National Council Against Health Fraud

Last updated
National Council Against Health Fraud
Formation1983
TypeNetwork of people
Location
  • United States
Official language
English
Website www.ncahf.org

The National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF) was a not-for-profit, US-based organization, that described itself as a "private nonprofit, voluntary health agency that focuses upon health misinformation, fraud, and quackery as public health problems." [1]

Contents

History

According to archived website, the NCAHF evolved from three separate organizations. The Lehigh Valley Committee Against Health Fraud, Inc. (LVCAHF, now called Quackwatch) was founded in 1969 by Stephen Barrett and H. William Gross, D.D.S. in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The Southern California Council Against Health Fraud (SCCAHF) had its origin in 1976 at Loma Linda University with academic colleagues William T. Jarvis and Gordon Rick as co-founders. Thomas H. Jukes of University of California, Berkeley founded the third organization, an unnamed group in northern California. [2]

For a time between 1998 and 2000, the NCAHF operated under the name National Council for Reliable Health Information (NCRHI). The organization became inactive in 2002, and its legal entity was formally dissolved in 2011. [2]

Mission statement

According to NCAHF's mission statement, its activities and purposes included:

NCAHF's positions on consumer health issues were based on what they considered ethical and scientific principles that underlie consumer protection law. Required were:

NCAHF stated that its funding was primarily derived from membership dues, newsletter subscriptions, and consumer information services. Membership was open to everyone, with members and consultants located all over the world. NCAHF's officers and board members served without compensation. NCAHF stated they united consumers with health professionals, educators, researchers, attorneys, and others.

Position on health issues

Acupuncture

The NCAHF asserted that acupuncture is scientifically unproven as a modality of treatment. In 1990, it said that research during the past twenty years had failed to demonstrate that acupuncture was effective against any disease. Perceived effects of acupuncture are, argued the NCAHF, probably due to a combination of expectation, suggestion and other psychological mechanisms. The NCAHF pointed out that acupuncture was banned in China in 1929 but underwent a resurgence in the 1960s. The organization also advocated that insurance companies should not be required to cover acupuncture treatment and that licensure of lay acupuncturists should be phased out. [4] [5] [6]

Amalgam fillings

There has been some controversy regarding the use of amalgam fillings by dentists, [7] because the amalgam contains mercury. Some forms of mercury are toxic to humans, but the NCAHF cites the CDC in stating that there is no evidence that "the health of the vast majority of people with amalgam is compromised" or that "removing amalgam fillings has a beneficial effect on health". [8] The NCAHF criticizes those who they believe exploit unfounded public fears for financial gain. [9] NCAHF asserts that breath, urine and blood testing for mercury are inaccurate. Other tests for mercury exposure described by the NCAHF as invalid can include skin testing, stool testing, hair analysis and electrodermal testing. [10]

Chiropractic

The NCAHF contended that chiropractic can be dangerous and lead to injury or permanent disability. [11] However, the NCAHF did not categorically oppose the practice. It differentiated between chiropractors who promote what it considered good and bad chiropractic practices. The former promote methods of diagnosis and treatment which have a scientific basis. For example, NCAHF claims there is no scientific support for vertebral subluxation. [11] Their view is that chiropractors should restrict their scope of practice to neuromusculoskeletal problems such as muscle spasms, strains, sprains, fatigue, imbalance of strength and flexibility, stretched or irritated nerve tissue, and so forth. Chiropractors should refer cases involving pathology to qualified medical practitioners. [11]

In contrast, what the NCAHF considered bad are those chiropractors who believe the spinal adjustment will cure or alleviate a variety of diseases, such as infection, arthritis, cancer, diabetes, nutritional deficiencies or excesses, appendicitis, blood disorders, or kidney disease. These practitioners may use unproven, disproven, or questionable methods, devices, and products such as adjusting machines, applied kinesiology, chelation therapy, colonic irrigation, computerized nutrition deficiency tests, cranial osteopathy, cytotoxic food allergy testing, DMSO, Gerovital, glandular therapy, hair analysis, herbal crystallization analyses, homeopathy, internal managements, iridology, laser beam acupuncture, laetrile, magnetic therapy, and so forth. [11]

Diet advice

The NCAHF was opposed to dietary recommendations and practices not supported by scientific evidence, including behavior-related claims. [12] Unverified assessment methods such as iridology, applied kinesiology, and routine hair analysis for assessment of nutritional status are criticized. NCAHF and some of its members have long opposed implementation of beliefs that they characterize as unfounded or unscientific. [13]

