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posted by mrpg on Wednesday February 01 2017, @07:14AM   Printer-friendly
from the parents-these-days dept.

Beth Mole at ArsTechnica has an article about the levels of belladonna in homeopathic teething products made by Hyland's:

After investigating reports that more than 400 babies were sickened and 10 died in connection with homeopathic teething products, the Food and Drug Administration confirmed Friday that it had indeed found elevated levels of the toxic substance, belladonna, in the products.

Belladonna, also known as deadly nightshade, was the prime suspect of the investigation from the beginning, which Ars reported about last fall. Nevertheless, the products' maker, Hyland's, would not agree to recall the products when it was notified of the FDA's conclusion, the agency reported

In a response to Ars, Hyland's has acknowledged that there are some inconsistencies in the amount of belladonna in its products, but the company said that it has not seen any evidence from the FDA indicating that the elevated levels were toxic or excessive. [...]The FDA said it had found inconsistent amounts of belladonna in Hyland's products. Some of the amounts were "far exceeding" what was intended.

[...] As before, the FDA is urging parents to avoid the homeopathic teething products and toss any already purchased. The FDA does not evaluate or approve the homeopathic products, which have no proven health benefit.

Also: Hylands FAQ about the discontinuation.


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  • (Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Wednesday February 01 2017, @07:49AM

    by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Wednesday February 01 2017, @07:49AM (#461577)

    The actual expected concentrations:
    Hyland’s Baby Nighttime Teething Tablets -- Belladonna 12X HPUS [hylands.com]
    Hyland's Baby Teething Gel -- Belladonna 6X HPUS [hylands.com]

    Again from the wiki:

    Three main logarithmic potency scales are in regular use in homeopathy. Hahnemann created the "centesimal" or "C scale", diluting a substance by a factor of 100 at each stage. The centesimal scale was favoured by Hahnemann for most of his life.

    A 2C dilution requires a substance to be diluted to one part in 100, and then some of that diluted solution diluted by a further factor of 100.

    This works out to one part of the original substance in 10,000 parts of the solution.[84] A 6C dilution repeats this process six times, ending up with the original substance diluted by a factor of 100−6=10−12 (one part in one trillion or 1/1,000,000,000,000). Higher dilutions follow the same pattern.

    In homeopathy, a solution that is more dilute is described as having a higher "potency", and more dilute substances are considered by homeopaths to be stronger and deeper-acting.[85] The end product is often so diluted as to be indistinguishable from the diluent (pure water, sugar or alcohol).[10][86][87] There is also a decimal potency scale (notated as "X" or "D") in which the preparation is diluted by a factor of 10 at each stage.[88]

    Hahnemann advocated 30C dilutions for most purposes (that is, dilution by a factor of 1060).[9] Hahnemann regularly used potencies up to 300C but opined that "there must be a limit to the matter, it cannot go on indefinitely".[40]:322

    In Hahnemann's time, it was reasonable to assume the preparations could be diluted indefinitely, as the concept of the atom or molecule as the smallest possible unit of a chemical substance was just beginning to be recognized.

    The greatest dilution reasonably likely to contain even one molecule of the original substance is 12C.[89]

    ...So it looks like the gel is supposed to have about 1 trillion molecules, while the tablet is supposed to have approximately one.

    Starting Score:    1  point
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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Wednesday February 01 2017, @07:57AM

    by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Wednesday February 01 2017, @07:57AM (#461578)

    oops wrong scale. (I used the C not X scale for my conclusion)

    From the website:
    Belladonna 6X HPUS (0.0000003% Alkaloids, calculated):
    -> 1/3x10e-9 -> 1: 333 million

    Belladonna 12X HPUS (0.0000000000003% alkaloids, calculated)
    -> 1/3x10e-15 -> 1: 333 trillion

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday February 01 2017, @01:41PM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday February 01 2017, @01:41PM (#461640) Journal
      Looks like a case of false advertising then. While the 12X level of concentration would be ludicrously hard to achieve as long as you had belladonna in the same building, it sounds like they're not even close to reaching the 6X concentration. That's just sloppy chemistry (reusing the same kitchen bowls without even bothering to rinse them out or whatever).
      • (Score: 2) by jdavidb on Wednesday February 01 2017, @05:23PM

        by jdavidb (5690) on Wednesday February 01 2017, @05:23PM (#461703) Homepage Journal
        The weird thing is Hylands was removed from the market before for inconsistent levels of ingredients, and then the FDA let them back on the market. So what exactly made the FDA determine it was safe to let them back on the market before, and what, if anything, has changed? Have they gone back to their old ways that led to the inconsistent levels?
        --
        ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
        • (Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday February 01 2017, @07:45PM

          by krishnoid (1156) on Wednesday February 01 2017, @07:45PM (#461756)

          I bet the levels weren't so much inconsistent as the were individually adjusted to the levels of latent lycanthropy in the patients under consideration. That's why it had to be put back on the market -- the master lycanthrope is still on the loose.

  • (Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Wednesday February 01 2017, @01:03PM

    by LoRdTAW (3755) on Wednesday February 01 2017, @01:03PM (#461630) Journal

    I'm pretty sure people might think twice about purchasing it if they called Belladonna by its other name, deadly nightshade. From Wikipedia [wikipedia.org]:

    Atropa belladonna, commonly known as belladonna or deadly nightshade, is a perennial herbaceous plant (rhizomatous hemicryptophyte) in the Nightshade family (which includes tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, etc.)

    And the first sentence under Toxicity:

    Belladonna is one of the most toxic plants found in the Eastern Hemisphere.

    I'm at a loss for words.

    • (Score: 2) by jdavidb on Wednesday February 01 2017, @05:24PM

      by jdavidb (5690) on Wednesday February 01 2017, @05:24PM (#461705) Homepage Journal
      Belladonna has been used as a painkiller for a long time, according to that article. And the tablets do seem to work, so apparently, as some have pointed out, there are levels of belladonna in the product beyond homeopathic levels. So I'm curious what those levels are and how consistent they are.
      --
      ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
    • (Score: 2) by dry on Thursday February 02 2017, @02:59AM

      by dry (223) on Thursday February 02 2017, @02:59AM (#461870) Journal

      It can't be that bad, otherwise our wonderful governments would have illegalized it as they have other harmful herbs.

    • (Score: 2) by butthurt on Thursday February 02 2017, @05:21AM

      by butthurt (6141) on Thursday February 02 2017, @05:21AM (#461887) Journal

      The article you linked has seven paragraphs enumerating uses for the plant, or extracts of it, in conventional medicine.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atropa_belladonna#Medicinal_uses [wikipedia.org]