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62-582: The Ionaco (often stylized as I-on-a-co or I-ON-A-CO ) was an electric belt developed by Gaylord Wilshire after his career in politics. It was advertised during the 1920s as a curing device but was dismissed by contemporary medical experts as quackery . Some historians have offered different theories on Wilshire's decision to work on the Ionaco. Carolyn Thomas de la Peña wrote that it could have been to make up for Wilshire's political failures. Donald G. Davis noted that Wilshire had severe headaches which doctors in

124-656: A charlatan or snake oil salesman". The term quack is a clipped form of the archaic term quacksalver , derived from Dutch : kwakzalver a "hawker of salve" or rather somebody who boasted about their salves, more commonly known as ointments. In the Middle Ages the term quack meant "shouting". The quacksalvers sold their wares at markets by shouting to gain attention. Common elements of general quackery include questionable diagnoses using questionable diagnostic tests , as well as untested or refuted treatments, especially for serious diseases such as cancer . Quackery

186-477: A "multi-state racket where unqualified doctors conducted hundreds of illegal kidney transplants for huge profits." The president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) in 2008 criticized the central government for failing to address the problem of quackery and for not framing any laws against it. In 2017, IMA again asked for an antiquackery law with stringent action against those practicing without

248-474: A disease of the kidney in a New York hospital, no doubt without the benefit of his own invention. He was a remarkable charlatan. Gaylord Wilshire Henry Gaylord Wilshire was born June 7, 1861, in Cincinnati, Ohio . He moved to Los Angeles, California in 1884. In 1895 he began developing 35 acres (140,000 m ) stretching westward from Westlake Park for an elite residential subdivision. He donated

310-405: A flashlight globe that would light up when placed close to the thick coil. The exterior of the belt was covered by a thick layer of leather. It was roughly 15 to 18 inches (38 to 46 cm) in diameter, and wide enough to fit over the shoulder of a grown adult. It weighed about 6.5 pounds (2.9 kg). Advertisements for the electric belt relied on testimonials published in newspapers and aired on

372-435: A fraud, it is not strictly necessary for one to know they are misrepresenting the benefits or risks of the services offered. Unproven, usually ineffective, and sometimes dangerous medicines and treatments have been peddled throughout human history. Theatrical performances were sometimes given to enhance the credibility of purported medicines. Grandiose claims were made for what could be humble materials indeed: for example, in

434-564: A known placebo effect . With little understanding of the causes and mechanisms of illnesses, widely marketed "cures" (as opposed to locally produced and locally used remedies), often referred to as patent medicines , first came to prominence during the 17th and 18th centuries in Britain and the British colonies, including those in North America. Daffy's Elixir and Turlington's Balsam were among

496-919: A license. As of 2024, the government of India is yet to pass an anti-quackery law. In 2014, the Government of India formed a Ministry of AYUSH that includes the seven traditional systems of healthcare. The Ministry of Ayush (expanded from Ayurveda , Yoga , Naturopathy , Unani , Siddha , Sowa-Rigpa and Homoeopathy ), is purposed with developing education, research and propagation of indigenous alternative medicine systems in India . The ministry has faced significant criticism for funding systems that lack biological plausibility and are either untested or conclusively proven as ineffective. Quality of research has been poor, and drugs have been launched without any rigorous pharmacological studies and meaningful clinical trials on Ayurveda or other alternative healthcare systems. There

558-503: A little red wine. Radam's publicity material, particularly his books, provide an insight into the role that pseudoscience played in the development and marketing of "quack" medicines towards the end of the 19th century. Advertising claims similar to those of Radam can be found throughout the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. "Dr." Sibley, an English patent medicine seller of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, even went so far as to claim that his Reanimating Solar Tincture would, as

620-528: A part in the professionalisation of medicine. Its efforts in the public debate helped to make the Netherlands one of the first countries with governmental drug regulation. In 1909, in an attempt to stop the sale of quack medicines, the British Medical Association published Secret Remedies, What They Cost And What They Contain . This publication was originally a series of articles published in

682-469: A strip of land to the city of Los Angeles for a boulevard through what was then a barley field, on the conditions that it would be named for him and that railroad lines and commercial or industrial trucking would be banned. In 1900, Wilshire was arrested for speaking in a public park in Los Angeles. A judge dismissed the charges, but the incident caused Wilshire to leave Los Angeles for New York. Wilshire

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744-487: Is $ 5.00! Another genius in Philadelphia, of the bogus diploma breed, who claims to have founded a new system of practice and who calls himself a "Professor," advertises two elixers of his own make, one of which is for "all male diseases" and the other for "all female diseases"! In the list of preparations which this wretch advertises for sale as the result of his own labors and discoveries, is ozone ! One among many examples

