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| Barrett is a ] graduate of the ] College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is known as an author and editor, who describes himself as a ]. He is the founder of twenty-two websites dedicated to exposing what he considers ] and health ] (including ], , , ], , , , and ). | Barrett is a ] graduate of the ] College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is known as an author and editor, who describes himself as a ]. He is the founder of twenty-two websites dedicated to exposing what he considers ] and health ] (including ], , , ], , , , and ). | ||
| ⚫ | In addition to his websites, Barrett is a founder, vice-president and a board member of the ] (NCAHF), an advisor to the ], and a Fellow of the ] (CSICOP). In 1984, he received an FDA Commissioner's Special Citation Award for Public Service in fighting nutrition quackery. In 1986, he was awarded honorary membership in the American Dietetic Association. From 1987 through 1989, he taught health education at The Pennsylvania State University. | ||
| He has been unlicenced since the early 1990's and was never passed board certified in any medical specialty. This is particularly disturbing as one of his "watch" sites is called "credential watch." | |||
| ⚫ | In addition to his websites, Barrett is a founder, vice-president and a board member of the ] |
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| Barrett is the medical editor of Prometheus Books and is a peer-review panelist for several top medical journals. He has written more than 2,000 articles and delivered more than 300 talks at colleges, universities, medical schools, and professional meetings. His 50 books include The Health Robbers: A Close Look at Quackery in America and seven editions of the college textbook . One book he edited, Vitamins and Minerals: Help or Harm?, by Charles Marshall, Ph.D., won the American Medical Writers Association award for best book of 1983 for the general public and became a special publication of Consumer Reports Books. His other classics include Dubious Cancer Treatment, published by the Florida Division of the American Cancer Society; Health Schemes, Scams, and Frauds, published by Consumer Reports Books; The Vitamin Pushers: How the "Health Food" Industry Is Selling America a Bill of Goods, published by Prometheus Books; and Reader's Guide to "Alternative" Health Methods, published by the American Medical Association. His media appearances include Dateline, the Today Show, Good Morning America, ABC Prime Time, Donahue, CNN, National Public Radio, and more than 200 radio and television talk show interviews. | Barrett is the medical editor of Prometheus Books and is a peer-review panelist for several top medical journals. He has written more than 2,000 articles and delivered more than 300 talks at colleges, universities, medical schools, and professional meetings. His 50 books include The Health Robbers: A Close Look at Quackery in America and seven editions of the college textbook . One book he edited, Vitamins and Minerals: Help or Harm?, by Charles Marshall, Ph.D., won the American Medical Writers Association award for best book of 1983 for the general public and became a special publication of Consumer Reports Books. His other classics include Dubious Cancer Treatment, published by the Florida Division of the American Cancer Society; Health Schemes, Scams, and Frauds, published by Consumer Reports Books; The Vitamin Pushers: How the "Health Food" Industry Is Selling America a Bill of Goods, published by Prometheus Books; and Reader's Guide to "Alternative" Health Methods, published by the American Medical Association. His media appearances include Dateline, the Today Show, Good Morning America, ABC Prime Time, Donahue, CNN, National Public Radio, and more than 200 radio and television talk show interviews. | ||
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| However, his ] website is his main platform for exposing quackery and health fraud, assisted on a volunteer basis by individuals selected as scientific and technical , and others. | However, his ] website is his main platform for exposing quackery and health fraud, assisted on a volunteer basis by individuals selected as scientific and technical , and others. | ||
| Barrett defines ''quackery'' as "anything involving overpromotion in the field of health," and reserves the word ''fraud'' as "only for situations in which deliberate deception is involved." |
Barrett defines ''quackery'' as "anything involving overpromotion in the field of health," and reserves the word ''fraud'' as "only for situations in which deliberate deception is involved." | ||
