Joseph Mercola, DO has been a frequent topic of discussion on this blog over the last 15 years. The reason is simple. He runs one of the largest repositories of misinformation about health on the entire Internet, including social media. He promotes antivaccine pseudoscience, the rankest of cancer quackery (e.g., the idea that cancer is a fungus and that baking soda can cure it), and pseudoscience and quackery of every imaginable variety, all while presenting himself as “moderate” and “reasonable” compared to those “real crazies,” like Mike Adams. It’s not just his website and social media activity, though. Selling supplements and all manner of woo, Mercola has become fabulously wealthy and has been using that wealth to support antivaccine groups, such as Barbara Loe Fisher’s National Vaccine Information Center to run antivaccine ads in various outlets , promoting a fake holiday known as Vaccine Injury Awareness Week over the last decade, and in general try to spread disease by discouraging vaccination. How wealthy has Joe Mercola become with his online quackery empire? His net worth is now over $100 million!
So it’s not surprising that Mercola is very happy to be celebrating his 23rd year of spreading health misinformation disguised as “natural health” hither, thither, and yon throughout the web and social media:
It’s been 23 years since I launched Mercola.com, and I am tremendously excited and grateful to be celebrating this momentous milestone with you! When I started this website in 1997, my goal was to teach people simple, inexpensive natural alternatives to drugs and surgery.
Thankfully, we’ve been able to reach hundreds of millions of people throughout the years. And although we’ve made improvements to the functionality and design of the site, its goal remains the same: to offer practical health solutions and tools that will help people take control of their health.
I never imagined that we would be able to achieve all the milestones that we’ve accomplished so far — and yet now I’m confident that there’s still more we can do. With that said, here are the key initiatives that I’m proud to highlight this year.
At this point, I’d like to go back to the story of how Mercola started his website in the late 1990s, a tale he’s told many times. Basically, Mercola says he started his website to spread “natural health” information to his patients and others. Back then, bandwidth wasn’t dirt cheap, the way it is now, although I can’t help but note that back then most websites were not particularly graphics-intensive, mainly because bandwidth could get expensive fast. Be that as it may, Mercola decided to start selling supplements and other “natural health” products in order to fund his website. Long ago, though, sales of those “natural health” products took off, and, whether Mercola will admit it or not, it wasn’t long before his website became, in essence, the primary marketing arm of his supplement business, particularly as most of his business was online. As I mentioned just above, that business ended up making Mercola very, very wealthy. Truly, quackery pays!
As lucrative as Mercola’s business has been over the years, it hasn’t all been coming up roses, at least not lately. Last year, for instance, in response to growing criticism that their algorithms and business models facilitated the spread of dangerous antivaccine misinformation, various social media platforms started experimenting with ways to deprioritize and deemphasize health misinformation, mainly antivaccine misinformation. Google did it too, adjusting its YouTube search algorithms and its web search engine to deprioritize quackery. The result was that a number of prominent websites started to find their content not showing up any more on Google, Facebook, YouTube, and other searches nearly as high on the list of results as they had before. Indeed, in June 2019, Mercola wrote a long complaint about how search traffic to his website from Google had plummeted 99%. (You and I, of course, consider this a good thing, but obviously this is the sort of decline that seriously affects a quack’s bottom line, and a number of other promoters of health misinformation, such as Kelly Brogan, complained about similarly jaw-dropping declines in Google search traffic to their websites.) Around the same time, Facebook started removing a number of antivaccine websites, such as Larry Cook’s “Stop Mandatory Vaccination” page.
This year, in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic, the pressure to combat misinformation about coronavirus, masks, hydroxychloroquine, and the numerous conspiracy theories about the pandemic has placed even more pressure on social media platforms and Google to do more, leading to even more crackdowns. For instance, I recently noticed that Twitter will not allow users to share any links from Mercola.com, although, oddly enough, Mercola still has a Twitter account, where he’s complaining about the Twitter ban and continuing to promote misinformation about health:
Well, I guess it’s a start that Twitter won’t let you post a link to Mercola.com, but it’s rather silly to allow him to continue to have a Twitter account.
In any event, like all good grifters, Mercola has taken a situation he can’t control and spun it as a decision on his part to do something noble. It’s worth quoting liberally from this part of his “celebration” because I couldn’t stop laughing as I read it:
Last year, I made the decision to leave Facebook, because it had grown into a censoring surveillance platform that incessantly preys on people’s personal data and violates their rights to privacy. This year, I am taking another giant leap by blocking Google from indexing Mercola.com.
