Bogus arguments for unproven treatments

Abstract

Many unproven or disproven treatments are currently popular (1). The reasons for this popularity are complex, (2) but incessant misinformation of the public is likely to be a crucial contributing factor (3). There are millions of websites dedicated to one sort of alternative medicine or another; most of them are commercially motivated and dangerously misleading. Our bookshops are full with volumes on alternative medicine, most of which are a risk factor to our health (4). Women's magazines tend to provide uncritical information that put their readers at potentially serious risk (5). Even seemingly respectable organisations mislead the public (6). In the UK, the newly founded 'College of Medicine' (7), for instance, is fast becoming a prominent source of dangerously misleading information (8,9). © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.