So, generally I'm a pretty decent fan of my State Senator, Chuck Schumer, but I'm not a fan of his stance on this issue. I recently sent him a note about the FDA's most recent reclassification of Homeopathic Medicines on a "risk basis" which anyone who knows anything about homeopathy know is an absurd statement.
There isn't a safer form of medicine in the world, period.
Yes, you can hurt someone with homeopathic medicines, but it's difficult to do, and almost impossible to do accidentally. The whole FDA reclassification is an effort by the pharmaceutical industry to do away with homeopathy in the US. Again.
So I used a from from Americans for Homeopathy Choice and sent him a note requesting his support, and as I half expected, I got a kiss-off:
Subject: A message from Senator Charles E. Schumer
Dear Mr. Shein:
Thank you for writing to share your concerns about the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) regulation of homeopathic products.
While the FDA has traditionally regulated homeopathic products differently than modern medications, in December of 2017, the FDA proposed a new risk-based enforcement approach to homeopathic treatments. The intention was to target products posing the greatest safety risks, including those marketed for cancer, heart disease, and opioid and alcohol addiction. The new regulations were a result of public hearings the FDA conducted in 2015, where 9,000 people submitted comments. After the new regulations were announced, the FDA held another set of public hearings and public comment submissions.
I will continue to monitor the issue and work closely with officials at the FDA to ensure medicinal products are safely approved and available for public consumption.
Again, thank you for contacting me. Please keep in touch with your thoughts and opinions.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Schumer
United States Senator
UNDETERRED, I decided to write him back again. I could not do this via return email. I had to go to his website and do it. We shall see if I get any response to this one. I don't have that campaign cash to give him. I'm just another constituent to be mollified and ignored.
Dear Senator,
With all due respect, the FDA's justification for re-classifying homeopathic medicines on a "risk basis" is a boondoggle, a lie, being used by a pharmaceutical company executive to stifle the recent success of a competing form of medicine.
Homeopathic medicines have been in the US for over 200 years and have few if any reported risks. Please try to do a literature search on research into the ill effects of homeopathic medicines.
You won't find any.
You won't find any because in the 200+ years of this form of medicine, there have been very, very few. Homeopathy is a profoundly safe form of medicine. Far far safer than conventional pharmacy. There are NO documented safety risks of homeopathic medicines based on either clinical evidence or trial studies anywhere in the world. There are no side effects reported either, in 200+ years of studies and research.
In case you did not know, homeopathy is practiced in most countries in the world. India has a largest population of practitioners, with over 250,000 homeopaths, and over .5 billion people treated annually. It is practiced in every country in the EU, most, if not all, countries in Central and South America, Australia and New Zealand, and many countries in Africa and Asia.
The FDA's move to reclassify homeopathic medicines is a reflection of the recent growth and proliferation of homeopathic medicines in North America. The FDA is administered by a former pharmaceutical company executive. He will return to that position or some other similar position after he leaves the FDA. This "reclassification" is simply part of an ongoing movement by the pharmaceutical industry to crush competition from other forms of medicine.
Homeopathy has been traditionally classified differently from conventional medicine for very good reasons. It is a relatively tiny industry, with annual sales in the US of less than one billion dollars. Homeopathic pharmacies operate at a much smaller scale than the pharmaceutical industry and cannot absorb the costs associated with this reclassification. In a nutshell, these regulations have the potential to kill the practice of homeopathic medicine in the United States, which is precisely why they have been proposed and are now being executed.
Please do all you can not to let this happen.
Sincerely,
David M. Shein, CCH
BlackbirdHomeopathy.com
Rochester, NY
IF YOU CARE AT ALL about the availability of homeopathy and homeopathic medicines in the United States, go to Americans For Homeopathy Choice, and donate or help.