I don’t object or care much when adults take homeopathic “medicine”, i.e. water, because if their pain or symptoms are really bad, they’ll move to real medicine soon enough. But marketing and selling homeopathic medicine for children borders on child abuse. Never mind the false advertising.
So I saw this child at work today, a 6 week old infant, that mum brought in because of it being unsettled and intermittently crying due to colic. Mum had done all the right things already, sought advice from the maternal health nurse, changed the formula feed, and she had gone to a chemist where she purchased, in good faith, this product :
Brauer Colic Relief. The package suggests a dosing regimen, so not to overdose the kids :
Infants under 6 months: Give 0.5 mL every half hour for up to 4 doses if required until symptoms abate. May be given 4 hourly thereafter. Infants 6 months and over: Give 1 mL every half hour for up to 4 doses if required until symptoms abate. May be given 4 hourly thereafter. Use only as directed. If symptoms persist consult your healthcare practitioner.
Ok, so what’s in this colic relief, that we have to be so careful with the dosage ? Let’s see :
Contains equal parts of:
Bryonia 30C, Chamomilla 6C, Colocynthis 6C, Mag. phos. 6C.
Oh. No, wait. That can’t be right. That would mean there’s probably not actually any ingredient left in it ! In homeopathic “medicine”, a C means a 1:100 dilution. So 6C is 1: 100^6. But, that makes it likely that in this brew there might not be a single fucking molecule of Camomile left ! Not that Camomile would help with colic, most likely, even if you overdosed on the stuff, but in this “Colic Relief” preparation, there is actually not anything other than water in there at all ! You get the idea, so you know what would be in a 30C solution of Colocynthis Bryonia. That’s right, not a single molecule of the stuff.
This is false advertising. And I’m particularly disgusted that this is sold in pharmacies to parents who are concerned about their children, children with real complaints, who are sold glorified water at a premium price. Shame on you, Brauer company ! But this is not the only product those kooks are advertising :
Same thing. Nothing in it. Likely not a single molecule of any ingredient. Your child could drink the whole bottle without any effects whatsoever.
Each 2 mL dose contains:
Aconitum nap. 6X, Belladonna 6C, Hepar sulf. 5C, Kali bich. 6X, Antim. tart 5C, Phosphorus 6C, Bryonia 3X, Drosera 3X, Spongia tosta 3X, Ipecacuanha 3X.
C means 1:100, X means 1:10. In other words, these preparations contain some herbs and plants in negligible concentrations, if any, herbs and plants that haven’t been shown to have any actual benefit in reducing coughing, even if you consumed truckloads of the stuff.
I suggest that Brauer Natural Medicine products are removed from pharmacies and chemists in Australia, because they don’t contain any medicine, they don’t work, and they leave children in pain, while parents are being made to believe that their money is actually buying real medicine. I will be suggesting the removal of these pseudo-medicines from Australian pharmacies to the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration.
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As per some of your comments, I have altered a few bits and pieces in the text where I wasn’t sufficiently accurate. M
