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Meanwhile their shelves are flooded with homeopathic "remedies" that appear legitimate. These items deceive consumers that have been raised to assume items stoc

Meanwhile their shelves are flooded with homeopathic "remedies" that appear legitimate. These items deceive consumers that have been raised to assume items stocked in a pharmacy have actual medical benefits. People offload their trust to an authority, a pharmacy, to stock actual medicine. Just like when they go to a grocery store they expect to buy actual food and not sawdust shaped and packaged as food. Try looking for cold or flu medicine, or earache drops at CVS. You will find the tiny print "homeopathic" on nearly every item being presented on the shelf. All of them are mimics that have all of the trappings of medicine (official looking labels, colors, words) but none of the results. I think this is an ethical failure that is worse than the sale of tobacco, because it not only dupes people looking for proven medical solutions to say, their child's earache that bring home a vial of water instead, it also continues to lend credence to the industry of swindlers and snake oil.

rubidium 7y ago
I hear you, but “ethical failure year is worse than the sale of tobacco” is a stretch. Tobacco killed millions. Homeopathic stuff is typically harmless and not a major killer. Also I usually find Tylenol PM just fine at my cvs. Along with benedryl, ibuprofen and other routine “real” meds.
- catalogia 7y ago
  > "Homeopathic stuff is typically harmless and not a major killer." Does that analysis include people who neglect to seek real medical attention because snakeoil crackpottery has lured them into a false sense of security? (I would not expect as many people to be harmed by homeopathy as cigarettes, but nevertheless I don't think you should characterize it as harmless.)
- Baeocystin 7y ago
  It is 100% fraud, taking advantage of ignorance and selling people false medicine. There is nothing harmless about that. It prevents people from seeking real treatments, and there are real long-term consequences to public health that come along with that.
- colejohnson66 7y ago
  > Homeopathic stuff is typically harmless and not a major killer. Homeopathic stuff may be harmless, but homeopaths are sometimes actively harming themselves or others by not getting proper treatment.
- bbanyc 7y ago
  Homeopathic stuff is typically harmless but there was a case in the 2000s where Zicam sold a "homeopathic" nasal spray at a low dilution of zinc (i.e., it actually contained zinc) as a cold remedy. The result: hundreds of people caused permanent damage to their senses of smell. This changed my attitudes towards consumer protection a lot. I thought I was smart enough to tell medicine from snake oil, but Zicam ads had high production values and looked just like ads for Tylenol or NyQuil. It was a far cry from the laughable marketing of that other '00s homeopathic product, HeadOn. (Apply directly to the forehead!) So I thought it was a legit product until the news of the lawsuits came out.
- newnewpdro 7y ago
  Fleecing ignorant people is not harmless. I'd presume a substantial correlation between ignorance and poverty, the last thing these people need is wasted money on ineffective treatment.
Baeocystin 7y ago
You are 100% correct, and why your comment is grey is beyond me. It is pure predatory behavior via mimicry, and people suffer because of it.
- hn_throwaway_99 7y ago
  I think it's gray because in my opinion it's not true. I've been to CVS many times, and while there may be some products, I don't see the shelves overflowing with homeopathic remedies. Also, it's important to remember that "homeopathic" has multiple definitions in this context. There is the definition of "a substance in a dilution so minute that it's likely non of the actual molecules exist in solution", but that BS is not what you'll find at CVS. Instead, you'll find stuff like Zicam, which is marketed as a "homeopathic preparation" (TBH I have no idea why), but it most definitely contains sizable amounts of the active ingredient, zinc. While the jury is still out on whether zinc is as effective in shortening the duration of the common cold as advertised, there is certainly a sizable number of studies that support it. I take it and it definitely seems to work for me - whether that's placebo effect or not I have no idea.
  - com2kid 7y ago
    I accidentally purchased homeopathic burn cream once. The word homeopathic was written on it in VERY small print. It was sold right next to all the other burn creams. It does happen.
  - Baeocystin 7y ago
    The makers of Zicam have been sued hundreds of times because they put so much Zinc Gluconate in to their product that it (permanently) destroyed people's ability to smell. https://www.rn.com/headlines-in-health/zicam-alert/ https://www.rn.com/headlines-in-health/zicam-alert/ The CVS here in Gilroy has, at a rough estimate, about 20-30% of their pill-shelf space dedicated to homeopathic stuff. It's awful.
  - astura 7y ago
    https://centerforinquiry.org/blog/cvs-homeopathy-and-the-dc-court-system-whats-happening/ https://centerforinquiry.org/blog/cvs-homeopathy-and-the-dc-... https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/cvs-selling-homeopathic-remedies-it-gets-personal/ https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/cvs-selling-homeopathic-rem...
briandear 7y ago
I can’t say homeopathy is at the same level as tobacco, but it is a fraud and unethical to push vials of water as medicine. French pharmacies make a killing selling these fake medicines. What’s unethical is that, in France, actual pharmacists promote that crap. It’s literally a placebo that they are claiming “works.” You could take an entire store’s worth of homeopathic remedies and you’d have nothing more than a full stomach. If they want to sell that stuff, they should put a label on it that says: “absolutely no active ingredients of any sort, this is just a product to make you feel as if you took actual medicine.”
- colejohnson66 7y ago
  > You could take an entire store’s worth of homeopathic remedies and you’d have nothing more than a full stomach. You could also get better. The placebo effect is a real thing. People wouldn’t fall for the snake oil if it never “worked.”
  - stallmanite 7y ago
    So preachers selling holy water as cancer cures are being ethical then? Come on
    - colejohnson66 7y ago
      Did I say that? No. Notice how I used the words “snake oil”? I was making a point about the placebo effect. Nothing else.

