I have seen this book being peddled on cable TV, several times. My question: they display the standard disclaimer (“Statements not evaluated by the FDA. Not intended to diagnose or treat any disease>”-but how do they get away with this? has anyone read the book? waht does it tell you-stuff like drinking honey and cider vinegar will cure cancer?
I notice that the book is NOT sold directly-you get it for 'free" 9I’m sure it comes with your name on 10 jillion mailing lists!)
Probably some of the hokum they peddle in Prevention. Or else it’s “coral calcium”.
Perhaps the disclaimer you mention is enough. Their target audience is people who disbelieve the disclaimer and swallow the other claims wholesale. Think of it as the PDR as written by the staff of the National Enquirer.
Regards,
Shodan
What exactly are they “getting away” with? Being pseudo-science spewing morons is not a crime, and they explicitly state that the bullshit in the book has not withstood any scientific scrutiny. Doesn’t matter though, idiots is idiots and buy the book anyway.
Wikipedia has a decent overview of the book’s hokum, as well as a complete criminal history of Kevin Trudeau.
The first amendment protects idiocy. As long as Trudeau just writes about his ideas, he’s protected. What the FCC can and has done is prohibit him from selling his “cures.” So he doesn’t really get away with it.
Sing to the tune of a well-known Monty Python song: “Scam scam scam scam, scam scam scam scam, scammity-scam, not-so-wonderful scam!”
I don’t believe that Trudeau actually believes what he writes. He’s been fined and forced to stop peddling his junk on infomercials, but the first amendment (which I do support) says that he’s free to publish his “ideas” in book form. This is not a case of someone with a wonderful idea who is being prevented from communicating about it (“Help! I’m being repressed!”). It’s a scam artist looking for new ways to part fools from their money.
Incidentally, I own a bookstore. When Trudeau’s book was on the best-seller list, I did not put it on the shelves. I informed all interested parties that I was happy to special order the book for them and I could get it in a few days, but I wasn’t going to participate in promoting it by having it on display.
The first amendment says he can write this drivel. It does not say I have to sell it, although I will always order any book that a customer asks for (as long as I have a source for it).
I actually felt bad any time I sold a copy of this POS to some nice but credulous little old lady. More often though, it was to an unpleasant tinfoil fellow who would look at me accusingly and predict that we wouldn’t have it in stock because “you can’t get it in stores.”
I looked up my own malady and found that it can be cured by simply drinking a few glasses of water. Who knew. :rolleyes:
Hah!
This bloke found a way to run cars on water and they stopped him from publishing it.
They are the reason that house prices keep going up.
Also they put stuff in the water that makes you obey them.
:eek: I’ve said too much!
Not much of a hijack, at least not intentionally, but I saw Trudeau’s other book, about the diet they don’t want you to know about. I skimmed a few pages about “the cure”. One thing you’re supposed to do to lose 30 pounds in 30 days is take 15 colonics!
More OT with the natural cures bit, Quackwatch has a very good (but long) article detailing Trudeau and this particular infomercial.