Encyclopedia of Opinion
Question
Does homeopathy work?
Position2 of 2
No. homeopathy does not work
Argument1 of 2

Homeopathic dilution is falsely advertised

In the US, it is now a law that homeopathic companies cannot mislead their consumers by claiming that a specific medicine or element is contained within the solution when it is not.

The argument

For many years, homeopaths selling their alternative medicine to consumers have labeled their products with the elements or chemical agents supposedly contained within the solutions, but in 2016, the United States outlawed homeopathic manufacturers from doing so. This simply shows the level of deceit and manipulation to which these homeopaths are willing to descend. The actual amount of "sulfur" in a small vial of homeopathic water is so laughable that the government stepped in and said that such treatment of the customer is illegal and immoral. When the law comes into play, some seriously shady underpinnings within homeopathy are beneath the surface. Not only did the scientific community completely reject the pseudo-science, but so did the United States government.

Premises

[P1]Homeopaths long labelled products with the elements supposedly contained in them, but in 2016 the United States outlawed this practice. [P2] The actual amount of an active ingredient like sulfur in a homeopathic vial is negligible, which is why regulators deemed such labelling deceptive and illegal. [P3] This regulatory intervention exposes the deceit underlying homeopathy's claims. [C] Therefore, homeopathy does not work and its marketing misrepresents its contents.

Counter-arguments

The United States government has banned the consumption of alcohol before - does that make it morally righteous or self-explanatory? Not only is the government taking away medicine that could be saving the lives of those who take it, but the interjection of government into the private sector is dangerous for other products that the government arbitrarily deems "un-scientific." The individual seller should be able to put anything they want on the labels of their own products, and the government has no right to intervene within that area of free-market exchange. Homeopathy has not been definitively debunked by unbiased scientific research organizations, so the government should not create laws around aspects of science that it has no knowledge of.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P2] There is no definitive refutation of homeopathy by the scientific community and, within the free market, a seller should be able to sell to the consumer what he/she wants. [Rejecting P3] Homeopathy should not necessarily be discouraged.