Zicam is Not Homeopathic or Homeopathy!
June 24, 2009 by innerhealth
Filed under Zicam Mislabeling
It is infuriating when claims are made against homeopathy by experts talking about something that is NOT homeopathy.
The latest came from a published AP article by Jeff Donn on Zicam which is NOT a homeopathic remedy.
Homeopathy is safe, effective and inexpensive medicine…See the excerpt from the National Center of Homeopathy email below:
“Last week, the FDA issued a Warning Letter to the company that manufactures an over-the-counter nasal spray for colds called Zicam. Zicam contains zinc gluconate in a 2X solution as well as many other ingredients including benzalkonium chloride, sodium hydroxide, hydroxycellulose, glycerol, and a couple of other “solvents,” preservatives, and suspending agents. The Warning Letter was issued after a number of consumers complained of problems with loss of smell from using the product.
The FDA’s action produced a story distributed by Associated Press (AP) that is full of fabrications and falsely called into question the safety of homeopathic remedies. Your NCH, in concert with the American Association of Homeopathic Pharmacists (AAHP), has been vigorously responding to the AP story.
Among the false claims and inferences in the AP story:
False Claim: Homeopathic remedies are not regulated – they are treated like dietary supplements.
Fact: Homeopathic medications are regulated by the FDA and have been used safely in the United States since before the passage of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act in 1938. Homeopathic medicines have an extraordinary record of safety.
False Claim: FDA side-effect reports suggest homeopathic remedies are a problem for consumers.
Fact: The safety record of homeopathic remedies over the past 200 years is truly exemplary. A recent study by the American Association of Homeopathic Pharmacists (AAHP) documents this outstanding record in detail (see the home page at www.nationalcenterforhomeopathy.org for more information). Conventional drugs used by allopathic medicine are far more troubling from a safety standpoint.
False Claim: The National Institutes of Health’s alternative medicine center spent $3.8 million on homeopathic research from 2002 to 2007 but is now abandoning studies on homeopathic drugs.
Fact: NCH received this assurance from the National Institutes of Health’s alternative medicine center on 6/23/09: “NCCAM will continue to accept investigator-initiated research grant applications for homeopathy and will continue to consider for funding those that receive outstanding scores in peer review.”
False Claim: “Very often, the only active ingredient is alcohol, and patients don’t know that, and they get a buzz on. The therapeutic effect is no greater or less than a martini.”
Fact: The overwhelming majority of homeopathic remedies sold are in solid pellet or tablet form and contain ZERO alcohol.
False Claim: In 1938, Congress passed a law granting homeopathic remedies the same legal status as regular pharmaceuticals. The law’s principal author was Sen. Royal Copeland of New York, a trained homeopath. “He did it in such a sneaky way that nobody really noticed or paid attention,” says medical author Natalie Robins.
Fact: Senator Royal Copeland, a major presence in American medicine at the end of the 19th century, rose to national fame when he was elected into the U.S. Senate in 1922. His career was distinguished in many ways, but he is best known as architect of the Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act of 1938, the success of which reflected his tireless effort over a period of five years. Copeland was trained as a homeopathic physician at the University of Michigan, at a time when homeopathy was a significant part of the U.S. healthcare system.
False Claim: “With arcane ingredients like “nux vomica” and “arsenicum album,” many homeopathic medicines sound like something brewed in a druid’s kettle.”
Fact: Homeopathic remedies are named by their proper scientific designations (often in Latin), an accepted world-wide standard for naming substances, rather than the misleading kinds of names attached to drugs by pharmaceutical companies. For example, “Nux vomica” is the proper botanical Latin name for the nut of a particular tree.
False Claim: There is no evidence of effectiveness.
Fact: There are literally hundreds of high quality basic science, pre-clinical and clinical studies published in respected journals like Pediatrics, Chest, Rheumatology, The Lancet and others showing that homeopathy works (for more information, please visit the NCH website at http://homeopathic.org/articles/view,173). To claim otherwise is bad science and very irresponsible journalism.
How can NCH members help?
If you have seen this AP story in your local newspaper – please write a letter or send an e-mail to the Editor, join blogs, etc. stating your support of homeopathy, and ask other supporters of homeopathy in your circle of friends to do likewise. Refer to the bullet points above to craft your letter if that is helpful.
You can also send an e-mail to AP: info@ap.org and it will be forwarded to the reporter or editor. The reporter is JEFF DONN.
Also – encourage your friends and neighbors to become members of NCH by going to www.nationalcenterforhomeopathy.org, and click on “Join Now.” We are a small organization with a very BIG mission. Membership growth is crucial if NCH and homeopathy are to survive. We cannot exist without our members and their ongoing support and donations. Please donate now by clicking on
http://nationalcenterforhomeopathy.org/store/category=27 or mail a check to NCH at the address below. Thank you!
