Tens of thousands of people die every year from the effects of taking prescription drugs, while millions more suffer unnecessarily, and eventually die prematurely, because they are never told about the existence of better alternatives in the form of safe, effective nutritional approaches.

This ignorance is maintained by the scare tactics and other activities of a small number of self-styled 'quackbusters' – individuals who, along with global lobby groups supporting the chemical, pharmaceutical, medical and processed food industries – pursue an organised anti-nutritional medicine agenda.

A new book, written by Martin Walker (author of Dirty Medicine and Brave New World of Zero Risk) traces the history of quackbuster campaigns against vitamin and food supplements and looks at the darker side of those organising against non-pharmaceutically based medicine in general, and nutritional medicine in particular.

The book, Cultural Dwarfs and Junk Journalism: Ben Goldacre, quackbusting and corporate science, is an intriguing read: detailed and erudite, and very enlightening! Published in January 2008, it is available as a FREE download from Slingshot Publications.

First published in March 2008

Click here for more research reports

Top of page