| Following these definitions, he has written on quackery and health fraud concerns about ], algae-based therapies, ] and ] medicine, ], ] medicine, ], ], ], ], colloidal silver and minerals, ] within dentistry, ], ] therapies, ], ], ], ergogenic aids, ], genetic diagnoses, ], ], ], ], ], ], ], juicing, ], nutritional therapy for emotional problems, metabolic therapy, ], ], pneumatic trabeculoplasty, ], ], and many others. | Following these definitions, he has written on quackery and health fraud concerns about ], algae-based therapies, ] and ] medicine, ], ] medicine, ], ], ], ], colloidal silver and minerals, ] within dentistry, ], ] therapies, ], ], ], ergogenic aids, ], genetic diagnoses, ], ], ], ], ], ], ], juicing, ], nutritional therapy for emotional problems, metabolic therapy, ], ], pneumatic trabeculoplasty, ], ], and many others. | ||
| He has made extremely dubious claims about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity in articles for the ACSH.org, funded by chemical industry leaders. He urges and facilitates going after the licenses of scientists and physicians working first hand to understand the complexities MCS, benefitting the chemical industry. | |||
| He also maintains lists of and which are considered questionable and therefore he does not recommend. | He also maintains lists of and which are considered questionable and therefore he does not recommend. | ||
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| :''The orchestrated assaults of mainstream medicine against holistic health care target CPU graduates as well. For example, a psychiatrist who lost his medical license, Stephen Barrett,M.D., operates on the Internet a "Quackwatch" that slanders CPU alumni with health related degrees. "Dr." Barrett suffers from a severe case of tunnel vision. His web site strives to brainwash the public and to install blind faith in the infallible authority of allopathic medicine. "Quackwatch" arrogantly pretends to hold a monopoly over the truth.'' | :''The orchestrated assaults of mainstream medicine against holistic health care target CPU graduates as well. For example, a psychiatrist who lost his medical license, Stephen Barrett,M.D., operates on the Internet a "Quackwatch" that slanders CPU alumni with health related degrees. "Dr." Barrett suffers from a severe case of tunnel vision. His web site strives to brainwash the public and to install blind faith in the infallible authority of allopathic medicine. "Quackwatch" arrogantly pretends to hold a monopoly over the truth.'' | ||
| In responding to these criticisms Barrett |
In responding to these criticisms Barrett says: | ||
| : ''... quackery and fraud don't involve legitimate controversy and are not balanced subjects. I don't believe it is helpful to publish "balanced" articles about unbalanced subjects. Do you think that the press should enable rapists and murderers to argue that they provide valuable services?'' | : ''... quackery and fraud don't involve legitimate controversy and are not balanced subjects. I don't believe it is helpful to publish "balanced" articles about unbalanced subjects. Do you think that the press should enable rapists and murderers to argue that they provide valuable services?'' | ||
| On October 13, 2005 Barrett admitted in a Pennsylvania court that he had failed the optional certification exam for Medical Board Certification in psychiatry. His opponents viewed this as a major revelation since Barrett had claimed qualifications for "expert testimony" as psychiatrist and had testified in numerous court cases. Barrett also had said that he was a "legal expert" even though he has no formal legal training. | |||
| Barrett also disputed the charge that he "lost his medical license", explaining that he was never disciplined by a medical board, and he retired from the active practice of medicine in 1993. He sued some of those making that charge for libel and slander, but did not prevail for sundry reasons unrelated to the truth or falseness of the disputed claims. | |||
| Barrett claims criticisms of his alleged bias against "alternative" treatments are "unanswerable" because they contain "an invalid assumption", since "'Alternative' is a slogan often used for promotional purposes, not a definable set of methods." . The World Chiropractic Alliance states, "Barrett has had a reputation for threatening lawsuits to silence his detractors". . | |||
