Quackery 212698 225750967 2008-07-15T06:14:45Z Fyslee 700244 [[WP:UNDO|Undid]] revision 225750464 by [[Special:Contributions/QuackGuru|QuackGuru]] ([[User talk:QuackGuru|talk]]) We've been here before and this was properly rejected. Don't repeat. {{redirect|Quack}} [[Image:Pietro Longhi 015.jpg|thumb|[[Pietro Longhi]]: The Charlatan, 1757]] '''Quackery''' is a derogatory term used to describe unscientific [[medicine|medical practices]]. [[Random House Dictionary]] describes a "'''quack'''" as a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have [[skill]], [[knowledge]], or [[Professional certification|qualifications]] he or she does not possess; a [[charlatan]]."<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/quack "Quack"] - Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. [[7 February]] [[2007]].</ref> The word "quack" derives from the archaic word "quacksalver," of [[Dutch language|Dutch]] origin (spelled ''kwakzalver'' in contemporary Dutch), meaning "boaster who applies a [[salve]]."<ref> [http://www.bartleby.com/61/60/Q0006000.html quacksalver]- American Heritage Dictionary </ref> The meaning of the German word "Quacksalber" is "questionable salesperson (literal translation: quack salver)." In the Middle Ages the word quack meant "shouting". The quacksalvers sold their wares on the market shouting in a loud voice.<ref> [http://accurapid.com/journal/german-glossary.htm German-English Glossary of Idioms]</ref> "Health fraud" is often used as a synonym for quackery, but this use can be problematic, since quackery can exist without fraud, a word which implies deliberate deception.<ref name="quackwatch">[http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/quackdef.html Quackery: How Should It Be Defined?]</ref> == The quacksalver == [[Image:William Hogarth 036.jpg|thumb|[[William Hogarth]]: [[Marriage à-la-mode]]: ''The Visit to the Quack Doctor'']] Unproven, usually ineffective, and sometimes dangerous medicines and treatments have been peddled throughout human history. Theatrical performances were sometimes mixed with purported medicine to enhance credibility. Quack medicines often had no effective ingredients, while others, such as [[morphine]] and the like, made the patient feel better without curative properties. Some did have medicinal effects; for example [[mercury (element)|mercury]], [[silver]] and [[arsenic]] compounds may have helped some infections, [[willow]] [[bark]] contained [[salicylic acid]] ([[aspirin]]), [[quinine]] from bark was an effective treatment for [[malaria]]. Knowledge of appropriate use and dosage was poor. == History of quackery in Europe and the United States == With little understanding of the causes and mechanisms of illnesses, widely marketed "cures" (as opposed to locally produced and locally used remedies), often referred to as '''[[patent medicines]]''', first came to prominence during the 17th and 18th centuries in Britain and the British colonies, including those in North America. Daffy's Elixir and Turlington's Balsam were among the first products to make use of branding (for example, by the use of highly distinctive containers) and mass marketing, in order to create and maintain markets.<ref name=Styles>Styles, J (2000) "Product innovation in early modern London." In: ''Past & Present'' 168, 124 – 169.</ref> A similar process occurred in other countries of Europe around the same time, for example with the marketing of [[Eau de Cologne]] as a cure-all medicine by Johann Maria Farina and his imitators. [[Image:Three early medicine bottles.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Dalbys Carminative, Daffy's Elixir and Turlingtons Balsam of Life bottles dating to the late 18th and early 19th centuries. These "typical" patent or quack medicines were marketed in very different, and highly distinctive, bottles. Each brand retained the same basic appearance for over 100 years.]] The later years of the 18th century saw an increase in the number of internationally marketed quack medicines, the majority of which were British in origin,<ref name=griffenhagen>Griffenhagen, George B.; James Harvey Young, "Old English Patent Medicines in America," Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology (U.S. National Museum Bulletin 218, Smithsonian Institution: Wash., 1959), 155-83.</ref> and which were exported throughout the British Empire as well as the (by then independent) United States. So popularly successful were these treatments that by 1830 British parliamentary records list over 1,300 different "proprietary medicines",<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=16220 House of Commons Journal, [[8 April]] [[1830]]]</ref> the majority of which can be described as "quack" cures today. British patent medicines started to lose their dominance in the United States when they were denied access to the American market during the [[American Revolution]], and lost further ground for the same reason during the [[War of 1812]]. From the early 19th century "home-grown" American brands started to fill the gap, reaching their peak in the years after the [[American Civil War]].