Google is the largest monopoly the world has ever seen, and it’s absurd just how it has deeply infiltrated our everyday lives. It collects data on every move you make and eavesdrops on each conversation you have, whether you’re online or out in the real world.
This power poses threats to our society, such as being able to manipulate the information that the public sees through their ability to restrict or block access to websites, and manipulating public opinion through search rankings and other means.
And did you know that Google can track your movements even if you’re offline? Android cellphones, which are a Google-owned operating system, can track you even when you’re not connected to the internet, whether you have geo tracking enabled or not. And as soon as you go online, Google gets access to all the information stored in your phone.
But Google’s monopoly now goes beyond web search, as it now has a potentially dangerous monopoly on online advertising, which it has acquired by buying DoubleClick, an internet ad serving company that has already dominated the digital advertising market.
And with its recent acquisition of Fitbit, it’s clear that Google is also after your health data. Through Fitbit, Google will have access to all your physiological information and activity levels. In fact, Google, Amazon and Microsoft also collect data entered into health and diagnostic sites, which is then shared with hundreds of third parties, without your knowledge or consent.
And:
I strongly suggest simply avoiding Google products, as they account for the greatest personal data leaks in your life. I am proud to say that Mercola.com is now Google-free — we no longer use Google Analytics, or Google search for internal searches and have never used Google ads.
See what I mean? After all, given that Mercola’s Google search traffic had already declined by 99% over a year ago, Google in essence has delisted his website anyway. Mercola could use Google or not use Google. It wouldn’t make any difference. Now, don’t get me wrong. It is true that Google does have an incredible amount of power over what we see on the web, and it does track far too much of what we do online. It is also true that Google is expanding its reach disturbingly into other areas. That being said, Mercola was perfectly happy to use Google search before the company tweaked its algorithms and search ranking system to deprioritize antivaccine disinformation and quackery, leading to a precipitous decline in search traffic to Mercola.com. If Google hadn’t changed its algorithms, leaving Mercola.com at the top of the heap as one of “natural health” websites with the most traffic of any, you can bet that Mercola would not be complaining. Basically, it would have been a lot more impressive if Mercola had blocked Google’s webcrawlers from indexing his site a year and a half ago, before Google adjusted its search algorithms. Now, Mercola’s braggadocio about “taking a stand” against Google just looks obviously cynical (because it is) and pathetic (because it is that, too).
Much of the rest of Mercola’s post is recitation of his “accomplishments.” Of course, anyone who promotes science-based medicine would consider these all to be negative accomplishments. For instance, he brags about writing an “Herbal Immunity Recipe” book, which if the video interview included with the article is any indication, looks to be rife with nutritional pseudoscience. He recounts “continuing the fight against water fluoridation” as though that were a good thing. (It’s not.) Apparently, Mercola is a fan of cavities and wants to support Big Dentistry, which will have a lot more business if more local governments stop fluoridating their water.
One activity touted by Mercola is a perfect example of how to take a reasonable concern and turn it into a conspiracy theory. I’m referring to warning against a fast-tracked COVID-19 vaccine. After all, I myself just yesterday expressed considerable dismay over Russia’s “Sputnik-V” COVID-19 vaccine, which was approved without any phase 3 trials and, apparently, after only less than 80 people had receive the vaccine. Back in May, I expressed similar concern over President Trump’s “Operation Warp Speed,” the government’s effort to fast track a coronavirus vaccine. What’s the difference between Mercola’s concern and mine? Well, take a look:
The government and pharmaceutical industry are rapidly moving toward mandatory vaccinations against COVID-19, along with tracking and tracing vaccinated individuals. Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), warns that not only will this endanger your right to make informed, voluntary decisions about vaccine risk-taking, but it will also put your health and safety at risk.
This fast-tracked vaccine will be using novel vaccine delivery methods, such as the microneedle array injection, which is funded and promoted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Unlike conventional injections, microneedles have fluorescent quantum dot tags, which leaves an invisible mark that can be read by a smartphone equipped with a special sensor.
