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PubMed1992

Quackery: a national scandal.

The U.S. Congress determined quackery to be the most harmful consumer fraud against elderly people. Americans waste $27 billion annually on questionable health care, exceeding the amount spent on biomedical research. Quackery is characterized by the promotion of false and unproven health schemes for profit and does not necessarily involve imposture, fraud, or greed. The real issues in the war against quackery are the principles, including scientific rationale, encoded into consumer protection laws, primarily the U.S. Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. More such laws are badly needed. Regulators are failing the public by enforcing laws inadequately, applying double standards, and accrediting pseudomedicine. Non-scientific health care (e.g., acupuncture, ayurvedic medicine, chiropractic, homeopathy, naturopathy) is licensed by individual states. Practitioners use unscientific practices and deception on a public who, lacking complex health-care knowledge, must rely upon the trustworthiness of providers. Quackery not only harms people, it undermines the scientific enterprise and should be actively opposed by every scientist.

Diagnosis↗

PubMed1984

The whys of cancer quackery.

The nation appears to have weathered the laetrile phenomenon. In just having passed through the greatest episode of quackery in our history, it would be appropriate to reflect on the whys of quackery: Why do some promote it? Why do so many use it? Why should the medical profession care? Using the laetrile experience as a model, the author attempts to deal with these fundamental questions, and tries in particular to sort out which factors were unique to laetrile and which factors have always been associated with quack promotions and are likely to continue. When a successful quack promotion is analyzed, a complex interplay of failures on the part of physicians and the public is observed, and the triumphs of the promoters are recognized. Finally, it is necessary to deal with the issue of the responsibility of the individual physician and of the profession in general in coping with an unsound, antiscientific medical therapeutic.

Amygdalin↗

PubMed1994

Dental quackery: a retrospective view.

Instances of dental quackery are easy to spot in history, but what qualifies as quackery in contemporary dentistry? A historical perspective leads to an evaluation of questionable practices in the field today.

History of Dentistry↗

PubMed1997

[An autopsy analysis on 14 cases of poisoning death caused by illegal quackery].

In this paper, 14 cases on poisoning death caused by illegal quackery were analyzed. The results indicated that the causes and routes of poisoning were various, and that there were three kinds of poisoning types in illegal quackery. Main points of forensic identification were pointed out. In addition, some medical and administrative measures and possible measures were also investigated. The authors suggest that measures as above are of great importance for preventing similar poisoning and improving forensic identification.

Aconitine↗

PubMed1999

Quackery: the National Council Against Health Fraud perspective.

Quackery is the promotion of false and unproven health schemes for a profit. It is rooted in the traditions of marketplace. Scientific thinking and standards of conduct underlie professionalism and consumer protection law. At the present time, commercialism has overwhelmed professionalism in the marketing of alternative remedies. Neither patients nor legitimate businesses that adhere to the standards of science and consumer protection are well served by a double standard.

Fraud↗

PubMed1981

Holistic dentistry. Where does the holistic end and the quackery begin?

The question of where holistic dentistry ends and quackery begins is a serious issue for our profession to consider. Although we obviously want to permit great latitude in the practice of dentistry, there must be some definitions of the limits of that latitude. More importantly, as we want to improve and expand the treatment services that dentists can provide to patients, there must be some guidelines regulating both the development and the use of new therapies. The major guideline for doing this already exists: it is called the scientific method.

Dentistry↗

PubMed1993

Magnetic healing, quackery, and the debate about the health effects of electromagnetic fields.

Although the biological effects of low-frequency electromagnetic radiation have been studied since the time of Paracelsus, there is still no consensus on whether these effects are physiologically significant. The recent discovery of deposits of magnetite within the human brain as well as recent, highly publicized tort litigation charging adverse effects after exposure to magnetic fields has rekindled the debate. New data suggest that electromagnetic radiation generated from power lines may lead to physiologic effects with potentially dangerous results. Whether these effects are important enough to produce major epidemiologic consequences remains to be established. The assumption of quackery that has attended this subject since the time of Mesmer's original "animal magnetism" investigations continues to hamper efforts to compile a reliable data base on the health effects of electromagnetic fields.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

[A campaign against quackery in the 20s].

During the 20's, La Vie saine, popular journal of the Comite national de defense contre la tuberculose (France), campaigned against quackery. In this purpose, the journal tried to educate people and denounce quackers.

Communicable Disease Control↗

PubMed1974