Editing Quackery (section)

== Contemporary culture ==
[[File:Electro-metabograph machine.jpg|thumbnail|Electro-metabograph machine on display in the "Quackery Hall of Fame" in the [[Science Museum of Minnesota]], St. Paul, Minnesota, US]]

"Quackery is the promotion of false and unproven health schemes for a profit. It is rooted in the traditions of the marketplace", with "commercialism overwhelming professionalism in the marketing of alternative medicine".<ref name=jarvis_rdcna>{{Cite journal |author=Jarvis WT |pmid=10573757 |title=Quackery: the National Council Against Health Fraud perspective |journal=[[Rheum Dis Clin North Am]] |date=November 1999 |volume=25|issue=4 |pages=805–814 |doi=10.1016/S0889-857X(05)70101-0}}</ref>  ''Quackery'' is most often used to denote the peddling of the "cure-alls" described above. Quackery is an ongoing problem that can be found in any culture and in every medical tradition. Unlike other advertising mediums, rapid advancements in communication through the Internet have opened doors for an unregulated market of quack cures and marketing campaigns rivaling the early 20th century. Most people with an [[e-mail]] account have experienced the marketing tactics of [[spamming]]&nbsp;– in which modern forms of quackery are touted as miraculous remedies for "weight loss" and "sexual enhancement", as well as outlets for medicines of unknown quality.

===India===
In 2008, the ''[[Hindustan Times]]'' reported that some officials and doctors estimated that there were more than 40,000 quacks practicing in [[Delhi]], following outrage over a "multi-state racket where unqualified doctors conducted hundreds of illegal kidney transplants for huge profits."<ref name=":0" /> The president of the [[Indian Medical Association]] (IMA) in 2008 criticized the central government for failing to address the problem of quackery and for not framing any laws against it.<ref name=":0">{{cite news |last=Ranjan Roy |first=Rajeev |date=3 February 2008 |title=After kidney scam, India eyes anti-quackery bill |language=en |work=Hindustan Times |agency=[[Indo-Asian News Service]] |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/after-kidney-scam-india-eyes-anti-quackery-bill/story-ABqyzaVBDLI7MMbU3cheiI.html |access-date=19 September 2021}}</ref>

In 2017, IMA again asked for an antiquackery law with stringent action against those practicing without a license.<ref>{{cite news |title=Introduce a central anti-quackery law, urges IMA |url=https://tennews.in/introduce-central-anti-quackery-law-urges-ima/ |work=tennews.in: National News Portal |date=10 June 2017}}</ref> As of 2024, the government of India is yet to pass an anti-quackery law.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Massa |first=Annie |date=February 28, 2024 |title=Medicine Gets Political in India as Ayurveda Booms Under Modi |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-02-28/medicine-gets-political-in-india-as-modi-supports-ayurveda-resurgence |access-date=March 22, 2024 |website=Bloomberg}}</ref>

====Ministry of Ayush====
In 2014, the [[Government of India]] formed a [[Ministry of AYUSH]] that includes the seven traditional systems of healthcare.
The Ministry of Ayush (expanded from [[Ayurveda]], [[Yoga]], [[Naturopathy]], [[Unani]], [[Siddha medicine|Siddha]], Sowa-Rigpa and [[Homoeopathy]]), is purposed with developing education, research and propagation of indigenous alternative medicine systems in [[India]]. The ministry has faced significant criticism for funding systems that lack [[biological plausibility]] and are either untested or conclusively proven as ineffective. Quality of research has been poor, and drugs have been launched without any rigorous pharmacological studies and meaningful [[clinical trials on Ayurveda]] or other alternative healthcare systems.<ref name="Rathee2018">{{cite news|title=What is AYUSH and the controversy around it?|last=Rathee|first=Pranshu|work=[[Deccan Herald]]|url=https://www.deccanherald.com/specials/what-ayush-and-controversy-703993.html|url-status=live|access-date=2021-04-04|date=2018-11-20|archive-date=2020-11-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201122144706/https://www.deccanherald.com/specials/what-ayush-and-controversy-703993.html|publisher=The Printers (Mysore)}}</ref><ref name="Narayanan2020">{{cite news|work=[[Firstpost]]|url=https://www.firstpost.com/india/patanajali-covid-19-ayush-ministry-weak-response-ramdevs-coronil-stunt-endangers-people-jeopardises-ayurveda-homeopathy-8529151.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201121014011/https://www.firstpost.com/india/patanajali-covid-19-ayush-ministry-weak-response-ramdevs-coronil-stunt-endangers-people-jeopardises-ayurveda-homeopathy-8529151.html|archive-date=2020-11-21|date=2020-07-01|last=Narayanan|first=Kavya|title=AYUSH Ministry is endangering people, jeopardising Ayurveda with lax response to Patanjali's Coronil and COVID-19, warn experts}}</ref>

