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The inactive Science Panel on Interactive Communication and Health, appointed by the U.S. ], briefly named Quackwatch as a credible source for exposing fraudulent online health information but later retracted under political pressure.<ref name="Ladd"> by Donna Ladd, Village Voice, June 23 - 29, 1999. Retrieved September 2, 2006</ref><ref></ref>


==Criticism== ==Criticism==

Revision as of 11:00, 11 September 2007

Quackwatch Inc. is an American non-profit organization that aims to "combat health-related frauds, myths, fads, fallacies, and misconduct" with a primary focus on providing "quackery-related information that is difficult or impossible to get elsewhere." Since 1996, it has operated a website, Quackwatch.org, which contains articles and other types of information criticizing many forms of alternative medicine.

History

Founded in 1969 by Stephen Barrett, M.D., the Lehigh Valley Committee Against Health Fraud was later incorporated in the state of Pennsylvania in 1970. In 1996, the organization began the Quackwatch website, renaming the organization Quackwatch in 1997 as the website attracted attention.

Mission and scope

Quackwatch is operated by Stephen Barrett with input from a board of advisors and help from volunteers, including a number of medical professionals. Quackwatch describes its mission as follows:

"...investigating questionable claims, answering inquiries about products and services, advising quackery victims, distributing reliable publications, debunking pseudoscientific claims, reporting illegal marketing, improving the quality of health information on the internet, assisting or generating consumer-protection lawsuits, and attacking misleading advertising on the internet."

Quackwatch engages the services of 150+ scientific and technical advisors. As of 2003, 67 medical advisors, 12 dental advisors, 13 mental health advisors, 16 nutrition and food science advisors, 3 podiatry advisors, 8 veterinary advisors, and 33 "other scientific and technical advisors" were listed.

Quackwatch claims that the total cost of operating all of Quackwatch's sites is approximately $7,000 per year with no salaried employees at Quackwatch, Inc. It states that it is funded mainly by small individual donations, commissions from sales on other sites to which they refer, and profits from the sale of publications, and self funding by Stephen Barrett. Stated income also is derived from sponsored links for which they receive a commission on products ordered including Amazon books, ConsumerLab.com, Healthgrades, and Netflix.

About the site

The Quackwatch website contains many essays written for the non-specialist consumer by Barrett and a board of advisors, and they are therefore not subjected to scientific peer review. They discuss health-related products, treatments, enterprises and providers which Quackwatch deems to be misleading, fraudulent or ineffective and include references and links to sources used, as well as to sources for further study. Quackwatch is especially critical of those therapies that it considers dangerous.

The site contains information about specific people who perform, market, and advocate therapies it considers dubious, in many cases providing details of convictions for past marketing fraud. It also presents lists of sources, individuals, and groups considered questionable and non-recommended by Quackwatch.

The site is part of a network of related sites, such as Homeowatch (on homeopathy), Credential Watch (devoted to exposing degree mills), Chirobase (specifically devoted to chiropractic, cosponsored by the National Council Against Health Fraud and Victims of Chiropractic,) and others, each devoted to specific topics.

Notability

Quackwatch has been mentioned in the media, reviews and various journals, as well as receiving several awards and honors. In 1998, Quackwatch was recognized by the Journal of the American Medical Association as one of nine "select sites that provide reliable health information and resources." It was also listed as one of three medical sites of U.S. News & World Report's "Best of the Web" in 1999: The quote below is taken from a web site review by Forbes magazine:

"Dr. Stephen Barrett, a psychiatrist, seeks to expose unproven medical treatments and possible unsafe practices through his homegrown but well-organized site. Mostly attacking alternative medicines, homeopathy and chiropractors, the tone here can be rather harsh. However, the lists of sources of health advice to avoid, including books, specific doctors and organizations, are great for the uninformed. Barrett received an FDA Commissioner's Special Citation Award for fighting nutrition quackery in 1984. BEST: Frequently updated, but also archives of relevant articles that date back at least four years. WORST: Lists some specific doctors and organizations without explaining the reason for their selection."

Quackwatch has also been cited or mentioned by journalists in reports on therapeutic touch, Vitamin O, Almon Glenn Braswell's baldness treatments, dietary supplements, Robert Barefoot's coral calcium claims, noni juice, shark cartilage, and infomercials.