<ref name=griffenhagen>.</ref><ref name="young-1961">Young, J. H. (1961) The Toadstool Millionaires: A social history of patent medicines in America before federal regulation. Princeton University Press. 282pp.</ref> British medicines never regained their previous dominance in North America, and the subsequent era of mass marketing of American [[patent medicine]]s is usually considered to have been a "golden age" of quackery in the United States. This was mirrored by similar growth in marketing of quack medicines elsewhere in the world. In the United States, false medicines in this era were often denoted by the slang term [[snake oil]], a reference to sales pitches for the false medicines which used claims that their exotic ingredients were responsible for the supposed results or benefits. Those who sold them were called "snake oil peddlers", and usually sold their medicines with a fervent pitch similar to a [[fire and brimstone]] religious sermon. They often accompanied other theatrical and entertainment productions that travelled as a road show from town to town, leaving quickly before the falseness of their medicine could be discovered. Not all quacks were restricted to such small-time businesses however, and a number, especially in the United States, became enormously wealthy through national and international sales of their products. One among many examples is that of [[William Radam]], a German immigrant to the USA who, in the 1880s, started to sell his "Microbe Killer" throughout the United States and, soon afterwards, in Britain and throughout the British colonies. His concoction was widely advertised as being able to "Cure All Diseases" (W. Radam, 1890) and this phrase was even embossed on the glass bottles the medicine was sold in. In fact, Radam's medicine was a therapeutically useless (and in large quantities actively poisonous) dilute solution of [[sulfuric acid]], coloured with a little red [[wine]].<ref name="young-1961"/> Radam's publicity material, particularly his books (see for example Radam, 1890), provide an insight into the role that [[pseudo-science]] played in the development and marketing of "quack" medicines towards the end of the 19th century. Similar advertising claims<ref name=Cure_for_All_Diseases>[[Hulda Regehr Clark]], ''The Cure For All Diseases''</ref> to those of Radam can be found throughout the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. "Dr." Sibley, an English patent medicine seller of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, even went so far as to claim that his Reanimating Solar Tincture would, as the name implies, "restore life in the event of sudden death". Another English quack, "Dr. Solomon" claimed that his Cordial Balm of Gilead cured almost anything, but was particularly effective against all venereal complaints, from [[gonorrhoea]] to [[onanism]]. Although it was basically just brandy flavoured with herbs, it retailed widely at 33 shillings a bottle in the period of the [[Napoleonic wars]], the equivalent of over $100 per bottle today. Not all patent medicines were without merit. Turlingtons Balsam of Life, first marketed in the mid-18th century, did have genuinely beneficial properties. This medicine continued to be sold under the original name into the early 20th century, and can still be found in the British and American [[Pharmacopoeia]]s as "Compound tincture of benzoin". It can be argued that for some of these medicines this is an example of the [[infinite monkey theorem]] in action. The end of the road for the quack medicines now considered grossly fraudulent in the nations of North America and Europe came in the early 20th century. [[February 21]], [[1906]] saw the passage into law of the [[Pure Food and Drug Act]] in the United States. This was the result of decades of campaigning by both government departments and the medical establishment, supported by a number of publishers and journalists (one of the most effective of whom was [[Samuel Hopkins Adams]], whose series "The Great American Fraud" was published in Colliers Weekly starting in late 1905). This American Act was followed three years later by similar legislation in Britain, and in other European nations. Between them, these laws began to remove the more outrageously dangerous contents from patent and proprietary medicines, and to force quack medicine proprietors to stop making some of their more blatantly dishonest claims. "Medical quackery and the promotions of nostrums and worthless drugs were among the most prominent abuses which led to the establishment of formal self-regulation in business and, in turn, to the creation of the [[Better Business Bureau|NBBB]]."