# Homeopathic "remedy" recalled for having an actual active ingredient **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 8, 2025, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeopathic-remedy-recalled-for-having-an-actual-active-ingredient/1021862 "2025-08-08T13:57:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeopathic-remedy-recalled-for-having-an-actual-active-ingredient/1021862/41 "2025-08-09T00:07:08Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Wires, right? Cellular Telephone components. I told the customer that the part my boss was trying to sell them wasn’t particularly suitable for their application, but one made by a different product line would work better. Oh well, I never really liked that job anyway. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeopathic-remedy-recalled-for-having-an-actual-active-ingredient/1021862/42 "2025-08-09T01:41:46Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > not the job of the secular courts to decide what is or isn’t kosher But Kosher is a well defined term. The court can judge the facts whether the goods provided met the description that was promised by the seller, without straying into giving religious.opinions. If I advertise meat as kosher meat, butchered by the finest humane shochet, but you can prove I just brought it from Walmart, that’s something I can sue you for Similarly in the OP if Zicam are advertising their product as homeopathic but not doing any of things involved in making homeopathic “medicine” (which are bullshit but a well defined set of bullshit steps) then they could get sued ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeopathic-remedy-recalled-for-having-an-actual-active-ingredient/1021862/43 "2025-08-09T01:55:28Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It was a joke. Homeopathic medicine is water. I was saying that Wood died from an overdose of water. in this case, water took Wood. Homeopathic wood. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeopathic-remedy-recalled-for-having-an-actual-active-ingredient/1021862/44 "2025-08-09T01:57:30Z")
Oh. Ok ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeopathic-remedy-recalled-for-having-an-actual-active-ingredient/1021862/45 "2025-08-09T18:48:31Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I’ve been watching this miniseries, and there’s an episode where they discuss quack medical remedies, including the Gerson treatment. You’ve heard of people treating cancer with coffee enemas? Yep, that’s it. Gerson-type therapy is still claiming victims. > [@](#): > > The 23-year-old [had been on a daily “treatment plan”](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn432mwwgwko) of coffee enemas, a strict diet and “lots of green juices”, according to a family member. > **[Woman’s death sparks fresh warning over misuse of nurse title](https://www.nursingtimes.net/professional-regulation/womans-death-sparks-fresh-warning-over-misuse-of-nurse-title-05-08-2025/)** > > The death of a 23-year-old woman who declined cancer treatment, allegedly on the advice of her conspiracy theorist ex-nurse mother, is proof of the need to legally protect the title of “nurse”, campaigners, and her brother, have said. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2025, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeopathic-remedy-recalled-for-having-an-actual-active-ingredient/1021862/46 "2025-08-09T21:41:08Z")
There’s a big monument to Hahnemann in Washington, DC. Once while out on a walk I rested in its shade. Waste of valuable urban space, thought I. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeopathic-remedy-recalled-for-having-an-actual-active-ingredient/1021862/47 "2025-08-11T03:22:36Z")
Hahnemann University Hospital in Center City Philly opened in 1848 as a homeopathic hospital (the Homeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania) but soon shifted to mainstream medicine, becoming a respected teaching and research center. The South Tower was the first skyscraper teaching-hospital in the United States. After decades of top-tier service in everything from heart surgery to trauma care, it was brought down by bad management and closed its doors in 2019. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeopathic-remedy-recalled-for-having-an-actual-active-ingredient/1021862/48 "2025-08-11T17:04:17Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > But Kosher is a well defined term. The court can judge the facts whether the goods provided met the description that was promised by the seller, without straying into giving religious.opinions. > > If I advertise meat as kosher meat, butchered by the finest humane shochet, but you can prove I just brought it from Walmart, that’s something I can sue you for I think if you claim the meat was slaughtered according to kosher law when it just obviously wasn’t, that would be a tort. Where the courts won’t get involved is in deciding whether your shochet is actually obeying every detail of the law, and deciding disputes between rabbis about whether the knife may be made from some particular alloy and how large a nick has to be to disqualify the blade. Which is why actual kosher Jews won’t just accept your assurances that the meat was butchered “by the finest shochet”; unless they know you personally and trust you, they’ll want to see a certificate to that effect signed by a rabbi that they trust. If you just slapped the untrademarked word “kosher” on your package of Wal-Mart hamburger…kind of a gray area IMO. There are a great many Jews who keep kosher to the extent of not eating pork or shellfish, but who don’t care about the laws of slaughtering; indeed, I’m pretty sure that in America such Jews vastly outnumber the ones who are scrupulous about shechita. From the POV of such a Jew, _any_ beef could be described as “kosher”, so the claim isn’t exactly false. It doesn’t look like such lawsuits are super common, but here’s a cite to one such case: > **January 2013:** A federal judge [dismissed a false advertising class-action lawsuit](https://truthinadvertising.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Wallace-v.-ConAgra-Foods-order1.pdf) filed against ConAgra Foods. The [complaint](https://truthinadvertising.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Wallace-v.-ConAgra-amd-cmpt-.pdf), which was originally filed in state court in 2012, claimed that the company deceptively marketed Hebrew National meat products as kosher when, in fact, they’re not. The judge ruled that the First Amendment bars the court from deciding religious matters. Specifically, the judge stated that “[t]je definition of the word ‘kosher’ is intrinsically religious in nature, and this court may not entertain a lawsuit that will require it to evaluate the veracity of defendant’s representations that its Hebrew National products meet any such religious standard.” (_Wallace et al. v. ConAgra Foods, Inc._, Case No. 12-cv-01354, D. Minn.) ---
