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Kevin Trudeau is a multi-level marketing and TV infomercial pioneer. Often seen on late night TV, his news-style infomercials have promoted a range of products, from health aids to memory-improving courses. His latest series of infomercials features his book Natural Cures "They" Don’t Want You To Know About (ISBN 097559950X). In it he makes various claims about the safety and health of our food supply, arguing that diseases such as Cancer can be cured with naturopathic remedies. He likewise maintains the pharmaceutical industry is actively suppressing these miracle cures, so that they can continue to profit from their patented treatments. Critics of Trudeau point to his established criminal history and warn buyers to be wary of his advice. He has been widely characterized as a deceptive marketer and the epitome of the snake oil salesman, quack, or flim-flam-man.
Legal trouble
Trudeau's legal problems are long-standing. In 1990, he posed as a doctor in order to deposit $80,000 in false checks, and in 1991 he pled guilty to larceny after he had used his Mega Memory customers' credit card numbers for his own purposes. He spent two years in prison because of this conviction.
Trudeau rebounded, making a small fortune working for Nutrition for Life, a multi-level marketing program. However, in 1996 his recruitment practices ran afoul of the states of Illinois and Michigan, as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission. Michigan went so far as to forbid him from operating in the state. Then, in 1998, he was forced to pay $500,000 in consumer redress to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), relating to six infomercials he had produced and which the FTC determined he had made false or misleading claims.
More recently, on September 7, 2004, the FTC announced that they were banning Trudeau from "appearing in, producing, or disseminating any future infomercials that advertise any type of product" because he repeatedly made "fraudulent" and "unsubstantiated" claims in them. In addition, Trudeau paid $500,000 in cash and transferred ownership of a luxury vehicle and a piece of residential property in California to satisfy a $2 million fine against him. Lydia Parnes, Acting Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection stated that “This ban is meant to shut down an infomercial empire that has misled American consumers for years.” The charges arose from work Trudeau did on an infomercial advertising Coral calcium, a dietary supplement. However, Trudeau's infomercial advertising his book still airs on a daily basis because he is still allowed to promote publications. Airings of these infomercials in 2005 have included a guest appearance by Tammy Faye Bakker.
Recent Infomercials
Since the Federal Trade Commission's ban on Trudeau applies to almost everything except publications, it seems that Trudeau has gone into the publishing business. All of his recent infomercials advertise his book, Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You To Know About, and he has a minimum of five different versions of this infomercial that have aired in 2004 and 2005. In the newer infomercials, he appears to accepts phone calls, though the same callers are featured on each given version of the advertisement.
Trudeau argues that pharmaceutical companies "don't want us to get well" because if all diseases were cured, these companies would be out of business. He states in one infomercial that there are twelve known cures for cancer, but they are being kept from the general public by the FDA, the FTC, and the pharmaceutical companies. If this were true, one would expect that individuals who work for pharmaceutical companies or the FDA/FTC would never die of cancer. Since pharmaceutical and government employees have essentially the same cancer cure rate as the general public, one can logically deduce that this is an untrue statement. Trudeau also claims that someone invented a device that can shrink (and cure) cancers in a matter of hours using some kind of energy or radio waves, though he doesn't mention whether this machine was patented or who invented it.
Trudeau also claims in his infomercials that the food industry is including chemicals (such as MSG) to get people "addicted to food" and to "make people fat." Some of his points may be valid, such as the issue he takes with television ads for prescription drugs. Many people, including Trudeau, believe prescription drugs should be advertised to doctors, not the general public.
One of the major complaints about Trudeau's infomercials is that he makes only vague references to scientific studies, making them impossible to cross-check for accuracy. The same is true for the anecdotal evidence he presents in the infomercials. He never mentions names of people who have been cured by his methods, making it equally difficult to verify. The infomercials seem to imply that these subjects will be addressed further in the book, but most who have read it disagree.
Book
Kevin Trudeau begins his book, Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You To Know About, with a personal story: at the age of 21 he discovered he had a mitral valve defect in his heart, and claims that this was an incurable debilitating condition according to established medicine. He writes that his life was saved by a procedure which was performed in Mexico because it was banned in the United States. The story makes little medical sense. The condition he names (mitral valve prolapse) usually causes few or no symptoms; and the treatment he describes could not possibly have altered the structure of his heart.
Trudeau, who has no known expertise in the field of homeopathic medicine, claims that the Food and Drug Administration is actively banning all-natural cures so that consumers are forced to buy drugs and therefore support the drug industry. He also claims that there are all-natural cures for serious ailments such as cancer, attention deficit disorder, arthritis, acid reflux disease, herpes, and many other diseases - though these statements are not supported by scientific research.
A repeated criticism of the book is that there are very few actual treatment plans for any illnesses within its pages. A possible explanation for this is that he is afraid of civil lawsuits from parties who may be harmed as a result of taking his advice, in lieu of more traditional medical treatment. Instead of detailed cures, the book presents only general concepts, and then promotes a companion website which sells subscriptions to further detailed information and a monthly newsletter.
Even some advocates of alternative medicine point to the fact that many of the remedies Trudeau cites as too controversial to talk about on television or even in his book, and are widely available in other publications or on the Internet.
In August 2005 the drug store chain Walgreens pulled the book from its shelves. Nevertheless, the book has sold 2,000,000 copies and has a list price of $29.95.
External links
- The Skeptics Dictionary entry on Trudeau
- FTC statement regarding his banishment from infomercials
- Quackwatch page about Trudeau
- Transcript of his infomercial, with analysis
- About his show on Coral Calcium
- FAQ on Bovine Growth Hormone in Milk Products - California Dairy Institute
- What's New paragraph about Trudeau
- MSNBC Article about Kevin Trudeau