Ministry considers issuing warnings on homeopathic drugs
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
In the wake of a similar decision by the US Food & Drug Administration, the Health Ministry is considering requiring all homeopathic drugs to bear a warning that there is no scientific proof as to the effectiveness of the product.[If the FDA decides to change the status of homeopathic products,] we will examine it and its applicability in relation to the regulations in Israel,” said Health Ministry public health chief Prof. Itamar Grotto.Homeopathy is a system of alternative medicine established in 1796 by Samuel Hahnemann based on his doctrine of “Like cures like.” According to this unproven theory, a substance that causes the symptoms of a disease in healthy people would cure similar symptoms in sick people.Despite the lack of scientific proof, homeopathic preparations represent a large market in Israel, with high-profit sales in pharmacies and health-food stores.Asked to comment on the FDA decision, the ministry said all such products in Israel “are already marked as homeopathic products without an approved medical indication,” similar to European countries.In the US, however, there is no FDA supervision of homeopathic products and they are not approved by the regulatory body.
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