Consumer Health Resources: Quackery
This page will serve as a resource for members and care givers of the Western New York community interested in consumer health information.
Last Updated: Oct 25, 2024 12:18 PM
NOTE:
Health Sciences Librarians do not provide medical advice or recommend healthcare practitioners. Patients should discuss their health situation with their healthcare providers.
Quackery and Fraudulent Health Claims
This video shows how false claims are used to sell products, and are frequently found on the internet. Many such claims may appear as legitimate science, while also taking the "side" of the consumer against the establishment. The analysis in the video reminds viewers to be skeptical and to "talk to a [confirmed] scientist or to your doctor."
- QuackwatchOperated by Stephen Barrett, M.D., this site offers guidance for avoiding health fraud with a focus on the health topic or condition of your choice. Navigate the site using the topical index on the homepage, or browse the featured articles found on the side bar. The site also offers a discussion list and drop-down menu of affiliated websites.
- Quackery: A Brief History Of The Worst Ways To Cure Everything"What won't we try in our quest for perfect health, beauty, and the fountain of youth? Well, just imagine a time when doctors prescribed morphine for crying infants. When liquefied gold was touted as immortality in a glass. And when strychnine--yes, that strychnine, the one used in rat poison--was dosed like Viagra. Looking back with fascination, horror, and not a little dash of dark, knowing humor, Quackery recounts the lively, at times unbelievable, history of medical misfires and malpractices." [Publisher's Summary]
Finding Reliable Health Information
- The CRAAP TestAn acronym of criteria with which to evaluate information on a web site: Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose. The CRAAP test was created by Sarah Blakeslee, of the University of California at Chico's Meriam Library, and is shared here under a Ceative Commons license.
- Find Good Health Information: For Health Consumers and PatientsGuidelines from the Medical Library Association.