From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lcrocker@mercury.colossus.net)
Date: Mon Jul 26 1999 - 13:05:49 MDT
> > "Detoxification" is one of the buzzwords that marks a charlatan, so
> > any "information" on it is fraudulent and probably dangerous. More
> > good info can be found at <http://www.quackwatch.com>.
>
> There are quite a few buzzwords like that. I've been using some as
> exclusion terms in my customized search links on GerOL...
>
> miracle, immortality, western medicine, medical establishment,
> cure for cancer, homeopathic, spiritual...
> fountain of youth, [w?]holistic, herbal, alternative medicine,
> ancient, natural, healing, ginseng...
Of course ignoring for the moment that automated searches will
exclude sites that contain these terms in order to ridicule them,
and that "immortality" would block much of ExI, Alcor, and other
such sites, that's good start on a list. You can also add anything
that claims to "boost/support the immune system", "melt fat",
"increase energy" or any site that supports iridology, applied
kinesiology, ayurvedic medicine, therapeutic touch, "straight"
chiropractic, and many other long-established frauds.
> I exclude the .com domain from my searches altogether to skip the hundreds
> of pill-pusher sites out there, but this is probably too drastic a measure
> since it may exclude real research organizations. Maybe to compile a list
> of fraudulent sites, in the same way as lists of spam-sites are compiled?
Best source of info I've found is quackwatch.com (which you would
ironically exclude). There are plenty of quacky .orgs as well.
Be cautious of libertarian-oriented "health freedom" sites; they are,
as a rule, far too tolerant of quackery.
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lcrocker.html> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC
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