14th September 2015

In the US, the Food and Drug Administration has detailed requirements for the marketing of homeopathic materials. But just this year, that agency took comments on whether it should revisit its current regulatory scheme. Now, another regulatory agency is taking a look at whether it's being too lenient on homeopaths.

Next Monday, the Federal Trade Commission will examine how homeopathic "remedies" are marketed. (We'll use "remedies" to refer to the materials at issue here; this should not be taken to imply they can effectively remedy anything.) The hearings, which will be open to the public, are motivated by the changing homeopathy market. Rather than being made by individual practitioners, homeopathic remedies are now mass-produced and have become a multibillion-dollar business in the US.