Saturday 6 June 2020

"Mr Homeopathy" and his magic COVID-19 remedy

"Mr Homeopathy" is Dana Ullman, a California based lay homeopath.
DANA ULLMAN, MPH, CCH, is one of America’s leading advocates for homeopathy. He has authored 10 books, including The Homeopathic Revolution: Why Famous People and Cultural Heroes Choose HomeopathyHomeopathy A-ZHomeopathic Medicines for Children and InfantsDiscovering Homeopathy, and (the best-selling) Everybody’s Guide to Homeopathic Medicines (with Stephen Cummings, MD). Dana also created an e-course How to Use a Homeopathic Medicine Kit which integrates 80 short videos (averaging 15 minutes) with his famous ebook that is a continually growing resource to 300+ clinical studies published in peer-review medical journals testing homeopathic medicines. This ebook combines the descriptions of these studies with practical clinical information on how to use homeopathic medicines for 100+ common ailments. This ebook is entitled Evidence Based Homeopathic Family Medicine, and it is an invaluable resource. Dana has been certified in classical homeopathy by the leading organization in the U.S. for professional homeopaths.He is the founder of Homeopathic Educational Services, America’s leading resource center for homeopathic books, tapes, medicines, software, and correspondence courses. Homeopathic Educational Services has co-published over 35 books on homeopathy with North Atlantic Books. 
Dana writes a regular column for the wildly popular website, www.huffingtonpost.com(to access these articles, click HERE!)
But clicking "HERE!" doesn't take you to his column. It was removed from HuffPost a long time ago.

It's not clear where the "Mr Homeopathy" epithet came from. But it's not of any real interest. It's diificult to determine how important and influential is in the US and globally. Probably much less than he and his supporters would like to believe.

It is not intended to delve into Ullman's past. The focus here is COVID-19 and his understanding of US regulations/legislation.

The Problem
Ullman's website sells a China nosode 200C. Ullman tells us -
To clarify, the source of this medicine is from a respected homeopathic pharmacy that sells only to professional homeopaths.  They obtained the original source material from the sputum of 13 Chinese patients.
and -
Manufactured by a respected American homeopathic pharmacy who has received third party authentication. 
We are not allowed to provide “indications for use,” though a homeoprophylaxis protocol will be provided with each order.

Some have called COVID-19 "China flu". It is a coronavirus, not an influenza virus and WHO guidance suggests that geographic naming of diseases is not best practice. 

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is cracking down on bogus treatments for COVID-19. There have been a number of warning letters sent to homeopathy vendors including Kari Kindem. An archived version of the offending website tells us -


The current circulating Coronavirus Nosode is a homeopathic nosode that is made from the current circulating strain that started in late 2019 , now named “COVID-19”. 
All homeopathic remedies are highly diluted and are non-toxic. 
When a homeopathic remedy is so highly diluted and succussed, they do not contain a single molecule of the original material. Instead they contain an energetic signature. 
The Coronavirus 2019 nosode  is 100% safe and non-toxic and is made according to strict pharmacopeia guidelines at a highly reputable, licensed USA lab.
The homeoprophylaxis dosing method recommended and used for the Coronavirus 2019 is a similar type of method that used for short term homeoprophylaxis programs for many other infections diseases in HP programs for all ages, including for infants and children, college and medical students, mission workers, business travelers and tourists. 
The HP method will help to stimulate the body to recognize the current circulating COVID-19 strain and help to increase a person’s natural immunity to it.
And 
Coronavirus Nosode: For those living in the USA, we offer the use of the homeopathic nosode for homeoprophylaxis  purposes. This remedy can be used for general immune boosting for those living in areas with actual diagnosed Coronavirus cases or those living in larger cities with the potential of higher levels of exposure to such cases.
And 


Family Purchase With Our Supervision: The cost for HP supervision for short term (6 months) Coronavirus homeoprophylaxis is $49 per family and includes: 
A 1 dram vial with about 140 #30 size pills of the Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) homeopathic nosode in a 200C potency. 
You have access to a one (1) time download of detailed written dosing instructions and other information about the main homeopathic remedies and suggested dosing for Coronavirus. 
Purchase includes 7 days of email access for dosing questions NOT COVERED IN THE DOSING INSTRUCTIONS PROVIDED from the date of receipt of the product. Additional questions after this period are charged per day. 
You will receive information about how to purchase after your information is reviewed.  Please be patient as we have many requests.
It's not clear if this is the same product as Ullman is selling. Ullman does not make the claims that Kindem does but the intention is clear. Whether the FDA would act against Ullman is unknown.

Regulation
Ullman knows something of regulation. His article The End of Homeopathy is NOT Near! talks about the misinformation put about by some parties such as Americans for Homeopathy Choice (mentioned in this previous post).

Possibly Ullman is ignorant of other elements of regulation or perhaps he doesn't think they apply to him? This blog has looked at US regulation several times in the past (here and here) and the status of nosodes was discussed here. In short, most nosodes are not considered OTC. They are de facto prescription only. The supply to/by lay homeopaths is illegal. Lay homeopaths are not recognised in any State. They have no prescribing rights.

Oh dear
It doesn't look good. Ullman is suggesting that inert sugar pills can prevent COVID-19. The supply of them to the public by him is legally questionable. It is the kind of thing his critics would have a field day with and might even attract the attention of the media. The legal/regulatory outcomes for Ullman are likely minor but he would be well advised to stop selling the product. 

The identity of the "respected homeopathic pharmacy" isn't known but is of greater concern. The legal/regulatory outcomes could be a lot worse for them.

UPDATE: 18/06/2020
Not long after this post was published the China 200C nosode disappeared from Ullman's online store. This could be coincidence. Whether Ullman would still sell it to a member of the public is unknown. "Mystery shopping" isn't a tactic used by this blog - others are better at that kind of thing. 

No comments:

Post a Comment