Ozone Therapy Indictments

A couple who sold more than $1 million in "miracle" machines purporting to cure AIDS and cancer patients by blowing ozone into their bodies have been indicated Depending on the disease, Kenneth Thiefault and his wife Mardel Barber recommended the administration of ozone into the rectum, vagina, ears, nose or mouth. The indictment states that some victims stood naked inside plastic body bags into which ozone was pumped. Thiefault and Barber supplemented their ozone regimen with two liquid drugs known as "Kanzyme" and "Kanzyme II". The content of the former is uncertain but the latter contained silver and was administered via injection or IV.

Thiefault once worked for Basil Wainwright, who was sentenced to three years in prison in 1990 for practicing medicine without a license by selling $7,800 AIDS-treatment kits for blowing ozone into the rectum. At present he is on parole for a 1996 conviction related to a telemarketing scheme. Thiefault is charged with conspiracy to defraud the IRS, wire fraud, mail fraud, distribution of ozone generators, distribution of ozone and misbranding an ozone generator. If convicted on all counts, he faces up to 41 years in prison and $1.75 million in fines. Barber is charged with the tax fraud conspiracy and faces up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines if convicted. [Sun-Sentinel 1/26/97]

Minnesota's First Alt Med PPO

Minnesota's first and oldest PPO, The Araz Group, has announced the expansion of its Twin City metro network to include alternative medicine. According to a company spokesman, "What many people in the United States label as alternative medicine, 90% of the world's population considers their mainstream form of medicine."

Access to their alternative care networks will be provided at no extra cost. and enrollees will receive a discount off the alternative practitioner's usual charge. Acupuncture, biofeedback, massage therapy, and chiropractic are currently offered but other modalities may be included in the future. [PR Wire, Araz Group, 1/23/98]

George Washington U Goes Alternative

Indicative of a continuing trend for traditional medical establishments to offer alternative medicine, George Washington University has announced plans to open an alternative medicine center. In response to popular demand, the new Center for Interactive Medicine will offer treatments such acupuncture, massage therapy, chiropractic services and other alternative therapies in combination with traditional medicine. GW spokesmen say the University plans to use its strong academic reputation to separate itself from numerous competitors in the alternative care market. [AP 1/21/98]

Internet GI Advice Questionable

A study by Ohio gastroenterologist J. Barry O'Connor, M.D. concluded that approximately 1 in 10 Internet sites dealing with GI problems provides treatment information that is "unproven or outright quackery." The criterion used for appropriate treatment was that which would be found in a standard medical text, and the unorthodox recommendations identified included high doses of herbs and supplements. Reviewed sites run by government agencies, universities, and medical organizations Sites run by government agencies, universities and medical organizations all contained reliable information, but commercial sites were found to be unreliable.[Medical Tribune: Internist & Cardiologist Edition 38(20): 1997. ]

First-of-a-Kind Legal Victory

In what appears to be a first of its kind civil action against holistic healthcare providers in California, the Law Offices of Morse Mehrban have obtained a judgment for permanent injunction in Los Angeles County Superior Court against Total Health Connection, Inc. and Rysia Musnicki - providers of colon cleansing services. The action was filed last year by a consumer advocate in California under that state's "Private Attorney General" statutes allowing any person to file an action for injunction and restitution against a false advertiser or one engaging in unfair business practices. The injunction will prevent said defendants from making 38 implicit and explicit representations regarding the benefits of their services.

Morse Mehrban, the attorney for plaintiff Rafat Efraim said, "I hope this case will be a wake-up call for the U. S. health industry and peddlers of useless health services and products. If you defraud the public, we will come after you. The Attorneys General, the FDA and the Federal Trade Commission have turned their backs against consumers. This means that private citizens must now take the place of the government in protecting consumers.

Defendant Musnicki admitted during the case to practicing colon hydrotherapy in California for 35 years. Her ads have appeared in various Los Angeles publications and she regularly appears on public access television. She claimed that her colon cleansing services would relieve everything from acne to depression and would even cause weight loss."

WHO Warns Against Diet Supplements To Prevent Cancer

The World Health Organization (WHO) has cautioned against using dietary supplements to prevent cancer, saying that eating fresh fruits and vegetables remained the preferred defense against the disease. The WHO issued a statement warning in particular against the promotion of carotenoid pills as a preventive treatment. [AFP 1/13/98]

Trudeau FTC Case Settled

The FTC has settled a deceptive marketing practices case against well-known MLM marketer Kevin Trudeau. The case involved claims made in infomercials for Mega Systems International and Tru-Vantage International.

