Small white, round pills are placed in a small brown glass bottle marked «Kalium sulfuricum D6». The note on the outside says that you should keep the pills away from children, and consult a doctor if your symptoms continue. What they are going to help with is not stated. It is not allowed. One thing that is legal – in fact required – is that Norwegian pharmacies must sell such pills. – When the pharmacy has a duty to deliver these drugs, I think many people perceive that then these are products that have a documented effect. That is not the case. That’s what Hanne Andresen, subject director of the Pharmacy Association, says. She wants an end to this scheme for homeopathic remedies. In addition to pills, they are available as cough syrup, nasal sprays and creams. They are used against skin ailments, inflammation and mental disorders, among other things. There’s just one problem with the drugs: they probably do not work. A quick story At the end of the 18th century, the German doctor and chemist Samuel Hahnemann was on a search. He believed that many of the usual treatments at that time were harmful to patients. Samuel Hahnemann is the founder of homeopathy. Here depicted in a daguerreotype, which is the first form of photography, in 1841. Photo: Unknown / Wikimedia Commons When he was around 40 years old, he launched a new method that should be better than bloodletting and leeches. He was just as happy to make his own law – the law of equality. It says that symptoms, such as headaches, can be treated with drugs that can create the same symptoms in a healthy person. By diluting this substance many times in water, it should help the body to heal itself. In addition, he shook the mixture together, preferably by hitting it against a leather bible. Homeopaths call this potentiation. They believe that the effect becomes stronger the more diluted the active substance is, even after there is no active substance left in the mixture. Graphics: Kristin Rydland / news Graphics: Kristin Rydland / news Today, homeopathic medicines are made in factories. They are made based on, for example, copper, squid ink, onions, parts of the Berlin Wall, lava from Hekla and duck liver. Is there an effect? – Homeopathic medicines are so diluted that they can not create a biological effect in humans, says Ola Lillenes in Nafkam. Nafkam stands for national research center for alternative medicine. With them, the conclusion is clear. They state that there is no solid evidence that homeopathic medicines actually make people healthy: It does not help against cancer, mental illness or sprained ankle. In March this year, researchers from Austria published a review of 193 homeopathic experiments that have been done in the last 20 years. They found that the vast majority of studies do not live up to scientific standards. The Norwegian authorities have also decided that it is not allowed to make medical claims on the packages of homeopathic medicines. The only thing those who make the medicines must document is that they are safe and secure to use. The Norwegian Medicines Agency requires that the active substances be diluted at least 10,000 times. Then it can not really have any effect, according to Dag Jordbru in the Norwegian Medicines Agency. – That is the point of the requirements that are set, he says. Nevertheless, it is claimed that the drugs have a special power to help the body. At the same time, they should be completely without side effects. Placebo effect is also an effect – Meeting someone who listens to you, and gives you the threat that now you will get something that helps, we know can have an effect, says Marte Kvittum Tangen in the Norwegian Association for General Practice. But she has no belief that there is any scientific evidence that homeopathic remedies work. Marte Kvittum Tangen is very skeptical of homeopathic medicines. Photo: Thomas B Eckhoff / The Norwegian Medical Association Kvittum Tangen also does not think it is enough that they can give a placebo effect. Her fear is that someone may use homeopathic medicines instead of going to the doctor. – It is especially scary with cancer patients who opt out of other effective treatment, which can have a direct consequence for life expectancy. On the shelf Most pharmacies do not have a large selection of homeopathic medicines. If you ask the people who work there for advice, you will probably be told that you need to go to a homeopath for help with what to buy. Today, homeopathic medicines can be sold without a prescription in stores and online. But sales in pharmacies have plummeted in the last ten years. Also at the importer Arnika, they have noticed the sharp decline. Nevertheless, pharmacies must still deliver homeopathic medicines to Norwegians who want it. Among those who run the pharmacies and professionals who work there, the attitude is clear. – Selling homeopathic medicines, which are sugar with water, is very much contrary to the professionalism that we have built up, says Urd Andestad in the Norwegian Pharmaceutical Association. She thinks it is challenging that they have to sell products, which they know do not have active substances in them, to people who need health care. Trur release will increase sales Torleiv Idsøe Holst is a homeopath and general manager of Arnika. It is Norway’s largest importer of homeopathic medicines. He believes that there is a lot of good research that shows that homeopathy works. He also believes that there are strong forces that want to get rid of homeopathy, but that those who want to reduce the use of the offer choose the wrong strategy. – If you release it from the definition of drug, I’m pretty sure that sales will go up, says Holst. There are only a few pharmacies in Norway that have a large selection of homeopathic medicines in stock. Photo: Sverre Lilleeng / news Holst says that most pharmacies have a long ordering time and are cumbersome for those who want to buy it. Change may come Norwegian authorities can not decide on their own whether these are medicines or not. It is regulated through EU rules. But Norway can make rules for where this is to be sold. Dag Jordbru at the Norwegian Medicines Agency says this may be part of a study that will be ready for Christmas. – Now we will wait for this pharmacy law committee, and then we will look at whether the time is ripe to perhaps suggest whether we should possibly change the delivery obligation.
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The pharmacies will no longer be forced to sell homeopathy medicines – news Trøndelag