There is no credible efficacy or scientific basis of any of these forms of treatment.<ref name="AYUSHPseudo">Sources that criticize the entirety of AYUSH as a pseudo-scientific venture:
* {{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/sunday-anchor/medicine-wars-homeopathy-allopathy-ayurveda-unani-in-india/article10792873.ece|title=Questions over science swirl, but AYUSH stands firm|last=Shrinivasan|first=Rukmini|date=2015-04-26|work=The Hindu|access-date=2019-01-22|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}
* {{Cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/policy-and-issues/ayush-ministry-rails-against-global-study-on-homeopathy/article8561466.ece|title=AYUSH Ministry rails against global study on homeopathy|last=Krishnan|first=Vidya|work=The Hindu|access-date=2017-05-24|language=en}}
* {{Cite web|url=http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/National/2018-01-08/Bridge-course-for-AYUSH--the-seed-of-destruction/350752/amp|title=Bridge course for AYUSH – the seed of destruction|date=2018-01-08|website=The Hans India|language=en|access-date=2018-09-17}}
* {{Cite web|url=https://undark.org/article/indian-scientists-confront-pseudoscience/|title=The Threat of Pseudoscience in India|website=Undark|language=en-US|access-date=2019-01-31|date=10 December 2018}}
* {{Cite web|url=https://qz.com/india/1492838/how-scientists-are-fighting-fake-news-and-superstition-in-india/|title=Indian academia is fighting a toxic mix of nationalism and pseudoscience|last1=Kumar|first1=Ruchi|website=Quartz India|date=13 December 2018 |language=en|access-date=2019-01-31}}
* {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dwFKDwAAQBAJ|page=293|title=Pseudoscience: The Conspiracy Against Science|last1=Kaufman|first1=Allison B.|last2=Kaufman|first2=James C.|year=2018|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=978-0262037426|language=en}}</ref> A strong consensus prevails among the scientific community that [[homeopathy]] is a pseudo-scientific,<ref name="Tuomela2">{{cite book|author=Tuomela, R|title=Rational Changes in Science |chapter=Science, Protoscience, and Pseudoscience |publisher=Springer|year=1987|isbn=978-94-010-8181-8|veditors=Pitt JC, Marcello P|series=Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science|volume=98|pages=83–101|doi=10.1007/978-94-009-3779-6_4|author-link=Raimo Tuomela}}</ref><ref name="Smith20122">{{cite journal|author=Smith K|year=2012|title=Homeopathy is Unscientific and Unethical|journal=Bioethics|volume=26|issue=9|pages=508–512|doi=10.1111/j.1467-8519.2011.01956.x|s2cid=143067523|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1035885}}</ref><ref name="Baran20142">{{cite book|vauthors=Baran GR, Kiana MF, Samuel SP|title=Healthcare and Biomedical Technology in the 21st Century |chapter=Science, Pseudoscience, and Not Science: How do They Differ? |publisher=Springer|year=2014|isbn=978-1-4614-8540-7|pages=19–57|doi=10.1007/978-1-4614-8541-4_2|quote=within the traditional medical community it is considered to be quackery}}</ref><ref name="Ladyman2">{{cite book|title=Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem|author=Ladyman J|publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-226-05196-3|veditors=Pigliucci M, Boudry M|pages=48–49|chapter=Chapter 3: Towards a Demarcation of Science from Pseudoscience|quote=Yet homeopathy is a paradigmatic example of pseudoscience. It is neither simply bad science nor science fraud, but rather profoundly departs from scientific method and theories while being described as scientific by some of its adherents (often sincerely).