806-611: Is William Radam, a German immigrant to the US, who, in the 1880s, started to sell his "Microbe Killer" throughout the United States and, soon afterwards, in Britain and throughout the British colonies. His concoction was widely advertised as being able to "cure all diseases", and this phrase was even embossed on the glass bottles the medicine was sold in. In fact, Radam's medicine was a therapeutically useless (and in large quantities actively poisonous) dilute solution of sulfuric acid , coloured with

868-461: Is difficult to distinguish between those who knowingly promote unproven medical therapies and those who are mistaken as to their effectiveness, United States courts have ruled in defamation cases that accusing someone of quackery or calling a practitioner a quack is not equivalent to accusing that person of committing medical fraud. However, the FDA makes little distinction between the two. To be considered

930-606: Is in the advertising quacks. The coolness and deliberation with which they announce the most glaring falsehoods are really appalling. A recent arrival in San Francisco, whose name might indicate that he had his origin in the Pontine marshes of Europe, announces himself as the "Late examining physician of the Massachusetts Infirmary, Boston." This fellow has the impudence to publish that his charge to physicians in their own cases

992-453: Is no conclusive therapeutic effect except in back pain. Naturopathy is considered to be a form of pseudo-scientific quackery, ineffective and possibly harmful, with a plethora of ethical concerns about the very practice. Unani lacks biological plausibility and is considered to be pseudo-scientific quackery, as well. While quackery is often aimed at the aged or chronically ill, it can be aimed at all age groups, including teens, and

1054-421: Is no credible efficacy or scientific basis of any of these forms of treatment. A strong consensus prevails among the scientific community that homeopathy is a pseudo-scientific, unethical and implausible line of treatment. Ayurveda is deemed to be pseudoscientific. Much of the research on postural yoga has taken the form of preliminary studies or clinical trials of low methodological quality; there

1116-456: Is often described as "health fraud" with the salient characteristic of aggressive promotion. Psychiatrist and author Stephen Barrett of Quackwatch defines quackery as "the promotion of unsubstantiated methods that lack a scientifically plausible rationale" and more broadly as: "anything involving overpromotion in the field of health." This definition would include questionable ideas as well as questionable products and services, regardless of

1178-485: The American Civil War . British medicines never regained their previous dominance in North America, and the subsequent era of mass marketing of American patent medicines is usually considered to have been a "golden age" of quackery in the United States. This was mirrored by similar growth in marketing of quack medicines elsewhere in the world. In the United States, false medicines in this era were often denoted by

1240-486: The British Medical Journal between 1904 and 1909. The publication was composed of 20 chapters, organising the work by sections according to the ailments the medicines claimed to treat. Each remedy was tested thoroughly, the preface stated: "Of the accuracy of the analytical data there can be no question; the investigation has been carried out with great care by a skilled analytical chemist." The book did lead to

1302-518: The Canadian Parliament in 1902, and for Congress from New York in 1904. In 1909 Wilshire was a candidate for city council in Los Angeles as a part of the Socialist Party slate, which was backed at that time by the Los Angeles unions. By about 1911 Wilshire expressed doubts about electoral politics, and shifted to revolutionary syndicalism, advocacy of the general strike, and writing. He was

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1364-561: The American Medical Association Health Fraud and Alternative Medicine Collection. "Medical quackery and promotion of nostrums and worthless drugs were among the most prominent abuses that led to formal self-regulation in business and, in turn, to the creation of the Better Business Bureau ." "Quackery is the promotion of false and unproven health schemes for a profit. It is rooted in the traditions of

1426-579: The FDA has mentioned some areas where potential quackery may be a problem: breast developers, weight loss, steroids and growth hormones, tanning and tanning pills, hair removal and growth, and look-alike drugs. In 1992, the president of The National Council Against Health Fraud , William T. Jarvis, wrote in Clinical Chemistry that: The U.S. Congress determined quackery to be the most harmful consumer fraud against elderly people. Americans waste $ 27 billion annually on questionable health care, exceeding

1488-618: The Iona Company with general offices in Los Angeles . Agencies for this company spread throughout the Pacific Coast and metropolitan areas of the United States. Sales for the Ionaco reached a peak in the fall of 1926, and the company attempted to establish agents in Europe. By 1927 the company had 23 regional offices and around 70 demonstrators. Several health organizations started to investigate