Dong Quai No Better Than Placebo In California Study

A study conducted by Kaiser Pemanente has shown that 4.5 grams of Dong Quai a day , used alone, was no better than placebo for the relief of menopausal symptoms. Further, no evidence of an estrogenic effect was found.

Placebo effects resulted in a 25 per cent decrease in hot flashes in both the treatment and placebo groups. With 32 subjects in each group, Dong Quai would have had to reduce hot flashes by 50 per cent to be distinguished from the placebo. Estrogen reduces hot flashes by 80-90%.

Dong Quai proponents have faulted the study on the grounds that practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine normally administer the substance in combination with other herbs. [Obstetrics and Gynecology 2000 1/98]

Ginseng Products May Contain up to 34% Alcohol

"The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms warned that ginseng products may contain up to 34 percent alcohol and may have adverse effects for people with health conditions or those taking medications." [EPA, 12/97]

Naturopath Nailed for Saliva Testing

Self-proclaimed naturopath Terry Durst recently got nailed by the Vancouver, Wash attorney general for using his own "saliva test" to diagnose ailments. Durst's practice involved dangling a weight over a blob of saliva then using the "results" to sell patients a special water remedy. He agreed to stop the saliva testing and pay $1,000 for consumer education. [Oregon Business 12/97]

Hockey Star Jaromir Jagr Claims Acupuncture Works

"Pittsburgh Penguin star Jaromir Jagr told the Associated Press that a prick from a acupuncturist's needle cured him of a groin injury. The injury has bothered Jagr since last season-- until he received acupuncture treatment from Dr. John Lee.

"After five minutes, I was back on the ice and playing again. So it was like a miracle to me, and I'm glad I did it. At least I can play again, and I feel pretty good about it," Jagr told the Associated Press.

Despite Jagr's anectodal testimony, scientific studies have yet to verify acupuncture therapy as any better than placebo in the relief of pain or treatment of injury.

New Alt-Med Victim Database

As a counterpoint to the wealth of positive anecdotal testimonials regarding the effectiveness of alternative medicine, The Rocky Mountain Skeptics have established a Database of Negative Testimony for Alternative Medicine on their website.

We at Rocky Mountain Skeptics want to provide you, the person who had a bad experience with alternative/complementary medicine, with a forum where you can speak out against the product or service that wasted your time, money, and health. We are building up a body of anecdotal testimony--the primary kind of evidence beloved by proponents of alternative/complementary medicine, and therefore more believable to them than those dreaded scientific tests--to counter the outrageous claims made by herbalists, chiropractors, naturopaths, and other such "medical" personnel. We want you to tell the world about the problems you had from taking a particular herbal supplement, or from having mercury fillings unnecessarily removed, or from NOT having crucial surgery done.

PLEASE NOTE: We are not interested in testimonies, debates, or lectures about the efficacy of alternative/complementary medicine. Ours is a forum exclusively for the other side.

All data will be posted at this web site in the future. However, your testimony can be completely anonymous if you so choose. Remember, a word from you might prevent someone else from making a serious mistake!

[RMS Website, 12/13/97]

Author Kathy Acker Dies Despite Alt-Med

American-but-often-resident-in-London author Kathy Acker, who died in early December of cancer at age 51.

Acker was successfully treated for rampant breast cancer with a double-mastecomy but then refused further treatment. She claimed that she "knew" she was cured. When problems started to recur, she ignored orthodox medicine and started trawling the fringes of weirdness, especially in Mexico where cancer cure claimants are beyond the reach of Amercian law with its tiresome insistence on proof and efficacy.

Criticisms of Acker's behaviour here in the press have been met with angry letters from her friends, defending Acker's right to "empower herself" with her own choice of strategy. Quite how a woman empowers herself by handing over sacks of money to charlatans and accelerating her death in the process is not clear. Apparently it has something to do with rejecting the male authoritarianism inherent in orthodox Western medicine. [Contributed by [, University of East Anglia 12/8/97]

