Hidden camera reveals some pharmacists recommend homeopathic products to treat kids' cold and flu

Some pharmacists working in Canada's top drugstores are recommending homeopathic products to consumers, even though, experts say, these products are essentially sugar water or sugar pills with no scientific evidence they can do what they claim, a CBC Marketplace investigation has found.

Host Asha Tomlinson and Marketplace producers spoke with 10 pharmacists at four major drugstore chains, chosen at random, in the Toronto area, including Rexall, Shoppers Drug Mart, Walmart and Metro, and documented what they heard on hidden camera.

Marketplace journalists approached pharmacists with a children's homeopathic product that claims it's for cough, runny nose, congestion, aches, pains and fever. Each pharmacist was asked if they would recommend it for a three-year-old child with cough and cold symptoms.

Six out of 10 did recommend the homeopathic remedy and indicated it would help provide symptom relief. 

"I think it's really, really important to emphasize that the whole idea behind homeopathy is scientifically absurd," said Timothy Caulfield, Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy at the University of Alberta. Unlike vitamins and supplements, there is no debate in the scientific literature about homeopathic remedies, Caulfield says. "Homeopathy is [an] over billion-dollar industry, selling sugar water."

"It's pseudoscience at its worst."

That important distinction between natural products and homeopathic ones is not well-known.  

According to a 2016 survey conducted by Health Canada, 95 per cent of Canadians were unable to correctly identify what homeopathy is, confusing homeopathic medicine with herbal products, believing it to be a natural, plant-based or herbal medicine with active ingredients.

Experts Marketplace spoke to about the hidden-camera survey were concerned about pharmacists' endorsement of these bogus remedies, especially since it could prevent some parents from seeking more effective treatment.

"The pharmacist should say, 'There's no evidence to support this.' Full stop," said Caulfield.

"They should be telling parents, 'You know what? It's mostly just water.'"

But at the majority of pharmacies visited, that is not what Marketplace journalists heard.

"It'll probably help with the symptoms like the discomfort," said a pharmacist at one Rexall store.

"Absolutely," responded a pharmacist at a different Rexall when asked if it would clear congestion. "It's just for symptom relief, so if he finds that, it's great."