Category: Health Fraud
The deadly false hope of German alternative cancer clinics
We at SBM have written about German cancer clinics that offer a combination of cancer quackery, some real medicine, plus unproven experimental therapies, all at a high cost, both financially and in false hope. Finally, an exposé of these clinics has been published. What these clinics are doing is even worse than even we had feared.
“Raw water”: The latest dangerous “natural health” fad
In pseudoscience, appeals to nature are everywhere. It's not surprising, then, that there is profit to be made selling "raw" (i.e., untreated) water at very high prices for its nonexistent health benefits, those benefits all claimed to be due to the "naturalness" of the water. I can't help but note that cholera, Giardia, amoebic dysentery, and a wide variety of waterborne illnesses...
Snake-Based Medicine? Another Salmonella Infection Linked to Rattlesnake Pills
Rattlesnake pills, another entry in a long line of bogus cancer cures, have been linked (again) to a potentially deadly Salmonella infection.
Top ten signs your detox may be a scam
Before you begin a New Year’s detox, look for these ten signs you may be getting scammed.
SXSW Wellness Expo and Goop: Accepting HIV/AIDS denialism and antivaccine pseudoscience by embracing Dr. Kelly Brogan
Dr. Kelly Brogan is doing well these days. Invited to be a headliner at Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop Summit and to be on the advisory board of the 2018 SXSW Wellness Expo, she's riding high. Unfortunately Goop and SXSW appear not to care about her being an HIV/AIDS denialist, antivaxer, and all around quack.
Repealing Legislative Alchemy
We need to repeal federal and state laws that allow quackery and pseudoscience in healthcare.
Rigvir: Another unproven and dubious cancer therapy to be avoided
Recently, the Hope4Cancer Institute, a quack clinic in Mexico, has added a treatment known as Rigvir to its coffee enemas and other offerings. But what is Rigvir? It turns out that it's an import from Latvia with a mysterious history. Proponents claim that it is an oncolytic virus that targets cancer specifically and leaves normal cells alone. Unfortunately, there is a profound...
The Supplement Con
A new article in Business Insider challenges the major narrative promoted by the supplement industry - that supplements are safe, effective, natural, and actually in the bottle. If we are lucky, this may mark a the start of a sea change in how Americans see supplements.
Amish Farmer Jailed for Selling Snakeoil
An Amish farmer is convicted of selling a caustic poison as patent medicine (and of witness tampering) and yet is defended by "alternative medicine" proponents who apparently want the freedom to be defrauded and harmed.
Adrenal fatigue: A fake disease (updated)
“Adrenal fatigue” is not a real medical condition, but some claim it is real and that medicine is ignoring it. What does the science say?