1550-774: The Ionaco during this time, including the Public Health League of Washington , the Better Business Bureau of Seattle , and the Rockefeller Institute of Medical Research . On 18 November 1926 Wilshire challenged the California medical profession to investigate his device in a full-page advertisement in the Los Angeles Times . Arthur J. Cramp of the American Medical Association (AMA) responded to Wilshire's letter with an article that critically analyzed

1612-659: The Supreme Court interpreted it to mean only that ingredients on labels had to be accurate. Language in the 1912 Sherley Amendment, meant to close this loophole, was limited to regulating claims that were false and fraudulent, creating the need to show intent. Throughout the early 20th century, the American Medical Association collected material on medical quackery, and one of their members and medical editors in particular, Arthur J. Cramp, devoted his career to criticizing such products. The AMA's Department of Investigation closed in 1975, but their only archive open to non-members remains,

1674-443: The United States and Europe failed to cure. Davis argued that Wilshire was motivated to enter the medical field to find a cure to his own condition. At the age of 64, Wilshire turned from his work in real estate to focus on the area of public health. He explored radium-infused garments, electric heating pads, and distributed a special kind of health bread called "Ex-cell-o" before working on his electric belt. This title likely inspired

1736-612: The University of Maryland Center for Integrative Medicine, for writing that "There [is] evidence that both real acupuncture and sham acupuncture [are] more effective than no treatment and that acupuncture can be a useful supplement to other forms of conventional therapy for low back pain." He also castigated editors and peer reviewers at the New England Journal of Medicine for allowing it to be published, since it effectively recommended deliberately misleading patients in order to achieve

1798-434: The amount spent on biomedical research. Quackery is characterized by the promotion of false and unproven health schemes for profit and does not necessarily involve imposture, fraud, or greed. The real issues in the war against quackery are the principles, including scientific rationale, encoded into consumer protection laws, primarily the U.S. Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. More such laws are badly needed. Regulators are failing

1860-571: The appeals that quackery held out to consumers. British patent medicines lost their dominance in the United States when they were denied access to the Thirteen Colonies markets during the American Revolution , and lost further ground for the same reason during the War of 1812 . From the early 19th century "home-grown" American brands started to fill the gap, reaching their peak in the years after

1922-533: The buyer to return. The few effective remedies sold by quacks included emetics, laxatives and diuretics. Some ingredients did have medicinal effects: mercury , silver and arsenic compounds may have helped some infections and infestations; willow bark contains salicylic acid , chemically closely related to aspirin ; and the quinine contained in Jesuit's bark was an effective treatment for malaria and other fevers. However, knowledge of appropriate uses and dosages

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1984-425: The claims regarding the Ionaco. This eventually led to a decline in device sales in the summer of 1927. The Iona Company dissolved following Wilshire's death in 1927, though sellers continued to promote the Ionaco throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Wilshire's concept for his electric belt and his theory of electromagnetic health was influenced by Otto Heinrich Warburg 's study of iron in the blood. According to Wilshire,

2046-422: The device's magnetic field was supposed to increase the body's absorption of oxygen to free the body from toxic diseases. The belt was marketed as both a health-improving device and a cure for most diseases; including cancer , diabetes , tuberculosis , arthritis , neuritis , and insomnia . The interior had a thick coil of insulated wire that generated a weak magnetic field. It also had a smaller wire coil with

2108-462: The diseases for which they were sold as a remedy, did make the imbibers feel better and confusedly appreciative of the product. The number of internationally marketed quack medicines increased in the later 18th century; the majority of them originated in Britain and were exported throughout the British Empire. By 1830, British parliamentary records list over 1,300 different "proprietary medicines",

2170-560: The early 20th century. Most people with an e-mail account have experienced the marketing tactics of spamming  – in which modern forms of quackery are touted as miraculous remedies for "weight loss" and "sexual enhancement", as well as outlets for medicines of unknown quality. In 2008, the Hindustan Times reported that some officials and doctors estimated that there were more than 40,000 quacks practicing in Delhi , following outrage over

2232-589: The editor of the Syndicalist League's magazine The Syndicalist during 1913. During World War I Wilshire worked with Emma Goldman in the Free Speech League in New York. In 1900, Wilshire launched the first of his publishing ventures in Los Angeles, a magazine called The Challenge. At least 40 issues of the publication were produced between December 1900 and October 1901. The name of this publication

2294-499: The end of some of the quack cures, but some survived the book by several decades. For example, Beecham's Pills , which according to the British Medical Association contained in 1909 only aloes, ginger and soap, but claimed to cure 31 medical conditions, were sold until 1998. The failure of the medical establishment to stop quackery was rooted in the difficulty of defining what precisely distinguished real medicine, and in

