True to his craft, magician and outspoken skeptic James Randi has a way of grabbing one’s attention: Throwing down the gauntlet to proponents of homeopathic drugs, this weekend he consumed what should by dosage have been a massive overdose of homeopathic sleeping pills. Whereas a corresponding amount of Ambien might have finished him off, Randi found himself unaffected, which was of course his point.
In the video below, Randi challenges any homeopathic drug manufacturer to prove that their drugs actually work, and says that he’ll give them one million dollars of his own money if they’re successful. Of course, he doesn’t think he’ll be parting with his money any time soon:
Consumers have the right to know what they are buying … No one should walk out of a drugstore with a homeopathic product without knowing these basic facts: There is no credible evidence that the product does what it says. There is not one bit — not a single atom — of the claimed ‘active ingredient’ in the package, and no U.S. health agency has tested or approved the product.
(LA Times via Reason | Randi.org)
Published: Feb 7, 2011 12:00 pm