And as always – feel free to contact us if you see other news stories containing inaccuracies about homeopathy. Our mission at the NCH is to defend and protect this wonderful system of medicine. We take that job very seriously.
Thanks for all you do for homeopathy! We are grateful for your membership support.
Nancy Gahles, DC, CCH, RSHom(NA)
President
National Center for Homeopathy
www.nationalcenterforhomeopathy.org”
Denial. Denial. Denial.
When are homeopaths going to take responsibility for the manifest problems within their own industry?
It said ‘Homeopathy’ on the side of the box. What are you doing to ensure that people are not being misled by other products? Where is your action to to clean up issues like this rather than shouting about it after the event?
Dear Andy,
I agree completely that the homeopathic community in particular The Homœopathic Pharmacopœia of the United States’s job is to make sure that this type mislabeling does not occur.
Thank you for your comment.
Melissa
Dear Andy…excuse me – since when is it ‘homeopathy’s’ job to make sure the FDA is doing their job when what appears to have happened has nothing to do with homeopathy, per se, but rather of some company that is NOT a homeopathic pharmacy (hence out of our bounds) using the FDA rules to register their product. I would think that this is the job of the FDA – to make sure that companies like these do not pretend to be what they are not.
I may be wrong, but how are we to know that these kind of products are being processed through the FDA. Do you think they tell us? Have they hired anyone from the NCH to consult? I never heard of Zicam before – and since it is not homeopathic, why would I? Perhaps it would be more beneficial if you suggested to the FDA that they consult with real homeopaths and/or the National Center for Homeopathy before they approve these medicines or procedures.
Let’s set the record straight. Thank you Nancy for going point-by-point to clear the air and let the people hear the TRUTH about the wonders of homeopathy. More importantly, let’s expose the fallacies behind uneducated media spokes people who have an ax to grind or covertly want to eliminate healing modalities that oppose their point of view.
This new generation is searching for CHOICES and CHANGE from the reigning system. Why? Because it’s broke, and everybody knows it. It is time to reach higher, expand our minds and broaden our viewpoint to accept more ways of healing the mind-body-spirit.
most sincerely
Debby, CHOM Join the Cause at Homeopathy World Community
Dear Kate ~
I agree with you that the FDA has a role to play in keeping medications and drugs public safety. It is true that Mattrix is an unheard of ‘homeopathic’ company. They slipped through the cracks by ‘labeling’ their product homeopathic, when in reality it contains many chemicals and ingredients, not one of which is truly homeopathic.
Homeopathy abides by the principle of “minimum dose” and aphorism of “do no harm.” It is widely known that Homeopathy has NO-SIDE EFFECTS. The fact that side effects have been reported to the company for TEN YEARS without any action just show how unethical it was in its behavior and FALSE promotion of a product just to get by FDA regulations.
The two Zicam products the FDA asked to be recalled are really homeopathic. If you read the packaging on the Zicam intranasal Cold Remedy products,the active ingredient is a compound called Zinc gluconate. This compound is listed as a drug in the Homeopathic Pharmacopeia of the United States, regulated by the FDA. This ingredient as well as the concentration in Zicam intranasal Cold Remedy products are in compliance with this reference guide. Zicam intranasal products are labeled, marketed and sold in accordance with the Homeopathic Pharmacopeia of the United States and the Federal Trade Commission. There’s nothing in this document that says anything about cost.
To be clear, Zicam has other products that are allopathic. For example, their Zicam Extreme Congestion Releif and Zicam Sinus Congestion Relief contain oxymetazoline – the same concentration as regulated by an FDA approved monograph and used in other products like Afrin, Mucinex, and Sudafed nasal sprays. These Zicam products are not marked homeopathic.
In due respect, the title for the above editorial is inaccurate. Zicam IS legally a homeopathic medicine. Its primary ingredient is Zincum gluconate 2X, which is listed in the Homeopathic Pharmacopeia of the U.S. However, in this case, there seems to have been inadequate safety testing for this very low potency homeopathic medicine. The company knew about the problems creating loss of smell many years ago, but they did not choose to make the dose into a 4X or 6X which would have considerably increased its safety.
I have no idea how you are choosing to deem a medicine as “homeopathic,” but your determinations have little bearing because it all resides with the Homeopathic Pharmacopeia of the U.S.
That said, much of the information from the AP article was misinformation as the report from the National Center for Homeopathy properly noted (only your headline was wrong)…
Dana,
Zicam may be considered a homeopathic remedy according to the Homeopathic Pharmacopeia of the U.S. but it is definitely not homeopathy or homeopathic according to basic principles of homeopathy. In my view a homeopathic combination remedy should not include non-homeopathic substances that are not the standard base substances (alcohol and lactose sugar base).
The Homeopathic Pharmacopeia of the U.S. does need to make sure they don’t confuse the public by calling something homeopathic that only has one homeopathic ingredient and many other substances that are not homeopathic and potentially harmful.
Melissa