NCAHF also questioned the health claims, marketing, safety, efficacy and labeling of many herbal supplements. Herbal preparations are regulated as foods, rather than as drugs, in the United States. [14] The NCAHF advocates regulations for a special OTC category called "Traditional Herbal Remedies" (THRs) with an adverse reaction surveillance program, product batches marked for identification and tracking, package label warnings about proposed dangers of self-treatment, oversight requirements from outside of the herbal industry, and strong penalties for unapproved changes in herbal product formulations. [15]

Diploma mills

The NCAHF asserted that many unqualified practitioners are able to mislead the public by using diploma mills or "degree mills" to get "specious degrees". Diploma mills are not accredited, and frequently engage in "pseudoscience and food faddism". NCAHF also noted that "some of the 'faculty' or 'academic' advisors at several of these schools have criminal convictions in the area of health fraud". NCAHF considers diploma mills harmful to the students and to the public. [16]

Usefulness as a source

The National Council Against Health Fraud was mentioned as a useful source for information by the United States Department of Agriculture, [17] the 2003 edition of "Cancer Medicine", published by the American Cancer Society, [18] and many other organizations and libraries. [19]

The journal Dynamic Chiropractic , while highly critical of NCAHFs views on chiropractic, has written: "The National Council Against Health Fraud is considered a valuable information source for many agencies nationwide. They are well networked and, as demonstrated by their past history, are able to influence the efforts of various agencies and insurance carriers. The NCAHF's ability to publish its opinions and hold these types of conferences does make them a substantial "player" in the area of health fraud." [20]

In 1998, the AMA's Council on Scientific Affairs used NCAHF board member John Renner as a contributing source for some of the content in their "Report 12." [21]

Criticism from alternative medicine supporters

The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) criticised a 2002 PBS broadcast which included an episode about chiropractic [22] [23] in which the NCAHF was involved. ACA president Daryl D. Wills responded to PBS officials stating (in part): "I find it ironic that a program titled 'Scientific American Frontiers' would completely ignore the scientific foundation of the chiropractic profession. The chiropractic portion of the June 4 episode titled 'A Different Way to Heal?' irresponsibly characterized chiropractic care -- a legitimate, research-based form of health care -- as a fraudulent hoax." and that "[t]he producers of your program could not have expected objectivity" from the NCAHF. [24] [25] The producer [26] of the program replied in detail and explicitly denied these allegations: "The segment did not claim that chiropractic is fraudulent and did not attempt to prove or disprove that chiropractic 'works,' but it does state that chiropractic has no basis in science. This conclusion is entirely justified by both current research and generally accepted views of human anatomy." [27]

See also

Related Research Articles

Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability or evidence of effectiveness. Unlike modern medicine, which employs the scientific method to test plausible therapies by way of responsible and ethical clinical trials, producing repeatable evidence of either effect or of no effect, alternative therapies reside outside of medical science and do not originate from using the scientific method, but instead rely on testimonials, anecdotes, religion, tradition, superstition, belief in supernatural "energies", pseudoscience, errors in reasoning, propaganda, fraud, or other unscientific sources. Frequently used terms for relevant practices are New Age medicine, pseudo-medicine, unorthodox medicine, holistic medicine, fringe medicine, and unconventional medicine, with little distinction from quackery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chiropractic</span> Form of pseudoscientific alternative medicine

Chiropractic is a form of alternative medicine concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially of the spine. It has esoteric origins and is based on several pseudoscientific ideas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naturopathy</span> Form of alternative medicine

Naturopathy, or naturopathic medicine, is a form of alternative medicine. A wide array of pseudoscientific practices branded as "natural", "non-invasive", or promoting "self-healing" are employed by its practitioners, who are known as naturopaths. Difficult to generalize, these treatments range from outright quackery, like homeopathy, to widely accepted practices like certain forms of psychotherapy. The ideology and methods of naturopathy are based on vitalism and folk medicine rather than evidence-based medicine, although practitioners may use techniques supported by evidence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quackery</span> Promotion of fraudulent or ignorant medical practices

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, from Dutch: kwakzalver a "hawker of salve". In the Middle Ages the term quack meant "shouting". The quacksalvers sold their wares at markets by shouting to gain attention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of alternative medicine</span>

The history of alternative medicine refers to the history of a group of diverse medical practices that were collectively promoted as "alternative medicine" beginning in the 1970s, to the collection of individual histories of members of that group, or to the history of western medical practices that were labeled "irregular practices" by the western medical establishment. It includes the histories of complementary medicine and of integrative medicine. "Alternative medicine" is a loosely defined and very diverse set of products, practices, and theories that are perceived by its users to have the healing effects of medicine, but do not originate from evidence gathered using the scientific method, are not part of biomedicine, or are contradicted by scientific evidence or established science. "Biomedicine" is that part of medical science that applies principles of anatomy, physics, chemistry, biology, physiology, and other natural sciences to clinical practice, using scientific methods to establish the effectiveness of that practice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Barrett</span> American psychiatrist (born 1933)

