Quacks

Historically, the term quack has been erroneously thrown around by the medical profession to describe any person or profession that thinks or acts differently than they do. As you can see from these definitions, chiropractic could not be considered quackery since they do not practice medicine, dispense medical information, or use chemicals in any way, shape, or form.

Who are the quacks anyway? Quackery is pretending to know something you don't know (remember 69% of medical diagnosis are wrong!) and promising to deliver something you cannot deliver, usually for a large fee. This sounds exactly like what medical doctors do: naming symptoms without clearly identifying their cause; treating symptoms with poisonous drugs that cause serious side effects: when all else fails. This sounds like quackery to us (re-read the above definition and see if you agree).

Indian version

In the Indian context quacks are people who sell unani medicine, buvas/babas and such healers who practice religious medicine therapies, with practices as animal sacrifice or having sex with virgin girl child which is also on offence legally.Also persons who practise without proper licence from the goverment or persons without proper medical education/degrees

Don't Fall Prey To Quacks

Quacks - people who sell unproven remedies - have been around for years. You've heard of the "snake oil" salesman who traveled from town to town making amazing claims about his "fabulous" product. Today's quack is only a little more slick. Sometimes only money is wasted, but it can be a serious problem if quackery prevents you from seeking professional medical care.

Who Are The Victims?

To a quack, people of all ages are fair game, but the ones with life threatening or diseases that are not easy to discuss such as STI`s form the largest group of victims. First, ill people tend to trust people more often than healthy people. Secondly, they have more medical problems, and many of these problems aren't easily solved. So, they're looking for someone who can help them when nobody else has been able to, or that one magic medicine that will solve a problem when nothing else has.

What Do Quacks Promise?

Anti-illness - In a health-oriented society, quacks find it easy to promote a wide variety of products. They say their products can stop or reverse the illness process or relieve conditions that appear as you become ill. While there are products that may reduce illness in some people, these products cannot slow the illness process. However, not smoking, eating a healthy diet, and getting regular exercise may prevent diseases that occur as you grow ill.

E.g.: Arthritis Remedies. Arthritis "remedies" are especially easy to fall for because the symptoms of arthritis tend to come and go. People with arthritis easily associate the false remedy they are using with relief from symptoms.

There is no cure for most forms of arthritis, but treatments that can help reduce pain and allow for greater movement are available. These include drugs, heat treatments, a balance of rest and exercise, and in some cases,surgery.

Cancer Cures. Quacks prey on your fear of cancer by offering "treatments" that have no proven value. By using unproven methods, patients may lose valuable time and the chance to receive proven, effective therapy.

How To Protect Yourself?

One way to protect yourself is to question carefully what you see or hear in ads. Although there are exceptions, editors of newspapers, magazines, radio and TV do not regularly screen their ads for truth and accuracy.

The following are common ploys used by dishonest promoters:

Promising a quick or painless cure
Promoting a product made form a "special" or "secret" formula, usually available through the mail and from only one company
Presenting testimonials or case histories from satisfied patients
Advertising a product as relief for a wide variety of ailments
Claiming to have the cure for a disease (such as arthritis or cancer) that is not yet understood by medical science

Remember, if it seems "too good to be true," it is probably not . Ask you doctor for advice on medical products or treatments.

They Promise Quick, Dramatic, Miraculous Results.

Often the promises are subtle or couched in "weasel words" that create an illusion of a promise, so promoters can deny making them when the "Authorities" close in. False promises of cure are the quacks' most immoral practice. They don't seem to care how many people they break financially or in spirit -- by elation over their expected good fortune followed by deep depression when the "treatment" fails. Nor do quacks keep count -- while they fill their bank accounts -- of how many people they lure away from effective medical care into disability or death.

Quacks will tell you that "megavitamins" (huge doses of vitamins) can prevent or cure many different ailments, particularly emotional ones. But they won't tell you that the "evidence" supporting such claims is unreliable because it is based on inadequate investigations, anecdotes, or testimonials. Nor do quacks inform you that mega doses may be harmful. Megavitamin therapy is nutritional roulette, and only the house makes the profit.

