Time to make some predictions…

In a few days, at exactly 10:23 on January 30th, over 300 skeptics (well, sceptics, because they are in the UK) are going to take part in a massive homeopathic “overdose”.

The folks putting it together are over at 1023.org have this to say:

Sceptics and consumer rights activists will publicly swallow an entire bottle of homeopathic ‘pillules’ to demonstrate that these ‘remedies’, prepared according to a long-discredited 18th century ritual, are nothing but sugar pills.

The protest will raise public awareness about the reality of homeopathy, and put further pressure on Boots to live up to its responsibilites as the ’scientist on the high street’ and stop selling treatments which do not work.

I am going to try to amass a St. Louis version of this even, but I have to work fast, because this is only in 11 days!

I have a few predictions to make:

1. This will not dissuade the true believers of homeopathy.
2. True believers will claim that this experiment is invalid, or they will screech that we “don’t understand homeopathy” or they will insist that an overdose isn’t possible, or make up all sorts of silly excuses as to why the mass overdose somehow demonstrates nothing.
3. We’ll be accused of being shills for “big pharma”.

I’ve started collecting patent medicines – you know, liniments and female pills and camphor and laxatives from the 1800’s – Most of this stuff we consider bunk today, as it was made back in the day when anyone and everyone could patent medicines without verifying that their claims were real. The history of patent medicine is completely fascinating to me.

For some really good info on patent medicines, you can visit the Smithsonian exhibit on the latter.

Homeopathy is patent medicine. It’s a throwback to the days when medicines were sold unregulated, unchecked and untested. I suppose some snake oil was bound to survive the glorious days before drug regulation – especially when homeopathy practitioners managed to convince the FDA that homeopathy needs no regulation beyond labeling restrictions (homeopathy is only allowed to be labeled as a curative for nonspecific ailments or self-limiting conditions). At any rate, having hundreds of skeptics swallow bottles of homeopathic remedies should certainly get the attention of someone.