Thanks for the correction! That's the 27 June article I meant - somehow I linked twice to the same 19 June article.
Another correction to what I wrote earlier: there has been only one court case, which ended in April, with the verdict that Rinileen had to disappear. However, the verdict also spoke about homeopathic medicine in general, and so the Minister has taken the consequence to outlaw health claims for all homeopathic medicines.
I just came back from shopping, and I looked at the shelves at the local supermarket (Albert Heijn) as well as a drug store (Kruidvat). I wanted to visit the local pharmacy too, but they're closed at 2PM on Saturdays.
I looked at the list of most popular homeopathic "medicines" from
this page I mentioned earlier, as well as Rinileen, the "medicine" that the court case specifically was about. I couldn't find Alchemilla-complex, the other five were present. I only looked at the text on the packaging, I haven't opened them to see what was on the information leaflet inside.
Suprisingly, Rinileen was present in the nasal spray form. The manufacturer, VSM, has an announcement they've taken the tablets out of their catalogue, and they recommend people now to use Nisyleen instead for sinusitis. The nasal spray doesn't mention sinusitis, but it does say "to breathe more freely through the nose", and "the included Echinacea activates your immune system for a quicker recovery". Interestingly, neither variant of Rinileen is present on the current list of homeopathic medicines of the CBG, the Dutch authority on medicines.
Echinaforce mentions on its packaging: "Homeopathic medicine for a weakened immune system, for flu or the common cold"
Spiroflor: "Homeopathic medicine for use with muscle pain and joint pain, a stiff neck or back, back pain or low back pain or pain from contusion"
Nisyleen: "Homeopathic medicine for flu and common cold", and actually mentions that "The efficacy of this medicine has not been judged by the CBG on scientific criteria".
Famosan: "Menopause total", and "helps against physical problems of the menopause"
I haven't jotted down which variant of each of these "medicines" I took those slogans from: they all come in various different forms with slightly differing claims. You can download the list of registered homeopathic "medicines"
at the CBG site here, and that list runs for 108 pages.
Anyway, from the above it's clear that the manufacturers still sport all kind of medicinal claims on their packaging. At the supermarket, I asked one of the employees whether she could help me with some questions - a supermarket which sells OTC drugs must have an employee with special training on staff. She couldn't answer my question whether the efficacy had been scientifically proven. I pointed specifically at the Nisyleen, and all she could do was grab the package and read the text on it.
But it turned out she was not the one with the special training - that employee was on holiday. I tried to ask the same at the drug store, but that employee was as dumb as a brick. Her answer was "well it's herbal and stuff" - I didn't feel like correcting her. I also asked at both stores if they'd heard about the change in the rules, but no. I'll try again at the supermarket in one or two weeks when the employee with the training is back.
Thanks very much for all that effort.
