Comment and Opinion

Boiron

Speaking of lawyers ... (20/8/2011)
There is a very large company in France which appears to exist solely to defraud its customers. It is Boiron, and they manufacture homeopathic "medicines". Their biggest selling product is an influenza treatment called called Oscillococcinum 200C. It is made from duck liver, and the 200C part of the name says that there is not a single molecule of anything duck-related in the bottle. In fact, it says that there is not a single molecule of anything except water in the bottle. Unfortunately, the 200C admission of uselessness and fraud is as far as truth in labelling goes. The manufacture of 200C anything requires 800 manufacturing steps, so it is highly unlikely that Boiron do anything more than make sure the water they bottle is clean and sterile enough not to cause any health problems in the marks who buy the stuff. It is also certain that the ducks of the world are safe, because one duck could provide enough liver for many decades, maybe centuries, of raw material.

To put 200C into perspective, a homeopathic preparation at 40C would only need one atom of active ingredient in the entire universe. 200C is a concentration of one atom in the number of universes which has 320 zeros in it. Or, put another way, 200C is something totally unachievable. To say that it has been made is evidence that the speaker is either deranged or lying. Boiron makes a lot of money, so we can assume they are not deranged.

Boiron have decided that they don't like it being pointed out that their best-selling product has nothing in it except water and their customers could save money by turning on a tap, so they have sued an Italian blogger for defaming them.

Here are some facts about Oscillococcinum 200C:

• There is no active ingredient in the bottles sold to customers
• There is not even a remote possibility that it can have any effect on the flu
• It is virtually impossible to believe that Boiron go through the farce of the 800 manufacturing processes needed to make the stuff
• Boiron know what is actually in the bottles and that the product is useless, but they sell it anyway because it makes a lot of money for them
• The red duck curry I paid $17.50 for in a Thai restaurant last night contained more duck than the total amount ever used by Boiron to make all the Oscillococcinum they have ever made
• Boiron sue people because that is the preferred tactic of people who cannot back up their "scientific" claims and therefore require the secrecy to be maintained.
• Homeopathy is fraud, and the people who make and sell the products know this and willingly participate in the deception.