According to Fisher, Bill Gates has not only been pushing to vaccinate everyone in the world, but he’s also intent on being able to track vaccination records in our bodies. She says:
“Certainly, this type of administration of a vaccine is a double bubble because not only do you get the vaccine in the person, but you also are able to track them … They’re determined to somehow implant, or in some way have our bodies carry our vaccination records …”
Moreover, the mRNA vaccines being developed against COVID-19 are designed to alter your RNA and DNA to turn your body into a protein manufacturing plant. This is a tremendous concern because if your immune system is hypersensitive, it could overreact and result in autoimmune diseases.
Yes, it is true that there is an initiative to develop a means of identifying who has received which vaccines involving this technology. However, it’s not nearly as nefarious as Mercola makes it sound. For one thing, knowing who’s already received a specific vaccine can protect that person from unnecessarily being advised to receive that vaccine again if there is uncertainty over whether he’s ever had it. Also, this technology is a long way from being ready for prime time. It is, however, unsurprising that Mercola would weave a conspiracy theory about this technology; this is also likely the origin of the conspiracy theory about COVID-19 vaccines claiming that they will implant a chip, and some of the conspiracy theories about it go right into tinfoil hat territory, with one crank claiming, “This vaccine will not only “mark” you like a cattle, you will be injected with nano particules that will make a you a Perfect antenna for the 5G frequencies wich they will use to track you, make you feel and think anything they want.”
As for that last bit about mRNA vaccines being designed to “alter your RNA and DNA”? That’s utter nonsense. mRNA vaccines might be new and as yet unproven platforms for vaccine delivery, as I discussed in the context of the Moderna vaccine, but they do not alter your DNA or RNA. Seriously, does “Dr.” Mercola not understand how mRNA vaccines work? Yes, they do get into your cells and serve as templates to generate proteins to generate an immune response against the pathogen being vaccinated against. That’s the idea. But they do not alter cellular DNA. As for autoimmune diseases? The proteins the mRNA generate are not human proteins. In the case of COVID-19, they’re specific proteins from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease. Seriously, “Dr.” Mercola needs to take a refresher course in basic molecular biology, as he’s starting to sound like homologous recombinaltion tiniker all over again. (Oh, wait. This isn’t the first time Mercola has laid down this particular bit of ignorance about molecular biology.) On the other hand, he’s probably well aware that a mRNA vaccine is not going to alter DNA.
Sadly, as glad as I am that there’s finally been some pushback against the likes of Mercola, his very existence is depressing. His great wealth, all obtained from promoting pseudoscience, misinformation about health, and outright quackery in order to sell his wares, is just one more indication that quackery is very lucrative. Quackery sells, and Mercola has been selling it for 23 years now, with no signs of stopping.
63 replies on “Joe Mercola: Celebrating 23 years of promoting quackery and antivaccine misinformation”
“When I started this website in 1997, my goal was to teach people simple, inexpensive natural alternatives to drugs and surgery.”
Good on him for not including “safe” or “effective” into that list of adjectives on ‘alternatives.’ So, job done.
My first exposure to Mercola was when a FB friend of mine shared a FUD post he did about microwaves. It was very easy to debunk with the most basic knowledge of biology, but it revealed to me that most people don’t have the most basic knowledge of biology. Mercola, though – either he’s intentionally lying to make lots of money (so, job done), or he’s really ignorant of biology, to a ‘how did he get a degree’ degree.
Is that the anti-microwave-oven article that claims that microwave ovens were invented by the Nazis? And that the Soviets knew they were bad and that’s why no one in the USSR had one?
My cousin posted that one on FB (she’s medium-woo and was expressing displeasure at her very Midwestern upbringing) and I was just like, oh honey, no, that’s so obviously wrong it’s dumb.
I don’t remember anything about Nazis – it was written to look superficially plausible. The bit I do remember is something about how OMG “Microwave ovens will denature proteins.” And I was like – yeah, cooking does that. As does chewing and digesting. Kind of the first step in breaking them down to amino acids, so you can use them…
That level of ‘if you had basic biology, you’d understand why this is not something to worry about.’
Back in the late eighties when everyone in America had a VCR and everyone in the Soviet Union knew where to borrow a black market VCR there was, in my hazy memory, a documentary about a day in the life of a USSR and USA farm families.
The USA family had a microwave. And a VCR. Everyone in the Soviet Union knew rich Americans had microwaves and VCRs. What they didn’t know was that even American farmers were rich.
