FDA shuts down sales of homeopathic shots containing toxic lead, mercury, strychnine

[The FDA cracked down] on four homeopathic companies selling injectable products said to contain highly toxic substances, including lead, mercury, deadly nightshade, and strychnine.

These products—some meant to be injected directly into the bloodstream—are illegal and pose “serious risks to patient health,” the FDA said in an announcement. The agency also made public the warning letters it sent to each of the sellers, all dated June 11.

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Homeopathy is a pseudoscience that involves the erroneous belief that “like cures like”—meaning that if taking a toxic substance causes similar symptoms to a disease, the substance can be used to treat that disease. Homeopaths also believe that extreme dilutions of toxic substances increase their healing potency. As such, many homeopathic products are so diluted, they no longer contain a single molecule of the ingredient—they are just water. Still, some homeopaths absurdly claim that water molecules have “memory” of the ingredients they think are curative.

Because many homeopathic products are nothing more than water and fillers, they’ve often been disregarded as harmless placebos.

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The cases make the idea of homeopathic products meant to be injected directly into the body far more worrisome. Injected into the bloodstream, they can “bypass some of the body’s key natural defenses against toxins, toxic ingredients, and dangerous organisms that can cause serious and life-threatening harm,” the FDA wrote.

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