Stephen Joel Barrett is an American retired psychiatrist, author, co-founder of the National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF), and the webmaster of Quackwatch. He runs a number of websites dealing with quackery and health fraud. He focuses on consumer protection, medical ethics, and scientific skepticism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quackwatch</span> American alternative medicine watchdog website

Quackwatch is a United States-based website, self-described as a "network of people" founded by Stephen Barrett, which aims to "combat health-related frauds, myths, fads, fallacies, and misconduct" and to focus on "quackery-related information that is difficult or impossible to get elsewhere". Since 1996 it has operated the alternative medicine watchdog website quackwatch.org, which advises the public on unproven or ineffective alternative medical remedies. The site contains articles and other information criticizing many forms of alternative medicine.

The American Chiropractic Association (ACA), based in Arlington, Virginia, is an organization that promotes the pseudoscientific concept of chiropractic and its practitioners.

The National Association for Chiropractic Medicine(NACM) was a minority chiropractic association founded in 1984 that described itself as a "consumer advocacy association of chiropractors". It openly rejected some of the more controversial aspects of chiropractic, including a basic concept of chiropractic, vertebral subluxations as the cause of all diseases. It also sought to "reform the chiropractic profession away from a philosophical scope of practice and towards an applied science scope of practice." It stated that it was "dedicated to bringing the scientific based practice of chiropractic into mainstream medicine" and that its members "confine their scope of practice to scientific parameters and seek to make legitimate the utilization of professional manipulative procedures in mainstream health care delivery." "While the NACM is focused on furthering the profession, its primary focus is on the rights and safety of the consumers." The NACM was the object of much controversy and criticism from the rest of the profession. It quietly dropped out of sight and its demise apparently occurred sometime between May 30, 2008 and March 6, 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Applied kinesiology</span> Alternative medicine technique

Applied kinesiology (AK) is a pseudoscience-based technique in alternative medicine claimed to be able to diagnose illness or choose treatment by testing muscles for strength and weakness.

Throughout its history, chiropractic has been the subject of internal and external controversy and criticism. According to magnetic healer Daniel D. Palmer, the founder of chiropractic, "vertebral subluxation" was the sole cause of all diseases and manipulation was the cure for all disease. A 2003 profession-wide survey found "most chiropractors still hold views of Innate Intelligence and of the cause and cure of disease consistent with those of the Palmers". A critical evaluation stated "Chiropractic is rooted in mystical concepts. This led to an internal conflict within the chiropractic profession, which continues today." Chiropractors, including D.D. Palmer, were jailed for practicing medicine without a license. D.D. Palmer considered establishing chiropractic as a religion to resolve this problem. For most of its existence, chiropractic has battled with mainstream medicine, sustained by antiscientific and pseudoscientific ideas such as vertebral subluxation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hal Huggins</span> American dental campaigner

Hal Alan Huggins was an American alternative dentistry advocate and campaigner against the use of dental amalgam fillings and other dental therapies that he believed to be unsafe. Huggins began to promote his ideas in the 1970s and played a major role in generating controversy over the use of amalgam. Huggins's license to practice dentistry was revoked in 1996 after a panel found him guilty of gross negligence. Since then, he continued to publish on the topic of mercury and human health and believed that dental amalgam and other dental practices were responsible for a range of serious diseases. Many of Huggins' health claims have been criticized as pseudoscientific and quackery.

Because of the uncertain nature of various alternative therapies and the wide variety of claims different practitioners make, alternative medicine has been a source of vigorous debate, even over the definition of "alternative medicine". Dietary supplements, their ingredients, safety, and claims, are a continual source of controversy. In some cases, political issues, mainstream medicine and alternative medicine all collide, such as in cases where synthetic drugs are legal but the herbal sources of the same active chemical are banned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friends of Science in Medicine</span> Australian association which supports science-based medicine

The Friends of Science In Medicine (FSM) is an Australian association which supports evidence-based medicine and strongly opposes the promotion and practice of unsubstantiated therapies that lack a scientifically plausible rationale. They accomplish this by publicly raising their concerns either through direct correspondence or through media outlets. FSM was established in December 2011 by Loretta Marron, John Dwyer, Alastair MacLennan, Rob Morrison and Marcello Costa, a group of Australian biomedical scientists and clinical academics.