}}</ref> unethical<ref name="unethical">{{cite journal|last1=Shaw|first1=DM|year=2010|title=Homeopathy is where the harm is: Five unethical effects of funding unscientific 'remedies'|journal=Journal of Medical Ethics|volume=36|issue=3|pages=130–131|doi=10.1136/jme.2009.034959|pmid=20211989|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2008/jul/21/pharmacists.homeophathy|title=Pharmacists urged to 'tell the truth' about homeopathic remedies|author=Sample I|date=21 July 2008|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|location=London}}</ref> and implausible line of treatment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatmentsandsideeffects/complementaryandalternativemedicine/pharmacologicalandbiologicaltreatment/homeopathy|title=Homeopathy|publisher=American Cancer Society|access-date=12 October 2014|archive-date=16 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130316003948/http://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatmentsandsideeffects/complementaryandalternativemedicine/pharmacologicalandbiologicaltreatment/homeopathy|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="inquiry_cfm">UK Parliamentary Committee Science and Technology Committee – [http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/science-and-technology-committee/inquiries/homeopathy-/ "Evidence Check 2: Homeopathy"]</ref><ref name="GrimesFACT">{{cite journal|last1=Grimes|first1=D.R.|year=2012|title=Proposed mechanisms for homeopathy are physically impossible|journal=Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies|volume=17|issue=3|pages=149–155|doi=10.1111/j.2042-7166.2012.01162.x}}</ref><ref name="EASAC2017">{{cite web|url=http://www.easac.eu/fileadmin/PDF_s/reports_statements/EASAC_Homepathy_statement_web_final.pdf|title=Homeopathic products and practices: assessing the evidence and ensuring consistency in regulating medical claims in the EU|date=September 2017|work=European Academies' Science Advisory Council|page=1|access-date=1 October 2017|quote=... we agree with previous extensive evaluations concluding that there are no known diseases for which there is robust, reproducible evidence that homeopathy is effective beyond the placebo effect.}}</ref> Ayurveda is deemed to be pseudoscientific.<ref name="psych2013">{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LiJKseis6OYC&pg=PA20|chapter=Chapter 1: Psychomythology|vauthors=Semple D, Smyth R|title=Oxford Handbook of Psychiatry|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-19-969388-7|edition=3rd|page=20}}</ref><ref name=":13">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dwFKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA293|title=Pseudoscience: The Conspiracy Against Science|last1=Kaufman|first1=Allison B.|last2=Kaufman|first2=James C.|year=2018|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=978-0262037426|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Carrier |first=Marc |year=2011 |title=Ayurvedic Medicine |url=https://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/13-10-09/ |access-date=2019-01-31 |website=Skeptic |series=Volume 16 Number 2 |language=en-US}}</ref> Much of the research on postural yoga has taken the form of preliminary studies or clinical trials of low methodological quality;<ref name="Krisanaprakornkit2010">{{cite journal|last1=Krisanaprakornkit|first1=T.|last2=Ngamjarus|first2=C.|last3=Witoonchart|first3=C.|last4=Piyavhatkul|first4=N.|year=2010|title=Meditation therapies for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)|journal=[[Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews]]|volume=2010 |issue=6|pages=CD006507|doi=10.1002/14651858.CD006507.pub2|pmid=20556767|pmc=6823216}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Ospina|first1=M. B.|last2=Bond|first2=K.|last3=Karkhaneh|first3=M.|display-authors=etal|year=2008|title=Clinical trials of meditation practices in health care: characteristics and quality|journal=Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine|volume=14|issue=10|pages=199–213|doi=10.1089/acm.2008.0307|pmid=19123875|s2cid=43745958}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Uebelacker|first1=L. A.|last2=Epstein-Lubow|first2=G.|last3=Gaudiano|first3=B. A.|last4=Tremont|first4=G.|last5=Battle|first5=C. L.|last6=Miller|first6=I. W.|year=2010|title=Hatha yoga for depression: critical review of the evidence for efficacy, plausible mechanisms of action, and directions for future research|journal=Journal of Psychiatric Practice|volume=16|issue=1|pages=22–33|doi=10.1097/01.pra.0000367775.88388.96|pmid=20098228|s2cid=205423922}}</ref> there is no conclusive therapeutic effect except in back pain.