Medical Shams

[joreth]

I'm up past my bedtime answering a post in the poly LJ community.  The show I was watching has ended and an infomercial just came on.

I'm livid.

"You can cure breast cancer without chemotherapy by eating a muffin with flax seed oil" 
"In here, there is a cure for depression"
"There is a cure for ADD"
"Magnets cure joint pain in less than a minute and permanently"

And he's comparing his book of miracles to a person claiming that oranges cure scurvy and then going to jail for making that claim because the orange isn't a drug.   Except, of course, that scurvy is a vitamin C deficiency, so DUH the "cure" is to eat oranges.  Cancer is a lot more complicated than a vitamin depletion that is cured by increasing that vitamin.

Oh, and the drug companies are all in on the conspiracy for blocking natural cures because they're in it for the money of drugs.

AAARRRGGGHHHHH.

Y'know, two people can keep a secret if one of the people is dead.

"The doctor really wants to cure his patients.  But when he goes to school, he is only trained by certain methods and doesn't know anything else".


WHAT THE FUCK!!!

Do people honestly believe that a pill that cures cancer is 1) prevented by the FDA from being released into the US because of the drug company conspiracy and 2) is somehow completely unknown by ANYONE in the medical or research community and 3) if it really is a consipiracy that his infomercial would be allowed to happen or that he wouldn't somehow disappear in a mysterious incident immediately after airing?

Are people really this stupid??!!?

Oh, wait, yes they are.

I'm just so angry at this infomercial, at this ASSHOLE who is recommending a fucking muffin with flax seed oil INSTEAD of chemotherapy and talking about how the First Amendment protects his right to make these outrageous claims even though the government and the drug companies are out to arrest him for making medical claims with no scientific backing, that I can't even formulate a calm, rational post debunking each of his points one by one.

He's upset that the drug companies are trying to make money off patients.  But he's selling his book with his miracle cures.

Please, please, please, where's a cop when you need one? 

Comments

[darkersunshine.livejournal.com]

I agree with you wholeheartedly! I want to punch my tv the 2 times I've seen him come on.

Sick.

[slouchinphysics.livejournal.com]

At the international house of magnets where the fellow in charge of software development cuts out and puts up on the window of his office every single magnets as a miracle cure add he can find. Needless to say this works as comedy as long as you don't think about the gullible paying money for these instead of medication.

As an aside often the people who are suckered by the flax seed oil muffins and the other miracles cures are people who can't afford actual treatment.

[joreth]

Normally I'm just annoyed and baffled by this whole thing, and a little amused when no one is taking it seriously. But my sweetie's parents are not doing well. And his mother, who has terminal cancer, keeps throwing her money away on these "miracle cures". And when my sweetie balks at paying for these shams, she tries to guilt-trip him into things like "aren't I worth a mere $24.99 to you?".

It's just sad and it pisses me off to no end to think of these assholes preying on the fears of people who are dying by taking their money, whether they have lots or little. Some may not be able to afford the actual treatment, but then if it's hopeless, they should be spending their money doing things that are worthwhile to them in their last days, instead of giving it over to charletains for false hope.

It's just cruel.

[joreth]

"You're going to burn in a very special level of Hell. A level they reserved for child molesters and people who talk at the theatre.

[leora.livejournal.com]

This is full of half-truths. Many people consider those worse than lies.

Flax seed oil contains omega-3, which is a big source of discussion in medical circles right now. Although I'm not aware of cancer links, there are automimmune links, and many doctors are advising patients with autoimmune disorders to take fish oil, which is a source of omega-3 and vitamin d and possibly some other helpful things.

Historically, humans ate a diet that contained roughly rqual quantities of omega-3 and omega-6. Both are necessary. Omega-3 helps the body run the process that decreases inflammation and omega-6 helps the body to cause it. You need to be able to do both, but you want them in balance.

However, since we've started feeding animals corn rather than the grains and grasses they used to eat, we have created meat and eggs that have far more omega-6 and far less omega-3. The US diet is generally massively imbalanced toward omega-6. This can cause pains related to inflammation and autoimmune problems. And rebalancing the diet can help.

However, omega-3 is not a miracle cure, nor is flax seed oil the best source for omegqa-3. I was taking flax seed oil for a bit, but then switched to omega-3 created by algae, which is what the fish eat to be high in omega-3. Fish oil is the best studied and best recommended source, but being vegetarian, I'm not comfortable with it.

This is not about curing the incurable diseases, so much as about fixing a potentially imbalanced diet (and if yours isn't, too much omega-3 would cause problems too) and about decreasing the symptoms of certain disorders. Nobody is saying take omega-3 and you won't have MS or arthritis.

I'm sorry you actually know someone trying to run after every "cure" out there. That is tragic and also annoying. I run into the opposite problem of people trying to push me on some "cure" they heard about, and when I don't want to spend my time, money, and energy on it, they accuse me of not really wanting to get better, since I'm not even willing to try something so simple as FOO.

I've actually tried several things, the ones that are most harmless, most recommended by doctors, or seem to have the most reasonable potential science behind them. And I've even found some things that I think help me with my problems, and I'll try to continue those. But if I had a problem that had a known treatment, I'd be doing that. I get the willingness to try new and unproven things when you have something that nobody knows how to treat. But other problems, there is a clear best known approach. And if you can do it, then that seems the most sensible thing to do.

