Current Trends in Quackery

1. Current Trends in Quackery Stephen Barrett, M.D.

2. Today’s Objectives • Understanding of quackery’s dangers • Awareness of threats towards science-based health care • Improved ability to make personal health decisions • Increased awareness of reliable information sources

3. Definition of Quackery • Promotion of unsubstantiated methods that lack a scientifically plausible rationale • Prevalence depends on what one includes

4. How Quackery Harms(Quackery is never harmless!) • Economic • Direct physical harm • Indirect harm (failure to get appropriate treatment) • Psychological • Harm to society

5. Cancer Quackery Victim

6. Vulnerability to Quackery • Lack of suspicion • Belief in magic • Overconfidence • Alienated • Desperate

7. Misconceptions about Quackery • Quackery is easy to spot. • Personal experience is the best way to tell whether something works. • Most victims of quackery are easy to fool. • Quackery's victims deserve what they get. • All quacks are frauds and crooks. • Government protects us. • Quackery's success represents medicine's failure. • "Alternative" methods have moved toward the scientific mainstream.

8. Classification of “Alternative”Methods • Genuine: Comparable methods that have met science-based criteria for safety and effectivenessExperimental: Unproven but have a plausible rationale and are undergoing responsible investigation • Questionable: Groundless and lack a scientifically plausible rationale

9. “CAM” Systems • Acupuncture • Chiropractic • Herbal medicine • Homeopathy • Iridology • Naturopathy

10. Acupuncture • Fanciful theory • No effect on the course of disease • Few practical uses • Most practitioners are poorly trained • Associated with improper diagnoses and inappropriate herbal treatment • Stay away from certified acupuncturists

11. Biomeridian Device Test probe Test plate Electrode

12. Biomeridian Device

13. Chiropractic’s Basic Theory Vertebral Subluxations are displacements of the spinal bones (vertebrae) that can cause endangering stress to your spinal cord and nervous system. These subluxations are often due to poor sleeping habits, poor posture, strenuous exercise, injuries, auto accidents, sports, slips or falls, and the birthing process itself. Chiropractic adjustments are very helpful in correcting these subluxations and restoring optimal health. Subluxation Normal nerve Pinched nerve Normal nerve

14. Chiropractic Nerve Chart • Spinal misalignments may result in the conditions shown below: • 2C — sinus troubles, allergies, crossed eyes, deafness, eye troubles, earache, fainting spells, certain cases of blindness • 2L — appendicitis, cramps, acidosis, varicose veins • 10T — kidney troubles, hardening of the arteries, chronic tiredness, nephritis, pyelitis

15. Chiropractic Newspaper Ad

16. Applied Kinesiology

17. Chiropractic Problems • Excessive treatment • “Preventative maintenance” • Opposition to immunization • Stroke from neck manipulation • Too many x-rays • Unlimited scope • Inappropriate nutrition advice

18. Danger of Neck Manipulation

19. Homeopathy • Law of similars: “Like cures like.” • Effectiveness determined by “provings,” most of which were done 100 to 200 years ago. • The greater the dilution, the more powerful the effect. • Dilution may be below Avogadro’s number (1.063 x 1023).

20. Oscillococcinum

21. Homeopathy Ultradilution • 200C = 1 part in 100200 • 200C = At least one molecule of the original substance dissolved in a minimum of 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 molecules of water. • This would require a container more than 30,000,000,000 times the size of the Earth.

22. Reflexology

23. Tooth Chart #1Acupuncture points allegedly related to dentition Source: Academy of General Dentistry Web site

24. The Herbal Minefield • Misinformation abounds • Few have been adequately studied • Most products don’t work • Those that work may not be practical to use • Quality control is unreliable • Side effects and interactions can be a problem • Most practitioners are not adequately trained

25. Iridology Camera

26. Iridology Chart

27. Cancer: Scare Tactics

28. Cancer: Old Ad

29. Cancer Testimonials Not Reliable • The patient never had cancer.

30. Lorraine Day, M.D.

31. Diagnoses • Candidiasis hypersensitivity • Enzyme deficiency (generalized) • Mercury illness • Multiple chemical sensitivity • Parasites

32. MCS Victim

33. Chelation Therapy

34. Hal Huggins Ad “of Sequential Removal.”

35. Therapeutic Touch

36. Emily Rosa’s Experiment

37. Multilevel Marketing (MLM) • Most products have little or no appropriate use • Those that do are overpriced • Vast majority of distributors make no significant income • Professionals who can sell to a “captive audience” can profit, but the process is unethical

38. Kevin Trudeau • Enjoined by FTC • Banned from selling products other than publications • Published best-seller • Convicted felon

39. Kevin Trudeau says: • “There are natural cures for every disease.” • Our government and drug companies are conspiring to keep information from the public. • “Drugs do not cure any disease.” • “Everyone is full of toxins and nutrient deficient.” • “If you have no toxins nor deficiencies or electromagnetic chaos or stress, you cannot have any disease.” • “Vaccines are loaded with poisons. Those who get vaccines are more likely to get sick than those who do not.” • Have all amalgam fillings removed.

40. Weight Control Methods:FTC’s 7 “Red Flags” • Cause weight loss of 2 pounds or more a week for a month or more without dieting or exercise • Cause substantial weight loss no matter what or how much the consumer eats • Cause permanent weight loss (even when the consumer stops using product) • Block the absorption of fat or calories to enable consumers to lose substantial weight • Safely enable consumers to lose more than 3 pounds per week for more than 4 weeks • Cause substantial weight loss for all users • Cause substantial weight loss by wearing it on the body or rubbing it into the skin • A cancer was cured or put into remission by proven therapy, but questionable therapy was also used and erroneously credited for the beneficial result • The cancer is progressing but is erroneously represented as slowed or cured. • The patient has died as a result of the cancer (or is lost to follow-up) but is represented as cured. • The patient had a spontaneous remission (very rare) or slow-growing cancer that is publicized as a cure.

41. Hair Analysis

42. Hair Analysis

43. Live Cell Analysis

44. AANC Professional Membership

45. Rational Use of Supplements • Inadequate diet • Infants and toddlers • Strict vegetarians • Folic acid? • Calcium? • Iron? • B12 over age 50

46. Florsheim MagneForceShoes • Physicists estimate that because the earth has lost some of its electromagnetic field over the past 4,000 years, it is possible that some of us suffer from a magnetic deficiency.

47. Ionic Foot Baths Falsely claimed to ”release toxins”

48. “Customized” Vitamins

49. Lack of Yardsticks • News Media • Accreditation • Medical schools and hospitals • Journals • Government agencies

50. Reliable Information Sources • Consumer Reports on Health • FDA Consumer Magazine • Merck Manual • Quackwatch / Dental Watch • National Council Against Health Fraud • Internet Health Pilot