One Girl Revolution Does Not Endorse This Product...

Yesterday I was reading my new issue of Parenting "School Years" magazine when I came upon the "tipsntrends.com" page. The entire page is basically about 10 mini-ads laid out to look like an article. It is clearly marked "promotion" though - meaning someone paid them to include their 'hot' and 'trendy' product. Mostly I find these items to be harmless (Gummy Bear Vitamins) or even cute (a onesie that says 'iPood' on the butt). Then I came across:

Bach Kids Natural Remedies

For $12.95 a pop for a 10 ml bottle (plus shipping & handling) You can get Dr. Bach's Confidence Remedy. It promises that their "doctor created medicine" will instill a "greater sense of self-esteem when you feel inferior, fear failure or lack confidence." All of this without a drop of alcohol! That's right - step right up folks and just a few droppers full of Larch (a cone from a tree) will do the trick!

Got a kid with his/her head in the clouds? No worries - just a few droppers of Day Dream Remedy will set him/her straight. Clematis (a flower) will "help you live more actively in the present rather than in the future or your own dreamworld." Don't let the pharmaceutical companies who are pushing their ADHD medicines down thousands of kid's throats hear about this one!

Here's more good news about Clematis, also known as the "pepper vine": The entire genus contains essential oils and compounds which are extremely irritating to the skin and mucous membranes. The compounds in clematis cause internal bleeding of the digestive tract if ingested in large amounts and the plants are essentially toxic. (source: Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West, Gregory L. Tilford, ISBN 0-87842-359-1)

I was amazed - no, astounded - that this product was being promoted by what I considered a reputable magazine that people turn to for sound advice and recommendations. Yes, it is a paid advertisement - not an actual article promoting the wonders of these magic potions, but by just having this advertisement in their magazine they are implying their approval of it. The publishers can turn away products like this and in my opinion they should have. You know the old saying about a sucker being born every minute? Well, I think that more than applies to whomever might decide to purchase these items.

Knowing I wanted to talk about this in my blog, I did some online research: The remedies, developed by Edward Bach an English physician and homeopath in the 1930s, contain a very small amount of flower material in a 50:50 solution of water and brandy. Because the remedies are extremely dilute they do not have a characteristic scent or taste of the plant. Vendors state that the remedies contain the "energetic" nature of the flower and that this can be transmitted to the user. Two reviews of clinical trials of Bach flower remedies found no support for effects beyond a placebo effect.

Apparently, rather than being based on research using the scientific method, Bach's flower remedies were intuitively derived and based on his perceived psychic connections to the plants. If Bach felt a negative emotion, he would hold his hand over different plants, and if one alleviated the emotion, he would ascribe the power to heal that emotional problem to that plant.

Feel any better about dropping that magical elixir down your kids throat yet?

Now, I am not some closed minded person when it comes to the occult and 'other worldly' phenomenon. I want to believe, like Mulder & I like getting my tarot cards read. I just don't think some traveling charlatan's 1930's snake oil should be advertised in a national magazine which influences parent's decisions on matters of health.

Attention future "Dr. Bach's"; a co-worker of mine, with whom I shared this advertisement with, sighed and said "I wish they had an elixir which created day dreams. I don't have those anymore."

Somewhere a new product line is being created...