Controversy:

 

I've seen this site - sometime ago - and am familiar with a number of attempts by pharmaceutical companies to squeeze out herbal approaches and alternatives to prescription meds, but these links provide some interesting reading. 

 

I found the material in the January 28/05 RMHI Herbalist Review.

 

Quackbusters, an organization funded by several major drug companies to discredit alternative practitioners of all types, has suffered serious setbacks as a result of several major court decisions.

 

According to Tim Bolen:
    "North Americans have known, or suspected, for some time, that there has been an organized assault by a group, against companies, and practitioners, offering alternatives to the drugs/surgery paradigm. That group calls itself the "quackbusters", and they are a scam."

 

Bolen reports that recent U.S. court rulings have severely crippled Quackbusters. A recent published Appeals Court decision called its founder, Steven Barrett, biased and of minimal credibility. Moreover, the National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF), a similar organization to Quackwatch, was defeated in similar court actions in California and Wisconsin.

 

Recently, Barrett, quackwatch.com, the NCAHF, Robert Baratz, and others have been named in a federal Racketeering (RICO) lawsuit in Colorado (CAVITAT v. Aetna Insurance). Aetna has filed four separate motions for dismissal in this case, and each motion has been rejected by the court; the case will proceed.

 

If you, or anyone you know, has ever been victimized by Quackbusters or any of the parties named in the preceding lawsuit, you may be able to help put these organizations out of business and send a strong message to the pharmaceutical companies that this type of behavior WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.

 

Please see for more information, including specific advice for former victims of Quackwatch:

    http://www.quackpotwatch.org/opinionpieces/quacksurv2005.htm
    Will the "Quackbusters" Survive 2005?...
    by Tim Bolen

For more background on Quackbusters:

    http://www.njnhc.org/articles/swanson-2.htm
    Deconstructing the Quackbusters and their myths about alternative health     4-part series by Kent Swanson

    http://www.quackpotwatch.org/opinionpieces/RacketeeringColorado.htm
    Quackbusters Accused of "Racketeering" (RICO) in Colorado...
    Opinion by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen
    Thursday, August 12th, 2004

    http://www.ghchealth.com/forum/post-121.html
    Medscape - Your Credibility is on the Line...
    An Open Letter to MedScape
    Opinion by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen; Saturday, November 13th, 2004

    http://www.happyherbalist.com/quackbusters_busted.htm
    California Superior Court Judge Rules on Quackbuster "Credibility"
    (This is a copy of the original Court document signed by Judge Fromholz.)