_homeopathy_in_third_world_count.php

Some scary stuff...

[HuckleB]

24. Victory Against Homeopathy in Australia

http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/?p=1495