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Stephen Barrett

The Health Robbers: A Close Look at Quackery in America (Consumer Health Library) Hardcover – October 1, 1993

by Stephen Barrett (Author), William T. Jarvis (Author)

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While medical science has never had more to offer, many people are turning to "alternatives" such as chiropractic, homeopathy, "organic" foods, vitamin supplements, herbs, chelation therapy, and occult "healers." Millions of Americans who are unenlightened, seriously ill, or desperate have fallen into the clutches of TV promoters, nutrition hustlers, or other con artists whose offerings are ineffective or dangerous - and sometimes lethal. But quackery is not confined to individuals who fit the popular image of a quack. Significant numbers of well-trained physicians have strayed from science into "fad diagnoses" and unproven treatments that lack a rational basis.
The Health Robbers, featuring more than twenty highly respected authorities, explains the dangers of quack medicine, "alternative" cancer remedies, health fads, and "miracle diets." It argues for stronger laws and more vigorous policing of the marketplace. And it answers such questions as: "Are 'organic' foods worth their extra cost?" "Can acupuncture cure anything?" "Will vitamin B[subscript 12] shots pep me up?" "Can diet cure arthritis?" "Will spinal adjustments help my health?" "Will amino acids 'pump up' my muscles?" "Where can reliable information be obtained?" and "What's the best way to get good medical care?"
Even if the answers to some of these questions seem obvious, the details in this volume, written in an informative, highly readable, and easy-to-understand style, will astound you. Quackery often leads to harm because it turns ill people away from legitimate and trusted therapeutic procedures. However, its heaviest toll is in financial loss not only to those who pay directly, but to everyone who pays for bogus treatments through taxes, insurance premiums, and other ways that are less obvious.
Chapter titles include: "The Food Fear Epidemic" ("Beware of chemical con men"), "The Overselling of Herbs" ("More hype than help"), "Quackery and the Media" ("Should we believe what we see and hear?"), "The Holistic Hodgepodge," "Dubious Dental Care," and "How Quackery Sells."

Print length

526 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Prometheus Books
Publication date

October 1, 1993
Dimensions

6.5 x 1.75 x 9.75 inches
ISBN-10

0879758554
ISBN-13

978-0879758554
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Arguing that "quackery is at an all-time high," psychiatrist Barrett ( Health Schemes, Scams and Frauds ) and Jarvis, an adviser to the American Council on Science and Health, in a comprehensive if not altogether well-balanced survey, come down hard on misleading advertising and news media, sales and network marketing of weight-control and beauty systems. The authors also deplore patients who renounce established practices for alternative remedies, self-doctoring with herbs, vitamins, etc., along with psychic and cult healing. One questions their failure to distinguish among forms of non-traditional treatment, in effect putting chiropractic into the same category as, say, faith healing, although the efficacy of chiropractic and acupuncture is no longer a very controversial issue. The authors conclude with a review of our health laws and agencies (Federal Trade Commission, Food and Drug Administration) and other sources of information and avenues to redress abuse. Author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Prometheus Books; First Edition (October 1, 1993)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 526 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0879758554
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0879758554
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.4 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1.75 x 9.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,383,824 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,140 in Medical Ethics (Books)

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Blaine

This is one of my favorite books ever!!!

Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2018

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I first read this book in 1986 and bought and read the second edition a few years later. It has saved me from the fraud of bad medical information and quackery. One of the one star reviews stated that "The author of this book is obviously bought and paid for by the AMA and drug companies." Obviously the reviewer hadn't read the book. The listed authors are not the authors at all but editors. Each chapter is written by a medical or scientific professional in their field. For example, the chapter on cancer quackery is written by the president of the American Cancer Society and chronicles various cancer quackery treatment and their harm. Each chapter contains great information and is very enlightening especially in a world where we seem to be gravitated toward quackery everywhere. Don't think it is pro-doctor. It also takes aim at MDs, DDS's. and other "professionals" who use their licenses to peddle nonsense and make money at the expense of their patients. This book has helped me avoid for 30 years the nonsense of the quack du jour I have seen come and go over the years.

2 people found this helpful

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James J. Pupo

Health Robbers

Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2020

Verified Purchase

Good advice about quacks except the part about not liking organic food and natural food.

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Walter Marshall

In depth review of Quackery in America.

Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2020

Verified Purchase

One of the seminal books on this topic.
Right up there with the series, Nostrums and Quackery published by the American Medical Association.

Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2015

Verified Purchase

Barrett runs Quackwatch, and this book delivers expertly in a nice, readable format.