<ref name=Ladimer>Ladimer, Irving [http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1256406&blobtype=pdf "The Health Advertising Program of the National Better Business Bureau"] A.J.P.H. Vol. 55, No. 8. August 1965</ref> == Quackery in contemporary culture == Considered by many an archaic term, ''quackery'' is most often used to denote the peddling of the "cure-alls" described above. Quackery continues even today; it can be found in any culture and in every medical tradition. Unlike other advertising mediums, rapid advancements in communication through the Internet have opened doors for an unregulated market of quack cures and marketing campaigns rivaling the early 1900s. Most people with an [[e-mail]] account have experienced the marketing tactics of [[spamming]]&nbsp;&mdash; touting the newest current trend for miraculous remedies for "weight-loss" and "sexual enhancement," as well as outlets for unprescribed medicines of unknown quality. While quackery is often aimed at the aged or chronically ill, it can be aimed at all age groups, including teens, and the FDA has mentioned<ref name=FDA_Teens>"[http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/wh-teen2.html Quackery Targets Teens.]" [[Food and Drug Administration|U.S. FDA]]</ref> some areas where potential quackery may be a problem: breast developers, weight loss, steroids and growth hormones, tanning and tanning pills, hair removal and growth, and look-alike drugs. For those in the practice of any medicine, to allege quackery is to level a serious objection to a particular form of practice. Most developed countries have a governmental agency, such as the [[Food and Drug Administration]] (FDA) in the US, whose purpose is to monitor and regulate the safety of medications as well as the claims made by the manufacturers of new and existing products, including drugs and nutritional supplements or vitamins. The [[Federal Trade Commission]] (FTC) also participates in some of these efforts.<ref name=FTC>[http://www.ftc.gov/cureall/ FTC: Operation Cure-All]. [[Federal Trade Commission]]</ref> To better address less regulated products, in 2000, US President Clinton signed Executive Order 13147 that created the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine. In 2002, the commission's final report made several suggestions regarding education, research, implementation, and reimbursement as ways to evaluate the risks and benefits of each.<ref>[http://www.whccamp.hhs.gov/ Final report] of the [http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=61640 White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine]</ref> As a direct result, more public dollars have been allocated for research into some of these methods. Individuals and non-governmental agencies are active in attempts to expose quackery. According to Norcross et al (2006) several authors have attempted to identify quack psychotherapies; (e.g., Carroll, 2003; Della Sala, 1999; Eisner, 2000; Lilienfeld, Lynn, & Rohr 2003; Singer and Lalich 1996). The [[evidence based practice]] (EBP) movement in mental health emphasizes the consensus in psychology that psychological practice should rely on empirical research. There are also "anti-quackery" web sites, such as [[Quackwatch]],<ref name="Quackwatch-Homepage"> {{cite news |first=Stephen |last=Barrett |title=Quackwatch |url=http://www.quackwatch.org/ |work=Your Guide to Quackery, Health Fraud, and Intelligent Decisions |publisher=[[Quackwatch]] |date= |accessdate=2007-10-13 |quote=}}</ref> which may help consumers evaluate particular claims.<ref name="quacks"> {{cite news |first=Fred D |last=Baldwin |url=http://www.medhunters.com/articles/ifItQuacksLikeADuck.html |title=If It Quacks Like a Duck ... |accessdate=2007-10-13 |publisher=MedHunters}}</ref><ref name="The Good Web Guide">{{cite news |first= |last= |title=Quackwatch |url=http://new.thegoodwebguide.co.uk/index.php?rid=1772 |work= |publisher=The Good Web Guide |date= |accessdate=2007-10-13 |quote=<small>Quackwatch is without doubt an important and useful information resource and injects a healthy dose of scepticism into reviewing popular health information. Its aim is to investigate questionable claims made in some sectors of what is now a multi-million pound healthcare industry.</small>}}</ref> == Notable historical persons accused of quackery == <!