| Barrett is the subject of much criticism for pursuing lawsuits against alternative medicine advocates, and has been sanctioned by courts for such litigiousness. A California Court found in 2001 that a lawsuit brought by Barrett was a ] (]), and ordered him and his co-plaintiffs to pay the defendants' legal fees. The judge ruled that Dr. Barrett can be described as zealous advocate and therefore not neutral or dispassionate witness or expert. The court ruled that "there is no sound basis on which to consider Dr. Barrett qualified as an expert on the issues he was offered to address" therefore his " testimony should be accorded little, if any, credibility ". . Similarly, a case brought by the ] in which Barrett testified was thrown out as a ] in 2003. .Under cross examination by attorney Carlos F. Negrete in a defamation trial initiated by Barrett in October 2005, it was revealed by Barrett that he had filed similar defamation lawsuits against almost 40 people across the country within the past few years and had not won one single one at trial . | |||
| ==Notes== | ==Notes== | ||
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| ==External links== | ==External links== | ||
| ;Advocacy | |||
| ;Related | |||
| * | * - Stephen Barrett | ||
| * | * - Stephen Barrett | ||
| * - Stephen Barrett | |||
| ;Critical | |||
| ;Critics | |||
| * | * - critical view of Stephen Barrett's court cases | ||
| * | * - Web site critical of Quackwatch and Stephen Barrett. | ||
| * - Quackwatch Watchers | |||
| * - critical article from World Chiropractic Alliance | |||
| ] | ] | ||
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Revision as of 17:20, 7 July 2006
Stephen Barrett, M.D. (born 1933), is a retired American physician who resides in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He is known as an author and editor, who describes himself as a consumer advocate. He is the founder of several controversial websites dedicated to exposing what he considers "quackery and health fraud" (including Quackwatch). Barrett is a founder, vice-president and a board member of the National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF).
Biography
Barrett is a 1957 graduate of the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is known as an author and editor, who describes himself as a consumer advocate. He is the founder of twenty-two websites dedicated to exposing what he considers quackery and health fraud (including Quackwatch, Chirobase, Dental Watch, Homeowatch, Internet Health Pilot, MLM Watch, Naturowatch, and Nutriwatch).
In addition to his websites, Barrett is a founder, vice-president and a board member of the National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF), an advisor to the American Council on Science and Health, and a Fellow of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). In 1984, he received an FDA Commissioner's Special Citation Award for Public Service in fighting nutrition quackery. In 1986, he was awarded honorary membership in the American Dietetic Association. From 1987 through 1989, he taught health education at The Pennsylvania State University.
Barrett is the medical editor of Prometheus Books and is a peer-review panelist for several top medical journals. He has written more than 2,000 articles and delivered more than 300 talks at colleges, universities, medical schools, and professional meetings. His 50 books include The Health Robbers: A Close Look at Quackery in America and seven editions of the college textbook Consumer Health: A Guide to Intelligent Decisions. One book he edited, Vitamins and Minerals: Help or Harm?, by Charles Marshall, Ph.D., won the American Medical Writers Association award for best book of 1983 for the general public and became a special publication of Consumer Reports Books. His other classics include Dubious Cancer Treatment, published by the Florida Division of the American Cancer Society; Health Schemes, Scams, and Frauds, published by Consumer Reports Books; The Vitamin Pushers: How the "Health Food" Industry Is Selling America a Bill of Goods, published by Prometheus Books; and Reader's Guide to "Alternative" Health Methods, published by the American Medical Association. His media appearances include Dateline, the Today Show, Good Morning America, ABC Prime Time, Donahue, CNN, National Public Radio, and more than 200 radio and television talk show interviews.
Platform for activism
Barrett was the author and co-author, respectively, of two widely noticed reports in the prominent Journal of the American Medical Association. One, in 1985, exposed commercial hair analysis as worthless. The other, in 1998, exposed Therapeutic Touch as baseless.
However, his Quackwatch website is his main platform for exposing quackery and health fraud, assisted on a volunteer basis by individuals selected as scientific and technical advisors, and others.
Barrett defines quackery as "anything involving overpromotion in the field of health," and reserves the word fraud as "only for situations in which deliberate deception is involved."