Someone was trying to blame the fall of the Iron Curtain on this, which I’m sure was wrong, but I guess it didn’t help.
“roadsterguy” lol dorit
Facebook and Google are evil? True.
Dr. Joma Cola is an utter fraud? Also true.
Well said in two lines. IMHO, Google will be worse than Joe now and over time. I don’t want Google kids to be my censor.
“inexpensive natural alternatives” aka suffering, injury and death.
“Perfect antenna” ooh…this must be the mythical isotropic radiator. Probably made from powdered unicorn horn.
“23”? Call me a racist but I could never trust a short numeric sequence. Especially the ones with no factors.
Having seen how much he charges for the snake oil he peddles I’m not that convinced ‘inexpensive is at all accurate.
Joe Merde-ola has cures for cancer, COVID-19, and virtually everything along with the required curative supplements conveniently on sale at his mega-grift website.
The only thing Joe apparently doesn’t have a cure for is male pattern baldness from which he suffers and is very obvious.
Imagine that.
He claims to have treatments for diseases for which there are no treatments but for the one obvious condition he does have he has… a big fat nothing.
What an alt-med miracle worker Joe is!
I’m impressed.
.
Merde-ola – 100% pure triple distilled quackery and brazen grifting.
@RS – Isn’t baldness a genetic condition? I think he looks really good, especially considering he is 66-years-old.
Lifestyle does matter. The Covid has a particular fondness for the obese. https://www.ajmc.com/view/kaiser-severe-obesity-boosts-risk-of-covid-19-death-especially-for-the-young
Too bad the obesity and diabetes epidemic didn’t get more attention for the last 20 years. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3228640/
@ Reality not rs. Realized my error after it posted. Apologies.
From your link “A large amount of research is now directed toward better understanding and treating obesity, and substantial public health efforts are directed toward reducing obesity rates.” From a paper published in 2011. That sounds like a lot of attention in the last 10 years.
You don’t like the obesity epidemic? Go talk to Big Ag.
He’s rich. He’s made a lot of money peddling BS. Being rich is one of the best predictors of good health outcomes (and also one of the best things you can do to avoid obesity).
You can also, when you are rich, hire professional photographers to make you look better with makeup and lighting. Basic stuff, this. It’s why celebrities look good.
Ah, if we could all shed our pesky consciences and make millions playing off people’s fears, we’d all be much better off!
That being said, the photo above just has the air of “this is a very competitive position, young lady…”
“I think he looks really good, especially considering he is 66-years-old”
I thought Orac was being a little kind with that photoshot.
Here’s another from 8 years ago where he already looks about 70.
https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/February-2012/Dr-Joseph-Mercola-Visionary-or-Quack/
And read the article 😉
(There’s a contribution from a certain Dr. Gorski who, I believe, has some connection to Orac)
He blames it on carbohydrates.
You’re going to have to compete with Erin Elizabeth for his shiny-headed affections.
Being healthy 60 years old is not much to boast. This is when chronic illnesses and cancer really starts to bite.
Joe Mercola looks like a Ferengi from Star Trek, with his smug little grin. He has all the morals of a villainous Ferengi, too.
@ ORAC – Thank you for choosing and using a flattering pic of Dr. Mercola.
This is why I stay away from DO’s, (and don’t bother telling me most aren’t wooish– I have met only one who is not and I’m not telling anyone else what to do, and yes, I know MD’s are into woo as well.) It’s right there in the title–Doctor of Osteopathy and they train in this osteopathc manipulation crap. Ugh.
Anyway, my real beef is that my tiny local library features all of Mercola’s CD’s, books and other media on the “recommended” shelf which is prominently placed. I go in and turn them all face down. I know it is futile, but it makes me feel better while I’m there. There is a high percentage of older people in my little town and skimpy medical facilities. Many of these folks have chronic conditions, are poor and frequent the library. It makes me crazy that they are vry likely to come across the Mercola display and find it very appealing.
After the library, I go to the market and finish my anti-woo binge by pushing all the homeopathy to the back of the shelf.
I always have a mental hitch when I see DO in one of Orac’s articles. In the UK, osteopathy is pretty much interchangable with chiropractic. Both equally quacky as far as I can tell.
