Last week’s Zicam recall is raising some serious questions about the safety and regulation of homeopathic remedies. According to a new report by the Associated Press, more than 800 homeopathic ingredients were potentially implicated in health problems last year.
Last week, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) said it had received 130 reports of anosmia – loss of sense of smell – in people who had used three Zicam nasal remedies. During a conference call to announce the Zicam alert, the FDA also said Matrixx Initiatives had received an additional 800 anosmia reports it hadn’t made available to the agency. Following the FDA alert, Matrixx Initiatives recalled two of the products – Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Gel and Zicam Cold Remedy Swabs. The company had already withdrawn Zicam Cold Remedy Swabs, Kids Size, the third product named by the FDA.
Zicam products are considered homeopathic remedies. Homeopathy is generally defined as a system of medical treatment based on the use of minute quantities of remedies that in larger doses produce effects similar to those of the disease being treated. Homeopathic remedies like Zicam do not require FDA approval, and they do not have to be proven safe or effective before going on the market. However, the agency can intervene when there’s evidence a homeopathic drug may pose a risk to consumers.
Homeopathic medicines are very popular. According to the Associated Press, sales of homeopathic drugs hit $830 million last year. What’s more, in 2007 such remedies were taken by more than 4 million Americans.
Most American’s who use homeopathic drugs do so with the assumption that they are safe. But the Associated Press dug up some disturbing facts about these products. For instance, some homeopathic remedies contain far more alcohol than what is allowed in traditional medicines. In fact, the FDA has acknowledged that some homeopathic syrups far surpass 10 percent alcohol.
The Associated Press also found that at least 20 ingredients used in conventional prescription drugs also are used in homeopathic remedies. This includes digitalis for heart trouble and morphine for pain. Homeopathic medicines have also been made from cancerous and diseased tissues, and poisons such as strychnine, arsenic or snake venom.
There’s also very little evidence that homeopathic remedies are useful. In fact, according to the Associated Press, National Institutes of Health’s alternative medicine center spent millions investigating homeopathic drugs, but quit when very little evidence was found to support their effectiveness.
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June 22nd, 2009 at 6:13 am
This Zicam situation has all the makings of a massive, company-destroying class action suit. Expect lawyers to piile on both on behalf of “injured” consumers and irate investors. The domain (web address) matrixxclassaction.com has already been registered and is for sale. It’s likely to be just one of many vehicles lawyers will use to educate consumers and investors, attract plaintiffs.
June 22nd, 2009 at 7:54 am
The investigation should not be about the “safety” of homeopathic medicines; it should be about whether or not medicine that is labeled homeopathic is truly manufactured using homeopathic principles. If they are truly homeopathic, they contain only infinitesimal amounts of the a substance and will not cause side effects like traditional medicine does.
June 23rd, 2009 at 2:46 pm
I really love your website and I receive a lot of great information here. But the way this article has been reported is very exaggerated and not true to homeopathy at all. Big Pharma would love to shoot down homeopathy because it works. The highest potency homeopathics actually contain no trace of any of the substances that are listed as an ingredient.
June 28th, 2009 at 5:24 am
Zicam is not really a homeopathic product. Everyone seems to be confused and in error about this. The Zinc gluconate is at a 2x potency which is almost a material dose of Zinc gluconate. It is like sniffing the zinc up your nose. 2x means that the zinc gluconate has had 9 drops added to it, shaken. Then one drop of that has had a further 9 drops added and shaken. It has only been potentised twice and at 1 to 9 (i.e. the decimal potency, rather than the centesimal potency – 1 to 100 normally used for homeopathic preparations).
So yes, people were sniffing zinc gluconate in a fairly undiluted form which would possibly cause harm.
Normally homeopathic products are at least a 6x potency. Bach flower essences (i.e. Rescue Remedy, etc.) are all 5x potencies but they are made from flower essences and so fairly harmless.