"Buyer Beware" or Should it be "Seller Beware"?

The FDA has a short but interesting post about quacks, charlatans, nostrums and patent medicines that permeated American society in the 1900's.

This all occurred during the infancy of biomedical research when there were far more questions about disease than answers. The result was an army of individuals who were willing to step in and provide the "answers" to the public's health problems. These marketers of nostrums were successful in part due to long lists of "testimonials" they were able to provide to their marks. Thankfully, in 1905, Samuel Hopkins published an article in Collier's Weekly titled "The Great American Fraud". This resulted in the passage of the first "Pure Food and Drug Act" in 1906.

"Patent Medicines" weren't the only problem. A huge number of questionable medical devices were also offered for sale. The vibrometer, the psychograph, the McGregor Rejuvenator, the foot operated breast enhancer, even a recto rotor were for sale to an unsuspecting American public. Many of these devices can be seen here.

We have advanced from those times to the time of "Alternative Medicine". This is a term that has marketing value in that it implies that a series of scientifically unproven techniques and philosophies have medicinal value. The practitioners of "Alternative Medicine" have been so successfull that the National Institutes of Health is spending millions of taxpayers dollars to investigate, in many cases, that which cannot be scientifically investigated.

The fact is, "alternative medical treatments" are not an alternative if they don't do anything. Does any reasonable person really believe that disease can be "cured" over a distance? If this is the case, why is there so much disease in the world? If "alternative medical treatments" are so effective, why aren't these treatments replacing evidence based medicine? The fact is, there is no such thing as "alternative medicine". The is only safe, proven, effective medicine.