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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
 Posted - 12/24/2004 : 07:57:23
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http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/trudeau_informercials.html
Now, does anyone know how it is that this guy can be on my TV screen at 4am selling This book?
I must admit the infomercial was interesting. In it he claims that the US government is involved in an international conspiracy with the "drug companies" to prevent us from learning about cures for such things as cancer and diabetes.
Then he gives a bunch of roundabout and vague answers to the hosts questions concerning specifics.
Then he claims there is, used widely in Asia, a "herbal" cure (not treatment but CURE) for diabetes.
Then he blathers on about how adjusting the pH of the body CURES and prevents cancer..
Then he got on to some REALLY interesting claims... Like how the FDA and FTC are conspiring together to supress information about cures (as opposed to protecting us from snake-oil salesmen).
My personal favorite (right after the whole cancer pH thing) was his claim that "food companies" are putting ingredients into food that make you fat, addict you to the food, and make you hungry!
So, if the guy is under This level of restriction, I'm wondering just how legal the infomercial I so enjoyed this am was for him to make?
quote:
Federal Trade Commission settlement with Kevin Trudeau – a prolific marketer who has either appeared in or produced hundreds of infomercials – broadly bans him from appearing in, producing, or disseminating future infomercials that advertise any type of product, service, or program to the public, except for truthful infomercials for informational publications.
I'm thinking I should call the local cable company.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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tomk80
SFN Regular
Netherlands
1278 Posts |
Posted - 12/24/2004 : 08:38:48 [Permalink]
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From the article:
quote:
The settlement announced today permanently bans Trudeau and the other defendants, Shop America (USA), LLC, Shop America Marketing Group, LLC, and Trustar Global Media, Limited (“defendants”), from appearing in, producing, or disseminating infomercials that advertise any product, service, or program and, regardless of the advertising medium used to make the claim, from making representations that any product, program, or service can cure, treat, or prevent any disease or provide health benefits. The order's ban on future infomercials exempts infomercials for books, newsletters, and other informational publications.
So he is still allowed to sell books on infomercials. Now, this book seems to be making claims about certain 'medicins'. However, if it is sufficiently vague about these claims he might have found a loophole. If he is making a claim that a certain method works without naming the method specifically (and he seems to be pretty vague from the account you're giving) he might get away with it. However, I'd call the cable company anyways. Might as well try, no? |
Tom
`Contrariwise,' continued Tweedledee, `if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic.'
-Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Caroll- |
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Plyss
Skeptic Friend
Netherlands
231 Posts |
Posted - 12/24/2004 : 08:56:04 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Dude
Then he blathers on about how adjusting the pH of the body CURES and prevents cancer.
Heh, i'm sure that if you make a large enough adjustment to body pH it will prevent cancer from ever developing.
Given a broad enough definitino of "curing" i might agree with that part as well. |
Miss Tick sniffed. 'You could say this piece of advice is pricesless', she said. 'Are you listening?'
'Yes' said Tiffany.
'Good now...If you trust in yourself.."
'Yes..?'
'..and believe in your dreams...'
'yes?'
'...and follow your star..' Miss Tick went on.
'Yes?'
'You'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy. Goodbye.' |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 12/24/2004 : 09:04:08 [Permalink]
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I saw it. If I had the time, I would go after this dickhead in a Kil Report... Anyone up for doing an essay on him and this kind of use of informecials in general?
Also, this should be in Media Issues or Health. |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 12/24/2004 : 19:07:53 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by tomk80
So he is still allowed to sell books on infomercials. Now, this book seems to be making claims about certain 'medicins'. However, if it is sufficiently vague about these claims he might have found a loophole. If he is making a claim that a certain method works without naming the method specifically (and he seems to be pretty vague from the account you're giving) he might get away with it. However, I'd call the cable company anyways. Might as well try, no?
Here's the deal: in the U.S., the FDA has juridiction over the sales of drugs and medical devices, but not over medical advice, however loosely defined. That would be a First Amendment violation.
So, we've got thousands of diet books on the store shelves, and thousands more books about "natural" medicine and the like, and there isn't anything which can (or should) be done to prevent people from publishing these things. You can write a book saying that modern medicine is nothing but "poisons," or conversely that drugs are not as dangerous as people think (and so you should double the dose your doctor suggests, to get better faster). Or, you can write both books, and double your potential sales (assuming that people who buy one won't buy the other).
As I said, there's nothing to be done about this. Instead, we can only hope that someday the populace will be wise enough to realize that anyone can publish a book, and just doing so doesn't mean one's ideas are in any way correct. Then the market for such junk will fall apart by itself. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 12/24/2004 : 23:16:38 [Permalink]
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quote:
Heh, i'm sure that if you make a large enough adjustment to body pH it will prevent cancer from ever developing.
Well, technically, you're 100% correct. As you'd be dead, no cancer would ever develope. The human body maintains it's pH balance within a very narrow range (7.35-7.45) You can survive shifts of .1 or so outside that range, for a time. But if your pH goes, and stays, much outside that range your time is limited, minutes maybe, before it kills you.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 12/24/2004 : 23:18:25 [Permalink]
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I started it here Kil because the infomercial started out with many minutes of rambling about the many conspiracies this quack envisions.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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Siberia
SFN Addict
Brazil
2322 Posts |
Posted - 12/25/2004 : 07:45:57 [Permalink]
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| Or eat that cute mushroom... |
"Why are you afraid of something you're not even sure exists?"
- The Kovenant, Via Negativa
"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs."
-- unknown
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