Homeopathic Drugs found in US Drinking Water

Following recent discoveries that prescription drugs - including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones – have been found in drinking water across the U.S., it has just been revealed that another team has found homeopathic drugs in American tap water:

In the course of a five-month inquiry, our teams tested the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas for numerous homeopathic remedies including Arsenicum Album, Belladonna, Kali Carbonicum and Aurum Metallicum. Despite multiple testing scenarios, and despite using the most advanced and sensitive equipment available, we were not able to find even one molecule of the homeopathic remedies in any of the tap water samples we examined. While this would not be a problem with conventional medicines, homeopathic remedies are stronger the more dilute they are. This means that samples of water we tested containing zero molecules of, for example Arsenicum Album, would be Arsenicum Album at the maximum strength possible.  Homeopaths believe this could present real risks to the American public who could be unknowingly consuming many different powerful homeopathic drugs combined in their morning tea or coffee.

How did no molecules of homeopathic drugs manage to get into the drinking supply? The exact reason is unknown, but it is thought that a big homeopathic corporation probably flushed some water down the sink. American waste water treatment plants remove all but trace contaminants from the drinking water supply, but currently they have no way to even recognize drugs at homeopathic dilutions, let alone to not remove the molecules they don’t contain. Even more shockingly, the federal government has not set safety limits for not containing no molecules of homeopathic drugs in drinking water. Only now are people asking, "why not?"

Homeopaths were quick to respond to the reports.  When asked what to do if you suspect your drinking water is contaminated with homeopathic drugs, a leading homeopath responded "whatever you do, don't dilute it, that'll only make things worse".  The Society of Homeopaths - the body responsible for policing homeopathic ethics - was quick to take action against the persons they considered responsible.  They immediately threatened to sue any internet Service Provider who allowed the story to be published. Out of habit, Netcetera told The Quackometer to remove all his homeopathy posts.

Many independent scientists are skeptical that pure water with no molecules of a drug, can cause any harm. Stephan Nouvelle, of the Neoroblogica website, was quoted as saying:

Such homeopathic notions have no basis in reality, and modern scientific investigations of homeopathic remedies, coupled with two centuries of science confirms the common sense idea that dilution weakens potency. The EPA is just trying to frighten the American public with this absurd story about zero molecules being potentized and dangerous.

But Nouvelle was in the minority.

However, it appears a solution may be to hand. A homeopath, writing in The Grauniad, noted:

The EPA seems to think that homeopathic remedies are prepared by diluting substances. They omit the critical component of shaking ('succussion') between serial dilutions. This means that for a homeopathic remedy to be potentized, it has to be shaken by a qualified homeopath who then charges you a lot of money for doing so. Without this shaking and.. er… the money going to the homeopath… it’s just tap water.

The EPA concludes from this that tap water is safe to drink - just as long as you  don’t let a homeopath near it or pay them any money. Which is good advice at any time.

Comments

[Susan B.]

I'd be more worried about DHMO--dihydrogen monoxide. It's a substance that is found everything from pesticides to cancerous cells, and yet there are large quantities of it in our drinking water!

Also, isn't the solution to the problem of homeopathic drugs in the water obvious? Just dump huge quantities of undiluted drugs into the water until the potency goes down to a more reasonable level.

[blue collar scientist]

Hilarious!

[Mongrel]

Nice one.

Would be better if Quackometer was spelled correctly though ;)

[Martin]

Ha ha, that's brilliant - I laughed out loud and now the whole office thinks I'm weird...

[Skeptico]

Mongrel: Thanks - spelling corrected.

[Liz Ditz]

This made me laugh out loud.

Wouldn't the aeration of water-treatment count as succussion, anyway?

[bigjohn756]

It would be nice if you spelled Dr. Novella's name correctly, too.

[Hyper7]

Funny one!

[Skeptyk]

Heheh, I like that take on Steve's name: "Stephan Nouvelle"

Howza bout the rest of the SGU rogues? Rebekah Winston, Even Barnstorm...

[BobBarker]

I just had an idea: Homeopathic warfare. Just pour some antidote into rapids upstream from a water treatment center.

[athemax]

How does the homoepathic medicine know that the guy shaking the bottle is qualified or not ?
Smart water indeed, reading the above article the obvious question is why have not Osama and his crazy buddies bought into this idea, you can kill an entire city simply by believing that you've put poison into the water supply without actually doing it.
These guys have shown they can believe anything so this should be no problem for them.

[SmartDogs]

Fantastic. I studied water chemistry in grad school a few eons ago when we were first discovering trace amounts of pharmaceuticals in water. This new 'threat' should keep environmental chemists employed for a long time!

[Thomas]

I'm picturing the spooks at the U.S. Gestapo planning covert attacks on terrorists by putting zero molecules of remedies in drinking water in places with high concentrations of terrorists.

[_Arthur]

Vut homeopathic water has never any adverse effects or side effects, so it would be perfectly safe, diluted or not, shaken or stirred.

If worse come to be, it would cure people unbeknownst to them, and without a tithe to the succussers.

All the while, it will taste just like tap water.

[jdc]

Cracking post. If homeopathy were true we would all now be full of incredibly potent drugs. But wait. There's something else... the memory of faeces: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/feb/06/uk.politicalcolumnists>this from Simon Hoggart in the Guardian and http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansrd/cm080205/debtext/80205-0002.htm#08020538000086>this from Hansard. Not as dangerous as all those homeopathic pharmaceuticals (oxymoron?) in our water supply - but quite a disgusting thought all the same.

[Derek Colanduno]

For some more cool information about this 'scare' check out our episode of Skepticality that comes out this Monday evening. We do an interview with the man who actually DID the study that this news story came out of. He clears up just what all this hub-hub is REALLY about. :)

[Swoopy]

You can also check out our interview with Dr. Shane Snyder of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, who was quoted in the AP story on pharma and other substances in the water supply. The story is alarmist and leaves out a lot of stuff.

[Person]

You know, you really shouldn't tell people that homeopathy doesn't work. Unlike homeopathy, placebos have real, empirically proven effects, and you're just going to ruin all that by letting no molecules of cat out of the bag.

[EArthceuticals]

I think maybe James Bond was a closet homeopath. He always wanted his martinis shaken-not-stirred. :)

[King of Ferrets]

Unless you're watching You Only Live Twice, in which, according to the great and glorious Wikipedia, Bond orders his martini stirred, not shaken.

[King of Ferrets]

Begone, evil spam! Leave this place and never return! So sayeth the Ferret King!

[Big Al]

No, Bond is just a wuss who can't hold his liquor. Either that or he's worried about the old brewer's droop affecting his horizontal steeplechase performance. Night after night after night.

Diluted-drink-swilling weenie... that is, lucky diluted-drink-swilling weenie.