|
Nominations and Campaigning for the 2024 RationalWiki Moderator Election are now open |
Heel
| Against allopathy Alternative medicine |
|
| Clinically unproven |
| Woo-meisters |
Heel is a corporation that develops, produces, and distributes distilled water homeopathic preparations. The company was founded in 1936 by Hans-Heinrich Reckeweg. Heel has offices in 40 countries worldwide including the United States, where it is located in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
History[edit]
Reckeweg was a German physician who practiced homeopathy. In 1936, Biologische Heilmittel Heel GmbH was founded in Berlin to develop and market its preparations. In 1953 Reckeweg moved the company to its present location in Baden-Baden. Between 1936 (the company's founding year) and 1979 (when Reckeweg relocated to Albuquerque), he claims to have developed over 1,000 different homeopathic preparations. When Reckeweg relocated to Albuquerque he created Biological Homeopathic Industries (BHI) and began manufacturing combination remedies in tablet form. In 1997, the Albuquerque company was renamed Heel, Inc., which now manufactures and distributes both BHI products and Heel products. Heel products are primarily marketed to homeopathy practitioners, whereas BHI products are primarily marketed to consumers.
Reckweg's theory of disease[edit]
Reckeweg was a denier of the germ theory of disease and developed his own idea called homotoxicology. Reckeweg believed disease was a response to the build-up of toxins in the body, relative to bodies' ability to expel these toxins. Heel has embraced this quack theory and labeled it a "modern cutting edge theory of homeopathy." Many of Heel's distilled water preparations are marketed to flush these toxins from people's systems. They have also started pushing their theories into European colleges and universities as part of a biological medicine program, even going so far as to endow a professorship at a German university.[1]
FDA violations[edit]
In 1984, BHI was labeled by the Food and Drug Administration as one of the most flagrant violators of FDA regulations regarding the marketing of homeopathic remedies.[2] BHI was given multiple FDA citations and fines during the 1980s and early 1990s.[3][4]
Stalking and harassment[edit]
Heel engages in personal data-gathering and harassment of those who besmirch their image by telling the truth about their products.[5] That's us!
Quitting North America[edit]
Heel’s operations in both the USA and Canada were discontinued on August 31, 2014.[6]
References[edit]
- ↑ Heel medical education
- ↑ Chastonay RJ. Request for limited inspection Re: Homeopathic Products. Memo, Oct 26, 1984
- ↑ FDA Enforcement Report, March 25, 1992, p 6.
- ↑ Health Fraud Actions, October 1993 — September 1994. Rockville, MD: FDA, 1994, p 3.
- ↑ See the April 17 2008 entry at the talk page.
- ↑ In the USA and Canada, manufacturers of OTC homeopathic medicinal products have been confronted with accusations through class action lawsuits.