The claimed active ingredient in Oscillococcinum is prepared by incubating small amounts of a freshly killed duck’s liver and heart for 40 days. The resultant solution is then filtered, freeze-dried, rehydrated, repeatedly diluted, and impregnated into sugar granules. The amount of dilution is so extreme that it is unlikely that even a single molecule of the active ingredient would survive the process. This medicine literally contains nothing but sugar.

This the case for all homeopathic medicines. They all are prepared through a process of dilution; some (like Oscillococcinum) are diluted in pure water to a concentration of one part active ingredient per 100^200 parts (that last is a 1 followed by 400 zeros) of water. There is literally nothing of the active ingredient left at the end of the dilution, often not even at the level of individual atoms.

James Randi has demonstrated this quite clearly and dramatically several times. In his lectures, he swallows — live, on stage — the entire contents of a package of homeopathic sleeping pills. Sometimes two packages. There are never any effects.

The Oscillococcinum web site itself claims “No side effects.” This is a dead givaway. Any doctor will tell you that the term “side-effects” is a misnomer: A medicine simply has effects, some desirable, some not. The only way for a medicine to have no side effects is if it has no effects to begin with.