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Wieland|first1=L. Susan|last2=Skoetz|first2=Nicole|last3=Pilkington|first3=Karen|last4=Vempati|first4=Ramaprabhu|last5=D'Adamo|first5=Christopher R|last6=Berman|first6=Brian M|date=2017-01-12|title=Yoga treatment for chronic non-specific low back pain|journal=The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews|volume=2017|issue=1|pages=CD010671|doi=10.1002/14651858.CD010671.pub2|issn=1469-493X|pmc=5294833|pmid=28076926}}</ref> Naturopathy is considered to be a form of pseudo-scientific quackery,<ref name="NaturoUnaniPesudo">Sources documenting the same:
* {{cite journal|last=Atwood|first=Kimball C. IV|year=2003|title=Naturopathy: A critical appraisal|url=http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/465994|journal=Medscape General Medicine|volume=5|issue=4|page=39|pmid=14745386}}{{registration required}}
* {{cite journal|last=Atwood|first=Kimball. C. IV|date=26 March 2004|title=Naturopathy, pseudoscience, and medicine: Myths and fallacies vs truth|journal=Medscape General Medicine|volume=6|issue=1|page=33|pmc=1140750|pmid=15208545}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/Naturopathy/naturopathy.html|title=A close look at naturopathy|last=Barrett|first=Stephen|date=26 November 2013|work=[[QuackWatch]]|access-date=2015-03-21}}
* {{cite news|url=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/claire-harvey-dont-duck-the-law-by-sending-kids-to-quacks/news-story/6ee0fc3e8309651cad4c7bca9ca3ff06|title=Don't duck the law by sending kids to quacks|last1=Harvey|first1=Claire|date=11 July 2015|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=2 September 2015}}
* {{cite news|url=http://health.spectator.co.uk/how-does-naturopathy-work-a-bit-like-a-flying-vacuum-cleaner-to-mars/|title=How does naturopathy work? A bit like a flying vacuum-cleaner to Mars|last1=Chivers|first1=Tom|date=10 November 2014|work=Spectator|access-date=2 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905094710/https://health.spectator.co.uk/how-does-naturopathy-work-a-bit-like-a-flying-vacuum-cleaner-to-mars/|archive-date=5 September 2017|url-status=dead}}
* {{cite book|title=American Cancer Society Complete Guide to Complementary and Alternative Cancer Therapies|date=2009|publisher=American Cancer Society|editor1-last=Russell|editor1-first=Jill|edition=Second|location=Atlanta|pages=116–119|editor2-last=Rovere|editor2-first=Amy}}</ref> ineffective and possibly harmful,<ref name="SkepDic_natural">{{cite web|url=http://skepdic.com/natural.html|title=Natural|last=Carroll|first=Robert|date=26 November 2012|work=The Skeptic's Dictionary|access-date=2013-09-08}}</ref><ref name="NCAHF_herb">{{cite web|url=http://www.ncahf.org/pp/herbal.html|title=NCAHF Position Paper on Over the Counter Herbal Remedies (1995)|year=1995|publisher=National Council Against Health Fraud|access-date=2009-04-17}}</ref> with a plethora of [[Medical ethics|ethical concerns]] about the very practice.<ref name="atwood2003">{{cite journal|last=Atwood|first=Kimball C. IV|year=2003|title=Naturopathy: A critical appraisal|url=http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/465994|journal=Medscape General Medicine|volume=5|issue=4|page=39|pmid=14745386}}{{registration required}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gorski|first1=David H.|date=18 September 2014|title=Integrative oncology: really the best of both worlds?|journal=Nature Reviews Cancer|volume=14|issue=10|pages=692–700|doi=10.1038/nrc3822|pmid=25230880|s2cid=33539406|ref=Gorski Nature}}</ref><ref name="tot">{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nWnR1JI7G6gC&pg=PT197|chapter=Naturopathy|vauthors=Singh S, Ernst E|title=Trick or Treatment?: Alternative Medicine on Trial|publisher=Transworld|year=2009|isbn=978-1-4090-8180-7|pages=197–|quote=many naturopaths are against mainstream medicine and advise their patients accordingly&nbsp;– for instance many are not in favour of vaccination.}}</ref>