Although I kind of get it when you can't do that approach for various reasons. It doesn't make it a good idea to try every scam, but I understand the mindset.

[joreth]

Yeah, I am aware of many of the general health benefits to things like flax seed oil, etc. But this guy was literally saying "you can cure cancer with a flax seed muffin" and advising that chemo was a waste of time and money, not to mention very dangerous (which, of course, it's not the safest of procedures ever). He claims the "cures" in his book are literally cures for our so-far incurable diseases like MS and arthritis (yes, he specifically named both of those) and that those "cures" are all-natural food sources that our government is keeping from the public knowledge because the drug companines want more money for chemical drugs and that not a single doctor has been able to find these "hidden" cures themselves whereas this asshole somehow stumbled onto them with no medical training and not even a cultural history (it's not like he was an old asian man spouting the wisdom of the far east in family remedies and folk lore). He was also literally comparing himself to a guy being arrested for claiming that oranges cure scurvy.

It's shit like this that piss me off. Now, the old couple who claim that B-12 makes you happy and energetic, I'm OK with those guys because they're not claiming it actually cures diseases so stop your medically-adviced treatments for this vitamin. B-12 does make a lot of people energetic and happy.

The problem is that people who do not know any of the science behind any of this will buy it hook, line and sinker. Scurvy is not a major issue in the US and therefore very few people know what it is, other than sailors used to get it and eating oranges fixes it. It's criminally and ethically irresponsible (IMO) to compare non-scientifically-tested healthy muffins as a cure for cancer to a simple vitamin deficiency that is cured by adding more vitamins.

I totally understand grasping at straws when your life is on the line and western medicine can't fix it. I'm quite cynnical myself about doctors, based on my very poor treatment by such. Doctors I don't go to so much for general health. But when something is broken, they're my best chance to fix it. And no, not everything can be fixed.

Don't fucking get me started

[datan0de.livejournal.com]

A-FUCKING-MEN, SISTER!!

This kind of crap makes my skin crawl. Not only are they fleecing the ignorant, but they're creating an unwarranted distrust of the scientific and medical establishments within the mainstream zeitgeist, thereby opening the door to all manner of other "magical thinking" and pseudoscientific woo woo. This is the same shit that leads to people buying the line of crap about the moon landings being faked, a random yokel in Central Florida building an engine that burns salt water, and the meme that microwaves "change the food molecules so that your body doesn't recognize it as food". (Learned that last one from my sister, who by the way is a school teacher.)

I can't begin to imagine what the actual cost to society is, but every time I see one of those "Natural Cures They Don't Want You To Know!" books I want to go thermonuclear. It's as if the majority of the population has just thrown their hands in the air, decided that "science is too hard" and is a black box equivalent to religious doctrine, and chosen to take the easy (and ineffectual) route of falling back on pre-scientific "thinking" (if you can call it that).

This is why I'm gradually sliding into the "angry atheist" stereotype. Once you subscribe to the idea that the universe is fundamentally unknowable then irrational credulity can begin creeping in, particularly when fueled by the added incentive of being able to dismiss anything that you're not smart enough to understand as "part of the conspiracy".

On a related note, have you ever listened to "The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe"? (http://www.theskepticsguide.org/) I adore it, and it has become my favorite podcast.

Less related note: I got Michael Shermer's "Why People Believe Weird Things" from Kim for my birthday! SQUEE!!!

Remember: Axial tilt is the reason for the season! ;-)

Re: Don't fucking get me started

[joreth]

No, no, no, it's the season because the goddess of summer gets captured every year by the god of hades due to a bargain she made with him thousands of years ago and all the world dies a little death until her return! Or something.

I am also slipping (very quickly, I might add) into the "angry athiest" stereotype because of shit like this. I think the actual cost to society can be estimated in the number of lives lost each year to potentially-curable illnesses that we're not allowed to cure because of the bans on stem cell research and cloning and other treatments. Not to mention our nation's position in the educational rankings. Oh the things we could come up with if we weren't stymied by stupidity!

I have not listened to that podcast (I can't even remember to listen to Polyamory weekly!) but if your trend for cool websites continues like Greta Christina, I suspect this is something I should check out!

That book is cool! I'm almost finished with Franklin's copy of How We Know What Isn't So.

Happy Birthday!

[phantom-man.livejournal.com]

You might not be aware an organization I've been a member of for a number of years. The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry does a good job of debunking most of the pseudo-science that's dished up to us today.

Their web site ( http://www.csicop.org ) has a search function that can, most likely, pull up an article discussing any issue you might need back-up with.

The link below discusses magnet therapy, for instance.
http://www.csicop.org/si/2006-04/magnet-therapy.html
You could use this to substantiate arguments against throwing money away.
I couldn't find a reference to Flax Seed Oil, however.

[joreth]

thanks for those resources. I also use Penn & Teller's Bullshit and Mythbusters, and www.snopes.com, depending upon what the debate is and who I'm debating with. Most often, however, I end up pointing towards the website of someone I know personally, since many of my friends have these particular pet peeves. datan0de and tacit are two of them. But I will keep your links to add to my arsenal :-)