August 21, 2005

Science: A Win For The Good Guys!

Living (and recent) proof that logic can beat the hucksters sometimes: Kevin Trudeau has just had his science-impaired book "Natural Cures 'They' Don't Want You To Know About" pulled from the shelves of Walgreen's stores, and his infomercial from at least one television station following complaints from customers. The book consists mostly of the usual tin-hat brigade conspiracy babble (ie. Big Pharma makes people sick, Big Food makes them fat, and the FDA is in cahoots with them all) as well as some astounding "discoveries" by Mr. Trudeau, including:

1) sunblock causing cancer;

(Sunlight is good for you, so the rise in cancer rates must be because of...?)

2) making your blood alkaline will cure disease;

(...Or simply kill you, if you could somehow manage it. Well, as long as you send your money first.)

3) everything man-made is poisonous;

(Though, to be fair, it might only be those things with names.)

4) all drugs cause illness and disease.

(And his infomercial causes nausea.)

The infomercial, run 140 times a week, whores out the book; the book, at 3 million copies sold, pimps the web site; and the web site charges $9.95/month to people who are terrified of, well, anything they don't understand. Which, if they've bought the book, is a whole lot.

The reason he's published a book is simple: he's not allowed to sell any of his "cures" any more, what with them not working at all. So now he sells "information", nicely protected by the First Amendment. But he's also very careful about how much "information" is actually in the book: there are several odd claims (see above) mixed with basic nutrition facts (too much protien may increase your chance of osteoporosis, vegetables are good for you) and a lot of SCREAMING ALL CAPS! The erratic typeface is apparently there for the same reason the Department of Homeland Security has TERROR ALERTS: fear sells.

Look for lots of product to get shipped to the Red States.

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posted by Thursday at 10:34 pm

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