--- NOTE: This section is not intended as a complete list, but instead as a sampling so the reader may have some examples of notable persons who have been called quacks. Entries in this list should be limited to clear examples, and the sources documenting them being called quacks should be well-referenced. To avoid WP:BLP concerns (and endless edit wars!) this list should be limited to deceased people. Names arranged alphabetically after last name. Descriptions are taken from the lead section of their articles here, if such articles exist, and are not used to demonstrate why they were called quacks. Let readers do their own investigating. It may be a good idea to discuss any additions to the list on the articles talk page.---> * '''[[Thomas Allinson]]''' (1858-1918), founder of [[naturopathy]]. Amongst other things, he believed that drinking tea and smoking was bad for health while a diet of wholemeal bread and vegetarianism plus regular exercise, swimming and fresh air was good. His views and publication of them led to him being labeled a quack and being struck off by the [[General Medical Council]] for ''infamous conduct in a professional respect''.<ref>{{cite news | publisher = [[Daily Express]] | title = Diet advice 1893 style lost doctor his job | url = http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/30137/Diet-advice-1893-style-lost-doctor-his-job| date = [[2 January]] [[2008]] }}</ref><ref>{{citation | publisher = Department of Health| title = The Shipman Inquiry | url = http://www.the-shipman-inquiry.org.uk/5r_page.asp?id=4717| date = 27 January 2005 | author = Dame Janet Smith}}</ref> * '''[[Samuel Hahnemann]]''' (1755–1843), founder of [[homeopathy]]. Hahnemann believed that all diseases were caused by "miasms", which he defined as irregularities in the patient's [[vitalism|vital force]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.homeopathyhome.com/reference/organon/10.html |author=Samuel Hahnemann |title=Organon, 5th edition, para 29 |publisher=Homeopathy Home.com. |accessdate=2007-10-22 }}</ref> He also said that illnesses could be treated by substances that in a healthy person produced similar symptoms to the illness, in extremely low concentrations, with the therapeutic effect increasing with dilution and repeated shaking.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://homeoint.org/books4/bradford/chapter20.htm |title=The Life and Letters of Dr Samuel Hahnemann |accessdate=2007-12-24 |format= |work=}}</ref><ref>[http://shpltd.co.uk/dean-homeopathy.pdf Homeopathy and the "Progress of Science"]</ref> * '''[[L. Ron Hubbard]]''' (1911–1986) was the founder of the [[Church of Scientology]]. He was an [[United States|American]] [[science fiction]] writer, former [[United States Navy]] officer, and creator of [[Dianetics]].<ref name=Hubbard>[http://www.xenu.net/archive/FBI/fbi-80.html FBI files on L Ron Hubbard], [[Operation Clambake]]</ref><ref name=Linn>Virginia Linn, [http://www.rickross.com/reference/scientology/scien515.html L. Ron Hubbard.] ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', [[July 24]], [[2005]]</ref><ref name=CMU>David S. Touretzky, ''[http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Secrets/E-Meter/ Secrets of Scientology: The E-Meter]'' Computer Science Department & Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Carnegie Mellon University</ref> * '''[[John Harvey Kellogg]]''' (1852–1943) was a [[medical doctor]] in [[Battle Creek, Michigan]], USA who ran a [[Sanatorium|sanitarium]] using [[holistic medicine|holistic]] methods, with a particular focus on [[nutrition]], [[enema]]s and [[exercise]]. Kellogg was an advocate of [[vegetarianism]], and is best known for the invention of the [[corn flake]] [[breakfast cereal]] with his brother, [[Will Keith Kellogg]].<ref name=JHKellogg>[http://www.museumofquackery.com/amquacks/kellogg.htm John Harvey Kellogg], Museum of Quackery</ref> *'''[[Louis Pasteur]]''' (1822 – 1895) was a [[France|French]] [[chemist]] best known for his remarkable breakthroughs in [[microbiology]]. His experiments confirmed the [[germ theory of disease]], also reducing mortality from [[puerperal fever]] (childbed), and he created the first [[vaccine]] for [[rabies]]. He is best known to the general public for showing how to stop milk and wine from going sour - this process came to be called ''[[pasteurization]]''. His hypotheses initially met with much hostility, and he was accused of quackery on multiple occasions. However, he is now regarded as one of the three main founders of [[microbiology]], together with [[Ferdinand Cohn]] and [[Robert Koch]].<ref>Louis Pasteur, Medical Quack • John W. Campbell, Jr., ed ''Analog'' Jun ’64</ref> *'''[[Lovisa Årberg]]''' (1803 – 1866), the first Swedish female doctor. Årberg was met with strong resistance from male doctors and was accused of quackery. During the formal examination she was acquitted of all charges and allowed to practice medicine in Stockholm even though it was forbidden for women in the 1820s. She later received a medal for her work.