The Center for Inquiry (CFI) has filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against Boiron, Inc., one of the largest manufacturers of homeopathic products in the world, for deceiving vulnerable consumers with useless products dressed up to look like real medicine.
CFI, which fights on behalf of consumers against pseudoscience, says Boiron routinely makes false claims about what its products will treat and heal, misleading the public about the absurd pseudoscientific basis for Boiron products and even lying about the ingredients their products contain.
CFI and its Committee for Skeptical Inquiry publish the Skeptical Inquirer.
“The facts could not be more clear. Boiron profits massively by deceiving consumers in their time of need,” said CFI Vice President and Legal Counsel Nicholas Little. “Boiron knows its products are worthless junk, so they do everything they can to obscure the truth in order to offload their snake oil upon the unwitting, the ill-informed, and the vulnerable. They can’t be allowed to get away with it any longer.”
Adherents of homeopathy claim, without evidence, that a substance that causes harm to a healthy person will cure anyone else suffering the same type of harm. In homeopathic products, the “active” ingredients are highly diluted mixtures of the so-called cures; the ingredient ends up so diluted that often literally no trace of the original substance remains. Manufacturers such as Boiron then sell minuscule amounts of the already incredibly diluted ingredients, promising astounding results.
In its lawsuit, brought under the District of Columbia Consumer Protection Procedures Act, CFI alleges that Boiron sold a plethora of materially identical products, each made up of sugar pills and powders. Despite no scientifically detectable active ingredient, Boiron falsely promises consumers that each item will treat and cure a particular illness, injury, or health condition.
“Boiron sells little pills of sugar with grandiose claims. It’s hard to believe anyone would try to pass off such junk as a surefire way to treat painful skin problems, heal mental health issues, and even to counteract menopause,” said CFI Staff Attorney Aaron D. Green. “But Boiroin has been doing just that by tricking consumers into risking their health and throwing away their money on its fancy faux ‘medicines.’ It’s time for Boiron and all homeopathy hucksters to be held accountable.”
In its complaint, CFI notes, for example, that Boiron sells Saccharum officinale as a treatment for “nervous agitation in children after overindulgence.” However, Green notes, “Most parents would rightfully be skeptical of this product if Boiron told them what Saccharum officinale actually is: Table sugar.”
According to recent industry accounts, 85 percent of consumers who purchased homeopathic products did not realize they were homeopathic, and nine out of ten consumers did not even know what the term homeopathic meant. Apart from selling products they know are useless, CFI says Boiron also misrepresents the products’ ingredients. Four Boiron products were analyzed by an independent lab, and not only were no traces of the supposed active ingredient found, one of the inactive ingredients could not be scientifically detected.
The Center for Inquiry is currently engaged in other lawsuits regarding homeopathy, including consumer protection cases against megaretailers CVS and Walmart for their sale and marketing of homeopathic products, a matter recently heard by the D.C. Court of Appeals. CFI is also engaged in an active Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that demands the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant the public access to the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States, upon which federal regulation of homeopathy is based. The industry restricts access to this “bible of homeopathy” to those willing to pay thousands of dollars for the privilege.