Safety first!

I’m always tempted to write this sort of thing off as “homeopathy is a tax on people who don’t understand chemistry… or arithmetic… or homeopathy”, but styes can be painful, and even I have my limits on how much exploitation of woo followers I’m willing to give a pass.

I have a question for knee-jerk defenders of the FDA: I have long advocated a European style policy wherein pharmaceuticals and medical devices have to pass government standards for safety, but not for efficacy. (There is a reason the European medical device market is many years ahead of the US’s)

If you happen to be one of the folks who are opposed to such a policy (I.e., if you believe FDA approval should be contingent on evidence or both safety and efficacy), how do you square that with a policy wherein the FDA allows homeopathic products to be sold to poorly informed consumers as though they could plausibly treat symptoms?