For years homeopathic remedies have been in a special category as regards government approval. The remedies didn’t require the same approval process as toxic prescription drugs, which require years and millions of dollars to bring to market.
About 5 years ago the FDA submitted what it called a “Draft Guidance” that put homeopathic remedies into the same category as toxic drugs. That would mean that any remedy that had not gone through that long expensive process, could be banned.
That “Draft Guidance” was posted for public comment. In the intervening years Americans for Homeopathy Choice founded by Paola Brown, lobbied government officials and helped inform the public, who sent in thousands of comments opposing the Draft Guidance. She and her organization can be credited with protecting homeopathy these last five years. Paola and others met with FDA officials and believed at the time that they were having a meaningful dialogue to educate them about homeopathy.
Fast forward five years. Recently the FDA submitted its Draft Guidance to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) which operates by law within the Executive Office of the President. This would be the last step before the Draft Guidance could go into effect.
Understanding the critical nature of OIRA’s decision, Paola scheduled a meeting with OIRA officials to present the position of the homeopathic community. However, on the morning of the meeting, Paola was notified that the meeting was canceled! Subsequently, an OIRA representative stated that they had completed their review of the Draft Guidance, approving all of its guidelines. They did this abruptly and without consulting any of the interested parties in the homeopathic community.
Now there is nothing standing in the way of the Draft Guidance being implemented. It would ban the following classes of remedies:
- Remedies with ingredients “associated with potentially significant safety concerns.” That means that any remedy made from a substance that was originally toxic would be illegal (even though homeopathic remedies contain no toxic amount of the original substance.)
- Remedies intended for “vulnerable populations (e.g., children, the elderly, pregnant women ).” (These are the populations that most need homeopathic remedies, due to their safety!)
- Remedies “intended to be used for the prevention or treatment of serious… diseases.” (Homeopathic remedies are often the only effective and safe treatment for serious chronic diseases).
- Remedies “with reports of injury…” (even if it were never verified that the remedy caused the injury)
- Remedies used to treat animals. (Even though prescription drug side effects kill thousands of pets every year and homeopathy is the safe alternative.)
In other words, virtually every remedy will go on the block. FDA will absurdly claim that homeopathic remedies are unsafe. Meanwhile, most of the top selling Pharma drugs they do approve, have death as a side effect.
People in other countries also have a stake in this. If homeopathic remedies can be banned in the U.S., it could become a model for governments around the world.
The FDA’s apparent goal is to remove every alternative to prescription drugs and protect the pharmaceutical industry from any competition.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Contact your senators, congresspersons and the President. Tell them to stop the FDA from destroying homeopathy in the U.S. Tell them to stop the Draft Guidance. Ask them to sponsor legislation to preserve freedom of choice in medicine.
If you live in the U.S., support Americans for Homeopathy Choice
If you can afford it, send them a donation.
You can contact them for ideas on how to help them.
IN THIS ISSUE -December 2022
EDITORIAL
––– FDA Sets Stage to Ban Homeopathic Remedies – Alan V. Schmukler
–– Letters to the Editor – Feedback from the November 2022 – Hpathy.com
HOMEOPATH IN THE HOT-SEAT
–– Tine Gabriel, homeopath, yoga practitioner and psycotherapist is interviewed by Katja Schütt.
Presentation by Montreal Institute of Classical Homeopathy (MICH)
–– A Case of Ulmus Campestris ( Elm) – Judyann McNamara
–– A Case of Agaricus Muscarius – Adam Fiore
–– Anxiety and Fatigue After Cancer Surgery – Carla Marcellis
–– A Case of Crocus Sativa – Christiane Magee
–– A Spongia Tosta Case – Suzana DaCosta
––Addressing the Root Cause of Chronic Disease with Homeopathy – Judyann McNamara
ARTICLES
–– LM or Q Potencies – 50 Millesimal Potencies – Joachim F. Grätz
–– The Amistad Affair – Sue Young
–– Kalium Iodatum – P. I. Tarkas / Ajit Kulkarn
–– On the Meaning of Being a Homeopath – Personal Reflections – Richard H. Pitcairn
–– Hahnemann and Kant: Contemporary Masterminds? – Peter Morrell
–– Importance of Maternal Health During Pregnancy in Light of Autism Spectrum Disorder – Bipin Jethani / Anju Jethani
–– Notes on the Intersection of Neurofeedback and Homeopathy – Jerry Kantor
–– Tidbits 96: – Tick Bite! — Elaine Lewis
–– Homeopathy TIPS and Important News – December 2022 – Alan V. Schmukler
CLINICAL CASES
–– Homoeopathic Management of Crest Syndrome: A Case Study – Vishal Deshpande / Srikanth Jammalamadaka
–– Ganglion Cyst in a Woman of 30 – Diderik Finne
–– Homeopathy in Obstetric Disorders – Anand Suresh Kabra / Archana Mundra
–– Role of Homoeopathic Management in Hypothyroidism – Jagdish Thebar, Anshul Chahar, Namrata Nandwana
–– Empowering Patients: A Case of Erectile Dysfunction – Jaume Costa Galobart
–– Torticollis in a Man of 40 – Kamlesh Kakade
–– Driven Mad by Itch – Patricia Hatherly
RESEARCH
–– Individualized Homeopathic Therapy in a Case of Obesity, Dysfunctional Uterine Bleeding, and Autonomic Dystonia – T. G. Denisova et. al.
