Posted on 08/21/2005 11:28:09 AM PDT by wagglebee
NEW YORK (Reuters) - He went to prison for fraud and was ordered by the U.S. government to stop touting health products on infomercials, but Kevin Trudeau's book "Natural Cures 'They' Don't Want You to Know About" is a bestseller.
Trudeau, who for years sold snoring remedies and memory enhancers through long-format commercials dressed up as talk shows, says he is a consumer advocate battling the "unholy alliance" of drug companies and government regulators.
"It's all about money. The drug industry does not want people to get healthy," he says in a commercial for his book. Trudeau says he has sold about 4 million copies of the book in under a year, a huge amount for a self-published book marketed initially only through the Internet and television infomercials.
The book -- whose back cover says "Never get sick again!" and "Learn the specific natural cures for herpes, acid reflux, diabetes ... cancer ... and more!" -- has topped the Publishers Weekly nonfiction bestseller list for the past three weeks.
That attracted the attention of the New York Consumer Protection Board, which issued a warning this month that Trudeau promised cures he did not deliver.
"This book is exploiting and misleading people who are searching for cures to serious illnesses," said Teresa Santiago, who chairs the board. "From cover to cover, this book is a fraud," she said, adding that a doctor quoted apparently endorsing the book died in 2001.
Trudeau filed a lawsuit to stop the Consumer Protection Board from approaching TV stations to persuade them not to air his infomercials.
He says he recommends herbs, vitamins and other alternative treatments and, while urging people to consult doctors, lists cures such as shark cartilage for tumors and organic dark chocolate for stress.
"There are multiple ways to cure cancer without drugs and surgery," Trudeau told Reuters, adding that drug companies eschew natural products because they are unprofitable.
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine said it is spending over $120 million this year investigating everything from acupuncture to chamomile tea and the National Cancer Institute spends another $128 million.
'PARANOID FANTASY'
Stephen Barrett, a retired psychiatrist who runs a Web site called Quackwatch, described Trudeau's book as "a collection of false ideas" that included dangerous advice such as the claim that sunscreen can cause cancer so it should not be used.
"The danger of the book is it's an attempt to shape public opinion so people don't trust science-based healthcare."
Barrett said he too was suspicious about excessive profits in the drug industry, but said it was "paranoid fantasy" to suggest they would suppress or ignore cures.
"A lot of people are angry because drugs are so expensive," he said, explaining the book's draw. "He's promising magic."
In September, Trudeau agreed to pay $2 million to settle a U.S. Federal Trade Commission lawsuit over his claim that "Coral Calcium" could cure or prevent cancer but admitted no wrongdoing. Trudeau agreed to stop marketing health products but he was allowed to market books.
The FTC called the case an example to "other habitual false advertisers," prompting a lawsuit from Trudeau.
FTC attorney Laura Sullivan said the regulator was watching Trudeau carefully but had taken no action over the book.
Sullivan said the FTC sanction barring him from making infomercials for anything but books was "extraordinary" and followed a string of previous fraud charges that were settled.
Trudeau, 42, was jailed for 22 months in the early 1990s over credit card fraud -- something Trudeau dismissed as nothing more than a youthful indiscretion.
Reader reviews on Amazon.com revealed strong opinions, including complaints that his book refers readers to his Web site for more information.
Trudeau's site offers monthly membership at $9.95 and lifetime membership for $499. He said he charges because he takes no advertising and he spends $1.5 million a week on infomercials.
"I'm doing this virtually as a nonprofit," he said. "I'm not doing this for the money. It's a passion."
Okay, this guy might be a phony, but have you ever noticed that people who have cancer typically get most of the really bad symptoms after they start chemotherapy?
Logically, they all died.
http://www.quackwatch.org/
is a great site to check phony health, medical and vitamin claims.
A sound and rational response to such claims.
Since being diagnosed with cancer, I've been approached by all kinds of kind-hearted and well-meaning people who have "alternative" treatments for my condition. God bless 'em all...they really do mean well.
After having endured standard medicine's treatments, I simply don't have the desire to add even more stuff to my daily regimen. I already have to take enough daily pills and daily injections to keep me busy.
I just don't want to go the Steve McQueen route and subject myself to still more ridiculous treatments that have no record of working. If God wants to take me home that badly, who am I to argue?
The book tells you nothing. It refers you to a web site that is, of course, subsciption oriented.
Trudeau is not a quack, he is a con man.
Youthful in early 1990's? 42 less 15 is 27 years old. If you don't know right from wrong by age 27, you never will.
Oh, this is a concern of the government? Shall we talk about the fraud called AIDS and its obvious cure?
How often have we seen the idea that capitalists are evil people who only steal from others promoted by the MSM?
Often enough to give the gullible a reason to believe this fraud.
I have no idea how many will die as a result of the nonsense promoted by this person.
That is because chemotherapy is the practice of methodically poisoning the body in order to kill the weakest cells. Since the cancer cells are typically the least hardy of all cells in the body, the goal is to sicken all, but kill the weakest.
The main difference is that chemotherapy has the decency to admit that it's poison. A lot of "all natural remedies" don't. (Remember, folks: just because something is natural doesn't mean it's good for you! Cyanide is all-natural too, y'know.)
Next question?
Doesn't "Dr. Phil" also have a shady past? There are a lot of con men making a lot of money off of a lot of desperate people.
AIDS has no cure. Nothing viral has a cure. Not even influenza.
Ah...you forget: the Leftist media thinks that people should still be living with their parents at that age! (And yeah, they think that's Bush's fault too.)
I was diagnoses with terminal lung cancer in august of 1997. I was given 4 months to live... About the same as they gave Peter Jennings.
I went to several medical institutions in Ohio. The Cleveland Clinic, James Cancer Center and one other oncologist. They all said the same thing. With treatment I had an 8 percent chance of living a year and a 33 percent chance of living 4 months.
I finally visited the cancer treatment center in my home town hospital. The oncologist told me of an experimental treatment for terminal patients. It had a 15 percent chance of success.
The experimental chemo would kill the cancer... The only problem was it had an 85 percent chance of killing me first. I had a 15 percent chance of surviving the side effects of the chemo. If I did survive the treatment, then my cancer would likely be killed.
I took the shot. I went through 4 months of chemo and 2 months of radiation. It nearly killed me... and it did kill the cancer.
I have now been cancer free since February of 1998. I will soon be free of cancer for seven and a half years.
At the 5 year survivial point the oncologist turned me back over to my family doctor. He said I was very lucky to be alive. Had I come in just 2 weeks sooner the experimental chemo would not have been available.. and I would have died in 4 months.
Does Chemo make you worse? It certalnly does. Nothing had been found that will kill cancer that won't severly damage other cells in your body. There are just two prospects for lung cancer.... do nothing and die, or take chemo and hope that the chemo kills the cancer before it kills you.
Not for the patient maybe, but any society that wants to cure its AIDS epidemic can do so. All it takes is the political will.
I remember seeing his infomercial a while ago and thinking 'wasn't he selling something else a few years ago'.
For a real answer, former magician James Randi has a very active foundation set up.
Randi was Uri Geller's worst nightmare, exposing him on Johnny Carson way back. (He turns many off for being an athiest, but that's not his main drive at all.)
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