- cross-posted to:
- news@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- news@lemmy.world
FUCKING FINALLY.
that shit (phenylephrine) is USELESS GARBAGE. It went on our shelves because cops are mad about meth. It did NOTHING for congestion. The ONLY effect it has is mildly increasing the risk of a heart attack.
(does not apply to topical usage–still great for hemorrhoids, preparation H works)
Never heard of phenylephrine but we have shit over in Europe too that does fuck-all, like that “homeopathic” bullcrap. Last time i went to visit my grandma i happened to have a cold and she immediately tried giving me some stuff called “oscillococcinum”. I was immediately suspicious when i looked over the packaging, i looked it up, and turns out it’s basically nothing but sugar claiming to be imbued with some magic properties thanks to “trace” (read ZERO) amounts of something or other.
Pisses me the fuck off…they advertise the shit out of it on TV and they get gullible old people to waste their money. And their pensions are already meager in eastern Europe, they don’t need to be scammed out of their money with placebo pills. Tried to convince my grandma to stop buying the stuff but i think all i managed to do was make her mad at me :(
Homeopathic stuff is even worse than this, beyond being useless, it’s just NOTHING. ABSOLUTELY should not be allowed to exist.
The problem with phenylephrine here, is that it is an Actual Drug that does Actual Things, just not remotely the thing it claims to do. Due to a widespread attempt to ban pseudoephedrine because meth, something needed to fill that gap as the “safe” decongestant. Industry put forward phenylephrine, a vasoconstrictor commonly uses in topical applications, forced it through government approval because regulatory capture, then police and political forces used its existence to justify bans on pseudoephedrine. Something that worked great was made illegal/hard to obtain (talk to a pharmacist, scan a card, only a week of pills at a time; if not explicitly banned), but industry still got their precious dollars.
The German health minister finally had the nerve to suggest that health insurance should stop paying for homeopathic remedies (because it’s a two hundred year old grift) and people got really upset.
Insanity. How is this scam still a thing in the 21st century?!
Because people don’t trust the pharmaceutical industry. Whether they’re right to is a different conversation but the starting point is that they just don’t.
As we know, capital co-opts everything, especially criticisms of capital.
Homeopathy went out of favour once germ theory was established. From what I gather it was more or less dormant for a hundred years, then came back with the 1960s/70s counterculture movement and scepticism of modern pharmaceuticals. From then on it was turned into a huge (grift) industry of its own.
Germans also love anthroposophic remedies, which originated from a guy who would have been a Nazi had he only lived a bit longer.
This will make people seek these out more because “what is the government hiding from us?!?!?!1”. Stock up now and resell to chuds later.
Came here hoping it was the bullshit made by a school teacher or whatever. Like how the hell does that qualify you to make medicine?
Sorry, that’s classified as a supplement, so it’s going nowhere assuming you mean the packets containing obscene amounts of vitamin c.