Top 10 health frauds - includes related article

FDA Consumer, Oct, 1989

TOP 10 HEALTH FRAUDS

A disturbing number of Americans seem to be entrusting their health care to unqualified individuals and buying unproven--and sometimes dangerous--remedies from them. They have entered--at their own risk--the world of health quackery. Difficult to curtail, health frauds, like crab grass, sprout up here, there and every where.

"Quack promoters have learned to stay one step ahead of the laws either by moving from state to state or by changing their corporate names," says Ken Durham, FDA's deputy associate commissioner for consumer affairs. "As an agency we concentrate on the most dangerous abuses. But health fraud is bigger than any one organization can deal with," he added.

Health fraud is indeed big business in this country. Medical World News estimates that Americans spend about $27 billion a year on quack products or treatments. And FDA estimates that 38 million Americans have used a fraudulent health product within the past year. These products are not without risk. According to an agency survey, 1 out of 10 people who try quack remedies is harmed by side effects.

Here is FDA's list of the top 10 health frauds. Bear in mind, though, health fraud is by no means limited to these alone. 1. Fraudulent Arthritis Products. Arthritis affects some 40 million Americans, 95 percent of whom "are likely to engage in some form of self-treatment even after they have seen a physician," says the National Council Against Health Fraud's president, William Jarvis. Copper bracelets, Chinese herbal remedies, large doses of vitamins, snake or bee venom just don't work. Because the symptoms of arthritis go into remission periodically, individuals who try these unproven remedies may associate the remedy with the remission. 2. Spurious Cancer Clinics. These clinics, many of them in Mexico, promise miracle cures. Treatments use unproven and ineffective substances such as Laetrile (derived from apricot kernels) and vitamins and minerals. People who go to these clinics often abandon legitimate cancer treatments. This is particularly tragic in the case of young children because some of their cancers (such as leukemia or Hodgkin's disease) are highly curable through legitimate treatment. 3. Bogus AIDS Cures. Victims of incurable diseases are especially vulnerable to the promises of charlatans. AIDS is a prime example. Underground or "guerrilla clinics" offering homemade treatments have sprung up in the United States, the Caribbean, and Europe.

"When you hear the words, `Here's the latest cure for AIDS, all you have to do is hand over the money,' beware," says Gary Lambert, vice chairman of AIDS Action, Baltimore. There is no cure for AIDS yet--proposed treatments such as massive doses of antibiotics, typhus vaccine, or herbal tea made from the bark of Brazilian trees are all unproven. Lambert recommends that people with questions about AIDS remedies check with AIDS clinical trial units located in leading hospitals throughout the country. Or call the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease's hot line at 1-800-TRIALS-A. This hot line provides information on NIH-funded studies at hospitals throughout the country. 4. Instant Weight-Loss Schemes. With an estimated 25 percent of the American population overweight, quacks selling weight-loss gimmicks have a sizable market for their wares. Unfortunately, there is no quick way to lose weight. According to National Council Against Health Fraud's Jarvis, fraudulent weight-loss schemes are usually heralded by full-page newspaper ads promising rapid, dramatic and easy weight loss or by single news column ads that look like news stories except that the word "advertisement" is written across the top. Radio and TV ads typically list 800 telephone numbers to facilitate credit card charges and private parcel deliveries. This allows promoters to circumvent the postal service's laws against mail fraud, Jarvis says.

Some of the latest gimmicks in instant weight-loss plans have included skin patches, herbal capsules, grapefruit diet pills, and Chinese magic weight-loss earrings. 5. Fraudulent Sexual Aids. Products promoted to enhance libido and sexual pleasure are not new. FDA officials recently cracked down on an entrepreneur selling Chinese "Crocodile Penis Pills" purportedly prepared according to a 2,000-year-old formula for rejuvenating male sexual prowess.

FDA says no nonprescription drug ingredients have been proven safe or effective as aphrodisiacs and has acted to ban these products. Over-the-counter products that claim to increase the size of a man's penis or cure impotence or frigidity don't work. Serious health risks are associated with the use of such purported aphrodisiacs as cantharides ("Spanish fly"), a chemical derived from the dried bodies of beetles. Other ingredients of similar OTC products include strychnine (a poison), mandrake and yohimbine (poisonous plants), licorice, zinc, and the herbs anise and fennel.

Although male sex hormones, available by prescription, do influence libido and sexual performance, they have potentially serious side effects and should only be used under a physician's supervision. The agency advises that people with sexual problems should not attempt to medicate themselves but rather should seek treatment by a medical professional. 6. Quack Baldness Remedies and Other Appearance Modifiers. Entrepreneurs make millions of dollars trying to convince consumers to buy their versions of the fountain of youth, whether it be a remedy to grow hair or prevent its loss, a cream that removes wrinkles, or a device to "develop" the bust. Only one prescription product has been approved for growing hair on balding men: Rogaine (minoxidil). And this approval is only for a specific type of baldness. FDA has acted to ban the sale of any nonprescription hair cream, lotion, or other external product claiming to grow hair or prevent baldness. None of these products has been shown to work.