Unani lacks [[biological plausibility]] and is considered to be pseudo-scientific quackery, as well.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/naturopathy-textbook/|title=Naturopathy Textbook|website=sciencebasedmedicine.org|date=14 August 2018|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/naturopathy-embraces-the-four-humors/|title=Naturopathy Embraces the Four Humors|website=sciencebasedmedicine.org|date=27 December 2012|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-16}}</ref>

===United States===
[[File:Tho-Radia-IMG 1228.JPG|thumbnail| "Tho-radia powder" box, an example of [[radioactive quackery]]]]
While quackery is often aimed at the aged or chronically ill, it can be aimed at all age groups, including teens, and the FDA has mentioned<ref name=FDA_Teens>{{cite web|date=April 1990|orig-year=February 1988|title=Quackery targets teens|website=cfsan.fda.gov|location=Washington, DC|publisher=Department of Health and Human Services. Public Health Service. Food and Drug Administration
|id=DHHS Publication No. (FDA) 90-1147|url=http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/wh-teen2.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090512094924/http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/wh-teen2.html|archive-date=12 May 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> some areas where potential quackery may be a problem: breast developers, weight loss, steroids and growth hormones, tanning and tanning pills, hair removal and growth, and look-alike drugs.

In 1992, the president of [[The National Council Against Health Fraud]], William T. Jarvis, wrote in ''[[Clinical Chemistry (journal)|Clinical Chemistry]]'' that:

{{blockquote|The U.S. Congress determined quackery to be the most harmful consumer fraud against elderly people. Americans waste $27 billion annually on questionable health care, exceeding the amount spent on biomedical research. Quackery is characterized by the promotion of false and unproven health schemes for profit and does not necessarily involve imposture, fraud, or greed. The real issues in the war against quackery are the principles, including scientific rationale, encoded into [[consumer protection]] laws, primarily the U.S. Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. More such laws are badly needed. Regulators are failing the public by enforcing laws inadequately, applying double standards, and accrediting pseudomedicine. Non-scientific health care (e.g., acupuncture, ayurvedic medicine, chiropractic, homeopathy, naturopathy) is licensed by individual states. Practitioners use unscientific practices and deception on a public who, lacking complex health-care knowledge, must rely upon the trustworthiness of providers. Quackery not only harms people, it undermines the scientific enterprise and should be actively opposed by every scientist.<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=1643742 |date=August 1992 |last1=Jarvis |first1=WT |title=Quackery: a national scandal |volume=38 |issue=8B Pt 2 |pages=1574–1586 |issn=0009-9147 |journal=Clinical Chemistry}}</ref>}}
[[File:Scientology - The E-Meter.jpg|thumbnail|[[Scientology]]'s [[E-Meter]], a quack device for measuring '[[Engram (Dianetics)|engrams]]'<ref>{{cite news|title=Religion's Shocking Experience|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=sUtSAAAAIBAJ&pg=5878%2C2039441|access-date=27 September 2012|newspaper=St Petersburg Times|date=3 May 1969}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Janssen|first=Wallace|year=1993|chapter=The gadgeteers|editor1-last=Barrett|editor1-first=Stephen|editor2-last=Jarvis|editor2-first=William|title=The health robbers: a close look at quackery in America|series=Consumer health library|location=Buffalo, NY|publisher=Prometheus Books|isbn=978-0-87975-855-4|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JVprAAAAMAAJ|url=https://archive.org/details/healthrobberscl00barr}}</ref>]]