U.S. Congressman Advocates Mind/Body Medicine

In contrast to the previous report of negative public attitudes toward science and scientists in Switzerland, there is a recent instance of negative legislative attitudes toward science and scientists in the US. Representative John Porter (Republican, Illinois) evidently had a back problem not long ago, and he was advised by three surgeons to undergo an operation to treat a slipped intervertebral disk. Representative Porter instead chose a month of "rest and relaxation", which he says cured him, and which he says has provoked his interest in the power of the mind to heal. Since Representative Porter is chair of the US House of Representatives spending subcommittee that provides funds for the US National Institutes of Health, what Representative Porter thinks about the power of the mind to heal is of some conse- quence. Representative Porter is now arguing that traditional medicine "has seemed to have left out some very efficacious approaches." There is, of course, a branch of traditional medicine called psychosomatic medicine, a branch of medicine replete with researchers, laboratories, journals, and the like, but one has the impression this is too traditional for Represent- ative Porter and his supporters in what appears to be a new "mind-body" group attacking the US National Institutes of Health for its "traditional" science. All of which perhaps demonstrates that there is as much education needed in the US as in Switzer- land. Meanwhile, if a mandate can be found to provide a spell of R-and-R ("rest and relaxation") not just for US Congressmen but also for the public at large, many working people, including many working scientists, would no doubt welcome it. (Nature 13 Nov 97)

[Science News 12/97]

Fatal Cough Epidemic Rages in Australia

Immunization opponents should take note of an Australian whooping cough epidemic which experts have attributed to poor immunization rates during the 70's, '80's and 90's. The epidemic has killed nine people in the 13 months prior to November, compared to 21 deaths over the previous 20 years. Over 7,000 cases have been reported during 1997 to date.

Eight of the nine fatalities were among children too young to be immunized. However, better vaccination among the community at large would have decreased the incidence among children too young to be immunized. [The Melbourne Age 12/5/97]

Donsbach DC Sentenced to Prison

On Nov. 24, Kurt Donsbach, DC was sentenced to a year in federal prison by a federal judge. Last year Donsbach pled guilty to smuggling unapproved drugs into the U.S. and not paying income tax on the money he made for selling them. In a plea bargain with the US Attorney's office he forfeited about $165,000 and paid an additional $150,000 in back taxes. Donsbach is scheduled to report to prison on April 27, 1998, but his attorney said the US attorney has agreed to make a motion to modify that sentence after Donsbach testifies in a trial scheduled for next year. Donsbach has a long history of health fraud and has operated a cancer clinic in Mexico.

Rife Machine Quack Sued for Woman's Death

As a result of the 1995 cancer death of Marjoe Proulx. the Attorney General's office has sought a court order to bar Shelvie Rettman from unlicensed practice of medicine or selling radionics devices. Rettman convinced Proulx to forego physician-recommended chemotherapy and pursue an alternative course of therapy involving a Rife generator which supposedly could detect cancer from a patient's aura, 'foot zoning' treatments, and various dietary supplements. Proulx died about a month after Rettman told her she was cured. [Chicago Tribune 12/3/97]

Chinese Government to Export Alt-Med

The BBC World Service has reported that the government of China intends to set up a chain of Chinese-medicine establishments, hoping explicitly to exploit the growing popularity of "alternative medicine" in the West. The BBC broadcast indicated that these establishments will make products for export and, more importantly,will engage in the commercial training of practitioners. This presumably means that the Chinese hope to attract Westerners, in large numbers, who will pay to be trained in needlecraft, herbal magic, and other traditional Chinese methods. The BBC reporter left no doubt that this venture is aimed at boosting China's income from the West. [Contributed by 11/27/97]

Complementary Healing College Opens in DC

The National College of Complimentary Medicine and Sciences in Washington, D.C., will begin offering degree classes in complementary healing modalities in 1998. The curriculum will be "distinguished" by offering courses in neuronaturopathic genetics and virology, a field pioneered by the school's founder, Dr. Phenius PD Vincent Buyck. Buyck's technique supposedly matches patient genetic material to the genetic material of botanicals to be used as treatments. The College has been accredited by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners' Board Certification and Accreditation Council. [AOL "AltMedPulse" 11/15/97]

Clinton Welcomes Qi Gong Conference

According to a press release, President Bill Clinton wrote the following letter of welcome to the Second World Congress on Qigong:

Warm greetings to everyone gathered in San Francisco for the Second World Congress on Qigong and the first American Qigong Association Conference.

As we seek to improve health care and relieve suffering, it is incumbent upon us to understand and learn more about different medicines and therapies. I am pleased that you are exploring the use of alternative medicine as a way to improve the health of our world community. This conference offers a welcome opportunity for you to share the most recent developments in alternative medicine and to foster cooperation and lasting friendships.

All of you can be proud of your contributions to advancing the health of your fellow citizens. As we work to develop new cures and therapies and to create a healthier world, I appreciate you dedicated efforts.

Best wishes for a productive conference.

