Adulteration means: To make impure by adding extraneous, improper, or inferior ingredients.
In alternative medicine it is the term used to describe the addition of known active compounds to the remedy to improve its effectiveness.
e.g. a homeopathic remedy called "Dumcap" appeared to be effective in treating asthma. Although labelled as containing "nux vomica" (strychnine), arsenic album (arsenic trioxide), Blatta onentalis (cockroach extract), and stramoni folic (stramonium), analysis revealed that the product was adulterated with therapeutic levels of the anti-asthma, steroid drugs prednisolone and betamethasone.
As alternative remedies are sold as foodstuffs and are believed by many consumers to be inherently safe, the dangers of adulterated products should be self evident.
"Thou shalt not commit adulteration" is not on the list of some alternative practitioners commandments.