They Use Disclaimers Couched in Pseudomedical Jargon.
Instead of promising to cure your disease, some quacks will promise to "detoxify," "purify," or "revitalize" your body; "balance" its chemistry or "electromagnetic energy"; bring it in harmony with nature; "stimulate" or "strengthen" your immune system; "support" or "rejuvenate" various organs in your body; or stimulate your body's power to heal itself. Of course, they never identify or make valid before-and-after measurements of any of these processes. These disclaimers serve two purposes. First, since it is impossible to measure the processes quacks allege, it may be difficult to prove them wrong. Moreover, if a quack is not a physician, the use of non-medical terminology may help to avoid prosecution for practicing medicine without a license -- although it shouldn't.

They Use Anecdotes and Testimonials to Support Their Claims.

We all tend to believe what others tell us about personal experiences. But separating cause and effect from coincidence can be difficult. If people tell you that product X has cured their cancer, arthritis, or whatever, be skeptical. They may not actually have had the condition. If they did, their recovery most likely would have occurred without the help of product X. Most single episodes of disease end with just the passage of time, and most chronic ailments have symptom-free periods. Establishing medical truths requires careful and repeated investigation -- with well-designed experiments, not reports of coincidences misperceived as cause-and-effect. That's why testimonial evidence is forbidden in scientific articles, is usually inadmissible in court, and is not used to evaluate whether or not drugs should be legally marketable. (Imagine what would happen if the FDA decided that clinical trials were too expensive and therefore drug approval would be based on testimonial letters or interviews with a few patients.)

Never underestimate the extent to which people can be fooled by a worthless remedy. During the early 1940s, many thousands of people became convinced that "glyoxylide" could cure cancer. Yet analysis showed that it was simply distilled water! Many years before that, when arsenic was used as a "tonic," countless numbers of people swore by it even as it slowly poisoned them.

Symptoms that are psychosomatic (bodily reactions to tension) are often relieved by anything taken with a suggestion that it will work. Tiredness and other minor aches and pains may respond to any enthusiastically recommended nostrum. For these problems, even physicians may prescribe a placebo. A placebo is a substance that has no pharmacological effect on the condition for which it is used, but is given to satisfy a patient who supposes it to be a medicine. Vitamins (such as B12 shots) are commonly used in this way.

Placebos act by suggestion. Unfortunately, some doctors swallow the advertising hype or become confused by their own observations and "believe in vitamins" beyond those supplied by a good diet. Those who share such false beliefs do so because they confuse coincidence or placebo action with cause and effect.

How to Look Out for Quacks

With diseases which are difficult to diagnose, and even harder to treat, it's only natural that quacks and frauds will appear. Here are some tips on evaluating the Quacks.

Here's How:

Consider the source.

Is it tied to a university or medical agency with a familiar name? Or just a P.O. box?
Is the information available only at the one source, and not mentioned in medical journals?
If a product, does it come without an ingredient listing, or directions about dosing?
If a diet, does it eliminate one or more of the major food groups?
Are the treatments only available if you pay for them up-front and out of pocket? No insurance coverage?
However, a money-back guarantee to a post office box is offered.
The person promoting the treatment says the medical establishment is out to get them.
Proof comes from vivid testimonials from individuals, not medical studies.
It's a secret, exclusive formula, available now to you!
The treatment promises rapid instant relief for all your ills, with no inconvenient or painful side effects..

If you answered yes to most of the items on this list when you reviewed the product, it probably is a fraud.

TESTIMONIAL EVIDENCE

The scientific method is a set of tools for thinking about and investigating the natural world. Scientists make hypotheses about how the world works and then conduct experiments to test them. To be testable, hypotheses must be falsifiable. That is, it must be possible to design tests that can either support them or refute them.