Medicalyeti, If your were responding to me, I said “when they don’t get into regular medical schools”; you were the one who reinterpreted that to ““Not able to get into regular medical school.” I said “don’t” – you have to read in what wasn’t there to make that into “not able”. My cousin, a very able and respected physician, started in a Mexican medical school and transferred to an osteopathic college here in the US. It’s been many years, and I don’t remember why he had to go that route, but that has never affected his competence, his caring, or his public advocacy for the disadvantaged patients in his community.
I am a retired PA, and I worked with numerous DOs, FMGs, and other physicians who came to medicine by unorthodox routes. Some of them are now my personal physicians many years after I first met them. It’s not about how they get there, it’s about what they do after they got there that tells the story.
MedicalYeti, “I’d rather have a doctor who got into regular medical school…”
It reminds me of “I prefer people who weren’t captured.”
Meantime, I am a stout – could afford to drop 10 kilos – defender of American DOs, because over the years, I have only encountered one I couldn’t cotton to, but he turned out to be a criminal. He was never accused of malpractice, but he hired someone to murder a physician he believed to be a competitor after hiring someone who failed to burn down his office, among his other crimes. But I never heard of him promoting quackery.
By the way, Che Guevara was an MD, and look how he ended up.
brainmatterz, my internist and his partners, and my cardiologist and his, are DOs. I have known them since I practiced, and there is nothing of the woo about them. They are competent and caring physicians who have always practiced the best of science-based medicine. My cousin, a highly-respected physician in Florida, is also a DO. Every jurisdiction that I am familiar with gives the same license to practice medicine and surgery to DOs as MDs. The medical education has to be the same if they’re going to get their licenses, and they do the same internships and residencies in the same hospitals. It’s not a secret that many turn to osteopathy schools when they don’t get into regular medical schools. They learn osteopathy but never intend to practice it.
Don’t be so quick to write them off.
The fact that they get the same training is not the point–they also get training in osteopathic manipulation, something a bit like chiro and a bit like some kind of cranial manipulation. I’d rather have a doctor who got into regular medical school and my experience is different than yours. I made several caveats in my opening paragraph to try to avoid comments like yours. Please, do as you like–and so will I.
I’m a DO and you couldn’t be any more off on this one. Stop painting with such a broad brush. For the vast majority of people in my class, it was just another route into medicine. By the way-the alien DNA vaccine lady is an MD. I could name dozens more.
I missed your commonly-held baloney reply about us being “Not able to get into regular medical school.” I had VASTLY better scores and grades then every single person who got into our state MD school the year I applied, save two. I also had the highest aggregate interview score on my interview day. I only know this because they were using third and fourth year students to do admissions and a friend, who was one of them, told me. They were letting their buddies in and nursing social grievances, etc. I paid state taxes while under fire in a war zone that supported that school. They waitlisted need twice. My DO school let me in on the spot. What would you have done?
My alma mater boasts better entry scores and GPAs, better residency match statistics, and produces far more primary care physicians than EVERY MD school in my home state and those bordering it with the exception of CA. I once had an MD student from Guadalajara on a rotation ask me if men have a vulva. He was on year six of his medical school training. He’s practicing emergency medicine at a major academic center. I hope you feel comforted when you see MD on his jacket instead of DO when you’re in there having a stroke or something similar.
Hey Dave, nah I was replying to this: “I’d rather have a doctor who got into regular medical school…”
I don’t know what’s with the digression into D.O. bashing. I could sing the praises of my favorite cardiologist for a good half an hour.
This is about Alex Jones, but I didn’t know where else to put it.
Forgot the link.
https://www.comicsands.com/alex-jones-ignored-by-teens-2646984428.html
Ohh, why not. How far my mentor has fallen. Also, it looks like his ex won the big boy megaphone in the divorce proceedings:
https://twitter.com/BarstoolNewsN/status/1293567279381327873
{though, I don’t think the kids should have been blocking access to the park (asking for money and a ‘reservation’); some of the masking rules are a bit silly and are being exploited} — I smell a’stagin’ on Jones’ part.
Tiny bullhorn:
https://youtu.be/Fkx8Jyrf6bk?t=27
I’m guessing that Alex Jones has never had any teenaged children of his own, or he would have known that he was basically talking to himself.
I also detect a little cognitive dissonance between calling COVID-19 a hoax while promoting alleged cures for it. But then self-awareness has never been his strong suit, has it?