{{Fact|date=June 2008}} *'''[[Linus Pauling]]''' (1901 - 1994), a [[Nobel Prize]] winner in [[chemistry]], Pauling spent much of his later career arguing for the treatment of somatic and psychological diseases with [[orthomolecular medicine]]. One of his most famous claims was that the [[common cold]] could be cured with massive doses of [[vitamin C]]. These claims were initially met with much enthusiasm, especially amongst the general public, though subsequent [[double-blind study|double-blind studies]] indicated no effect beyond that of a [[placebo]].<ref name=Dunitz>{{Citation | last=Dunitz | first=Jack D. | authorlink=Jack D. Dunitz | year=1996 | month=November | journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume=42 | issue= | title=Linus Carl Pauling, 28 February 1901–19 August 1994 | url=http://www.jstor.org/view/00804606/ap030044/03a00200/0 | pages=316–338| doi=10.1098/rsbm.1996.0020| format={{dead link|date=June 2008}} &ndash; <sup>[http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=author%3ADunitz+intitle%3ALinus+Carl+Pauling%2C+28+February+1901%E2%80%9319+August+1994&as_publication=Biographical+Memoirs+of+Fellows+of+the+Royal+Society&as_ylo=1996&as_yhi=1996&btnG=Search Scholar search]</sup>}}</ref> == See also == * [[Charlatan]] * [[Consumer protection]] * [[Dental amalgam controversy]] * [[medicine|Conventional medicine]], [[alternative medicine]] and [[evidence-based medicine]] * [[False advertising]] in [[health care]] * [[Fraud]] * [[Mountebank]] * [[Medical ethics]] * [[Patent medicine]] * [[Pseudoscience]] * [[Radioactive quackery]] * [[Snake oil]] * [[Chelation therapy]] === Regulatory organizations === * [[Federal Trade Commission]] * [[Food and Drug Administration]] * [[Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency]] === Anti-quackery organizations === * [[National Council Against Health Fraud]] * [[Quackwatch]] == References == {{reflist}} * Carroll, 2003. The Skeptics Dictionary. New York: Wiley.[http://skepdic.com/] * Della Sala, 1999. Mind Myths: Exploring Popular Assumptions about the Mind and Brain. New York; Wiley * Eisner, 2000. The Death of Psychotherapy; From Freud to Alien Abductions. Westport; CT; Praegner. * Lilienfeld, SO., Lynn, SJ., Lohr, JM. 2003; Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology. New York. Guildford * Norcross, JC, Garofalo.A, Koocher.G. (2006) Discredited Psychological Treatments and Tests; A Delphi Poll. Professional Psychology; Research and Practice. vol37. No 5. 515-522 * Radam, W. (1890) Microbes and the microbe killer. Privately published. New York. 369pp. == External links == {{Wiktionary}} * [http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/wh-fraud.html Protecting Yourself Against Health Fraud] - [[Food and Drug Administration]] * [http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/qa-qak3.html How do you recognize quackery?] - [[FDA]] * [http://www.nia.nih.gov/HealthInformation/Publications/quackery.htm Health Quackery: Spotting Health Scams] - [[U.S. National Institutes of Health]] * [http://www.umtec.ch/dokumente/dokumente/downloads/publikationen/Checklist%20for%20identifying%20dubious%20technical%20processes%20and%20products.pdf Checklist for identifying dubious technical processes and products] - Rainer Bunge, PhD * [http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/en/keys/webtours/VQ_P2_1_EN.html Cures and Quackery: The Rise of Patent Medicines] - [[McCord Museum]] * [http://www.quackwatch.com/13Hx/MM/00.html The Medical Messiahs: A Social History of Health Quackery in Twentieth-Century America] - James Harvey Young, PhD. * [http://www.museumofquackery.com Museum of Questionable Medical Devices] - [[Science Museum of Minnesota]] * [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0AYN/is_6_23/ai_n18611043 Dr. Renckens' Quackiness Scoring System] * [http://skepdic.com/quackery.html Quackery] - [[Skeptic's Dictionary]] * [http://www.dcscience.net/ DC's Improbable Science] - Professor David Colquhoun, [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]]. * [http://www.chem1.com/CQ/gallery.html Gallery of water-related pseudoscience] - Extensive list and classification of water-related pseudoscience and quackery. <!--reference: http://pantheon.yale.edu/~kd47/responding.htm --> <!--Categories--> [[Category:Pejoratives]] [[Category:Medicine]] [[Category:Healthcare]] [[Category:Pseudoscience]] <!--Other languages--> [[da:Kvaksalver]] [[de:Quacksalber]] [[nl:Kwakzalverij]] [[ja:偽医療]] [[no:Kvakksalver]] [[pl:Znachor]] [[pt:Charlatanismo]] [[sv:Kvacksalvare]]