Quack Quack: the threat of pseudoscience, a 2022 book by Dr. Joe Schwarcz

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joe Schwarcz is a professor at McGill University in Montreal. He directs the McGill Office for Science and Society (OoSS), writes a newspaper column titled The Right Chemistry in the Montreal Gazette, and is the author of numerous books. His most recent book is Quack Quack: The Threat of Pseudoscience. I saw a review of it by the late Harriet Hall at Science Based Medicine on January 3, 2023. None of the public libraries in the Treasure Valley bought a copy, so I recently did at Amazon. Most of the chapters in the book are about three pages long, and thus easy to read. They typically had appeared as articles, either at the web site for the McGill Office for Science and Society or columns in the Montreal Gazette (sometimes accompanied by YouTube videos). Here are five examples from the book.

 

My favorite article, on pages 144 to 147, is titled The Curious “Science” of Oscillococcinum, and also appeared on March 20, 2017 at OoSS, and in a YouTube Video from the Montreal Gazette titled Dr. Joe Schwarcz: He’s no quack. That product is a homeopathic remedy for flu-like symptoms produced by Boiron - made from the liver and heart of a duck. Those ‘meats’ are diluted by a factor of a hundred in water, and the process repeated 200 times. Then the solution is dripped onto sugar pellets. The so-called ‘active ingredient’ is present at a ludicrously small level – one in ten to the four-hundredth power.

 

I was disgusted to find Oscillococcinum on sale at my local Walgreens pharmacy. The package and web site say the allegedly inactive ingredients are lactose and sucrose, and cryptically describe the active ingredient in Latin just as:

“Anas barbariae 200CK – To reduce the duration and severity of flu-like symptoms”

 

Right before it, on Pages 142 to 144 is another article titled Natural Fallacies, which you can also find at the Montreal Gazette on September 30, 2016 as an article titled The Right Chemistry: “Natural is better’ is a myth, and a five-minute YouTube video titled Dr. Joe Schwarcz on the misuse of the word natural.

 

Yet another article on pages 83 to 85 on a silly gizmo is titled Alpha Spin Can Make Your Head Spin. It had appeared at the Montreal Gazette on August 2, 2019 as an article titled The Right Chemistry: Secret to longevity can’t be bought online. There is a three-minute YouTube video titled Dr. Joe Schwarcz on the questionable miracle of the “Alpha Spin.” 

 

Still another article on pages 91 to 93 is titled Jilly Juice. It also had appeared in the Montreal Gazette on June 1, 2018 as an article titled The Right Chemistry: Beware of self-proclaimed health experts and as a four-minute YouTube video titled Dr. Joe Schwarcz: Don’t buy the cabbage juice hype.

 

And finally, on pages 174 to 178, there is an article titled Medical Medium. It also had appeared in the Montreal Gazette on March 1, 2019 as an article titled The Right Chemistry: No, celery juice is not a cure-all and as a four-and-a-half minute YouTube video titled Dr. Joe Schwarcz on celery juice and “miracle” cures. (Watch Joe's right thumb!)