An interesting, new mathematical look at the way information about quack medical remedies spreads indicates that more useless treatments spread more quickly. Those who take the ineffective remedies are sick longer and therefore have a longer time to tell other people what they are taking to try to get well. The fact that they are not getting better does not seem to hinder the dissemination of information.
Eating a vulture won’t clear a bad case of syphilis nor will a drink made of rotting snakes treat leprosy, but these and other bogus medical treatments spread precisely because they don’t work. That’s the counterintuitive finding of a mathematical model of medical quackery … Some Nigerians treat malaria with witchcraft, a South African health minister recently claimed that garlic and beetroot treat HIV.
Of course, if you’re looking for witchcraft-quality, phony remedies, you don’t need to look too far. Just peruse the several aisles worth of the crap being hawked in all the major pharmacies and grocery stores.
You feel sick. Companies have a marketing message to make you think it’s worth giving this alternative treatment a shot. Then about three years after you start taking the medicine, the FDA tells you that the treatment doesn’t work. The snake-oil companies put a warning label on their product and Walgreens keeps it right up there next to the cash register.
Next time you’re in a pharmacy, check out the nice placement of Airborne (created by a school teacher, isn’t that swell?). One problem. Airborne doesn’t do a thing and the company settled a class action suit last year essentially admitting just that.
If you’re considering one of the high-priced, alt remedies, you might want to try witchcraft instead. I mean a witch doctor probably knows as much about health as a school teacher, right? Although it’s almost impossible to score a class action win against a witch doctor.
