 Hello, I'm James Randi, founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation. In my books and in presentations all over the world, I've used demonstrations to show audiences the importance of thinking skeptically about pseudoscience. One demonstration I've done many times consists of downing an entire package of 32 homeopathic sleeping pills. The recommended dosage, by the way, is two to three tablets, just to show that these scam medications have no effects. Now there's a warning on the box saying to call your local poison control center in case of an overdose. But that's a joke. Most homeopathic remedies have no active ingredients whatsoever. Even though they're sold by major pharmacies, right alongside real medicine, every reputable medical study of these fake drugs has shown them to have no more effect than sugar pills or pure water. Homeopathy is one of the biggest health scams in America and it's a problem around the globe. That's why today, hundreds of consumer advocates in more than 25 countries and more than a dozen U.S. cities are joining forces in an effort called the 1023 Challenge. They're taking public actions and doing overdose demonstrations, just like the one I've been doing for years. Together, we're telling the public the truth about homeopathy. There's nothing in it. Preveyors of homeopathy say that these demonstrations prove that homeopathy is safe. Nonsense. What we're demonstrating is not that homeopathy is safe, but that homeopathic preparations are not medicine and they have no effects, good or bad, except to flatten your wallet and ignore real medical assistance. If you're healthy, then taking no medicine at all is just fine, but people count on real medicine to heal illness or to immunize them against contagious disease. Taking homeopathic water or sugar pills instead of real medicine can be deadly. And it's not just the manufacturers of these products or to blame. Pharmacies like Walgreens, Rite Aid, CVS, and a lot of other major retailers are silent accomplices in this scam, profiting by keeping unsuspecting customers in the dark. They sell these fake pills right alongside real medicines with no warning or information about the bogus ideas behind homeopathy. They simply don't care. When consumers know the facts about homeopathic products, they can avoid them, but every day parents of sick children are coming home from their pharmacy with fake medicine and leaving their children in distress because these manufacturers and these stores don't want consumers to know the truth. Here's the truth about the bad ideas homeopathy is based on. The first idea is that illness can be treated by a substance that actually causes the symptoms you want to get rid of. So to treat fevers, for example, they often use cayenne pepper, since that can produce a sweat. The second idea is that diluting a substance, making it weaker, makes it more effective. So they mix a tiny amount of the substance in a huge amount of water, shake it up, and dilute the mixture in the same way again and again until they've thrown out all the original substance and there's not a single atom or molecule of it left. This plain water is then dripped into vials or dropped onto sugar cubes and sold to parents who are led to believe it will relieve their children's fever or other problems. Many people think the word homeopathy just means herbal or natural medicine and they're shocked to learn what it really means. Well, it should be a crime for pharmaceutical corporations to profit by denying the public this critical information about the products on their shelves. Customers are paying real money for fake medicine that leaves innocent people sick and suffering. This has to stop. Today, the James Randi Educational Foundation is issuing a challenge to the manufacturers and a challenge to the retail stores who make money hawking these products. First, to the manufacturers and practitioners of homeopathy, we challenge you to prove your claims. Prove the scientific studies are wrong. Win back your reputation and while you're at it, win $1 million for you or the charity of your choice. Submit your product for a double-blind, scientifically controlled test and show that a so-called high-potency homeopathic remedy diluted in water until there's no more of the active ingredient present is any better at treating any health problem than just plain water that it's based on. The experimental protocol will be designed by you and supervised by reputable scientists, all of which you approve of, and if you can prove that your remedy works according to homeopathic principles, the James Randi Educational Foundation will give you $1 million. In spite of the fact that such tests have already been done and homeopathy has always failed, we're willing to do it again. What are you afraid of? Come on, prove us wrong. Second, to the pharmacies and retail stores like CVS Walgreens, Rite Aid, Target, and Walmart, we challenge you to label it for what it really is. Your consumers have the right to know what they're buying. No customer of yours should ever walk out the door with a homeopathic product without knowing these basic facts. 1. There is no evidence that this product does what it says it does. 2. It's not one bit, not a single atom of the claimed active ingredient in this package and 3. No U.S. health agency has ever tested or approved this product. Last, I encourage everyone to visit the 1023 Challenge website at 1023.org.uk and visit our website, Randy.org, that's Randy with an I. Get the facts about homeopathy to share with your friends and family. Our government doesn't adequately regulate these products and the pharmacies don't give you the facts. So you've got to think critically and protect yourself from scams and charlatans. This is James Randy with the James Randy Educational Foundation. I've overdosed on homeopathic sleeping bells many times and my eyes are still open, see? You keep your eyes open too, okay? For more of James Randy and the Educational Foundation, make sure you visit Randy.org.