Natural Cures is the No. 2 best selling book (second only to Harry Potter) in USA Today's Best Selling Books list, and is ranked as a top seller by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Amazon.com.

Here comes the shocker....
The author, Kevin Trudeau, is not a medical professional but is a convicted felon (1990 grand larceny and 1991 stealing credit card numbers from those who bought his products) and banned by the FTC. The FTC banned 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. In addition, Trudeau cannot make disease or health benefits claims for any type of product, service, or program in any advertising, including print, radio, Internet, television, and direct mail solicitations, regardless of the format and duration." (FTC press release)

Trudeau touts the value of coral calcium and has erroneously claimed that a JAMA study on calcium showed that coral calcium had cured many cases of terminal cancer and claimed that a product called Biotape could permanently cure or relieve severe pain. (transcript of 30 minute infomercial courtesy of Quackwatch.org)

Despite all of this, people are buying his book. With the popularity of this book one has to wonder as to the true Internet searching skills of the public. Constantly medical librarians are told by others, including patrons that everybody knows how to search for information on the Internet. Why would you need a librarian to find information on something, when you can just hop on Google and find the answers to everything?

Desperate patients and families grab for whatever straws they can find and some think the natural products that are en vogue right now are the panacea for their ailments. These are exactly the type of people who could benefit from the research of a medical librarian. We are skilled at sifting through gobs of information online and elsewhere. We can help these people find the needed information which they can share with their doctor concerning their health. It is very frustrating as a person to see there are people who I can help but who don't think to seek me out.
The next time the critics claim that everybody knows how to find health information on the Internet so why bother teaching a class on it, you might ask them.... If everybody is so good at it, then why are they buying books like Natural Cures, authored by a known convicted criminal?

****Update***
Check out more blog threads on this and an article on librarians and quacky alternative medicine.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Adventures in Quacky & Alternative Medicine
Page Range: 43 - 54
DOI: 10.1300/J186v05n03_04
Michael J. Schott, Shelda Martin
Journal of Hospital Librarianship Volume: 5 Issue: 3 Cover Date: 2005

Blog Threads:

• Health Literacy and Alternative Medicine: The Librarian's Role - Krafty Librarian (September 8, 2005)
• Another Reason to Read Grand Rounds -Health Business Blog (August 28, 2005)
• What is a Librarian's Responsibility? -Krafty Librarian (August 24, 2005)
• What's Our Responsibility? -Library Diva (August 23, 2005)
• Something New -Librarian Loose on the Web (August 9, 2005)