QUACKERY & JUNK SCIENCE

[GordMay]

The internet is full of advertisers and advocates making False and Unsubstantiated Health Claims, for Worthless and/or Unproved Therapies and Remedies.

How do you recognize such Health Quackery?

Ten Clues to recognize False or Exaggerated Health Claims:
1. Recommendations that promise a quick fix
2. Claims that sound too good to be true
3. Simple conclusions drawn from a complex study
4. Recommendation based upon a single study
5. Dramatic statements that are refuted by a reputable scientific organization
6. Recommendations based upon studies without peer review
7. Recommendations based upon studies that ignore differences among individuals or groups
8. Dire warnings of danger from a single product
9. Lists of "good" and "bad" foods
10. Recommendations made to help sell a product, or by the manufacturer itself

From “Anatomy of an Online Health Scam”
Competition Bureau - Anatomy of an Online Health Scam

* Tactics: Scammers try to create a false sense of urgency. They want you to buy now so you don’t have time to do proper research - and find out it’s a scam.

* Angle:Scammers want to create a sense of desperation so that you believe theirs is the only cure or treatment out there that will work.

* Angle: Scammers will often try to drive a wedge between you and the treatments prescribed by your doctor or medical practitioner, and then present you with a “newly discovered scientific breakthrough” or a “natural remedy used for hundreds of years”.

* Angle: If the first or only place you learn about a new cure or treatment is from someone trying to sell it to you on the Internet, be suspicious. Look for alternative independent, credible sources of information before you buy.

* Tactics: Scammers want you to think that they’ve found a miracle cure or treatment and they’re the only ones who have it.

* Angle: Scammers will tell you that they have the “real” or “true formula” and that others are fake or substandard.

* Angle: Scammers want to create a sense of desperation so that you believe theirs is the only cure or treatment out there that will work.

* Angle: Scammers will often try to drive a wedge between you and the treatments prescribed by your doctor or medical practitioner, and then present you with a “newly discovered scientific breakthrough” or a “natural remedy used for hundreds of years”.

* “Evidence”: Scammers will often use technical language as well as pictures of doctors to get you to believe their product really works and tell you about the incredible “success stories” they’ve seen.

* “Evidence”: Scammers often use false scientific tests to give the impression of credibility. Don’t be fooled by sites that are long on technical language; they may be short on proof.

* Tactics: Scammers want you to think that they’ve found a miracle cure or treatment and they’re the only ones who have it.

* Angle: Scammers will often try to drive a wedge between you and the treatments prescribed by your doctor or medical practitioner, and then present you with a “newly discovered scientific breakthrough” or a “natural remedy used for hundreds of years”.

* Angle: Scammers want to create a sense of desperation so that you believe theirs is the only cure or treatment out there that will work.

* Angle: If the first or only place you learn about a new cure or treatment is from someone trying to sell it to you on the Internet, be suspicious. Look for alternative independent, credible sources of information before you buy.

* “Evidence”: Scammers have been known to dress up models to look like experts, and create “incredible patient testimonials” from people that may not even exist. There is no way to tell if the scammers’ cure or treatment will work as promised.

* Small Print: Scammers want you to believe that they are so confident that their cure or treatment will work for you, that they’ll offer a money-back guarantee. The catch is that a guarantee is no proof that their product works, and scammers have been known to take the money and run.

* “Evidence”: Scammers will often use technical language as well as pictures of doctors to get you to believe their product really works and tell you about the incredible “success stories” they’ve seen.

* Tactics: Scammers try to create a false sense of urgency. They want you to buy now so you don’t have time to do proper research - and find out it’s a scam.

* Angle: Scammers will often try to drive a wedge between you and the treatments prescribed by your doctor or medical practitioner, and then present you with a “newly discovered scientific breakthrough” or a “natural remedy used for hundreds of years”.

* “Evidence”: Scammers will often use technical language as well as pictures of doctors to get you to believe their product really works and tell you about the incredible “success stories” they’ve seen.

* Tactics: Scammers want you to think that they’ve found a miracle cure or treatment and they’re the only ones who have it.

* Angle: If the first or only place you learn about a new cure or treatment is from someone trying to sell it to you on the Internet, be suspicious. Look for alternative independent, credible sources of information before you buy.