Following these definitions, he has written on quackery and health fraud concerns about acupuncture, algae-based therapies, alternative and complementary medicine, applied kinesiology, ayurvedic medicine, yeast allergies, chelation therapy, Chinese herbal medicine, chiropractic, colloidal silver and minerals, amalgam removal within dentistry, craniosacral therapy, detoxification therapies, DHEA, dietary supplements, ear candling, ergogenic aids, faith healing, genetic diagnoses, glucosamine, growth hormones, hair analysis, herbal medicine, homeopathy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, iridology, juicing, magnet therapy, nutritional therapy for emotional problems, metabolic therapy, organic food, osteopathy, pneumatic trabeculoplasty, reflexology, Therapeutic Touch, and many others.
He also maintains lists of practitioners and groups which are considered questionable and therefore he does not recommend.
Recognition and awards
Barrett's work has received numerous awards, including the Best physician-authored site, MD NetGuide, May 2003.
He has also been named as one of the outstanding skeptics of the 20th century by Skeptical Inquirer Magazine.
In 1984, he received an FDA Commissioner's Special Citation Award for Public Service in fighting nutrition quackery. In 1986, he was awarded honorary membership in the American Dietetic Association. From 1987 through 1989, he taught health education at Pennsylvania State University.
Many academic and medical websites link to Quackwatch.
Criticism
Barrett is often accused by alternative practitioners of biasing his information against all forms of "alternative medicine." Paul Hartal from the now-defunct Columbia Pacific University (CPU) says:
- The orchestrated assaults of mainstream medicine against holistic health care target CPU graduates as well. For example, a psychiatrist who lost his medical license, Stephen Barrett,M.D., operates on the Internet a "Quackwatch" that slanders CPU alumni with health related degrees. "Dr." Barrett suffers from a severe case of tunnel vision. His web site strives to brainwash the public and to install blind faith in the infallible authority of allopathic medicine. "Quackwatch" arrogantly pretends to hold a monopoly over the truth.
In responding to these criticisms Barrett says:
- ... quackery and fraud don't involve legitimate controversy and are not balanced subjects. I don't believe it is helpful to publish "balanced" articles about unbalanced subjects. Do you think that the press should enable rapists and murderers to argue that they provide valuable services?
On October 13, 2005 Barrett admitted in a Pennsylvania court that he had failed the optional certification exam for Medical Board Certification in psychiatry. His opponents viewed this as a major revelation since Barrett had claimed qualifications for "expert testimony" as psychiatrist and had testified in numerous court cases. Barrett also had said that he was a "legal expert" even though he has no formal legal training.
Barrett claims criticisms of his alleged bias against "alternative" treatments are "unanswerable" because they contain "an invalid assumption", since "'Alternative' is a slogan often used for promotional purposes, not a definable set of methods." . The World Chiropractic Alliance states, "Barrett has had a reputation for threatening lawsuits to silence his detractors". .
Barrett is the subject of much criticism for pursuing lawsuits against alternative medicine advocates, and has been sanctioned by courts for such litigiousness. A California Court found in 2001 that a lawsuit brought by Barrett was a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP), and ordered him and his co-plaintiffs to pay the defendants' legal fees. The judge ruled that Dr. Barrett can be described as zealous advocate and therefore not neutral or dispassionate witness or expert. The court ruled that "there is no sound basis on which to consider Dr. Barrett qualified as an expert on the issues he was offered to address" therefore his " testimony should be accorded little, if any, credibility ". . Similarly, a case brought by the NCAHF in which Barrett testified was thrown out as a SLAPP in 2003. .Under cross examination by attorney Carlos F. Negrete in a defamation trial initiated by Barrett in October 2005, it was revealed by Barrett that he had filed similar defamation lawsuits against almost 40 people across the country within the past few years and had not won one single one at trial .
Notes
- Google search many academic and medical sites link to Quackwatch
- http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=quackwatch
External links
- Advocacy
- Quackwatch - Stephen Barrett
- Biography - Stephen Barrett
- The National Council Against Health Fraud - Stephen Barrett
- Critical
- Health Freedom Law - critical view of Stephen Barrett's court cases
- Quackpot Watch - Web site critical of Quackwatch and Stephen Barrett.
- Humantics Foundation - Quackwatch Watchers
- 'Quack Buster' busted - critical article from World Chiropractic Alliance