The inactive Science Panel on Interactive Communication and Health, appointed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, briefly named Quackwatch as a credible source for exposing fraudulent online health information but later retracted under political pressure.

Criticism

In a critical website review of Quackwatch, Joel M. Kauffman evaluated eight Quackwatch articles and concluded that the articles were "contaminated with incomplete data, obsolete data, technical errors, unsupported opinions, and/or innuendo..." and "...it is very probable that many of the 2,300,000 visitors to the website have been misled by the trappings of scientific objectivity."

Elmer M. Cranton, MD, author of Textbook on EDTA Chelation Therapy, rebuked criticism by Quackwatch of the chelation therapy that he supports by accusing the organization of having a "mission of attacking alternative and emerging medical therapies in favor of the existing medical monopoly." Peter Chowka, an investigative journalist and former adviser to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, remarked that Barrett "...seems to be putting down trying to be objective."

See also

References

  1. ^ Barrett SJ. "Quackwatch - Mission Statement". Quackwatch. Retrieved 2007-02-12. Cite error: The named reference "mission" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. Barrett SJ. "Quackwatch.org main page". Quackwatch. Retrieved 2007-02-12.
  3. Pennsylvania Department of State — Corporations
  4. Rosen, Marjorie (October 1998). "Interview with Stephen Barrett, M.D." Biography Magazine. Retrieved 2007-02-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. Barrett SJ. "Scientific and technical advisors". Quackwatch. Retrieved 2007-02-12.
  6. Barrett SJ. "Nonrecommended Sources of Health Advice". Quackwatch. Retrieved 2007-02-12.
  7. Barrett SJ. "Questionable Organizations: An Overview". Quackwatch. Retrieved 2007-02-12.
  8. Barrett SJ. "Homeowatch". Homeowatch. Retrieved 2007-02-12.
  9. Credential Watch available online
  10. Chirobase available online
  11. Victims of Chiropractic available online
  12. There are 22 web sites affiliated with Quackwatch.
  13. Han LF. Selected Web Site Reviews, Quackwatch.com The Consultant Pharmacist. accessed online, 25 Jan 2007.
  14. Quackwatch: Awards and honors
  15. JAMA Patient Page - Click here: How to find reliable online health information and resources, Journal of the American Medical Association 280:1380, 1998.
  16. U.S. News & World Report: The Best of The Web Gets Better
  17. Forbes.com, Best of the Web website reviews: Quackwatch.
  18. Kolata, Gina (April 1, 1998). A Child's Paper Poses a Medical Challenge. New York Times
  19. Siwolop, Sana (January 7, 2001). Back Pain? Arthritis? Step Right Up to the Mouse. New York Times
  20. Eichenwald, Kurt and Michael Moss (February 6, 2001), Pardon for Subject of Inquiry Worries Prosecutors. New York Times
  21. Associated Press (September 13, 2004). Man Once Pardoned By Clinton Again Faces Prison.
  22. Another Dubious Pardon - U.S. News & World Report
  23. Fessenden, Ford with Christoper Drew (March 31, 2000). Bottom Line in Mind, Doctors Sell Ephedra. New York Times
  24. Leon Jaroff, (March 14, 2003), Coral Calcium: A Barefoot Scam, Time magazine
  25. Noni Juice Might Lower Smokers' Cholesterol. Forbes article
  26. Leon Jaroff, (Sep. 29, 2004), Medical Sharks, Time magazine
  27. Damon Darlin, (April 8, 2006), Words to Live By in Infomercial World: Caveat Emptor, New York Times
  28. Dr. Who? Diagnosing Medical Fraud May Require a Second Opinion. by Donna Ladd, Village Voice, June 23 - 29, 1999. Retrieved September 2, 2006
  30. Kauffmann JM (2002). Website Review: Alternative Medicine: Watching the Watchdogs at Quackwatch, Journal of Scientific Exploration, 16, 2
  31. Cranton EM. Rebuttal to "Quackwatch" Website Opposing Chelation Therapy
  32. Donna Ladd, Diagnosing Medical Fraud May Require a Second Opinion, The Village Voice, June 23–29, 1999 available online

External links

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