NCAHF Newsletter articles from November 1993

NCAHF Newsletter archives from November 1993

Chiros treating children. (chiropractors)
November 1, 1993... In July, 1993, Paul E. Brown, MD, did a phone survey of 100 chiropractic offices in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Posing as a parent with a 4-yr-old child with ear problems, he asked five questions to office personnel or available chiros:...

Barrett testifies for NCAHF on Hatch bill. (Stephen Barrett, National Council Against Health Fraud, Orrin Hatch's bill for dietary supplements)
November 1, 1993... Dr. Stephen Barrett testified on behalf of NCAHF before the House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies on Oct. 18. Barrett reviewed and documented...

Prostata. (dietary supplement claiming to prevent or treat prostate disorders)
November 1, 1993... Full-page ads that appear to have been torn out of a newspaper (page numbers "D14" and "D15" appear along with the, date "Thursday, April 22, 1993," but the top corner where the newspaper's name would appear is cut off) are hawking Prostata,...

How will NIH/OAM control pathological science? (National Institutes of Health)
November 1, 1993... Pathological science encompasses fraud, crankism, and the more subtle wishful science in which true-believers use science to "prove" what they already are certain is true. Wishful scientists gather proof like an attorney, piling up positive...

Immunoaugmentative therapy exposed. (form of cancer therapy)
November 1, 1993... Saul Green, PhD, has come up with another penetrating, insightful critique of so-called "Immunoaugmentative Therapy" (IAT) a dubious cancer treatment created by the late zoologist, Lawrence Burton, PhD, which Victor Herbert, MD, has described...

Sen. Hatch grows bolder as he hawks his legislation. (Orrin Hatch's bill supporting dietary supplement usage)
November 1, 1993... Senator Orrin Hatch attempted to justify his legislation that would permit a largely unregulated marketplace for supplement hucksters on CBS Morning News on Oct 19. Hatch charged that the FDA wanted to prevent people from getting beneficial...

Chemical sensitivities. (may have psychological symptoms)
November 1, 1993... Multiple chemical sensitivities has been proposed as a new disease in which the victim has adverse reactions when exposed to various substances under ordinary circumstances which do not affect the general population. The hypothesis has...

The deceptive placebo. (healing of the placebo effect)
November 1, 1993... Researchers evaluated five treatment modalities that seemed to work under clinical conditions but whose effects disappeared under controlled clinical trials. Under uncontrolled conditions the procedures all elicited reports of about 70%...

NYC Consumer Affairs charges diet-pill companies. (New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, fraudulent advertising)
November 1, 1993... Acting Commissioner Richard Schrader announced on October 27 that the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs was charging seven diet-pill companies with "telling fat lies in magazine and newspaper ads." Among the phone claims were: "the...

Univ. of Colorado Board of Regents to scrutinize Therapeutic Touch. (to be taught by its School of Nursing)
November 1, 1993... The University of Colorado Board of Regents has announced that it will conduct an inquiry into the teaching of Therapeutic Touch (TT) by its School of Nursing. TT has been under public scrutiny by the Rocky Mountain Skeptics (RMS), a...

NIH Office of Alternative Medicine makes grants. (National Institutes of Health)
November 1, 1993... The NIH Office of Alternative Medicine has funded a number of projects that will look into unusual methods of healing. Included among the grants are some real eyebrow-raisers. For instance, Lawrence Kushi will study macrobiotics and cancer....