Welcome to the Quackometer

WHAT IS THE QUACKOMETER ALL ABOUT?

The Little Black Duck

The quackometer is a project based around the automation of debunking quack medicine on the web. The web is full of pages supporting dubious medical claims and inflated capabilities for cures. The freedom that the web gives us to express our views, entertain and do business also gives quacks a way to make a living by promoting nonsense treatments to unsuspecting people.

Spotting these web sites appears to be easy when you know what to look out for. If it is that easy, can the process be automated? The quackometer project intends to find out.

DO YOU HAVE A WEB SITE YOU WANT TO TEST FOR QUACKERY?
DO YOU WANT TO SEE IF SOMEONE MIGHT BE A QUACK?

Go to the quackometer...

recent quackometer blog entries...

The Best Books of 2008

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:53:00 +0000

This year has seen a fantastic number of books about quackery, scepticism, complementary and alternative medicine and its effects on society. As part of my review of the year, I thought I would look back at some of the best new books. The year started of really rather well with the publishing of Rose Shapiro's Suckers: How Alternative Medicine Makes Fools of Us All. It is the book that rather

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Mistletoe and Cancer

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 19:30:00 +0000

Merry Christmas! Last Christmas, we looked at the quackery surrounding myrrh. This year, it is time for me to have little whine about mistletoe. Christmas would not be the same without a little cheeky kiss under this herb - usually with someone you really ought not to. But, its role at Christmas undoubtedly stretches back in time to more paganistic practices. According to Pliny the Elder, it

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An Academic Responds to the Homeopathy Challenge

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:56:00 +0000

After two weeks of silence from ten UK academic homeopaths, I get a response to my recent challenge.  The challenge was simple: can any of the Universities offering a BSc in Homeopathy tell six different homeopathic pills apart if they do not know which is which to start with. Several emails to them and not a single response from any of the academics. However, last week I got an email from

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A Charm of Powerful Trouble

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:26:00 +0000

Today Prince Charles visited the Nelson's Homeopathic Pharmacy manufacturing laboratories in London. He was supposed to be turning up with his wife, Camilla, but unfortunately she has not been taking her magic sugar pills and was too ill to inspect the identical tubs of white sugar pills. It looks like Charles and his spin off commercial enterprises, "Duchy Originals" is getting into bed with

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Academic Quackometrics

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 22:46:00 +0000

Hey! The Quackometer is back on line and so many of you have been using it. I've seen a few problems but just need some time to fix them. Work. Christmas rush and all that. But while the quackometer was down, I came across some academics who were taking the Quackometer rather seriously. Yin Aphinyanaphongsa and Constantin Aliferis of the Vanderbilt University Nashville have written a paper

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Homeopathy University Challenge

The Quackometer is Back

Is the Popularity of Homeopathy Collapsing?

Chiropractic Folly and the Nature of Evidence

The Society of Homeopaths Have Nothing to Lose by Winging It

The World Health Organisation Traditional Medicine Hoax

Manchester TV Station fined £15,000 for broadcasting dangerous homeopathic nonsense.

Julian Graves' Mendacious Defence of Cancer Quackery

Homeopaths: Win a Piano!

The Society of Homeopaths: The Failure of Self Regulation

About Me

The Quackometer has been developed by Andy Lewis. If you wish to get in contact then please read the FAQ and then email me. Details in the About section.

The $100 Challenge

With minimum cost, homeopaths could do a simple test that would start to shut me up about the implausibility of homeopathy.

It is now

 56 weeks

without anyone taking the test.

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