Quackery
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Quackery is a derogatory term used to describe unscientific medical practices.
It is the promotion of unproven or fraudulent medical practices. Random House Dictionary describes a "quack" as a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, knowledge, or qualifications he or she does not possess; a charlatan".
The word "quack" derives from the archaic word "quacksalver", of Dutch origin (spelled kwakzalver in contemporary Dutch), literally meaning "hawker of salve". In the Middle Ages the word quack meant "shouting". The quacksalvers sold their wares on the market shouting in a loud voice.
"Health fraud" is often used as a synonym for quackery, but quackery's salient characteristic is its more aggressive promotion ("quacks quack!").
"Pseudo-medicine" is a term for treatments known to be ineffective, regardless of whether their advocates themselves believe in their effectiveness.
See also
- Alternative medicine
- Charlatan
- Confidence trick
- Consumer protection
- Fraud
- Health care fraud
- Homeopathy
- Alternative cancer treatments
- List of topics characterized as pseudoscience
- Medical ethics
- Patent medicine
- Pseudoscience
- Radioactive quackery
- Snake oil
- Penta Water
- Promotion of false medical information by crisis pregnancy centers
Regulatory organizations
- Federal Trade Commission
- Food and Drug Administration
- Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency
Anti-quackery organizations