Long-time readers of this blog – all three of you – know that I am no fan of homeopathy. I am, though, something of a fan of Target . This is largely due to the fact that Target’s only local competition is Wal-Mart. The shopping experience at Wal-Mart is only slightly less pleasant that being repeatedly hit on the head with a baseball bat. But I digress…
We were making our usual Target run the other day. This time, though, Patty was suffering from an earache. So, while I sifted through the clearance merchandise, Patty asked the pharmacist to suggest something to ease the earache pain.
The pharmacist recommended the Target-brand generic version of this Similisan product. So, Patty put it in the cart, we bought it, and we took it home. Here’s the front of the package:
Looks like normal medicine, right? A little later into the evening, Patty told me that the ear drops from Target didn’t work very well – not nearly as well as the drops she had gotten from the doctor the last time she had an earache. So, we looked at the label again to see what sort of things were in the drops. Here’s what the back of the label looked like.
The first thing that caught my eye was the list of ingredients.
- Chamomilla HPUS 10X (calmative, pain reliever).
- Mercurius sol. HPUS 15X (anti-inflammatory).
- Sulphur HPUS 12X (pain reliever, anti-itch)
That’s an odd list of ingredients, isn’t it? it soon hit me that the Target pharmacist had just sold us an expensive bottle of quackery: homeopathic ear drops. Here’s the list of ingredients in plain English.
- Chamomile – an herb common in herbal teas
- Metallic mercury – a highly toxic metal which, thankfully, is most dangerous when inhaled.
- Sulfur – the yellow stuff.
“10X”, “15X”, and “12X” are homeopathic dilutions. Suffice it to say that there’s very little of these ingredients in the drops. Considering the toxicity of mercury, that’s a very good thing.
I admit that I don’t make a habit of scouring the over-the-counter drug aisles looking for quackery, but I was surprised that this normal looking bottle of “medicine” was being sold at Target. I’m highly disappointed in Target and its pharmacist for ripping us off, and I was tempted to take my business elsewhere. However, I checked several other stores and pharmacies and they all carry either the Similisan product or their own generic version. Unfortunately, I can’t single out Target for pushing nonsense. Everyone’s doing it.
Let me add a few things here about homeopathic drugs. As I pointed out in my earlier post, there’s practically no theoretical (or experimental) support for homeopathy. In addition, homeopathic drugs don’t undergo the efficacy testing or several parts of the safety testing that conventional drugs do. Manufacturers of homeopathic drugs don’t have to prove their drug works, nor do they have to “release test” the final product (test it to make sure it is what the label says it is) before distribution.
What a racket!
this is very revealing about me … at least to myself … but i’m relieved that you said other places do this.
i boycott wal-mart, but kind of put my fingers in my ears about other big box stores so that i can keep shopping at them.
target’s one of my favorites.
but you’re right. screw that crap.