Arsenicum Album for Kerala School Students: A Bogus Prophylaxis

Kerala’s decision to distribute Arsenicum Album 30C as a COVID-19 prophylaxis for school students drew sharp criticism.

Oct 17, 2021

The battle against COVID-19 is far from over, and we know that. We realized the hard way that, if we don’t learn from history, history will keep on repeating again and again. The second wave of Spanish flu (1918) was way more deadly than the first wave; however, we didn’t learn. We were cautious in the first wave; nevertheless, we thought that the war was over when cases decreased. Contrary to our beliefs, the second wave came and exposed all the weaknesses of our health system.

Millions of our fellow citizens were directly affected by the second wave, and the scar it left hasn’t healed completely. On the brighter side, the daily case count drastically decreased, and the vaccination drive is happening at top speed. Almost 1 billion doses of vaccine have been administered so far, and the situation is currently under control. All the sectors have resumed their work like the pre-COVID times, and in Kerala also, the situation is the same. The Kerala government has lifted all the restrictions imposed due to the case surge as caseload has come down, and is also planning to restart schools from the second half of November.

On September 20, 2021, the Government of Kerala (GoK) announced that they would distribute Arsenicum album tablets, a homeopathic remedy endorsed by the Ministry of AYUSH but not recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), to all students at school (1). This is done as a preventive measure against COVID-19 infection as vaccines are not yet available for children in our country. Arsenicum album is not a new term for the Keralites, as this medicine had already stirred controversy when the previous health minister of Kerala, Mrs. K K Shailaja, remarked that Arsenicum album is effective in increasing immunity and preventing the virus infection. Indian Medical Association (IMA) Kerala wing criticized the minister at that time as the medicine lacked scientific evidence (2). The talks around this remedy hibernated for a year, but the latest order by GoK reopened the same chapter.

In this article, I will explain why this homeopathic remedy shouldn’t be distributed in our schools for children.

Principles of Homeopathy are unscientific

Homeopathy originated in the first half of the nineteenth century, even before the germ theory of disease was proposed. Despite that, the principles of homeopathy are baseless, and there has been no attempt to rectify those principles. The concepts of vital force, water memory, like cures like, and dilution increase potency didn’t stand the test of time and were hence discarded by modern science. Unfortunately, due to a myriad of reasons, modern-day homeopaths still follow those age-old postulates. Even a basic understanding of chemistry, biology, and physics is enough to debunk the concepts in this pseudoscience.

There is unambiguous evidence in modern medicine to suggest that homeopathy is nothing more than a placebo and hence shouldn’t be used as a treatment modality (3). In case you want to know in detail about the basics of homeopathy, you can check my article on the principles of homeopathy given below.

Arsenicum album lacks evidence from randomized controlled trials

If you take the pain to search “Arsenicum album” in PubMed, you will find hardly 3 clinical trials conducted on this medicine. One trial was conducted to find whether it is effective in treating fever in children post-DPT vaccination, another one on neonatal calf diarrhea (an animal study), and the last one on its effect on patients with Arsenic toxicity (4). However, there is no clinical trial on its effect on COVID-19 infection or its complications. Without well-designed clinical trials, how can we allow this drug to be given to our children? The vaccines of COVID-19 went through thorough scrutiny before getting approval from the WHO, and we know that health care activists did raise questions about Covaxin till Bharat Biotech released the data on the phase III trial. Isn’t it prudent to say that such a rigorous quality check should be applied to the Arsenicum album as well?

Immunity boosting is a scam

Immunity can’t be boosted, period. The best that you can do is stay healthy. Consuming nutritious food, avoiding substance abuse, and living in a pollution-free environment can help you stay healthy. The antibody levels and the count of immune cells have to be in a normal range, and anything beyond the normal can cause problems for the body. We call it autoimmune or autoinflammatory diseases in scientific language.

In certain immunodeficiency disorders, like X-linked agammaglobulinemia, we have to supplement antibodies. However, that is a different situation, and a normal person doesn’t require immunity boosting.

Creating a sense of false security

Children and their parents may get an untrue sense of security from the disease if they believe in this homeopathic medicine. Unlike popular perception, children do follow the mandatory steps of COVID protocol like wearing a mask, maintaining social distance, and handwashing. If we teach the children that sugar pills from homeopathy can save them from COVID, they may stop adhering to those restrictions.

It is worth noting that Covaxin, our indigenously developed vaccine manufactured by Bharat Biotech, is on the verge of getting approval in the pediatric age group as well (6). Hence, it’s safe to say that vaccines will be available for children shortly and we don’t need to resort to fallacious medicines.

Toxic effect of Arsenic

This has been an issue raised by scientists who were skeptical about homeopathy from the beginning. In homeopathy, a ‘mother tincture’ is made first, and then it is diluted to various concentrations. According to their myths, dilution increases the potency of the remedy. The homeopathic principle that dilution increases potency can’t fit into modern science. Homeopaths have been using complex terms like quantum physics, nanoparticles, transfer of energy during particle collision, etc., and a poorly interpreted IIT Bombay study to claim that drug particles do exist in homeopathic medicines even in 200C dilution. However, in this case, to tackle the arguments against the use of Arsenic, they are resorting to the fact that no original drug particle exists in a 30C dilution, which is ironic.

Wastage of taxpayers’ money

Kerala, or India in general, is not a financially strong region. Our economy is not surplus, and the government finds it difficult to meet both ends. In such a scenario, we need to prioritize our resources and make sure that the resources are judiciously used. The cost of giving Arsenicum album to all school children can be diverted to more productive actions, like purchasing PPEs, supporting the people who are financially hit by the pandemic.

Therefore, no one can justify the use of the Arsenicum album as prophylaxis in children, and the government should reconsider this decision. If you are a parent of a school-going child, do consider not giving these sugar pills to your child.