2356-479: The fact. The end of the road for the quack medicines now considered grossly fraudulent in the nations of North America and Europe came in the early 20th century. 21 February 1906 saw the passage into law of the Pure Food and Drug Act in the United States. This was the result of decades of campaigning by both government departments and the medical establishment, supported by a number of publishers and journalists (one of

2418-528: The falseness of their medicine was discovered. Not all quacks were restricted to such small-time businesses however, and a number, especially in the United States, became enormously wealthy through national and international sales of their products. In 1875, the Pacific Medical and Surgical Journal complained: If Satan has ever succeeded in compressing a greater amount of concentrated mendacity into one set of human bodies above every other description, it

2480-418: The first products that used branding (e.g. using highly distinctive containers) and mass marketing to create and maintain markets. A similar process occurred in other countries of Europe around the same time, for example with the marketing of Eau de Cologne as a cure-all medicine by Johann Maria Farina and his imitators. Patent medicines often contained alcohol or opium , which, while presumably not curing

2542-458: The majority of which were "quack" cures by modern standards. A Dutch organisation that opposes quackery, Vereniging tegen de Kwakzalverij (VtdK), was founded in 1881, making it the oldest organisation of this kind in the world. It has published its magazine Nederlands Tijdschrift tegen de Kwakzalverij ( Dutch Magazine against Quackery ) ever since. In these early years the VtdK played

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2604-582: The manufacturers of new and existing products, including drugs and nutritional supplements or vitamins. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) participates in some of these efforts. To better address less regulated products, in 2000, US President Clinton signed Executive Order 13147 that created the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine . In 2002, the commission's final report made several suggestions regarding education, research, implementation, and reimbursement as ways to evaluate

2666-416: The market even after promoters stopped marketing the Ionaco in the 1940s. Contemporary health experts dismissed the Ionaco and its spin-offs as quackery . In 1932, the physician Morris Fishbein commented: Gaylord Wilshire sold these devices for $ 55 cash or $ 65 on time payments, and thousands of them were sold by his methods of promotion. Shortly after the development of the device Wilshire himself died of

2728-530: The marketplace", with "commercialism overwhelming professionalism in the marketing of alternative medicine". Quackery is most often used to denote the peddling of the "cure-alls" described above. Quackery is an ongoing problem that can be found in any culture and in every medical tradition. Unlike other advertising mediums, rapid advancements in communication through the Internet have opened doors for an unregulated market of quack cures and marketing campaigns rivaling

2790-433: The mid-18th century, did have genuinely beneficial properties. This medicine continued to be sold under the original name into the early 20th century, and can still be found in the British and American pharmacopoeias as "Compound tincture of benzoin ". In these cases, the treatments likely lacked empirical support when they were introduced to the market, and their benefits were simply a convenient coincidence discovered after

2852-587: The mid-19th century revalenta arabica was advertised as having extraordinary restorative virtues as an empirical diet for invalids; despite its impressive name and many glowing testimonials it was in truth only ordinary lentil flour, sold to the gullible at many times the true cost. Even where no fraud was intended, quack remedies often contained no effective ingredients whatsoever. Some remedies contained substances such as opium , alcohol and honey, which would have given symptomatic relief but had no curative properties. Some would have addictive qualities to entice

2914-581: The most effective was Samuel Hopkins Adams , who wrote "The Great American Fraud" series in Collier's in 1905). This American Act was followed three years later by similar legislation in Britain and in other European nations. Between them, these laws began to remove the more outrageously dangerous contents from patent and proprietary medicines, and to force quack medicine proprietors to stop making some of their more blatantly dishonest claims. The Act, however, left advertising and claims of effectiveness unregulated as

2976-475: The name for his belt, the "I-on-a-co". He first recorded his theory for "the radiation cure" in 1924. An early idea for this cure was a magnetic turban for head use. Wilshire developed the "Life Belt" for 15 years starting in 1910. He tried it on himself in 1925, and it reportedly cured his condition. He started giving the belt to his relatives and friends, who also reported positive results. About 50,000 devices were sold between 1925 and 1927. Wilshire established

3038-518: The name implies, "restore life in the event of sudden death". Another English quack, "Dr. Solomon" claimed that his Cordial Balm of Gilead cured almost anything, but was particularly effective against all venereal complaints, from gonorrhea to onanism . Although it was basically just brandy flavoured with herbs, the price of a bottle was a half guinea ( £sd system) in 1800, equivalent to over £38 ($ 52) in 2014. Not all patent medicines were without merit. Turlingtons Balsam of Life, first marketed in