rubidium 7y ago

I hear you, but “ethical failure year is worse than the sale of tobacco” is a stretch. Tobacco killed millions. Homeopathic stuff is typically harmless and not a major killer. Also I usually find Tylenol PM just fine at my cvs. Along with benedryl, ibuprofen and other routine “real” meds.

catalogia 7y ago
> "Homeopathic stuff is typically harmless and not a major killer." Does that analysis include people who neglect to seek real medical attention because snakeoil crackpottery has lured them into a false sense of security? (I would not expect as many people to be harmed by homeopathy as cigarettes, but nevertheless I don't think you should characterize it as harmless.)
Baeocystin 7y ago
It is 100% fraud, taking advantage of ignorance and selling people false medicine. There is nothing harmless about that. It prevents people from seeking real treatments, and there are real long-term consequences to public health that come along with that.
colejohnson66 7y ago
> Homeopathic stuff is typically harmless and not a major killer. Homeopathic stuff may be harmless, but homeopaths are sometimes actively harming themselves or others by not getting proper treatment.
bbanyc 7y ago
Homeopathic stuff is typically harmless but there was a case in the 2000s where Zicam sold a "homeopathic" nasal spray at a low dilution of zinc (i.e., it actually contained zinc) as a cold remedy. The result: hundreds of people caused permanent damage to their senses of smell. This changed my attitudes towards consumer protection a lot. I thought I was smart enough to tell medicine from snake oil, but Zicam ads had high production values and looked just like ads for Tylenol or NyQuil. It was a far cry from the laughable marketing of that other '00s homeopathic product, HeadOn. (Apply directly to the forehead!) So I thought it was a legit product until the news of the lawsuits came out.
newnewpdro 7y ago
Fleecing ignorant people is not harmless. I'd presume a substantial correlation between ignorance and poverty, the last thing these people need is wasted money on ineffective treatment.

Baeocystin 7y ago

You are 100% correct, and why your comment is grey is beyond me. It is pure predatory behavior via mimicry, and people suffer because of it.

hn_throwaway_99 7y ago
I think it's gray because in my opinion it's not true. I've been to CVS many times, and while there may be some products, I don't see the shelves overflowing with homeopathic remedies. Also, it's important to remember that "homeopathic" has multiple definitions in this context. There is the definition of "a substance in a dilution so minute that it's likely non of the actual molecules exist in solution", but that BS is not what you'll find at CVS. Instead, you'll find stuff like Zicam, which is marketed as a "homeopathic preparation" (TBH I have no idea why), but it most definitely contains sizable amounts of the active ingredient, zinc. While the jury is still out on whether zinc is as effective in shortening the duration of the common cold as advertised, there is certainly a sizable number of studies that support it. I take it and it definitely seems to work for me - whether that's placebo effect or not I have no idea.
- com2kid 7y ago
  I accidentally purchased homeopathic burn cream once. The word homeopathic was written on it in VERY small print. It was sold right next to all the other burn creams. It does happen.
- Baeocystin 7y ago
  The makers of Zicam have been sued hundreds of times because they put so much Zinc Gluconate in to their product that it (permanently) destroyed people's ability to smell. https://www.rn.com/headlines-in-health/zicam-alert/ https://www.rn.com/headlines-in-health/zicam-alert/ The CVS here in Gilroy has, at a rough estimate, about 20-30% of their pill-shelf space dedicated to homeopathic stuff. It's awful.
- astura 7y ago
  https://centerforinquiry.org/blog/cvs-homeopathy-and-the-dc-court-system-whats-happening/ https://centerforinquiry.org/blog/cvs-homeopathy-and-the-dc-... https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/cvs-selling-homeopathic-remedies-it-gets-personal/ https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/cvs-selling-homeopathic-rem...

briandear 7y ago

I can’t say homeopathy is at the same level as tobacco, but it is a fraud and unethical to push vials of water as medicine. French pharmacies make a killing selling these fake medicines. What’s unethical is that, in France, actual pharmacists promote that crap. It’s literally a placebo that they are claiming “works.” You could take an entire store’s worth of homeopathic remedies and you’d have nothing more than a full stomach. If they want to sell that stuff, they should put a label on it that says: “absolutely no active ingredients of any sort, this is just a product to make you feel as if you took actual medicine.”

colejohnson66 7y ago
> You could take an entire store’s worth of homeopathic remedies and you’d have nothing more than a full stomach. You could also get better. The placebo effect is a real thing. People wouldn’t fall for the snake oil if it never “worked.”
- stallmanite 7y ago
  So preachers selling holy water as cancer cures are being ethical then? Come on
  - colejohnson66 7y ago
    Did I say that? No. Notice how I used the words “snake oil”? I was making a point about the placebo effect. Nothing else.