Lawsuits: Placement of some products misleading
Chains face court battle over homeopathic items
Looking for a cold remedy at your local pharmacy? Be careful what you choose: Experts warn that some options on the shelves may be no better than sugar pills.
CVS and Walmart are in the midst of a court battle for selling Fda-approved, over-the-counter medications alongside homeopathic products, a form of alternative medicine based on diluted ingredients.
The Center for Inquiry, a nonprofit that has filed lawsuits, argues that this sort of product placement is misleading and presents homeopathic products as equivalent alternatives to science-based medicines.
There is little evidence that shows homeopathic products are effective, according to the National Institutes of
Health. And while experts say most are harmless, the Food and Drug Administration warns that it cannot ensure their safety or effectiveness.
“Over-the-counter medication has to have been proven safe and effective for the condition that it’s purported to treat,” said Kelly Karpa, a former pharmacist and a professor in East Tennessee State University’s Department of Medical Education. “(Whereas homeopathic products) had their own set of conditions under which they can be marketed. They kind of bypassed all of that safety and efficacy.”
Homeopathy is an alternative medical practice first developed in the late 1700s. Practitioners believe that a substance that causes symptoms in a healthy person can be used to treat symptoms and illnesses, according to the FDA. For example: Since cutting onions can make eyes water, a homeopathic treatment for itching or watering eyes would be diluted red onion.
Unlike pharmacology, which follows the idea that a higher dosage usually leads to a greater response, homeopathy believes that the more diluted a substance, the more potent it is.
The concern some medical professionals have is that homeopathy products may contain toxic substances that are not diluted enough.
A 2015 paper from Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council based on 176 individual studies found “no health conditions for which there was reliable evidence that homeopathy was effective.”
Last month, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals denied requests for a rehearing from CVS and Walmart.
“We disagree with the ruling,” reads a statement from Marci Burks, director of corporate affairs for Walmart. “We take allegations like these seriously and look forward to defending this case in the Superior Court.”
CVS did not respond to a request for comment.
Nick Little, vice president and general counsel for the Center for Inquiry, says if the case does go to trial, that likely won’t occur until late this year or early 2024.
“The individual stores are responsible for how they market (these products), how they represent them to customers,” Little said. “We want to see all the major chains make this change.”