3100-608: The now famous boulevard that bore his name. He had no direct involvement with its gradual expansion in the years while he was absent from the region. Wilshire was also interested in the health industry. In 1925, he started marketing the Ionaco , an electric belt that could purportedly improve health. The belt gained popularity from its marketing, but was dismissed by medical health experts as quackery . He died destitute on September 7, 1927 in New York. Wilshire Drive in Phoenix, Arizona ,

3162-447: The public by enforcing laws inadequately, applying double standards, and accrediting pseudomedicine. Non-scientific health care (e.g., acupuncture, ayurvedic medicine, chiropractic, homeopathy, naturopathy) is licensed by individual states. Practitioners use unscientific practices and deception on a public who, lacking complex health-care knowledge, must rely upon the trustworthiness of providers. Quackery not only harms people, it undermines

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3224-600: The radio. The AMA investigated these claims, some of which were attributed to well-known physicians, and found that many of the quotations had been falsified. Wilshire and his company marketed the electric device to those most likely to use it, including phone subscribers and power plant customers. Distributors covered certain regions to promote the device by demonstrations and door-to-door sales. In-house sales associates called demonstrators provided both paid and free treatments for potential buyers. Each Ionaco belt cost $ 3.50 (equivalent to $ 60 in 2023) to manufacture and each belt

3286-487: The risks and benefits of each. As a direct result, more public dollars have been allocated for research into some of these methods. Individuals and non-governmental agencies are active in attempts to expose quackery. According to John C. Norcross et al. less is consensus about ineffective "compared to effective procedures" but identifying both "pseudoscientific, unvalidated, or 'quack' psychotherapies" and "assessment measures of questionable validity on psycho-metric grounds"

3348-462: The scientific enterprise and should be actively opposed by every scientist. For those in the practice of any medicine, to allege quackery is to level a serious objection to a particular form of practice. Most developed countries have a governmental agency, such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US, whose purpose is to monitor and regulate the safety of medications as well as the claims made by

3410-519: The sincerity of their promoters. In line with this definition, the word "fraud" would be reserved only for situations in which deliberate deception is involved. In addition to the ethical problems of promising benefits that are not likely to occur, quackery might cause people to forego treatments that are more likely to help them, in favor of ineffective treatments given by the "quack". American pediatrician Paul Offit has proposed four ways in which alternative medicine "becomes quackery": Since it

3472-447: The slang term snake oil , a reference to sales pitches for the false medicines that claimed exotic ingredients provided the supposed benefits. Those who sold them were called "snake oil salesmen", and usually sold their medicines with a fervent pitch similar to a fire and brimstone religious sermon. They often accompanied other theatrical and entertainment productions that traveled as a road show from town to town , leaving quickly before

3534-662: Was a frequent and far-ranging political candidate. He stood as the Nationalist Party Congressional candidate for the 6th California District in 1890, as the candidate of the Socialist Labor Party for Attorney General in 1891, for the British Parliament in 1894, for Congress in the California 6th District again in 1900, this time on the ticket of the Social Democratic Party of America , for

3596-428: Was limited. The evidence-based medicine community has criticized the infiltration of alternative medicine into mainstream academic medicine, education, and publications, accusing institutions of "diverting research time, money, and other resources from more fruitful lines of investigation in order to pursue a theory that has no basis in biology." For example, David Gorski criticized Brian M. Berman , founder of

3658-642: Was named after him, as is Wilshire Avenue in Fullerton, California (where he first ran for Congress in 1890, the first congressional candidate in America from what became a socialist-oriented party). Quackery 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;

3720-440: Was pursued by various authors. The evidence-based practice (EBP) movement in mental health emphasizes the consensus in psychology that psychological practice should rely on empirical research. There are also "anti-quackery" websites, such as Quackwatch , that help consumers evaluate claims. Quackwatch's information is relevant to both consumers and medical professionals. There have been several suggested reasons why quackery

3782-543: Was sold for $ 65 (equivalent to $ 1,119 in 2023), though it could also be purchased on credit for $ 5 (equivalent to $ 86 in 2023) a month. In 1928 Philip Ilsey, the former manager of the Iona Company in Cleveland, started marketing an Ionaco clone called the Theronoid. Similar electric belt imitations appeared during this time, and were given names such as the "Ionizer", or the "Restoro". Such imitations continued to be sold on

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3844-479: Was subsequently changed to Wilshire's Monthly Magazine in 1901, before being shortened to Wilshire's Magazine (1902) and Wilshire's (1904), with publication variously in New York and Toronto. (He lived in Toronto circa 1902.) First a small-format magazine, later a tabloid newspaper, Wilshire's continued in production until February 1915. Wilshire eventually returned to Los Angeles and made his connection with

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