News1 min ago
Should pharmacies sell quackery?
33 Answers
My local pharmacy, part of well-known chain which is now owned by a very famous pharmaceutical company, is selling magnetic bracelets and suchlike under the guise of 'Magnet Therapy'.
I wrote to the manager about it but received no reply or acknowledgement. I then wrote to Head Office and received one of those public-relations, anodyne replies containing weasel-words like 'appropriate'. I am now taking the matter up with a more senior member of the company. My argument is this:
Just up the road is a shop called 'Beyond The Senses' (which I naturally call 'Beyond All Sense') which sells lucky charms, magic crystals, Tarot cards and the like, and arranges 'psychic' sessions. This magnetic quackery would not be out of place there.
But when people go to a respectable pharmacist they are entitled to receive good sound medical advice and not be sold the equivalent of snake-oil, eye of newt and toe of frog.
Proper trials have shown that static magnets have no therapeutic effect whasoever. The US Food and Drug Administration, for example, prohibits the marketing of any magnetic product using medical claims, as such claims are unfounded. The fact that Aunt Priscilla swears that one of those bracelets cured the arthritis in her wrist is purely anecdotal and worth nothing as evidence.
I am also writing to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain to ask for their views and to my local Trading Standards Officer to find out what the law is in the matter.
The question is, fellow ABers, am I fussing too much?
I wrote to the manager about it but received no reply or acknowledgement. I then wrote to Head Office and received one of those public-relations, anodyne replies containing weasel-words like 'appropriate'. I am now taking the matter up with a more senior member of the company. My argument is this:
Just up the road is a shop called 'Beyond The Senses' (which I naturally call 'Beyond All Sense') which sells lucky charms, magic crystals, Tarot cards and the like, and arranges 'psychic' sessions. This magnetic quackery would not be out of place there.
But when people go to a respectable pharmacist they are entitled to receive good sound medical advice and not be sold the equivalent of snake-oil, eye of newt and toe of frog.
Proper trials have shown that static magnets have no therapeutic effect whasoever. The US Food and Drug Administration, for example, prohibits the marketing of any magnetic product using medical claims, as such claims are unfounded. The fact that Aunt Priscilla swears that one of those bracelets cured the arthritis in her wrist is purely anecdotal and worth nothing as evidence.
I am also writing to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain to ask for their views and to my local Trading Standards Officer to find out what the law is in the matter.
The question is, fellow ABers, am I fussing too much?
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you sooo defo fussing,however bet the staff that dealt with your"concern" had good laugh!perhaps you should go back to the pharmacy and see if they stock bach rescue remedy...used in time of emotional need??im sorry for not taking this as serious as you however im a bit more in touch with the real issues going on in and around the country just now.
A magnetic bracelet and a copper bracelet are two different things, one works the other doesn't! I mentioned on a thread a few days ago that 15 people who wore these magnetic bracelets out of all the people in the bowls clubs and golf clubs my parents attended, 13 ended up with cancer including my parents. Coincidence maybe but the rest of the family won't touch one never mind wear one. This might be worth your while checking up on them chakka...
Well pharmacies have sold lots of officially approved quackery that resulted in people dying. Don't see any harm in the other stuff.
The first test of any medication is to exceed the efficacy of the placebo which works remarkably well. What is wrong with selling placebos?
I actually had great results with a magnetic wrist strap. I had an ordinary elastic wrist support at home but my wrist was aching so bad at work one day and the pharmacy only had the magnetic strap.
So what do you do even if you don't believe in it. That strap gave me more relief than my elastic one and after wearing it a few times I haven't neeed any in the over two years since.
I don't care why it worked but it worked for me.
The first test of any medication is to exceed the efficacy of the placebo which works remarkably well. What is wrong with selling placebos?
I actually had great results with a magnetic wrist strap. I had an ordinary elastic wrist support at home but my wrist was aching so bad at work one day and the pharmacy only had the magnetic strap.
So what do you do even if you don't believe in it. That strap gave me more relief than my elastic one and after wearing it a few times I haven't neeed any in the over two years since.
I don't care why it worked but it worked for me.
All I know is that two people in my office (myself included) cannot go without a copper bracelet. In my case one with magnets.
Two years ago I bought my bracelet. Before then my hands would swell so much others would notice. I had been unable to take my wedding ring off for over a year or more. The day after buying my bracelet my ring fell off my finger. If I had not noticed it I would have lost it.
Anecdotal? To you yes. To me - I would never take off my bracelet.
Two years ago I bought my bracelet. Before then my hands would swell so much others would notice. I had been unable to take my wedding ring off for over a year or more. The day after buying my bracelet my ring fell off my finger. If I had not noticed it I would have lost it.
Anecdotal? To you yes. To me - I would never take off my bracelet.
Thank you all for those interesting replies. Time for me to respond, I think.
Ignoring negative comments like �you need to get out more� and �you have nothing else to do� which, like their companion �get a life�, are just flip substitutes for thought, here goes:
1.I don�t know about mascara, anti-wrinkle cream, nit shampoo and suchlike, but, responding in the same tongue-in-cheek spirit in which I�m sure they were raised, I would suggest that if they were sold as medical therapies and have been proved to be worthless then you might like to complain too. Or not. I will steel myself to stick to magnets. (Ho, ho.)
2. keyplus, you missed the point about anecdotal �evidence� being worthless. I�ll explain it in a later post if you like. And isn�t it a little arrogant of you (�I don�t give a damn about��) to assume that your singular personal experience is worth more than the considered opinion of the US Food and Drugs people who have the results of all those double-blind, placebo tests at their disposal?
