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...

How to become a Daytime TV Expert: The Jayney Goddard Story

Wed, 07 May 2008 19:13:00 +0000

Professor Jayney Goddard is the president of the Complementary Medical Association (CMA), "the world's largest professional membership body for complementary medicine" and has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. She studied homeopathy at Imperial College for five years and has won numerous awards. According to various sites, she is "considered to be among the world’s leading

more...

Neal's Yard Remedies 'rapped by medicines regulator'

Tue, 06 May 2008 12:42:00 +0000

In a recent post, I described how Neal's Yard Remedies had withdrawn their Malaria homeopathy pills. Their press release said, as this is obviously a contentious issue which is causing customer concern, we have decided to withdraw the product, Malaria Officinalis 30c from sale with immediate effect. I described this as bullshit, just like the rest of their press release. The much more likely

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On Bullshit and Mindfucking

Thu, 01 May 2008 17:45:00 +0000

Edzard Ernst has accused practitioners of alternative medicine of lying to their patients. In last week's New Scientist he gave an interview where he described his childhood experiences with homeopathy, and his subsequent medical and homeopathic training, and his work in the only German homeopathic hospital. His conversion to doubt has been slow and guided by the evidence. He now believes that

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Neal's Yard Ethical Bullshit Remedy

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:52:00 +0000

Neal's Yard Remedies has announced that it is withdrawing is Malaria Officinalis 30C homeopathic remedy from sale. This is the absolute minimum it could have done given that its Exeter Branch was recently caught out by the BBC South West programme Inside Out selling this remedy as protection against malaria. (I wrote about this staggering event recently.) What reason do Neal's Yard give? Let's

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The 'Close Doors' Button

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:26:00 +0000

I read a rather disconcerting thing the other day. Apparently, the 'close doors' button on lifts (elevators, for my American friends) does not work. It is there to give us a sense of control in the tin box suspended on a rope. We press it but the lift control mechanisms decide when the doors should actually shut according to their pre-programmed cycles. My reaction was of course total disbelief

more...

A Footnote to Darwin and Homeopathy

It's a Stitch Up

Neal's Yard Remedies Offers Lethal Homeopathic Malaria Advice

Medical Astrology - Forseeing the Future of Regulated Alternative Medicine

The Age of Quackery

Hopi Ear Candling - Removing the Grey Goo Between Your Ears

The Vets Who Make People Feel Better

The Society of Homeopaths: One Year On

Very Soon, Falsely Using the Title 'Dr' Will Land You in a New Heap of Doo Doo

Betting on Quackery

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

 22 weeks

without anyone taking the test.

Tools

Get the QuackSafeTM Surfing 4 in 1 Toolbar. Access the quackometer from any web page.

 

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News

The quackometer is currently undergoing redevelopment after a move to new servers.

In the meantime, the quackometer engine is not available.

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