Who doesn’t remember faking a sick day from school? Somehow, I think my Mom always knew, but she let me stay home anyway.
Now, though, if your kid is faking sick, you can give him/her a dose of Obecalp (get it?) and push ’em out the door to school. Obecalp is a chery-flavored miracle pill that is “not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or illness.” Jennifer Buettner, the “Mommy” who invented Obecalp, told the Times that the pill “is designed to have the texture and taste of actual medicine so it will trick kids into thinking that they’re taking something. Then their brain takes over, and they say, ‘Oh, I feel better.’ ”
The use of placebos has a long and decorated history in medicine. Still, some experts question whether using a placebo on children is appropriate. You know, because deliberately deceiving children is not always the best move. “I don’t like the idea of parents lying to their kids,” said Dr. Steven Joffe, a pediatrician and bioethicist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. “It makes me squeamish.”
No word yet on whether they are working on a pill that cures the inevitable rift that might develop between mendacious parents and their hoodwinked children.
from the Times .