Article in Wall St. Journal

[Dana Ullman, MPH]

Friends,

The Wall St. Journal wrote an article about Zicam and homeopathy here:
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/06/16/ ... omeopathy/

Strangely, I responded last night to it making the following statement, and yet, for unknown reasons, my posting was not posted. Then, when I tried to post it today, they said that my message was a "duplicate." I wrote to the editor to complain...
--Dana Ullman
Homeopathic medicines have a 200+ year history of safety, though there have been some new homeopathic medicines (such as Zicam) that do not have this history of safety. While most homeopathic medicines undergo a pharmacological process of serial dilution 6, 12, 30, 200, or more times, with vigorous shaking in-between each dilution, Zicam is diluted 1:10 just twice, creating a relatively strong dose of zinc gluconate. This product acts more like a conventional drug, and it therefore comes with the requisite side-effects of such strong medication.

Although some studies have found Zicam to be effective in the treatment of the common cold, a condition for which conventional medicine is woefully inadequate, until or unless it is reformulated with lower and safer homeopathic doses of its ingredients, it can and should stay off of pharmacy shelves.

The article here quotes an outdated statement from the NIH, “systematic reviews have not found homeopathy to be a definitively proven treatment for any medical condition.” The NIH is thereby choosing to ignore the Cochrane Reports that described four large trials on influenza using a homeopathic medicine that had positive results that they deemed “promising”(1). More recently, the Cochrane Report reviewed several studies showing the benefits of homeopathic treatment to reduce the side effects of conventional cancer treatment (2).

There is actually a larger body of research showing efficacy of homeopathic medicines than your report suggests. Positive studies have been published in the Lancet, BMJ, Pediatrics, Chest, European Journal of Pediatrics, and the Cochrane Reports showing benefits for people with asthma, hayfever, childhood diarrhea, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), childhood diarrhea, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

There are good reasons that many of the most respected cultural heroes of the past 200 years used and/or advocated homeopathic medicines, including 11 U.S. Presidents, 2 U.K. Prime Ministers, 7 popes, Charles Darwin, J.D.Rockefeller, Mother Teresa, David Beckham, C. Everett Koop, Sir William Osler, and so many others. My newest book, "The Homeopathic Revolution," provides details about their and others' experiences with homeopathy as a safe and often very effective treatment modality...try it, and see for yourself...

(1) Vickers A, Smith C. Homoeopathic Oscillococcinum for preventing and treating influenza and influenza-like syndromes. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2006, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD001957. DOI:
10.1002/14651858.CD001957.pub3.

(2) Kassab S, Cummings M, Berkovitz S, van Haselen R, Fisher P. Homeopathic medicines for adverse effects of cancer treatments. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2009, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD004845. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004845.pub2

[Sara Klein Ridgley, Ph.D.]

Dana, your comment IS up there. You probably need to refresh your web browser screen

Sara
"Dana Ullman, MPH" wrote:

[Liz Brynin]

I have had the same experience in a response to an article about Singh and The BCA (British Chiropractic Assoc.) in the Times Online which was complaining about the libel laws in the UK following a fairly high-profile case brought by the BCA against Singh, and which he lost. He is now appealing, saying that scientists should be exempted from the libel laws!! I simply pointed out that in the UK, if you accuse someone publicly of offering 'bogus treatment', the onus is on you to prove why, not on the other party. Innocent until proved guilty. However, my comment has not been posted, and none of the 22 comments (some of which were posted after mine) were supportive of the BCA in any way - they were all pro-Singh.
Obviously, the waters are being deliberately muddied (or filtered!) to exclude any positive press about complementary medicine.
Liz Brynin