Snake oil sold in many places
Le Devoir sent journalists out to stores that sell natural remedies, and at 18 of the 20 they were offered essential oils to fight off Covid, along with a farrago of fake health claims for the products.
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MarcG 11:36 on 2020-12-22 Permalink
(placeholder for Chris to say something about religion and public health)
Ephraim 13:51 on 2020-12-22 Permalink
What they should be selling… oximeter, thermometer and vitamin D. There is some suggestion that Zinc may be helpful as well. That’s where the list ends.
JaneyB 14:25 on 2020-12-22 Permalink
@Ephraim – Exactly. Back in May, I couldn’t find any oximeters at the pharmacies I visited. Bought one off ebay easily however.
LJ 14:55 on 2020-12-22 Permalink
In the mid-1990s I was a member of the Scientific Advisory Panel for CCOHTA (Canadian Coordinating Office for Health Technology Assessment), now known as CADTH (Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health). At the same time the Feds were setting up a similar panel to look at “alternative” therapies. I volunteered to join that panel as well, hoping to finally see some regulation of the ubiquitous sham therapies that this article shows are still around. In the end the government went with a business oriented panel rather than a scientific one. The thinking seemed to be that these products are useless but also for the most part harmless, so why not let the economic activity continue. However, as these pandemic times have shown, misinformation about health can have consequences.
Bill Binns 11:52 on 2020-12-23 Permalink
The comedian Tim Minchin provided my all time favorite quote on this subject… “There is a word for alternative medicine that works…. medicine”.
Seeing an entire aisle dedicated to this nonsense at every drug store depresses me. Oh well, at least we don’t make our fake drugs out of endangered animals. That’s something I guess.
Chris 13:14 on 2020-12-23 Permalink
MarcG, your snide remark got me wondering: is there a relationship between religion and essential oils? It seems this has been looked into. According to this peer reviewed paper, high religiosity positively predicts most uses of essential oils! Go figure.
MarcG 19:36 on 2020-12-23 Permalink
I was aiming for Snarky not Snide, sorry.
Chris 20:00 on 2020-12-23 Permalink
MarcG: no offence taken, I don’t mind either way. 🙂