Looking Out To Sea

David Colquhuon points to a fabulous story from the French medicines regulatory authority. It seems they are recalling two homeopathic preparations which have been mislabelled, with potentially no dangerous repercussions. The specific mislabelling in this case is that preparation A was put into the bottle marked for preparation B and vice versa. The little vials of water (because that is what they are, after all) are identical in every way that can be determined by modern science or medicine. Indeed, the big cheese at the Society of Homeopaths (you remember, the ones that ignore their own code of ethics?) had this to say at a select committee examination:

Lord Broers: I have a simple, technical question about homeopathy and drugs. Is it possible to distinguish between homeopathic drugs after they have been diluted? Is there any means of distinguishing one from the other?
Ms Chatfield: Only by the label.

This makes me wonder: by what means does one break into the business of selling water wholesale in individually labelled bottles? Could I start today?

Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that homeopathy suppliers really do go through the rigmarole of shakey-shakey-shakey. Ten times in each direction, then dilute by 1 in 10 and start again. For every single bottle. That can’t be a quick or easy process. I bet I could undercut the market significantly by selling Edinburgh Council’s finest supply of tap water.