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Adrenochrome is a chemical compound produced by the oxidation of adrenaline (epinephrine). It was the subject of limited research from the 1950s through to the 1970s as a potential cause of schizophrenia. While it has no current medical application, the semicarbazide derivative, carbazochrome, is a hemostatic medication.
Quackery, often synonymous with health fraud, is the promotion of fraudulent or ignorant medical practices. A quack is a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, knowledge, qualification or credentials they do not possess; a charlatan or snake oil salesman". The term quack is a clipped form of the archaic term quacksalver, derived from Dutch: kwakzalver a "hawker of salve" or rather somebody who boasted about their salves, more commonly known as ointments. In the Middle Ages the term quack meant "shouting". The quacksalvers sold their wares at markets by shouting to gain attention.
QAnon is a far-right American political conspiracy theory and political movement that originated in 2017. QAnon centers on fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as "Q". Those claims have been relayed and developed by online communities and influencers. Their core belief is that a cabal of Satanic, cannibalistic child molesters is operating a global child sex trafficking ring that conspired against president Donald Trump. QAnon has direct roots in Pizzagate, an Internet conspiracy theory that appeared one year earlier, but also incorporates elements of many different conspiracy theories and unifies them into a larger interconnected conspiracy theory. QAnon has been described as a cult.
João Teixeira de Faria, known also as João de Deus, is a Brazilian convicted rapist, self-proclaimed medium, and self-proclaimed psychic surgeon. He was based in Abadiânia, Brazil, where he ran a spiritual healing center called the Casa de Dom Inácio de Loyola. He received media coverage on CNN, ABC News, and personally from The Oprah Winfrey Show. However, James Randi and Joe Nickell exposed his healing procedures as nothing more than carnival tricks, and there is no evidence that the benefits reported by patients are anything more than placebo effects.
Hulda Regehr Clark was a Canadian naturopath, author, and practitioner of alternative medicine. Clark claimed all human disease was related to parasitic infection, and also claimed to be able to cure all diseases, including cancer and HIV/AIDS, by "zapping" them with electrical devices which she marketed. Clark wrote several books describing her methods and operated clinics in the United States. Following a string of lawsuits and eventual action by the Federal Trade Commission, she relocated to Tijuana, Mexico, where she ran the Century Nutrition clinic.
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Energy medicine is a branch of alternative medicine based on a pseudo-scientific belief that healers can channel "healing energy" into patients and effect positive results. The field is defined by shared beliefs and practices relating to mysticism and esotericism in the wider alternative medicine sphere rather than any sort of unified terminology, leading to terms such as energy healing, vibrational medicine, and similar terms being used synonymously. In most cases, no empirically measurable "energy" is involved: the term refers instead to so-called subtle energy. Practitioners may classify their practice as hands-on, hands-off, or distant wherein the patient and healer are in different locations. Many approaches to energy healing exist: for example, “biofield energy healing”, “spiritual healing”, “contact healing”, “distant healing”, therapeutic touch, Reiki, and Qigong.
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Big Pharma conspiracy theories are conspiracy theories that claim that pharmaceutical companies as a whole, especially big corporations, act in dangerously secretive and sinister ways that harm patients. This includes concealing effective treatments, perhaps even to the point of intentionally causing and/or worsening a wide range of diseases, in the pursuit of higher profits and/or other nefarious goals. The general public supposedly lives in a state of ignorance, according to such claims.
"Pizzagate" is a conspiracy theory that went viral during the 2016 United States presidential election cycle, falsely claiming that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) had discovered a pedophilia ring linked to members of the Democratic Party while searching through Anthony Weiner's emails. It has been extensively discredited by a wide range of organizations, including the Washington, D.C. police.
False information, including intentional disinformation and conspiracy theories, about the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic and the origin, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the disease has been spread through social media, text messaging, and mass media. False information has been propagated by celebrities, politicians, and other prominent public figures. Many countries have passed laws against "fake news", and thousands of people have been arrested for spreading COVID-19 misinformation. The spread of COVID-19 misinformation by governments has also been significant.
Plandemic is a trilogy of conspiracy theory films produced by Mikki Willis, promoting misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic. They feature Judy Mikovits, a discredited American researcher and prominent anti-vaccine activist. The first video, Plandemic: The Hidden Agenda Behind Covid-19, was released on May 4, 2020, under Willis' production company Elevate Films. The second film, Plandemic Indoctornation, which includes more interviewees, was released on August 18 by Brian Rose's distributor of conspiracy theory related films, London Real. Later on June 3, 2023, Plandemic 3: The Great Awakening was released on The Highwire, a website devoted to conspiracy theories run by anti-vaccine activist Del Bigtree.
Conspiracy theories in United States politics are beliefs that a major political situation is the result of secretive collusion by powerful people striving to harm a rival group or undermine society in general.
QAnon Anonymous (QAA) is an investigative journalism podcast that analyzes and debunks conspiracy theories. It is co-hosted by Travis View, Julian Feeld, and Jake Rockatansky, alongside British correspondent: Annie Kelly, Canadian correspondent: Liv Agar. Inner Earth correspondent: Brad Abrahams, and QAA Legal Analyst: Allie Mezei.
Ty Bollinger is an American author and conspiracy theorist who disseminates misinformation about cancer treatments, anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, unproven cures, alternative medicine treatments for cancer and vaccine-preventable diseases. Although Bollinger refers to himself as a medical researcher he has no medical training. Bollinger runs the website The Truth About Cancer and its associated social media accounts, where he sells books, videos, and nutritional supplements.
Since the movement's emergence in 2017, adherents of the QAnon far-right conspiracy theory have been involved in a number of controversial events, some of them violent, resulting in the filing of criminal charges and one conviction for terrorism.
Romana Didulo is a Canadian conspiracy theorist. She is one of the most prominent figures of the QAnon movement in Canada and promotes other conspiracy theories such as the pseudolegal concepts derived from the sovereign citizen movement. Didulo came to prominence as a pretender who proclaimed herself to be the "Queen of Canada", and later, "Queen of the World". She has a group of followers that travel with her, resulting in confrontations with local residents.
References
- 1 2 3 4 Wendling, Mike (27 December 2022). "The truth about 'medbeds' - a miracle cure that doesn't exist". BBC News . Retrieved 27 December 2022.
- 1 2 3 Weill, Kelly (April 22, 2022). "New QAnon Conspiracy Involves a Magical Bed for Zombie JFK". Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 23 October 2022. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
- ↑ Kapoor, Urvashi (2020-12-11). "Fact Check: No, This Machine Cannot Cure A Disease in 2.5 Minutes; Viral Images Are Taken From A 2013 Movie". Vishvas News. Retrieved 2024-07-28.
- ↑ Saslow, Eli (2024-07-28). "Racked by Pain and Enraptured by a Right-Wing Miracle Cure". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 2024-07-28.
- ↑ Sarteschi, Christine (1 July 2022). "The Dangerous Delusions of Canada's 'Queen of the World'". The Tyee. Archived from the original on 17 August 2022. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
- ↑ Klepper, David (2024-01-31). "Miracle cures: Online conspiracy theories are creating a new age of unproven medical treatments". AP News. Retrieved 2024-07-28.