No, no. Rex Jones. His spawn:
Those poor gay frogs, { I think they got him and that not gonna play well with daddy}
{not that I totally disagree}
22 years of the Illinois and Florida medical boards showing no spine about sanctioning him, especially given we’re in a pandemic and he’s promoting quackery for COVID-19.
Shame the various US medical boards are not as robust as the medical registration authorities can be in Australia: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-14/melbourne-doctor-loses-registration-after-social-media-posts/12556268
In the linked article, there is a reference to the Health Australia Party. This is a fringe political party dedicated to the promotion of quackery.
“Michael Ellis told the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal the posts were his “viewpoints” but not his beliefs”.
😀
I read somewhere on his site that he stopped actually practicing medicine a few years ago to focus on his empire so perhaps he doesn’t keep his license up: he used to feature a copy of it on his site, for doubters I guess.
BUT according to both Quackwatch and Wikipedia, he has been sanctioned and fined for his BS a few times by the feds.
If it’s in Florida, a license search turned nothing up.
I Illinois, it looks like his DO license is active.
Boards don’t like to discipline for things that are not patient care, because that can easily run into the first amendment.
Love Dr Mercola! $$$ value can not be attributed to the volume of free material he has hosted over the years. Wishing him many great returns!
Oh I don’t know. A 10 kg bag of bullshit goes for $2.89 at Canadian Tire. However, that bullshit at least improves the garden.
You get what you pay for….
rant starting
@Charlie, your idol has feet of clay.
Mercola sells grounding equipment. go to youtube and type “Mercola and Grounding” then see him confidently on video making the false claim that our insulating plastic shoes and carpets are denying us the unlimited flow of free radical neutralizing electrons from the earth. Further that being cut off from these electrons results in much pain inflammation and disease. He Sells Grounding Products to connect your skin to the earth with wires…
If he believed this and thought about it . He would do tests relating ground current to nutritional and other health status. Also one would benefit when wearing insulating shoes if the terminal of a battery that electrons exit was connected to ones skin.
After like 15 years of grounding ” research” no one bothered to test either of these things.
(at least as far as I could find.)
More damning is that I was unable to find a grounding proponent researcher report a ground current of over 10 millionths of an Ampere. A little googling and forgotten highshool math finds this is about 10 to the 18th power of electrons per day. The electrons available from the oxidation of 17.6 milligrams of vitamin C is about 10 to the 19th power of electrons.
So unless you believe that I got the math wrong you must conclude Mercola makes videos to promote his sale to you of at least one useless product based on claims he should know are false. Maybe when you can see this you can start to look at his other claims.
Anyone can say people generally need to not be obese, relax, stop substance abuse, sleep well exercise and eat their fruits and vegetables. Does not make their product claims true.
rant complete
I’m glad that tech companies are finally acting responsibly by not giving woo-meisters and anti-vaxxers free advert space: they now have to pay for IT to spread their BS: the ones I watch most are protesting loudly, calling it “censorship” or “fascism”.
SRSLY. For years, they were given free reign to mislead the public and sell dodgy products allowing them to earn millions and live extravagantly in estates ( easy to find photos on the internet- even Del’s new place in Texas).
100 millions USD goes a long way PLUS his SO/ wife, Erin, ( HealthNutNews) has an alligned business of her own.
Why is it that scoffers say SBM supporters are “bought and paid for”, “shills” and “enriched” by nefarious cartels BUT seem to be pleased that grifters like these are filthy rich? Supporters take their monetary success as proof of their value to humanity: in fact, some of them, post photos of their estates ( see PRN) and boast of their large ranches and new warehouses for their expanding business ( Adams). Dr Oz lives in a virtual palace on the cliffs ( google Dr Oz house, Cliffside Park)..
Orac could’ve been a meanie and used the photo of Mercola in this article.
https://www.thecut.com/2015/03/23-more-things-dr-mercola-has-said-cause-cancer.html
Remember that while tap water, “dirty” electricity and 21 other things give you cancer according to Joe, his tanning beds were promised to “slash” the risk of cancer. Too bad the FTC was not impressed and ordered him to refund up to $5.3 million to buyers of his tanning beds. 🙁
Ha! I didn’t remember that that photo existed!
How about a little edit?
I much favour the surprised monkey motif…
Dirty electricity gives you cancer??? I thought dirty electricity was my share of the PSEG bill from watching internet porn.
