Quack watchers casting wider net
CMAJ 2000;162:556
Online health services are one of the fastest-growing and biggest sectors on the Internet, with millions of dollars changing hands on Wall Street and Bay Street as companies jostle to stake their claims. But like all gold rushes, this one is attracting everyone from genuine professionals to quacks and wily con artists.
Medical quackery is nothing new to health care, but the ease of Internet publishing is bringing out snakeoil salesmen. Luckily, there has been parallel growth in the "quack watch" business, with the number of Web sites keeping track of dubious information growing steadily.
Dr. Terry Polevoy has been in the quack-busting business for several years. A pediatrician who runs clinics in Waterloo and London, Ont., he currently hosts several sites dedicated to shedding light on questionable medical claims. His premier site, HealthWatcher (www.healthwatcher.net) highlights current medical fads, unsubstantiated claims and outright fraud touted on the Internet. He says there is a huge amount of nonmedical and "pseudomedical" quackery in Canada, with the Internet being the main repository.
The American equivalent of HealthWatcher is Quack Watch (www.quackwatch.com). This site, hosted by Dr. Stephen Barrett, a retired psychiatrist in Allentown, Pennsylvania, includes an extensive list of questionable sites and practitioners. He even has a simple checklist to help people spot a fraudulent medical site (www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/quackweb.html).
The American National Council for Reliable Health Information (www.ncrhi.org) is a nonprofit agency that focuses on health fraud, misinformation and quackery. Visitors can find lists of reliable and unreliable sites, along with a discussion group and a Hall of Shame.
The Georgia Council Against Health Fraud has gone even further. Its Healthcare Reality Check site (www.hcrc.org) not only names offensive Web sites but also issues an award for the worst medical coverage in the media.
So far the council has awarded a "Golden Duck" to Good Housekeeping for its story promoting a cancer quack, to NBC TV for a story on the "Power of Prayer" and to Bill Moyers for his piece entitled "Healing and the Mind." — Michael OReilly, mike@oreilly.net
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