––Exploring the Representation of Various Categories of Concomitants in Clinical Cases – A Retrospective Observational Case Series Study – Dhaval R. Akbari
BOOK REVIEWS
–– Sane Asylums: The Success of Homeopathy Before Psychiatry Lost Its Mind by Jerry M. Kantor – reviewed by Lia Bello
–– Gentle Medicine – The True Causes of Disease, Healing, and Health by Dr. Joachim-F. Grätz – reviewed by Dr. Firuzi Mehta
–– Manjhi, the Boatman by Dr. Rajan Sankaran – reviewed by Vatsala Sperling
––Everyday Homeopathy For Animals by Francis Hunter – reviewed by Vatsala Sperling
VETERINARY
–– Ask the Holistic Vet – December 2022 – Deva Khalsa
––Sensation Based Materia Medica -Stramonium Cats – Ferenc Szecsődib
AGRO-HOMEOPATHY
–– The Plant Doctor – December 2022 – Radko Tichavsky
CARTOONS
–– FDA Policy – Alan V. Schmukler
HOMEOPATHY CROSSWORD
–– Homeopathy Crossword – December 2022
SOLVE THE CASE QUIZ
–– QUIZ –A Giant Pain in the Neck – Elaine Lewis
–– Revisiting: CHOKING – Elaine Lewis
This makes me very angry. I have used homeopathy for well over 26 years. Studying, interacting with like minded people and sharing my knowledge, teaching my daughters. I have used it to help my mother, my daughters and my husband. It is my go to front line first aid. I have used it myself with the help of well trained practitioners. Who are they to make my medical decisions about what is right for me???
They being the FDA. What’s next? What is next to be banned or regulated out of existence??? Vitamins?? Herbs? Bach remedies? Chinese medicine?
I am scared by this over reach into my private medical decisions. If this goes ahead, I will be an outlaw as will many others. We need to stand up and push back..hard!
Hi Rebecca,
Your concerns are well founded. The FDA has traditionally persecuted any healing methods that compete with Pharma. The FDA is the handmaiden of the Pharmaceutical cartel. They have already waged war on vitamins, herbs, etc. while permitting the most highly toxic pharma drugs to proliferate on the market.
Alan, this is an unmitigated horror! How much money does Big Pharma need?!
Go to https://homeopathychoice.org/ now and sign up to receive their updates!
Here is the letter from Sen Chuck Schumer regarding this. Is it inaccurate on his part?
Thank you for writing to share your concerns about the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) regulation of homeopathic products.
While the FDA has traditionally regulated homeopathic products differently than modern medications, in December of 2017, the FDA proposed a new risk-based enforcement approach to homeopathic treatments. The intention was to target products posing the greatest safety risks, including those marketed for cancer, heart disease, and opioid and alcohol addiction. The new regulations were a result of public hearings the FDA conducted in 2015, where 9,000 people submitted comments. After the new regulations were announced, the FDA held another set of public hearings and public comment submissions.
I will continue to monitor the issue and work closely with officials at the FDA to ensure medicinal products are safely approved and available for public consumption.
Again, thank you for contacting me. Please keep in touch with your thoughts and opinions.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Schumer
United States Senator
Hi Linda,
Chuck Schumer is the 2nd largest recipient of money from Big Pharma. Schumer just allowed an aide to kill a proposed cap on prescription drug prices.
https://jacobin.com/2022/08/chuck-schumer-pharma-donation-lobbying
The version Schumer gave you was written by Pharma. The truth is that the FDA is intent on destroying homeopathy.
My best
Alan
It is very evident from the US FDA’s behaviour with covid that they no longer represent the public’s interest. The power (p)harma has garnered, to say nothing of the profits, during this period has empowered them. But these people seem to want it both ways; if they keep saying that it’s just “water” or it’s placebo effect or it’s unscientific, then how can it possibly be unsafe? I don’t live in the US, I agree the effects worldwide could be catastrophic for homoeopathy. I do take some comfort from the fact that there’s now loads of folks who are fighting against the corruption in the US (so-called) health agencies.
Hi SB ,
The problem is that Pharma is working to undermine homeopathy in the UK (where they engineered the closing of 7 homeopathic hospitals took homeopathy off the NHS, and in France (Homeopathy removed from the national health system) Spain, Australia etc. etc. Pharma has unlimited resources sufficient to corrupt government officials at the highest levels. Homeopathy is a conceptual threat to Pharma, because if people learned that it is vastly superior, safer and much more economical, there would be a revolution in health care. The intensity of Pharma’s war on homeopathy is a measure of the power of homeopathy for healing.
This is the power of the Pharma to safeguard their business. Pharma don’t care about the health of the public. If they really care they would not prevent other types of Medical Systems for the benefit of people. The idea to ban Homeopathic medicine is to have control over the public with chemical medicines.
With a forward thinking and a movement among Homeopaths they should gather together to develop the system so that every individual is interested. When many from public come for the homeopathy then the effect of Homeopathy will be known and it will change the scenario of the medical system even in US.
Forget what is happening in US, let the homeopaths learn more and care the public. Find methods to spread Homeopathy to public.Homeopaths shall form groups to form Hospitals than clinics. Groups shall conduct seminars and symposiums. Also arrange lectures to the public in schools and public places. Write in media, newspapers, weeklies and monthlies regularly.
Let us cure the persons and let the public gets interest in Homeopathy. and come forward to get treatment. That would spread automatically among others.