**Author:** ![RAWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@RAWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RAWDuke)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeopathic-remedy-recalled-for-having-an-actual-active-ingredient/1021862/49 "2025-08-11T18:47:53Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > After decades of top-tier service in everything from heart surgery to trauma care, it was brought down by bad management and closed its doors in 2019. They probably started out with sound business practices, but they got watered down over the years…. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeopathic-remedy-recalled-for-having-an-actual-active-ingredient/1021862/50 "2025-08-11T19:08:23Z")
Yeah, they were probably fiscally solvent… right up until they succussed the books. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeopathic-remedy-recalled-for-having-an-actual-active-ingredient/1021862/51 "2025-08-11T19:17:27Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > I think if you claim the meat was slaughtered according to kosher law when it just obviously wasn’t, that would be a tort And that’s exactly analogous to the OP. If Zicam sell their product as homeopathic but just sell distilled water without doing any of the (admittedly bullshit) things that make something homeopathic, that’s something you could sue about. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeopathic-remedy-recalled-for-having-an-actual-active-ingredient/1021862/52 "2025-08-12T01:46:13Z")
I remembered this story. I also remembered that there was a thread, but not that I had started it. What a crushing blow to turn on the news, and THIS happens. > [@Hahnemann Hospital in Philly is closing, and the employees found out on the news!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hahnemann-hospital-in-philly-is-closing-and-the-employees-found-out-on-the-news/836550): > > Not only are over 500 physicians going to have to find new residency programs, but the hospital also employees more than 800 nurses and several thousand other ancillary staff. And one source said that’s indeed how they found out the hospital was closing, most likely in September! :mad: Certainly most of them knew SOMETHING was going on, because the hospital had been sold several times in recent years, but good grief - what a bomb to get dropped on you, especially if you’re a new graduate (no… ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeopathic-remedy-recalled-for-having-an-actual-active-ingredient/1021862/53 "2025-08-12T02:49:59Z")
Maybe. I’m not familiar with exactly how homeopaths convert ordinary water into magical healing water, so there’s probably something analogous. But I’m not sure how a court would rule if a homeopath claimed, with apparent sincerity, that his new, cheaper and simpler method was a breakthrough in homeopathic science which produces medicine just exactly as effective as the traditional methods do! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeopathic-remedy-recalled-for-having-an-actual-active-ingredient/1021862/54 "2025-08-12T14:50:57Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > Hahnemann University Hospital in Center City Philly opened in 1848 as a homeopathic hospital (the Homeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania) but soon shifted to mainstream medicine, becoming a respected teaching and research center. The South Tower was the first skyscraper teaching-hospital in the United States. After decades of top-tier service in everything from heart surgery to trauma care, it was brought down by bad management and closed its doors in 2019. I did a fellowship there during my training. There were warning signs about its finances even back then. One of the things I remember most is that its cafeteria operation (for staff and visitors) offered the best food I’ve ever encountered in a hospital setting. And there was a vendor offering fresh, soft hot pretzels at non-meal times. Those were the days… ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeopathic-remedy-recalled-for-having-an-actual-active-ingredient/1021862/55 "2025-08-12T15:11:22Z")
Just remember that they are checked for purity but not for efficacy, unlike all other _real_ drugs out there. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeopathic-remedy-recalled-for-having-an-actual-active-ingredient/1021862/56 "2025-08-12T15:20:59Z")
I never made it to Hahnemann, but I logged plenty of hours at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philly when I was involved in drug studies there (my sister ran the show). I always thought _Jefferson_ had the best cafeteria food and ambiance in town—good enough that staff and visitors actually looked for excuses to be there. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeopathic-remedy-recalled-for-having-an-actual-active-ingredient/1021862/57 "2025-08-12T15:32:56Z")
Not quite true: plenty of “real” drugs get approved without ever proving they actually work, as long as they hit certain lab markers or surrogate endpoints. And the FDA doesn’t re-test efficacy once they’re on the market either. Purity gets checked; actual real-world effectiveness? Not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeopathic-remedy-recalled-for-having-an-actual-active-ingredient/1021862/58 "2025-08-12T16:59:10Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > …the FDA doesn’t re-test (drug) efficacy once they’re on the market either. Purity gets checked; actual real-world effectiveness? Not so much. While it’s not universal, many drugs and vaccines do get post-licensure testing and clinical studies of efficacy and safety, by agreement with or requirements of the FDA. [https://www.fda.gov/drugs/postmarketing-requirements-and-commitments-introduction/postmarketing-requirements-and-commitments-reports](https://www.fda.gov/drugs/postmarketing-requirements-and-commitments-introduction/postmarketing-requirements-and-commitments-reports) ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeopathic-remedy-recalled-for-having-an-actual-active-ingredient/1021862/59 "2025-08-12T17:31:04Z")
True, but the key word there is “many,” not “all.” Post-marketing studies are often negotiated, delayed for years, or quietly dropped, and the FDA rarely pulls a product just for failing to prove real-world benefit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeopathic-remedy-recalled-for-having-an-actual-active-ingredient/1021862.md?page=2)