3. No,LoftyLottie, they don�t give an honest answer. PR at Head Office (what the hell, I�ll shame them) Boots Head Office still defends magnet �therapy�. Which is why I am writing to a very senior person there.
4. daniela, copper is not sold by my local pharmacy and therefore is not part of this.
As for �snake-oil�, that is what 19th-century quacks used to sell, claiming that it cured everything from leprosy to in-growing toenail. Eye of newt and toe of frog are two of the ingredients of the witches� brew in Macbeth(Act IV.Sc 1).
(cont�d)
Ignoring negative comments like �you need to get out more� and �you have nothing else to do� which, like their companion �get a life�, are just flip substitutes for thought, here goes:
1.I don�t know about mascara, anti-wrinkle cream, nit shampoo and suchlike, but, responding in the same tongue-in-cheek spirit in which I�m sure they were raised, I would suggest that if they were sold as medical therapies and have been proved to be worthless then you might like to complain too. Or not. I will steel myself to stick to magnets. (Ho, ho.)
2. keyplus, you missed the point about anecdotal �evidence� being worthless. I�ll explain it in a later post if you like. And isn�t it a little arrogant of you (�I don�t give a damn about��) to assume that your singular personal experience is worth more than the considered opinion of the US Food and Drugs people who have the results of all those double-blind, placebo tests at their disposal?
3. No,LoftyLottie, they don�t give an honest answer. PR at Head Office (what the hell, I�ll shame them) Boots Head Office still defends magnet �therapy�. Which is why I am writing to a very senior person there.
4. daniela, copper is not sold by my local pharmacy and therefore is not part of this.
As for �snake-oil�, that is what 19th-century quacks used to sell, claiming that it cured everything from leprosy to in-growing toenail. Eye of newt and toe of frog are two of the ingredients of the witches� brew in Macbeth(Act IV.Sc 1).
(cont�d)
(cont�d)
4. daniela, copper is not sold by my local pharmacy and therefore is not part of this.
As for �snake-oil� that is what 19th-century quacks used to sell, claiming that it cured everything from leprosy to in-growing toenail. Eye of newt and toe of frog are two of the ingredients of the witches� brew in Macbeth(Act IV.Sc 1).
5. I am attracted by the argument concerning the placebo effect, but I am still uncomfortable. Placebos have their use as tools in a double-blind test but anyone offering them as therapies relies on the ignorance of the patient: if that patient had bothered to check up, he or she would know that they were useless, and the placebo effect would therefore not work.
6. �What does it matter if they do no harm� is also tempting, but how do we know how many people put off seeking genuine medical attention because of magnets? This has happened, sometimes with tragic results, with other quackeries like homeopathy, acupuncture and the like. Also on that basis, a pharmacist could fill his shop with all sorts of witches-brew rubbish providing they were safe. How would we tell the dross from the genuine?
**
Maybe I am fussing too much but I still think that these devices would be OK in the �psychic� shop: people who go there must expect to be conned.
But a professional pharmacist should not con people.
4. daniela, copper is not sold by my local pharmacy and therefore is not part of this.
As for �snake-oil� that is what 19th-century quacks used to sell, claiming that it cured everything from leprosy to in-growing toenail. Eye of newt and toe of frog are two of the ingredients of the witches� brew in Macbeth(Act IV.Sc 1).
5. I am attracted by the argument concerning the placebo effect, but I am still uncomfortable. Placebos have their use as tools in a double-blind test but anyone offering them as therapies relies on the ignorance of the patient: if that patient had bothered to check up, he or she would know that they were useless, and the placebo effect would therefore not work.
6. �What does it matter if they do no harm� is also tempting, but how do we know how many people put off seeking genuine medical attention because of magnets? This has happened, sometimes with tragic results, with other quackeries like homeopathy, acupuncture and the like. Also on that basis, a pharmacist could fill his shop with all sorts of witches-brew rubbish providing they were safe. How would we tell the dross from the genuine?
**
Maybe I am fussing too much but I still think that these devices would be OK in the �psychic� shop: people who go there must expect to be conned.
But a professional pharmacist should not con people.
I must respond again Chakka. I bought my bracelet having tried several medications including high doses of steroids. (Prescribed). The latter worked but who wants to take them forever?
I bought the bracelet just to try it out - but did not hold out much faith. Within 24 hours my ring fell off my finger. I've not suffered since and I have taken no more medication. This is after almost 2 years.
I cannot say they work for everyone or indeed anyone else, but they work for me.
I bought the bracelet just to try it out - but did not hold out much faith. Within 24 hours my ring fell off my finger. I've not suffered since and I have taken no more medication. This is after almost 2 years.
I cannot say they work for everyone or indeed anyone else, but they work for me.
Exactly,sandmaster, it worked for you. Just as keyplus's worked for him.
If I were to advise 100 people with ailments to bury chicken bones in the garden when a full moon occurs on a Thursday it would 'work' for two or three of those people, in that their ailment would be relieved afterwards, regardless of the actual reason.
Would that be a reason to make money by selling the idea to thousands of others?
It is to resolve such claims that we have extensive double-blind trials.
If I were to advise 100 people with ailments to bury chicken bones in the garden when a full moon occurs on a Thursday it would 'work' for two or three of those people, in that their ailment would be relieved afterwards, regardless of the actual reason.
Would that be a reason to make money by selling the idea to thousands of others?
It is to resolve such claims that we have extensive double-blind trials.
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