* Small Print: Keep an eye on the small print. Scammers will often hide their nasty surprises within the text, which can often be the exact opposite of what their cure or treatment promised to do.

* “Evidence”: Scammers have been known to dress up models to look like experts, and create “incredible patient testimonials” from people that may not even exist. There is no way to tell if the scammers’ cure or treatment will work as promised.

[Zanshin]

Good one! And I actually thought that all I needed to do was buy that abdomizer with 185 flex-pay payments of $19.99 and it would suck the fat off my belly by just being placed underneath my bed!

[CSY Man]

Good one! And I actually thought that all I needed to do was buy that abdomizer with 185 flex-pay payments of $19.99 and it would suck the fat off my belly by just being placed underneath my bed!

You mean it did not work....?

[Zanshin]

CSY - Not yet, but when I called up their support line I was told that it wasn't compatible with another of their products, the all-you-can eat "Crème brûlée and Chocolate" diet that is guaranteed to shed the pounds within 30 days. I believe their study proved that an age-old secret recipe in the chocolate chemically bonds with my fat cells to produce carbon-footprint neutral compounds that merely evaporate away. I can't decide which of the 2 systems to try first. Probably the Chocolate one, as I don't have room underneath the bunk for the abdominizer and it is pretty lumpy underneath the mattress.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Gord,

That sounds quite a good product you are promoting, but you forgot to post a link.

[mangomuffins]

Gee Gord,

Some of that sounds exactly like what big pharma and the FDA does

Have you seen some of the pharmaceutical commercials? One has to wonder (for instance) about an asthma medication that has fatal asthma attacks as a possible side effect

mm

[Starbuck]

Don't forget the "the secret doctors (or the government, et. cet) don't want you to know" angle.

[Chiroeurope]

The Problem is that there are scams on both sides of the ilse. In 2003 the CDC stopped keeping track of deaths due to vaccines as it was -"statically not significant". Even though the US government sets aside 300 million a year to pay valid claims dealing with and the last known to me statistics should over 5,000 kids a year died from and three times that amount had permanent disabilities due to them. The researcher at the time stated that those numbers might only represent 20% of the real amount out there due to under-reporting and mis-reporting which was encouraged by both the drug companies and the US government.

So do you research well and hope you can afford to pay the bill to get at the real documents on med line or what ever other restricted access on line storage point there is to read the full article and not just a summary (sorry graduate level Statistics class burned me out on how much outright lies are feed to the public daily).

Michael

[Chief Engineer]

Why, at dinner time, do they have once a month wormer, viagra, cialis, Sally Fields and her Bonera, indigestion, hay fever and let us not forget mucus ads......Can't use, don't use, don't need and have a handkerchief for the last.

Americans are the most drug happy people

[anotherT34C]

Gord's post has nothing to do with pharma companies, but rather is aimed at bogus 'alternative medicine' (read: not medicine at all).

There are legitimate advertising-related gripes to be leveled at pharma, and legitimate concerns regarding whether Americans are over-fed and over-medicated. But at least, at least, pharma's products actually work as technically advertised.

[s/v 'Faith']

Great list Gord,

Add to that list any product that requires or supports participation in a pyramid scheme (aka Scamway or the like.....)

Kinda like the pre-paid leagal scams,... and the 'burn water save gas' scams....

[Chief Engineer]

system and credit card companies with their outrageous (carefully crafted) fees(?)

Originally Posted by s/v 'Faith'

Great list Gord,

Add to that list any product that requires or supports participation in a pyramid scheme (aka Scamway or the like.....) scams....

[Latitude9.5]

I love the ones that don't actually make any claims, they are constantly running that enzyte ad on tv and they keep saying "natural male enhancement" over and over, what the hell is that? Guaranteed to work or you money back ! You going to call and say "hey it didnt "enhance me""

[Chief Engineer]

In my best Brooklyn accent "Yo! Igotchermalenhancementrotherebaybee!!!!"

[Meanderthal]

Good post. There have been some flippant responses, but damn, a lot of people are a lot worse at detecting these things than they think. Some seem to think everything anyone tells them is true, as long as it fits what they want. Some decide everything is a scam. Some decide things they don't like are a scam. Some assign a level of proof or performance that is impossible to meet. The middle ground of case-by-case dispassionate assessment--that's this post.

I'm curious what triggered publishing it on Cruisers Forum, though.