More fake and dangerous medical advice from the the Trump Administration. We cleaned up a less than professional report from Center for Inquiry that is otherwise accurate.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1331309315882446849.html
Here's a story about fake medicine, why people might use it, and why it’s so dangerous, especially during a global pandemic.
Ben Carson used to be famous for being a neurosurgeon! Now he’s the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. He’s also on the White House Coronavirus Task Force, which means he’s part of the President’s team that’s responsible for protecting Americans from COVID-19.
A lot of people are sick! A lot of people have died! And it just keeps getting worse.
Carson got infected by the coronavirus! He got the best medical treatment available, and now he’s back on his feet. A lot of people do get better after getting sick with COVID-19, and that’s good! Not everybody does. Some people die. More than 250,000 people in the U.S. have died. A lot of people who get better still have lots of health problems afterward that we’re still trying to understand
Carson says he knows HOW he got better! He says he got better because he Oleander-4X.
Ben Carson says he's 'out of the woods' after battling COVID-19 Carson, the U.S. Housing Secretary, also disclosed that his wife, Candy, also had COVID-19. https://www.post-gazette.com/news/2020/11/21/Ben-Carson-says-he-s-out-of-the-woods-after-battling-COVID-19/stories/202011210068
On the website that sells Oleander-4X, it says it provides “temporary relief of flu symptoms such as muscle or body aches, headache, chills and fever, cough, and congestion.” See that asterisk?
Oleander-4X is homeopathic. Homeopathy is an 18th-century pseudoscience based on the idea that a dangerous substance that causes you to feel sick can make you feel better if it’s diluted to the point that no trace of it exists and the water molecules “remember” it was there. It’s 100% complete nonsense. It does literally nothing.
An Intro to Homeopathy | Skeptical Inquirer Homeopathy is an alternative system of medicine that was invented by a German doctor at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Scientific knowledge about chemistry, physics, and biology tells us it … https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/an-intro-to-homeopathy/
It’s $90 per bottle of expensive nothing.
If Oleander-4X is useless, why does Carson think it helped him get better? People get better after being sick, whether it’s the flu, COVID-19, or lots of other diseases. Rest and science-based medicine are usually what do the trick, but folks who take alternative medicines like homeopathy sometimes think it was the non-medicine that fixed them.
Why Bogus Therapies Often Seem to Work | Quackwatch Subtle forces can lead intelligent people (both patients and therapists) to think that a treatment has helped someone when it has not. This is true for new treatments in scientific medicine, as well a… https://quackwatch.org/related/altbelief/
Big drug retailers often sell homeopathic products right alongside real medicine, making regular folks think that it’s just as effective, even though it’s not effective at all!
WALMART SUED FOR FRAUD: Nation’s Largest Retailer Deceives and Endangers Consumers with Homeopathic Fake Medicine | Center for Inquiry Walmart is committing wide-scale consumer fraud and endangering the health of its customers though its sale and marketing of homeopathic medicines, the Center for Inquiry alleges in a lawsuit. “Walmar… https://centerforinquiry.org/press_releases/walmart-sued-for-fraud-homeopathy/
Also, look at the website again. They tell customers that the product is good because it’s “natural.” Well, yes. Water with nothing in it is indeed natural. So are asteroids! And dung beetles! And the coronavirus! (No offense, dung beetles.)
But folks also listen to famous people they trust. Carson is world-famous for being a brain surgeon! He ran for president! He’s a cabinet secretary! He’s on the Coronavirus Task Force! The point is that lots of people, maybe millions of people, trust Carson very much. They trust him as a leader and as a doctor. So when Carson says that a medicine helped him beat the coronavirus, a lot of people will believe it.
And that happens all the time. Famous people get regular folks to think that a fake medicine like homeopathy will make them better or keep them from getting sick. So those folks rely on those fake medicines, sometimes instead of getting real, science-based medical care.
Folks who get suckered into buying homeopathic products are throwing their money away on a product that does not and cannot work.
But worse than that, if they rely on “alternative” fake medicines instead of science and evidence-based medical care, they are risking their health (or the health of their kids) and the health of everyone around them.
A person who trusts arson might think COVID’s not such a big deal. Just take Oleander-4X and they’ll get through it! There’s a whole lot of bad choices that could follow from that, like not social distancing, or not wearing masks.
Dr. Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon, surely ought to know better. He should admit that Oleander-4X—like all homeopathy—is fake medicine, and that people shouldn’t waste their money on it.
But since he probably won’t, the Center for Inquiry would like respected health leaders to speak out. People like Dr. Antony Fauci, @Surgeon_General, and @CDCDirector. They should come out and make sure the American people know homeopathy is total bunk
Health Officials Must Disavow Carson’s Reckless Endorsement of Homeopathic COVID Treatment | Center for Inquiry Dr. Ben Carson’s public endorsement of a homeopathic treatment for COVID-19 is a threat to public health that must be categorically disavowed by federal health officials, said the Center for Inquiry, … https://centerforinquiry.org/press_releases/health-officials-must-disavow-carsons-reckless-endorsement-of-homeopathic-covid-treatment/
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