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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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 01 2017, @09:28PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 01 2017, @09:28PM (#461803)

    If [natural medicine] was real medicine, the onus would be on the provider showing that it is safe.

    And just who is going to front the millions of dollars required to prove to the [arbitrary government standards] that the "medicine" is "safe"?

    If I find out that chewing tree leaves makes pain go away, and I want to buy those leaves, then get the hell out of my way and let me spend my own earned resources on a product someone else is selling. As long as there is no fraud and no gross negligence, then there is no crime.

    The FDA just tried to ban tree leaves [scientificamerican.com] by making them decades-long-felonies to possess. The outpouring of unexpected outrage from people actually caused a change in government policy, a rescinding of said emergency ban attempt [latimes.com]. (Like rust, however, government is ultimately unceasing in its invasiveness and destruction of good things, and therefore it is expected that its efforts to impose a tree leaf ban will continue, most likely when it is anticipated that normal people have stopped paying close attention.)