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Natural Awakenings South Jersey

Legislation Needed to Stop FDA from Undermining Homeopathy

by Marilyn Eppolite

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has launched an effort that is undermining homeopathy and leaving consumers and practitioners without the medicines they have relied on for decades to treat both minor and serious conditions. This shift in policy seems to be part of a broader move against natural health products by the agency in recent years.

For some users, homeopathic medicines have been the only treatment which allowed them to recover from serious chronic illnesses for which conventional medicine has no cure. “I’m one of millions who finally found relief from a serious and painful chronic condition using homeopathic medicines,” says Paola Brown, president of Americans for Homeopathy Choice Action, a consumer group with 120,000 members backing legislation to protect access to the full range of these nontoxic medicines.

The legislation would reverse a 2022 decision by the FDA which reclassified homeopathic medicines as “unapproved new drugs” that are “marketed illegally.” The FDA’s decision came after the agency oversaw the legal marketing of these medicines for the past 80 years from the founding of the agency. The legislation would re-establish a path for legal sale of homeopathic medicines in the U.S.

I know a lot of moms use homeopathy on family members to treat sore throats, colds, bug bites, sore muscles and other minor conditions and that’s important,” Brown says. “But the loss of these medicines which can successfully treat chronic pain without addiction and infections without antibiotic resistance would be a huge setback for homeopathy users and for public health.”

Under the new FDA policy, the agency has already removed the entire category of injectable homeopathic medicines that were administered exclusively by physicians for control of chronic pain. The agency admitted in court that it found no safety problems. And, it did not dispute the effectiveness of the medicines. The agency cited only that these medicines are “unapproved new drugs” which can be removed from the market for any reason or no reason at all.

In addition, all homeopathic eye drops, most notably the Similasan brand, have been removed from the market. The agency failed to cite a single instance of harm to any user in decades of use, offering the same “unapproved new drug” excuse for its action as it did with the injectables.

The way the FDA’s policy is written, any and all homeopathic medicines can be withdrawn from the market for any reason or none at all,” Brown says.

Homeopathic medicines work by using extremely dilute nontoxic doses of substances which in higher concentration are known to cause symptoms similar to ones found in those suffering from a wide range of ailments. These ultra-dilute medicines stimulate a response in the body to heal itself naturally without resorting to toxic drugs. Only rarely do people experience side effects and these are almost always mild.

People can visit our website to show their support at www.HomeopathyChoice.org,” Brown says. “There you’ll find pre-written messages to send to your members of Congress and options for greater involvement and support.”

Without legislation the number of homeopathic medicines available is likely to drop precipitously as the FDA continues to withdraw new categories. “If we wait too long to act, there may be very little left of homeopathy within a decade,” Brown says. “The time to act is now.”

Marilyn Eppolite is an avid homeopathy user who directs the efforts of Americans for Homeopathy Choice Action in New Jersey.