Robert Sears Baratz is an American dentist and skeptic who practices in Braintree, Massachusetts. Baratz has practiced dentistry since 1972 and emergency medicine since 1991. He was formerly the executive director of the National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF).

Various organizations of practicing chiropractors have outlined formal codes of professional ethics. Actual practice has revealed a wide range of behaviors which may or may not conform to these standards.

William Tyler Jarvis was an American health educator and skeptic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William M. London</span> American professor of public health and consumer advocate

William M. London is an American professor of public health and a consumer advocate. He is the editor of the Quackwatch network's weekly electronic newsletter Consumer Health Digest and has written for both professional and general audiences. Health fraud figures prominently among his writing and research interests.

References

  1. ↑ "National Council Against Health Fraud Archive". www.ncahf.org. Archived from the original on 2019-06-26. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  2. 1 2 "NCAHF's History". 14 March 2016. Archived from the original on 2010-06-09. Retrieved 2018-01-07.
  3. 1 2 "NCAHF Mission Statement". www.ncahf.org. Archived from the original on 2018-09-17. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  4. ↑ Humber, James M.; Robert F. Almeder (1998). Alternative Medicine and Ethics. Springer Humana Press. p. 10. ISBN   978-0896034402.
  5. ↑ "NCAHF Position Paper on Acupuncture". www.ncahf.org. Archived from the original on 2019-07-02. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  6. ↑ Cordón, Luis (2005). Popular psychology: an encyclopedia . Greenwood Press. p.  3. ISBN   978-0313324574. national council against health fraud.
  7. ↑ Hyson JM (March 2006). "Amalgam: Its history and perils". J Calif Dent Assoc . 34 (3): 215–29. doi:10.1080/19424396.2006.12222190. PMID   16895078. S2CID   25744403.
  8. ↑ CDC Factsheet on amalgam Archived May 7, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ "Administrative Law Judge's Conclusions about Hal A. Huggins, D.D.S." www.quackwatch.org. 23 November 2012. Archived from the original on 2018-10-28. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  10. ↑ "Consumer Health Digest, May 21, 2017". www.ncahf.org. Archived from the original on June 26, 2018. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  11. 1 2 3 4 "NCAHF - Position Paper on Chiropractic". www.ncahf.org. Archived from the original on 2020-01-12. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  12. ↑ "NCAHF - Position Paper on Diet and Criminal Behavior". www.ncahf.org. Archived from the original on 2016-10-26. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  13. ↑ "NCAHF Statement on Commercial Weight Loss Promotions". www.ncahf.org. Archived from the original on 2016-10-26. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  14. ↑ Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 Archived 2009-05-31 at the Wayback Machine , Accessed from the Food and Drug Administration website, 5 January 2007.
  15. ↑ NCAHF Position Paper on Over-the Counter Herbal Remedies, 1995 Archived 2011-07-07 at the Library of Congress Web Archives, accessed online 31 Dec 2006.
  16. ↑ "NCAHF - Position Paper on Diploma Mills". www.ncahf.org. Archived from the original on 2017-03-14. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  17. ↑ Fraud and Nutrition Misinformation: Dietary Guidance. Nutrition Information on the Internet. United States Department of Agriculture Archived March 16, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  18. ↑ "Reputable Sources of Information about Alternative and Complementary Therapies - American Cancer Society". Archived from the original on 2009-03-06. Retrieved 2017-09-05.
  19. ↑ Here is a short list of examples:
  20. ↑ "National Council Against Health Fraud". Dynamic Chiropractic . 8 (21). October 10, 1990. Archived from the original on May 18, 2006. Retrieved January 28, 2006.
  21. ↑ "Report 12 of the Council on Scientific Affairs (A-97)]". American Medical Association. June 1997. Archived from the original on 2009-06-14.
  22. ↑ "Adjusting the Joints, on season 12, episode 10". Scientific American Frontiers . Chedd-Angier Production Company. 2001–2002. PBS. Archived from the original on 2006-01-01. - PBS.
  23. ↑ "A DAY WITH WALLY SAMPSON" (PDF). www.chedd-angier.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-12-08. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  24. ↑ "PBS Broadcast Angers Chiropractors". www.chirobase.org. 17 June 2001. Archived from the original on 2018-09-13. Retrieved 2019-06-27.
  25. ↑ My Reply to the American Chiropractic Association Archived 2018-09-13 at the Wayback Machine . - Robert S. Baratz, M.D., D.D.S, Ph.D., president, NCAHF
  26. ↑ Chedd-Angier, PBS Producer Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine .
  27. ↑ PBS Producer's response, June 11, 2002. Archived November 2, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
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