Health Fraud

Health fraud falls into two broad classes - telling people lies that may kill them or someone else, and stealing from people by selling bogus medicines. The sites listed here provide useful information in the battle against quackery and for people just wanting to find out more about how real medicine works. (A list of sites offering suspect or fraudulent medical advice, products and services can be found at The Millenium Project.)

Books relating to this category can be found here.

There are sites listed in this category. Please click here for a condensed listing without descriptions of the entries.

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Steelclaws on Snake Oil

"A skeptical look at alternative medicine and related issues"

Stuff and Nonsense

Taubman Medical Library Homeopathy Collection

Terra Sigillata

Therapeutic Goods Administration (Australia)

The Australian community expects that medicines and medical devices in the marketplace are safe and of high quality, to a standard at least equal to that of comparable countries. The objective of the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989, which came into effect on 15 February 1991, is to provide a national framework for the regulation of therapeutic goods in Australia and ensure their quality, safety and efficacy.

Therapeutic Goods Administration (Australia) - Complaints Resolution Panel

Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code Council (Australia)

In Australia all advertisements and generic information provided about Therapeutic Goods directed to the public must comply with provisions of the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 and Therapeutic Goods Regulations 1990 and the Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code (TGAC).

The Toadstool Millionaires: A Social History of Patent Medicines in America before Federal Regulation (James Harvey Young PhD)

This book, originally published in 1961, chronicles the rise of the patent medicine trade from its beginnings in colonial America until passage of the first federal food and drug law. Dr. Young (1915-2006) was a social historian whose special interest was the development of food and drug regulation in America. He served for many years as a professor of history at Emory University and also wasas a member of the FDA National Advisory Food and Drug Council. The book is reproduced with the kind permission from him and the publisher, Princeton University Press.

The Truth, Myths and Lies About the Health and Diet of the "Long-Lived" People of Hunza, Pakistan, Hunza Bread and Pie Recipes

"This web site will prove that eating red meat and natural animal fats while restricting carbohydrates is not only healthy but will prevent and cure many diseases".

The Ultimate Cancer Medicare Guide: What You Need To Know (Texas)

What you need to know about Medicare and cancer if you live in Texas.

Understanding Medical Words

A Tutorial from the National Library of Medicine

Unorthodox Techniques for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Allergy, Asthma and Immune Disorders (ASCIA)

"While our ability to accurately diagnose and treat allergic disease has benefited from scientific understanding of what happens during an allergic reaction, a number of tests and treatments have been promoted in the absence of any scientific rationale. Some non-conventional approaches to disease also claim that various disorders unrelated to allergy have an immune basis. These tests and treatments have been shown to be unreliable when subjected to careful study. ASCIA advises against use of these tests for diagnosis or to guide medical treatment"

Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments (Justin Kruger and David Dunning)

"People tend to hold overly favorable views of their abilities in many social and intellectual domains. The authors suggest that this overestimation occurs, in part, because people who are unskilled in these domains suffer a dual burden: Not only do these people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it. Across 4 studies, the authors found that participants scoring in the bottom quartile on tests of humor, grammar, and logic grossly overestimated their test performance and ability. Although their test scores put them in the 12th percentile, they estimated themselves to be in the 62nd. Several analyses linked this miscalibration to deficits in metacognitive skill, or the capacity to distinguish accuracy from error. Paradoxically, improving the skills of participants, and thus increasing their metacognitive competence, helped them recognize the limitations of their abilities"

The View From The Hills (Rosalie Hilleman)

What's The Harm? (Tim Farley)

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