Guest Post by Morbo
In previous posts, I’ve mused about the lack of basic scientific literacy among Americans and how this might be affecting us as nation.
In the past, I’ve tended to think it didn’t matter too much. As long as a scientific elite continued to study, research, write papers and pioneer new technologies, Americans could, I figured, continue to enjoy a high standard of living and lead the world in medicine and science.
I can see now that I was naive. People like Kevin Trudeau are what changed my mind.
Trudeau currently has one of the top-selling non-fictions books in the nation, a tome titled “Natural Cures ‘They’ Don’t Want You to Know About.” The Washington Post, in a recent profile of Trudeau, summed up the book thusly:
Trudeau explains how a massive cabal formed of the federal government, pharmaceutical companies and the media is keeping Americans from living well past 100. He advises everybody to get off prescription drugs, even if they have serious problems like diabetes or blood clots; he reveals how multiple sclerosis can be cured by magnetic mattress pads. He says sunscreen doesn’t prevent skin cancer. Instead (wait for it), sunscreen causes skin cancer.
Trudeau wears a metal disk around his neck called an “electromagnetic chaos eliminator.” Also called a “Q-link,” the device, Trudeau says, prevents “microwaves” produced by cell phones and radios from frying his brain.
I’d say it was too late to save Trudeau’s brain if I really thought he believed any of this junk.
As it is, I think he’s just cashing in on the natural scientific illiteracy of the country. And he’s cashing in quite well. The Post made mention of his tailored suits, alligator shoes, diamond-studded Rolodex Rolex and gaudy ring with a “rock so big a child could choke on it.”
Trudeau is an ex-con lacking a college degree who made his living for many years as an infomercial pitchman. How did someone like this become rich and famous hawking a book chockfull of dangerous hooey?
The phenomenon may be explained partly by our dysfunctional health-care system. Managed care has all too often put patients and doctors in an adversarial relationship. It’s also true that some doctors tend to over-prescribe, and an argument can be made that many Americans are overmedicated. This leads some people to lash out at the medical profession by grasping at straws.
Also, some people are not sick but are convinced they are or suffer from ill-defined complaints. Some clown tells them a magnet insert in their shoes will make them feel better; they try it and do feel better. We know the placebo effect can be very powerful.
But none of this excuses a belief in outlandish conspiracy theories. None of this should translate into an insane assertion that no one should be on medication. Modern medicine has saved millions of lives and added appreciably to the human life span. Only those completely ignorant of basic scientific facts could swallow the nonsense Trudeau peddles.
Yet they do swallow it — much to their detriment. The story mentions a 61-year-old woman in Honolulu with Type 2 diabetes. Dismayed at the prospect of insulin shots, Joyce Nuuhiwa is considering dumping the medicines her doctor gave her in favor of a Trudeau-recommended herbal concoction. Trudeau claims this diabetes “cure” was discovered years ago by researchers at the University of Calgary. Officials at the school say he’s crazy. I’m not a doctor, but even I know that if Nuuhiwa sides with Trudeau, she’ll be dead within a few years.
It’s an alarming sign of the times that the Trudeau profile ran in The Post’s Style section, and overall the story treats him like a joke. Guys like Trudeau are far from a joke to the families of loved ones killed by quack remedies. Instead of relegating him to Style alongside the horoscope and the crossword puzzle, The Post should have handed the story to a couple of investigative reporters and put it on page 1 — backed by an editorial demanding the Food and Drug Administration launch a hard-hitting educational campaign to warn Americans about Trudeau and his fellow snake-oil peddlers.
I won’t hold my breath waiting for that to happen. But I will fight the Trudeaus of the world by continuing to advocate for increased science education in American schools complemented by instruction on the value of a healthy skeptical attitude. I’m not saying you have to understand Einstein’s theory of relativity — I sure as hell don’t — but you don’t need to go that far to grasp a simple fact: Magnets and metal bracelets might be cool to play with and wear, but they don’t have curative powers.