A new ruling finally requires homeopathic ‘treatments’ to obey the same labeling standards as real medicines

By Lindsay Dodgson

The Federal Trade Commission issued a statement this month which said that homeopathic remedies have to be held to the same standard as other products that make similar claims. In other words, American companies must now have reliable scientific evidence for health-related claims that their products can treat specific conditions and illnesses.

In the US and UK, drug manufacturers have to show that their products are effective by performing double-blind scientific studies with control groups. These show whether the drug is superior to a placebo at treating a condition or not.

The new policy statement called the Enforcement Policy Statement on Marketing Claims for Over-the-Counter (OTC) Homeopathic Drugs states that “the case for efficacy is based solely on traditional homeopathic theories and there are no valid studies using current scientific methods showing the product’s efficacy.”

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