I noticed your mention of Larry Cook and his Facebook page Stop Mandatory Vaccination. It’s apparently still in existence, just a private group now. Larry Cook’s own personal page is still freely accessible, still peddling dangerous misinformation about vaccination, QAnon and numerous other conspiracy theories to his 43,000 followers.
You are correct.
In addition, there are other FB sites with large numbers of members that are predominantly anti-vax: Vaccine Injury Stories, We Are VAXXED, The Vaccine Machine, Thinking Moms’ Revolution and sites related to individuals.
I’m not on FB and am able to see a great deal of their pages.
Warnings ( about the CDC) may be hidden beyond the opening page.
Hi Orac. Apologies if you’ve already covered this and I missed it, but I just found (due to Facebook deciding that I’d surely want to see an ad for this crap) that Simon and Schuster is apparently publishing a book by Thomas M. Cowan in which he argues not only that COVID-19 isn’t a contagious viral disease, but neither is anything else. Cowan seems to be a straight-up germ theory denialist who thinks Pasteur was a fraud, etc. Now, I know S&S doesn’t always have the highest standards, but I’m more curious about how one maintains a medical license while writing such things – that is, Cowan is an MD or claims to be. Is there in fact any point at which someone who’s dismissing major foundational elements of modern medicine can no longer claim to be a practitioner of medicine who just has some controversial theories?
According to the listing on Amazon for “Contagion Myth”, co-authored by Cowan and Sally Fallon Morell, the publisher is Skyhorse (not Simon and Schuster). Skyhorse has lately become a go-to publisher for antivax authors.
Thomas Cowan already had his California medical license revoked in 2017 for improper treatment of a cancer patient. The revocation was stayed; instead he received 5 years probation during which time he is forbidden to treat cancer patients; he was also required to complete remedial coursework in several areas including medical ethics, and have a practice monitor.
The success of this discipline can be measured against Cowan’s book output, which includes “Cancer and the New Biology of Water” published in 2019, a treasure trove of alt med lunacy.
Dangerous Bacon, thanks for the background. As for who’s publishing it – I was confused because there is a promotional page for the book on the Simon & Schuster site. But that’s because S&S has had a distribution deal with Skyhorse for the last couple years… which I guess means we’ll be seeing even more of this kind of thing. 🙁
And Michael Cohen.
The latter of WAPF fame?
Co-founder and President.
Nonsense and quackery.
I just read the blurb, so it was 5G what done it all along. I was sure it would have been Colonel Mustard.
They have managed to pack it all in:
CHAPTER 2: ELECTRICITY AND DISEASE Early electrical experiments; global electrification and influenza; worldwide radio and the Spanish flu; the Spanish flu was not contagious; cell phones and increased death; 5G implementation and the spread of Covid-19; symptoms of electrical sensitivity; evidence of harm from millimeter wave technology.
CHAPTER 6: EXOSOMES Louis Pasteur and the contagion theory; social Darwinism; microscopes and germs; exosomes are viruses; fear and stress produce exosomes; nature a cooperative venture.
CHAPTER 7: RESONANCE Virology and the fork in the road; the nature of life; the discovery of resonance; resonance and childhood diseases; resonance and evolution.
CHAPTER 9: FOOD Vegetable oils; animal fats and cell membrane integrity; 5G and niacin depletion; the displacing foods of modern commerce; plant-based diets; raw milk; bone broth, fermented foods; salt; the microwave oven.
CHAPTER 10: TOXINS Toxins in the ancient world; modern toxins; toxins in food; modern drugs; glyphosate and biofuels; the aluminum age; toxins in vaccines.
Mercola exposes the “lies”
of CSPI who maintain that he has profited from the pandemic by selling supplements to combat it: they have ties to gasp! Dr Fauci, Mr Gates and the American Heart Association!
Also – in case you missed it yesterday- PRN has a Walk away from Wikipedia section which includes a Wiki fact sheet – compleat with photos of radical sceptics including someone we know, TWICE.( I like the photo with the scrubs. I’m surprised they show they show an actual surgeon in work clothes, a reality so unlike their own cosplay)
The Woo Empire Strikes back ? Alties spend a lot of time ( and money) countering sceptics and social media’s actions to disarm their free advert factories.
Pareidolia alert, or Woman Eats Jesus:
https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/woman-jesus-potato-face
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