This is the second post in a three-part series about the marketing of oscillococcinum. Part One is here; Part Three is here.
Lately, homeopathy has been showing up in mainstream drugstores, where customers can be misled, which brings us back to the mega-dilution of duck livers. (Well, more than mega, which only means 103; there is no adjective for 10400.)
Oscillococcinum, under the brand-name Oscillo, is now available at many large chain stores, including CVS, Rite-Aid, Walgreens, Target, Walmart, and Whole Foods. According to the French manufacturer Boiron, the “non-drowsy medicine” in Oscillo “is a convenient and reliable first choice for adults and children ages 2 and up” that “reduces the duration and severity of flu-like symptoms such as body aches, headache, fever, chills, and fatigue.” Only if you search for the asterisk at the bottom of Boiron’s webpage will you learn that “these ‘uses’ have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.” (The curious quote marks around “uses” are original and unexplained.)
There are ten big-box drug stores in Evanston and no remaining independents. Entering one chain outlet at random, I first passed aisles of beauty supplies, shampoo, greeting cards, and coffee filters. Turning right at the frozen pizza, I saw a red wall (the others are all white) with the large word PHARMACY above a long counter. Before the counter, there were aisles marked with various health-related signs, such as “Pain Relief” and “Allergy.”
Oscillo was on a shelf in the “Cold and Flu” section. I picked up a package, which listed the “active ingredient” as “Anas barbariae,” which looks like Latin but doesn’t actually mean anything. According to the label, Oscillo “reduces the duration and severity of flu symptoms." The most accurate claim on the label was that Oscillo is “non-drowsy” with “no drug interactions,” because, of course, there is nothing in it other than dextrose and lactose.
I showed the box to a pharmacist, explaining that I was a Northwestern professor working on an article. “Does this stuff work,” I asked. The pharmacist hesitated and sighed, quite evidently embarrassed: “We aren’t allowed to give opinions,” came the reply.
I didn’t press for an answer, or explore the limits of the prohibition, but there is an obvious problem here. Oscillo is stocked on drug store shelves near FDA approved medicines such as ibuprofen, omeprazole, and antihistamines. These over-the-counter remedies don’t require prescriptions, but they have still gone through clinical trials showing them safe and effective. There are other products – mostly herbs and supplements – that have not been FDA approved, but at least they have actual ingredients. Vitamin C tables have real vitamin C; gingko biloba and saw palmetto capsules do contain the listed active ingredients. Oscillococcinum has neither attribute.
Part Three in this series will be posted tomorrow.
"I first passed aisles of beauty supplies, shampoo, greeting cards, and coffee filters. Turning right at the frozen pizza, I saw a red wall (the others are all white) with the large word PHARMACY above a long counter."
Your excursion into a busy store sounds like a person describing a safari into the wilds of some undiscovered country. Were you fearful of the deplorables? Could you, as the famous agent said, smell them? Did any of them have teeth? Must be nice to live in a cocoon where one no longer needs to shop in busy stores, like all the little people do. How strange are their stores!
I have to agree with you about osccillo, but only to a certain degree. How is that this product is so popular in France, that enlightened, ever so superior country? (The snobbery in France makes law professors seem like humble beings by comparison.)
Wait a minute! Are the French all as ignorant as those people in that strange place called a "big box store"?
Excuse the wrong assumption. Despite the tone of the description of the "big box" store, and although such a place may be an unfamiliar or strange place to some, that unfamiliarity would be, in Evanston, likely based more on money and perceived status than politics.
The folks shopping in that store were likely nearly uniformly Democrats:
"In the 2012 presidential election, Democratic incumbent Barack Obama won 85% of Evanston's vote, compared to 13% for Republican challenger Mitt Romney.[27] In the 2016 Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton received 54% of the votes of Evanston Democrats to Bernie Sanders' 45%.[28] During that year's general election, Clinton won 87% of the vote in Evanston, while Republican and nationwide winner Donald Trump received 7%.[29] Evanston's turnout for presidential elections has grown steadily since 2004, with 80% of registered voters voting in the 2016 general election.
Accordingly, the smell of "trump voters" was unlikely present, and the shoppers, in the main, likely were not "deplorables" in the political sense.