HappyHumanist - 30 January 2010 07:21 PM

Asanta,

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!

Thank you, I hope so! I also hope PZ comes to your neck of the woods so you won’t have to make the trip to NYC!

For those who know a little spanish, HERE is a video of the Círculo Escéptico in Madrid, during the homeopathic overdose.

dougsmith - 01 February 2010 12:04 PM

For those who know a little spanish, HERE is a video of the Círculo Escéptico in Madrid, during the homeopathic overdose.

Swallowing forty tablets (no matter what they are made of) without chewing them (!) cannot be completely harmless. 

Well, as I’ve pointed out elsewhere, since homeopathy is more effective the more dilut it is, the more tablets your swallow the safer you are. If the activists had taken just one tablet, they’d probably all be dead now.

How about forty M&Ms;, George?  They’d melt in your stomach, not your mouth.

Occam

But are they homeopathic M&M’s? They have only the memory of chocolate and candy coating!

Occam - 01 February 2010 07:14 PM

How about forty M&Ms;, George?  They’d melt in your stomach, not your mouth.

Occam

I just thought that there has a to be a limit to how much unchewed food a stomach can accept. The pills in the video look twice as big as M&Ms;. Would you be willing, Occam, to swallow eighty M&Ms; without chewing them first?

P.S. Something very strange happens after typing “M&Ms;”: a semicolon after “s” is automatically added and cannot be deleted. Weird.

Well George, consider that some foods we eat may be chewed into “pill size” before swallowing.  I can guarantee my kid does not chew his food as well as he should. The pieces of chicken he swallows are somtimes larger than pills (as I scold him for chewing with mouth open!) He manages to do OK though.

Capsules with a gel coating have a powder inside, which is already “broken down.” The gel coat easily dissolves. Solid tablets are made of what - mostly starch I think? Easily broken down so stomach acid should be no challenge.

And just think of those 60 vitamin pills Suzanne Somers takes every day! She seems to be surviving, except that she has pickled herself and probably has glow-in-the-dark urine. 

But jokes aside, I think stomach acid is a pretty formidable opponent. It would have to be a very large or very tough piece of food to survive that, no?

Jules - 02 February 2010 07:37 AM

It would have to be a very large or very tough piece of food to survive that, no?

I guess so. But is it a good idea to take that chance when overdosing on homeopathic pills? Probably not a good idea if the activists started to vomit.

George - 02 February 2010 07:42 AM

Jules - 02 February 2010 07:37 AM

It would have to be a very large or very tough piece of food to survive that, no?

I guess so. But is it a good idea to take that chance when overdosing on homeopathic pills? Probably not a good idea if the activists started to vomit.

Depends entirely on what the inactive ingredients are in the pills. I’d assume they’re completely benign fillers.

I doubt it depends “entirely” on the quality of what we swallow since even a large amount of water can be dangerous.

George - 02 February 2010 08:09 AM

I doubt it depends “entirely” on the quality of what we swallow since even a large amount of water can be dangerous.

The effect of the quantity will depend entirely on the inactive ingredients. That’s what I meant.

Quoting George: 

Would you be willing, Occam, to swallow eighty M&Ms; without chewing them first?

No, George, with my addiction to chocolate, I’m sure I’d cheat just to get the flavor.  Now, if they didn’t the hard surface and were just chocolate pills, then, sure, I’d be willing to take eighty of them at one sitting, 

Occam

I don’t know if it’s in the same in the UK, but in the US you can find in stores some medicines that are labeled as homeopathic but aren’t really formulated according to homeopathic principles, and are likely labeled as homeopathic as thus they don’t have to be studied and proven safe and effective before being sold.There are some which actually contain significant amounts of the active ingredient as it isn’t diluted many times, notable as it will list them as 1X or 2X instead of the more typical 10 or 12X or so.