Bill Clinton

[For more information, contact the press office 202-456-1414.]

Scientists and Physicians Condemn NIH Endorsement of Acupuncture, Cite Lack of Evidence and NIH Panel Bias.

Leading physicians and scientists, all editors of the Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine (SRAM), dispute the National Institute of Health's(NIH) endorsement of acupuncture as a treatment for pain and other conditions. "Acupuncture is an unproven treatment. The best studies of acupuncture show that it is no more effective than placebos(inactive treatments.) The NIH panel was conceived in all likelihood with an agenda to promote the acceptance of acupuncture by the public, press, insurance plans, HMOs and Federal and state medical plans," says Dr. Wallace Sampson, M.D., Editor of SRAM and Clinical Professor of Medicine at Stanford University.

On November 6, the NIH Consensus Development Conference concluded that "there is sufficient evidence... of acupuncture's value to expand its use into conventional medicine and to encourage further studies of its physiology and clinical value." The panel also suggested that the federal government and insurance companies expand coverage of acupuncture to allow more people access to treatment.

The NIH Consensus panel is the offspring of the NIH's Office of Alternative Medicine(OAM.) The OAM was started by the NIH in 1992 to evaluate alternative treatments and to provide information on unconventional health-care services. But since its formation, it has come under harsh criticism for its bias. "The 'consensus' was a consensus of proponents, not a consensus of valid scientific opinion. The presentation of acupuncture for the conditions suggested by the conference is classic pseudoscience. It showed the promoters as ideologically motivated instead of scientifically objective," says Sampson.

"It is outrageous to suggest that insurance premiums rise in order to provide for acupuncture visits. These conclusions do not fit with science, rather they reflect the bias of the NIH panelists who were selected by a planning committee dominated by acupuncture proponents," says Dr. Stephen Barrett, M.D., Contributing Editor to SRAM and head of Quackwatch, Inc.

Answers to the reported success of acupuncture can be found in human psychology. "Perceived effects of acupuncture are probably due to a combination of expectation, suggestion, counter-irritation, conditioning, and other psychological mechanisms" says Barrett. The confounding influence of these psychological mechanisms create a number of experimental difficulties in accurately evaluating acupuncture's effectiveness. Few studies have satisfied control requirements, leaving supportive scientific evidence insufficient or non-existent.

"It is easy to reach a consensus when dissenters are systematically excluded from the discussion. At this point I would have to say that the consensus report is seriously flawed because contrary and cautionary voices were not heard," says Barry Beyerstein, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at Simon Fraser University, British Columbia.

Traditionally acupuncture has been based on the premise that there are patterns of energy flow (QI) through the body that are essential for health. Disruptions of this flow are believed to be responsible for disease. The acupuncturist can supposedly correct imbalances of flow at identifiable points close to the skin. However, despite considerable efforts to understand the anatomy and physiology of the "acupuncture points," the definition and characterization of these points remains controversial. Even more elusive is the scientific basis of some of the key traditional Eastern medical concepts such as the circulation of Qi, the meridian system, and the five phases theory, which are difficult to reconcile with contemporary biomedical information but continue to play an important role in the evaluation of patients and the formulation of treatment in acupuncture.

Concludes Sampson: "The report states that 'the data in support of acupuncture are as strong as those for many accepted Western (sic) medical therapies.' The 'consensus' stretches the point to unacceptable conclusion. When consensus conferences are held at the NIH on controversial methods with as little evidence for them that acupuncture has, the usual scientific response is to recommend against use of those methods, not to approve and adopt them."

Internet Sweep Finds False Health Advertisements

False Memory Suit Settled for $10M

A woman has reached a $10.6 million settlement with Chicago's Rush Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center and two psychiatrists over accusations she was brainwashed into falsely believing she had been the victim of Satanic Ritual Abuse. During a hospital stay in the late 80's, doctors treating Patricia Burgus allegedly used drugs and hypnosis to help her "recover" supposedly repressed memories that she had participated in murder and the sexual abuse of her two children - events which her lawyers say never happened. [AP 11/6/97]

The Prince of Alternative Medicine

"The Prince of Wales called for an integration of alternative and complementary medicine with orthodox treatments, saying that the therapies could help patients and save money for the cash-strapped National Health Service.

His call was backed by a report from the King's Fund, a health think-tank, which carried out a study at the prince's instigation. This concluded that better regulations should be introduced to protect the public from quacks, but that alternative medicine should be more widely used in the NHS and be taught at medical schools." [Manchester Guardian Weekly, 11/97]

Announcement Archives

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