I caught a brief airing of the TV show “The Doctors“, today’s episode was titled “Medical Emergencies You Can’t Ignore”. For the most part they regurgitate positive medical health affirmations. They also babble on about “healthy” foods and things that are good for you and the “dangers” of all kinds of common household bacteria/chemicals and everything else. By and large nothing apocryphal.
But then Dr. Lisa Masterson opened her mouth with this advice for people looking to quit smoking (paraphrased from memory) “You can try these, it is called EZ-Quit spray. They are HOMEOPATHIC … You should still consult your doctor because, you know, some of these ingredients can be strong”. The ingredient list is “Antimonium crudum 5C, Caladium seguinum 5C, Ignatia 5C, Lobelia inflata 5C, Nux vomica 5C, Tabacum 5-7-9C. Inactive ingredients: Purified water, alcohol 20%.”
First, let’s understand the “C” scale of potency measurement. A 1C potency is one part ingredient diluted in 100 parts water, a 1:100 ratio. A 5C solution is equivalent to 10^-10 power dilution or .0000000001mg of “active” ingredient. So drink up, you would need to drink one of these to get enough active ingredient:
But thats the whole point! In homeopathy, the single molecule of ingredient that comes in contact with water MAGICALLY imparts its power to the water molecules. When asked to explain this most homeopaths invoke quantum mechanics. Good to know they are totally ignorant of science. The basic principle of homeopathy states that the MORE diluted something becomes the MORE powerful it is. The standard dilution is 30C or 10^-60 , but it does go up to 10^-1500. You would literally need to consume a sphere of water the size of our solar system two billion times for one single molecule of ingredient. And thank god there is .0000000001mg of Nux vomica in the solution because that is commonly known as strychnine, an incredibly powerful alkaloid toxin with an LD50 of 10mg. In doses of less that 5mg it acts as a powerful stimulant and was used historically for stomach aliments and even for doping by athletes. Strychnine hasn’t been used since the invention of safer medicines.
Homeopathy is absolutely bullshit. There is zero supporting evidence, in fact in the UK they finally agreed to stop funding this insanity; which is no surprise since any intelligent person who understands the true principals of homeopathy should know better. Actually, anyone who creates a homeopathic medicine that is scientifically proven, can apply for the JREF million dollar challenge. Is it any surprise that it remains unclaimed?
Dr. Lisa is a complete moron and a quack. It is scary to think she spreads this misinformation on public TV, but not all that surprising. She should issue an apology for recommending homeopathy and the california medical board should consider disciplinary action or pull her license. Of course this won’t happen… But think of the potential dangers, consider the case of the parents that killed their daughter with homeopathy.
Now, enjoy James Randi explaining Homeopathy:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWE1tH93G9U]
