Snake Oil Science
Are you a sucker for placebo medicine?
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Leonard Horowitz
"Scientists ignore
him; if they debate him, it will build him up as an
evangelical huckster. The only people who love him are talk
show hosts and the good people who are so paranoid that they
will believe anything that supports their deranged thought
processes." --an
admirer
"Scientists ignore him; if they debate him, it will build him up as an evangelical huckster. The only people who love him are talk show hosts and the good people who are so paranoid that they will believe anything that supports their deranged thought processes." --an admirer
Leonard
Horowitz is a former dentist,
anti-vaxxer, promoter of various "natural cures," and
self-publisher
of books and pamphlets expressing such unfounded beliefs as that
the AIDS and Ebola epidemics were intentionally caused by the
U.S. government. These and other claims made by Horowitz have
influenced some black leaders into boycotting vaccination
programs.*
Horowitz recently told Al-Jazeera that H1N1 vaccines would cause sterility, as part of a plan of "pangenocide" against Muslims. In a press release describing his belief that the H1H1 vaccine would cause sterility, Horowitz added this "note to journalists":
Dr. Horowitz is advancing Healthy World Organization (HWO), a natural alternative to the UN's World Health Organization. Information about HWO is available at: HealthyWorldOrganization.org. For more information about the dangers of flu vaccinations, see Dr. Horowitz's comprehensive website FLUscam.com. Dr. Horowitz endorses natural alternatives to vaccines including covalently-bonded silver hydrosols, alkalizing water, and vitamins C and D. See FLU "TO Dos" and OxySilver.com.
His company mission statement for OxySilver might nauseate the unspiritual or the clearheaded:
"To celebrate the manifestation of Divinity in biology, health science, and emerging biospiritual technologies, and through our loving service, deliver the most advanced knowledge and equipment for personal and planetary purification, physical salvation, and spiritual evolution."
In addition to his HWO, FLuscam, and Oxysilver websites, Horowitz also promotes his fantasies on at least two other sites: tetrahedron.org and drlenhorowitz.com. He describes himself as "Humanitarian, Clinician, Prophet, Scholar and Natural Healer." Some might add Charlatan to this list, but that would be too kind. Horowitz promotes himself as "Dr." Horowitz on his websites and in his many health-related books. He has no formal medical training, but it has been reported that he has a master's degree in public health from Harvard University.*
It is impossible to tell what a man like Horowitz actually believes. He makes many outlandish claims that resonate with conspiracy-minded crowds.
He believes that an international drug ring operating in New York is behind the origin of H1N1 swine flu, as well as behind its alleged prevention via vaccination. He, too, maintains that the aim is to decimate the population.
There's more. Listen to the man: "In the beginning there was only God and the 'word.' Word is sound, and sound is electromagnetic frequency. (That, as any high school student can tell you, is nonsense.) "The world began when the Creator's word acted on water, that is sound frequencies based on physics and mathematics were applied to water." This genius has now found a way to bring heaven to Earth with his "Water Resonator," which "displays the precise sound frequencies of universal creation to restore nature's resonance energy and electromagnetic purity of water." And what is it? It's a sticker that you apply to a jug of water. Of course, you can also apply it to acupuncture points for an "energetic blessing." Hallelujah!*
Here is Horowitz touting one of his books:
Stunning evidence compiled herein proves DNA is nature's bioaccoustic and electromagnetic (that is, "spiritual") energy receiver, signal transformer, and quantum sound and light transmitter.
These claims might appeal to others also ignorant of fundamental matters in physics.
Among his many other claims, Horowitz says he has a cure for skin cancer, C-Cure. "According to Len, it's nothing more than a 'skin cancer purgative'. Unfortunately, Horowitz doesn't have a clue about treating skin cancer, and anyone who buys into this method as a method of curing their lesions is making a mistake," according to HealthWatcher. Horowitz also promoted a SARS treatment that received a warning letter from the FDA:
Because the “Urbani SARS Formula Homeopathic (6X)” is intended to prevent, treat, or cure a serious disease that requires diagnosis and treatment by a physician, it is a drug that is not safe for use except under the supervision of a practitioner licensed by law to administer it. Accordingly, this product is misbranded within the meaning of Section 503(b)(1) of the Act. The product is further misbranded within the meaning of Section 503(b)(4) of the Act in that its label fails to bear the statement “Rx only”.
Nevertheless, Horowitz has his supporters. The Sovereign Orthodox Order of the Knights Hospitaller of St. John of Jerusalem honored Horowitz as a "Knight of Merit."
