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Chapter 10: How
Not to Get "Quacked"
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He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but
he who does not ask remains a fool forever.
- chinese proverb
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All of us would like to become younger, sexier and
thinner, and to live longer! Given these universal
needs, it is hardly surprising that quackery flourishes
all over the world. 'Quackery' is derived from the
word quacksalver (a throwback to the days when travelling
salesmen would boast about the healing powers of
their salves). Since quacks quack, quackery's paramount
characteristic is hype and promotion rather than
simply fraud, greed, or misinformation - though
these qualities often go hand in hand !
Much quackery is involved in informing people that
something is bad for them (such as food additives)
and selling a substitute (such as 'organic' or 'natural'
food). Quackery is also involved in misleading advertising
of dietary supplements, homoeopathic products, ayurvedic
medicines and some non-prescription drugs. In many
such instances no individual 'quack' is involved
- just deception by manufacturers and their advertising
agencies.
Remember that quackery is not an all-or-nothing
phenomenon. Some products can be useful for some
purposes, but worthless for others. For example,
vitamin BÙ12 shots can be life-saving in
cases of pernicious anemia, but giving them to 'pep
you up' is a form of medical fraud. Similarly, while
certain ayurvedic herbs can be very useful, often
the mass-manufactured ayurvedic medicines available
in chemists' shops are completely useless, because
they do not contain what they are supposed to! While
there is no doubt that homoeopathic medicines can
be helpful, the concept of a standard homoeopathic
remedy for common illnesses such as headaches and
colds flouts a basic homoeopathic principle, which
states that remedies need to be tailor made for
a particular person and only a skilled homoeopathic
physician can identify the required medicines properly.
Unproven methods are not necessarily quackery. Those
consistent with scientific concepts may be considered
to be experimental, but legitimate practitioners
do not go around promoting unproven procedures in
the marketplace. Instead, they engage in responsible,
properly designed research studies to prove or disprove
their claims. Methods not compatible with established
scientific concepts should be classified as nonsensical
or disproven rather than experimental: for example,
'fish cure' for asthma which draws huge crowds to
Hyderabad.
Quackery can harm individuals in many ways. First,
is the loss of a tremendous amount of money which
patients invest in pursuing this treatment, and
many unscrupulous practitioners can bleed patients
and their relatives dry - a little at a time. (There
is an old saying: "The highwayman demands 'your
money OR your life', but quacks demand "your
money AND your life!") Also, many of the quack
therapies can cause direct harm. It is a common
misconception that 'natural medicines' have no harmful
side- effects - but anything which can have an effect,
by definition, also has the potential to cause harmful
effects (after all, the desired effects of a medicine
are what we call its therapeutic action and undesirable
effects are labeled 'side-effects'!). The indirect
harm they cause can also be enormous: for example,
patients may pursue 'alternative medicine' for treating
their cancers and may deprive themselves of the
opportunity of getting effective state-of-the-art
medical treatment.
Quackery flourishes even in the USA where people
are much more sophisticated, and the US Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) provides effective policing.
Therefore, it is hardly surprising that in India
this menace is rampant, and there are far more quacks
than regular medical practitioners. Faith healing,
for example, is an integral part of Indian traditions,
especially in villages where educated priests take
advantage of people's ignorance and blind faith.
Many of us believe that we are far more sophisticated
than the illiterate villager, and are above falling
prey to quacks, but we need to realise that modern
health quacks are supersalesmen, who play on fear
and cater to hope. Who amongst us has not clipped
at least one ad or bought at least one product which
promises to either make you grow more hair, make
you a better lover, remove your wrinkles, make you
lose flab, or improve your memory? While the cold
scientific fact remains that there is not a single
effective way of fulfilling the aforementioned claims,
the fact that ads for these products are so prevalent
obviously means they have a ready audience and are
pulling in the bucks for their manufacturers!
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How can you save yourself from being quacked? Here
are some useful pointers by Dr. Stephen Barrett
from his Quackwatch Web site (www.quackwatch.org)
- Forget about 'secret cures'. True scientists
share their knowledge as part of the process
of scientific development. Quacks often keep
their methods secret to prevent others from
decisively demonstrating that they don't work.
No one who actually discovered a cure would
have reason to keep it secret. If a method works
- specially for a serious disease - the discoverer
would gain enormous fame, fortune and personal
satisfaction by sharing the discovery with others.
- Remember that quackery often garbs itself
in a cloak of pseudo-scientific respectability
and its promoters often use scientific terms
and quote (or misquote) from scientific references.
Be equally wary of pseudo-medical jargon. Instead
of offering to treat your disease, some quacks
will promise to 'detoxify' your body, 'balance'
its chemistry, release its 'nerve energy' or
'bring it in harmony with nature'. The use of
concepts that are impossible to measure or quantify
enables success to be claimed even though nothing
has actually been accomplished.
- Ignore any practitioner who says that most
diseases are caused by faulty nutrition or can
be remedied by taking supplements. Although
some diseases are related to diet, most are
not. Moreover, in most cases where diet actually
is a factor in a person's health problem, the
solution is not to take vitamins but to alter
the diet.
- Be wary of catchy anecdotes and testimonials.
If someone claims to have been helped by an
unorthodox remedy there is often a rational
explanation. Most single episodes of disease
which affect patients lead to recovery with
the passage of time, and most chronic ailments
(such as arthritis and psoriasis) are marked
by symptom-free periods. Many people who give
testimonials about recovery from cancer have
undergone effective treatment as well as unorthodox
treatment, but give credit to the latter. Some
testimonials, of course, are complete fabrications!
- Be skeptical of any product which claims to
be effective against a wide range of unrelated
diseases, particularly serious diseases. There
is no such thing as a panacea or 'cure-all'.
- Ignore appeals to your vanity. One of quackery's
most powerful appeals is the suggestion to 'think
for yourself' instead of following the collective
wisdom of the scientific community. A similar
appeal is the idea that although a remedy has
not been proven to work for other people, it
still might work for you. Remember that all
humans have the same anatomy and physiology,
and scientific rules apply to all of us.
- Don't let desperation cloud your judgment!
If you feel that your doctor isn't doing enough
to help you, or if you have been told that your
condition is incurable and don't wish to accept
this fate without a struggle, don't stray from
scientific health care in a desperate attempt
to find a solution. Instead, discuss your feelings
with your doctor and consider a consultation
with a recognized expert.
The best way you can protect yourself from being
taken for a ride, is to make sure you are well informed
about your own body. The 'take-home message' is
simple: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably
isn't !
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