For those in the practice of any medicine, to allege quackery is to level a serious objection to a particular form of practice. Most developed countries have a governmental agency, such as the [[Food and Drug Administration]] (FDA) in the US, whose purpose is to monitor and regulate the safety of medications as well as the claims made by the manufacturers of new and existing products, including drugs and nutritional supplements or vitamins. The [[Federal Trade Commission]] (FTC) participates in some of these efforts.<ref name=FTC>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1999/06/opcureall.shtmh |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130728172145/http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1999/06/opcureall.shtmh |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 July 2013 |title="Operation Cure.all" Targets Internet Health Fraud |date=24 June 1999 |publisher=[[Federal Trade Commission]] }}</ref> To better address less regulated products, in 2000, US President Clinton signed Executive Order 13147 that created the White House Commission on [[Complementary and Alternative Medicine]]. In 2002, the commission's final report made several suggestions regarding education, research, implementation, and reimbursement as ways to evaluate the risks and benefits of each.<ref name="WHCCAMP2002">{{cite book|date=March 2002|title=White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy – Final report|series=NIH publication|volume=03-5411|location=Washington, DC|publisher=United States. Department of Health and Human Services|isbn=978-0-16-051476-0|url=http://www.whccamp.hhs.gov/pdfs/fr2002_document.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041016005506/http://www.whccamp.hhs.gov/pdfs/fr2002_document.pdf|archive-date=16 October 2004|url-status=dead|access-date=6 November 2015}}</ref> As a direct result, more public dollars have been allocated for research into some of these methods.
[[File:Revigorator.jpg|thumbnail|The 1929 [[Radium ore Revigator|Revigator]] (sometimes misspelled Revigorator) was a pottery crock lined with radioactive ore that emitted radon.]]

Individuals and non-governmental agencies are active in attempts to expose quackery. According to [[John C. Norcross]] et al. less is consensus about ineffective "compared to effective procedures" but identifying both "pseudoscientific, unvalidated, or 'quack' psychotherapies" and "assessment measures of questionable validity on psycho-metric grounds" was pursued by various authors.<ref name="Norcross2006">{{cite journal|last1=Norcross|first1=John C.|last2=Koocher|first2=Gerald P.|last3=Garofalo|first3=Ariele|date=Oct 2006|title=Discredited psychological treatments and tests: a Delphi poll|journal=Professional Psychology: Research and Practice|volume=37|issue=5|pages=515–522|doi=10.1037/0735-7028.37.5.515|s2cid=35414392}}</ref>{{rp|page=515}} The [[evidence-based practice]] (EBP) movement in mental health emphasizes the consensus in psychology that psychological practice should rely on empirical research.<ref name="Norcross2006" />{{rp|pages=515, 522}} There are also "anti-quackery" websites, such as [[Quackwatch]], that help consumers evaluate claims.<ref name="Baldwin2007">{{cite web|last=Baldwin|first=Fred D.|date=19 July 2004|title=If it quacks like a duck...|website=medhunters.com|location=[s.l.]|publisher=MedHunters|url=http://www.medhunters.com/articles/ifItQuacksLikeADuck.html|access-date=13 October 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080206060833/http://www.medhunters.com/articles/ifItQuacksLikeADuck.html|archive-date=6 February 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> Quackwatch's information is relevant to both consumers and medical professionals.<ref name="ascp">{{cite news|first=Bao-Anh |last=Nguyen-Khoa |title=Selected Web Site Reviews – Quackwatch.com |url=http://www.ascp.com/publications/tcp/1999/jul/access.shtml |publisher=[[American Society of Consultant Pharmacists|The Consultant Pharmacist]] |date=July 1999 |access-date=25 January 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071214172021/http://www.ascp.com/publications/tcp/1999/jul/access.shtml |archive-date=14 December 2007 }}</ref>