Some people might even think Horowitz knows what he's talking about when he is selling "Dr. Horowitz's Immune Advantage." He says his capsules are derived from organic chickens and have "proven immune enhancing Transfer Factors (TF)" and "proven immune-enhancing properties." The capsules contain lactoferrin and alpha lipoic acid (which convert to cysteine), glutathione, beta glucan, mannan (Aloe), Maitake mushroom, and Reishi mushroom (trimethylglycine) for increased cellular oxygenation; Astragalus, Olive Leaf extract, and more. I think Andrew Weil sells the same thing, but he calls it the Weil Immune Support Formula. But all Weil claims is that his pills "may" support a healthy immune system. Horowitz claims his can extend your life. The reason Weil's claim is weaker than Horowitz's is that Weil responds when the FDA sends him a warning letter. The FDA warned Weil about making the following claim on his website: "...during the flu season, I suggest taking a daily antioxidant, multivitamin-mineral supplement, as well as astragalus, a well-known immune-boosting herb that can help ward off colds and flu. You might also consider ... the Weil Immune Support Formula which contains both astragalus and immune-supportive polypore mushrooms." In response to the FDA, Weil issued a statement saying the website content "was primarily educational" about how to avoid the flu, and that he had directed his website team to remove and review it for compliance with federal rules.
Horowitz has some harsh words for his critics, especially those who consider themselves consumer advocates and consider Horowitz to be a snake oil salesman:
It is generally understood in the fields of alternative medicine, chiropractic, nutrition, herbal medicine, naturopathy, acupuncture, and massage that these individuals, and their closely affiliated organizations, are simply filthy prostitutes for the global pharmaceutical cartel.*
By their friends ye shall know them.
See also Antivaxxer Plague, Andrew Wakefield, the anti-vaccination movement, Russell Blaylock, detoxification therapies, Barbara Loe Fisher, Jay Gordon, Rauni Kilde, Joseph Mercola, supplements, and Defending Falsehoods.
further reading
Wallace, Amy. (2009). An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All, Wired. To hear his enemies talk, you might think Paul Offit is the most hated man in America. A pediatrician in Philadelphia, he is the co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine that could save tens of thousands of lives every year. Yet environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. slams Offit as a “biostitute” who whores for the pharmaceutical industry. Actor Jim Carrey calls him a profiteer and distills the doctor’s attitude toward childhood vaccination down to this chilling mantra: “Grab ‘em and stab ‘em.” Recently, Carrey and his girlfriend, Jenny McCarthy, went on CNN’s Larry King Live and singled out Offit’s vaccine, RotaTeq, as one of many unnecessary vaccines, all administered, they said, for just one reason: “Greed.”
Journalists sink in The Atlantic article on vaccines blog by revere (the article in question is "Does the Vaccine Matter?" by Shannon Brownlee and Jeanne Lenzer, November 2009)
Vaccine Safety Information for Parents
Why should infants and young children be vaccinated?
National Network for Immunization Information
My posts on autism and thimerosal in vaccines
Experts dispel detox myths: "One group gave up processed food, soft drinks, alcohol, salt, sugar, caffeine, wheat, red meat and dairy, and the others followed their normal diet. After seven days, toxicologists found no difference in their liver and kidney functions or vitamin levels."
Toxic Myths About Vaccines by David Gorski
An Open Letter to Bill Maher on Vaccinations by Michael Shermer Shermer lectures Maher on germ theory
Vaccination: A Conversation Worth Having by Bill Maher Maher responds that he read Microbe Hunters when he was eight
Some Muddled Thinking from Bill Maher by Stephen Novella Novella deconstructs Maher's "rambling defensive diatribe in which he simultaneously protests the criticism pointed his way while repeating and amplifying the pseudoscientific nonsense that garnered criticism in the first place....the criticism will continue – not to shut him up, but to do damage control. Maher is contributing to the public misunderstanding of science in perhaps the most important area – medicine."
it's all a plot to anti-vaccination conspiracy nuts by Joe Schwarcz
Horowitz on the Infidel Guy show
HealthWatcher on Horowitz's appearance at the University of Toronto
Ignorance is no excuse: Dr Leonard Horowitz (Medicine Man) YouTube video taking Horowitz to task on his ignorance regarding sound and many other things.
Horowtiz's self-aggrandizing biography page is a hoot He titles it: "The 'King David of Natural Healing' vs. The Goliath of 'Slash, Burn and Poison Medicine'" He notes that In 1999, he was voted "Author of the Year" by the World Natural Health Organization for Emerging Viruses: AIDS & Ebola—Nature, Accident or Intentional? The WNHO is a Christian, anti-abortion organization with a multi-faceted agenda: global warming is a hoax, aspartame causes brain disorders, vaccines and genetically modified foods are dangerous, natural cures are the only cures, etc.
Last updated 11/20/09
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