In what is being billed as “rationalism’s Kool-Aid moment”, a mass “overdose” is being planned next week in protest at the marketing of homoeopathic medicines.
More than 300 people who style themselves as “homoeopathy sceptics” will each swallow an entire bottle of homoeopathic pills in protest at the continued marketing of homoeopathic medicines by Boots, the high street chemist chain.
I always love this one. James Randi does it often when giving talks about homeopathy.
I recently watched a video of atheist blogger (and now CFI intern) Zizturoverdosing on homeopathic sleeping pills, and she mentions that the label contains a warning to contact Poison Control in the event of an accidental overdose. I wonder what the poison control folks would say if you called and told them you’d taken say 15 12c homeopathic sleeping pills? How about, “Ok, now take 30 more and try to calm down!”
My only concern, which I have mentioned before, is that people may confuse “herbal” with “homeopathic.” Herbal pills can be dangerous, while homeopathic is a sugar pill or water.
It’s a great idea, even the Círculo Escéptico is getting into the act, in Spain.
My only concern is that I have no confidence that the quacks preparing these homeopathic treatments have any idea what they’re doing. If they do end up leaving active ingredient in them, it could be dangerous. Might be better to test one pill first to make sure it’s really homeopathic—i.e., just a sugar pill.
The deed should be done by now. PZ Myers is in the UK today, and was speculating that he would find mass hordes of people who died of ‘overdoses’. Yes, I hope all of the homeopatheic ‘remedies’ are actually homeopathic. I can think of two reactions from the homeopathetic community if someone actually gets sick from one of their remedies.
1)Crowing: “You see! there IS something in there” (in which case it is NOT homeopathic).
2) horror that their ‘harmless’ cures could actually make someone ill——oh wait! I’m dreaming, go back to number 1!
Thanks for the tip on PZ! Just checked his blog, it was funny:
I’ve just learned that all my favoritest, bestest people there are going to kill themselves just 8 hours from now (uh, remember, correlation is not causation…I’m sorta sure it’s not because I’m coming to visit.) What they’re all going to do is go down to their local pharmacy and overdose on those ever-so-potent homeopathic “remedies” they’re selling. I may be tripping over heaps of corpses on the sidewalks there.
Thanks for the tip on PZ! Just checked his blog, it was funny:
I’ve just learned that all my favoritest, bestest people there are going to kill themselves just 8 hours from now (uh, remember, correlation is not causation…I’m sorta sure it’s not because I’m coming to visit.) What they’re all going to do is go down to their local pharmacy and overdose on those ever-so-potent homeopathic “remedies” they’re selling. I may be tripping over heaps of corpses on the sidewalks there.
I met him last week when he came to the Bay Area. He was actually a warm teddy bear! My son made the cheesecake he raved about. We brought it along as a gift. (My son has a cheesecake business he is trying to grow, and makes wonderfully addicting cheesecakes).
Oh, I just saw this funny sarcastic comment under PZ’s blog entry, and had to share:
All serious scientists understand that homeopathic solutions become more potent the more they are diluted. By irresponsibly overdosing, those people in Britain will reduce the efficacy of the medication and I predict that nothing will happen. If they really want to commit suicide by maximizing the impact, they should consume the tiniest possible amount!
I met him last week when he came to the Bay Area. He was actually a warm teddy bear! My son made the cheesecake he raved about. We brought it along as a gift. (My son has a cheesecake business he is trying to grow, and makes wonderfully addicting cheesecakes).
How neat! I would just love to go to one of his after-speech parties that he’s famous for. There are sometimes happy photos of the festivities posted the next day, and everyone looks like they’ve been laughing the entire night through.
I met him last week when he came to the Bay Area. He was actually a warm teddy bear! My son made the cheesecake he raved about. We brought it along as a gift. (My son has a cheesecake business he is trying to grow, and makes wonderfully addicting cheesecakes).
How neat! I would just love to go to one of his after-speech parties that he’s famous for. There are sometimes happy photos of the festivities posted the next day, and everyone looks like they’ve been laughing the entire night through.
Yes, we all trudged over to the nearest pizzeria. PZ put on his everpresent backpack and led the way through the dark campus of UCB. We all spent an hour or two (I didn’t keep track of the time, but I think we pretty much filled the restaurant up and stayed until it closed.), we all had a great informal time eating drinking and talking. I don’t know how he maintained the energy to drive (be driven) from city to city to city, and keep this up. I dropped the cheesecake off a Stanford the next week, and he looked exhausted, but was as chipper and pleasant as ever. Since we were pretty much the only African Americans in the audience at Berkeley, and had spoken to him about a cheesecake, he recognized me right away!
His talk was very entertaining and informative as well. His only foray into true biology was to talk about the evolution of steroids, which was (to me) very interesting. His question and answer session took up fully half of the time allotted. If you ever have the opportunity to hear him speak, do it!
Oh, I just saw this funny sarcastic comment under PZ’s blog entry, and had to share:
All serious scientists understand that homeopathic solutions become more potent the more they are diluted. By irresponsibly overdosing, those people in Britain will reduce the efficacy of the medication and I predict that nothing will happen. If they really want to commit suicide by maximizing the impact, they should consume the tiniest possible amount!
Now I’m jealous that you got to spend time with PZ. I have this problem that I envy easily!! I wish I had the resources to head into NYC to see whomever is lecturing at the Skeptic Society there (missed Phil Plait, ie).
I read PZ’s blog about the cheesecakes. I predict an onslaught of orders because of his high praise. Good luck to your son!