2 people found this helpful

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TheBanshee

Negative reviews are personal attacks

Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2014

I had to laugh at the review by a presumed physician who said that chiropractors knew his job better than he did. If I were you, Doctor Adams, I wouldn't advertise that. But if Dr. Adams had bothered to read the book (something I doubt most of the negative reviewers did), he would have seen that Barrett said explicitly that he did not want to imply that all chiropractors were quacks, or that chiropractors didn't help people. What exactly did Dr. Adams want Dr.Barrett to say? The fact remains that some chiropractors make absurd claims about chiropractic's ability to cure a vast number of diseases, and he talks about successful lawsuits filed against chiropractors whose incompetence lead to the death of patients who trusted them to cure them of things like cancer.
Barrett's stance is reasonable. And where are the studies proving that chiropractic cures any disease?
Barrett is something of a polarizing figure, but I find him a lot more trustworthy than I do the people bashing him. My experience with Reiki, energy healing, shiatsu, polarity therapy and accupuncture line up with Barrett and company's assessment of them: it's nice to have another person paying special attention to you, and I may feel better for a very brief while afterwards, but these methods don't cure a damned thing.
I wish the book were a little more up-to-date, but I can't have everything. Anyway, I recommend this book for patients, or potential patients who don't want to be sold a bill of goods at extremely inflated prices. Use your common sense.

10 people found this helpful

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Dalton C. Rocha

Don't believe in quacks' friends

Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2015

About thirty years ago, I read this good book, here in Brazil.
This good book has these main qualities:
1- It talks about quackery, an important subject. Quackery remains strong today.
2- When this book talks about quackery not aproved by conventional medicine, this book has courage. Chiropractics, homeopaths, etc. have what they deserve, in this book.
3- This book is well organized and for the general public. At least the old ediction that I read was.
4- Dr. Stephen Barrett invited many persons to write this book with him. The wikipedia writes about Dr. Barrett these sentences: "Stephen Joel Barrett[1] (/'bær't/; born 1933) is an American retired psychiatrist, author, co-founder of the National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF), and the webmaster of Quackwatch. "
5- The vast majority of kinds of fake medicine (homeopathy, faith healing, etc.) are in this book. Each chapter is itself dedicated to buster a kind of fake medicine .
6- Dr. Stephen Barrett wrote in this book, what he really believes. Dr. Stephen Barrett isn't just a Doctor. He really believes, in conventional medicine.
This book has these main problems:
1- When it is talking about quackery claimed by commons charlatans, this book has courage, but when talking about quackery by graduateds in medicine, this book has just silence. For instance, I don't remember nothing writen in this book, about circumcision in United States. And this quackery remains in the United States. Another similar case. Mammography were producing more breast cancers, than preventing them. Again the fact that Americans spend for each person, in health, the double of money than Japaneses and have lower periods of life doesn't has any space, in this book. At least in my opinion, doctors must give health to the public, not to make many money and give mansions to themselves.
2- The chapter about Christian Faith healing was writen by Charles Lester Kinsolving, an almost unknowed minister in the Anglican Church. The chapter itself is well writen, but when Dr. Stephen Barrett chose an almost unknowed minister in the Anglican Church. Anglican Church isn't even 4% of American population and isn't knowed as a nest of faith healers. Dr. Stephen Barrett would had make this chapter using a knonwed minister of SBC or other big Protestant church, in the United States. Please Dr.Stephen Barrett has the same opinion about faith healing of me, but to choose an almost unknowed minister in the Anglican Church to write a chapter, about Christian faith healing remains a weak choice, even the chapter itself being well writen.
3- In the last 100 years the biggests health robbers in the world, were all graduated in medicine, not common quacks. Put aside Nazist eugenics, in the American case, Dr. Henry Cotton (1876 – May 1933) murdered much more people in his "conventional medicine" than any knowed common quack did. See the book "Madhouse: A Tragic Tale of Megalomania and Modern Medicine" by Andrew Scull . This other book is available on Amazon.
Why even with these problems, why I have to give five stars, for this just good book, instead of just four? Because many others reviewers of this good book, in fact 100% quacks' friends, that in many cases, never even read this good book, but gave one star for this good book. To replace the injustice did for quacks' friends for this good book, then five stars for it. Don't believe in quacks' friends. Believe in serious doctors and in my review.

2 people found this helpful

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The Health Robbers: A Close Look at Quackery in America (Consumer Health Library) Hardcover – October 1, 1993

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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Stephen Barrett

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