CFI and CSI have filed three separate petitions with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asking that agency to address various aspects of the marketing of homeopathic drugs.
In its industry-wide petition, CFI and CSI request the FDA to initiate rulemaking that would require all over-the-counter homeopathic drugs to meet the same standards of effectiveness as non-homeopathic drugs. Although the FDA has the authority to require homeopathic drugs to undergo testing for effectiveness, it has to date declined to do so…
In separate petitions, CFI and CSI have specifically targeted homeopathic industry giant Boiron. These petitions ask the FDA to issue warning letters to Boiron regarding its marketing of Oscillococcinum, an alleged flu treatment…
The other Boiron-directed petition complains that Boiron’s web ad for Oscillococcinum misleadingly implies the drug has received FDA approval.
This CFI/CSI action dovetails nicely with the lawsuits against Boiron (for fake flu remedy and fake cold remedy). Of course, Boiron and even veterinary homeopaths are doing their fair share of suing too.
In an ideal world, I suppose, the failure of homeopathy in the domain of scientific evidence would be sufficient to constrain its use, but political and cultural reality is such that what should be essentially scientific disputes end up being adjudicated by the courts.
