Natural Cures – Updated Edition Kevin Trudeau (born February 6, 1963) is an American entrepreneur, conspiracy theorist, author and television infomercial spokesperson. His news-style infomercials – broadcast frequently on late night TV in North America – have promoted a range of products, including health aids, dietary supplements (coral calcium), real estate investment strategies, and memory-improvement courses. His latest series of infomercials features his book Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You To Know About (ISBN 097559950X). In it he makes claims about the safety and health of our food supply, arguing that diseases such as cancer can be cured with naturopathic remedies. He likewise maintains that the pharmaceutical industry is actively suppressing these cures, so that they can continue to profit from their patented treatments. Critics of Trudeau point to his established criminal history and warn buyers to be wary of his advice. Nevertheless, Trudeau's commercials have been quite successful – Natural Cures was listed in September 2005 by the New York Times as the number one selling current nonfiction book in the United States. Contents 1 Criminal history 1.1 1990: Larceny & prison 1.2 1996: SEC 1.3 1998: FTC fine 2 Book: "Natural Cures" 2.1 FDA 2.2 Treatment plans 2.3 Alternative medicine 2.4 Media interviews 2.5 Retail 3 International Pool Tour 4 Criticism of infomercials 4.1 Pharmaceutical companies 4.2 References to scientific studies 4.3 Newspaper article 5 Other criticisms 5.1 No medical training 5.2 No basis in research 5.3 No proof of claims 5.4 False endorsements 6 Audio Tapes: "Mega Memory" 7 See also 8 Reference 9 Further reading 10 External links Criminal history 1990: Larceny & prison Trudeau's legal problems are long-standing. In 1990, he posed as a doctor in order to deposit $80,000 in false checks, and in 1991 he pled guilty to larceny after he had provided false information to obtain credit cards which he used for his own purposes. He spent two years in prison because of this conviction. (Choi, 2005) Most people in opposition to Trudeau's claims point to this felony conviction as a good reason not to trust him. 1996: SEC Trudeau rebounded, making a small fortune working for Nutrition For Life, a multi-level marketing program. However, in 1996, his recruitment practices ran afoul of the states of Illinois and Michigan, as well as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Michigan went so far as to forbid him from operating in the state. 1998: FTC fine Then, in 1998, he was forced to pay $500,000 in consumer redress to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), relating to six infomercials he had produced and in which the FTC determined he had made false or misleading claims. Book: "Natural Cures" Trudeau's book Kevin Trudeau begins his book, Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You To Know About, with a personal story: at the age of 21 he discovered he had a mitral valve defect in his heart, and claims that this was an incurable debilitating condition according to established medicine. He writes that his life was saved by a procedure which was performed in Mexico because it was banned in the United States. The story has been criticised by consumer watchdog groups and medical doctors as being inconsistent. The symptoms of the condition he names (mitral valve prolapse) are generally surreptitious. Consumer groups and doctors claim the treatment he describes could not have altered the structure of his heart. FDA Trudeau, who has no known medical training or expertise (although he says that this fact makes him the most qualified to make these claims because he is not part of the drug industry or the FDA), claims in his book that the Food and Drug Administration is actively banning all-natural cures so that consumers are forced to buy drugs and therefore support the drug industry. He also makes claims that there are all-natural cures for serious ailments such as cancer, attention deficit disorder, arthritis, acid reflux disease, herpes, and many other diseases. In Trudeau's book these studies are referenced, but are vague. He reminds his readers, "It's all about the money! See why I am mad as all hell and not going to take it anymore??" Treatment plans A repeated criticism of the book – at least the original version – is that there are very few actual treatment plans for any illnesses within its pages. A possible explanation for this is that he is afraid of civil lawsuits from parties who may be harmed as a result of taking his advice in lieu of more traditional medical treatment. Instead of detailed cures, the original book presents only general concepts, and then promotes a companion website which sells subscriptions to further detailed information and a monthly newsletter. However, the latest edition of Natural Cures features specific claims of cures for many diseases, such as removing all metal dental work from the mouth and using products like CMO or crocodile protein peptide to cure arthritis, apple cider vinegar to cure acid reflux and red marine algae, hydrogen peroxide, DMSO and larrea to cure herpes, as well as enemas to cure PMS and back pain. He says that virtually all disease is caused by either nutritional deficiencies ("Osteoporosis is just a calcium deficiency"), toxins in the body (such as artificial colors, sweeteners, and preservatives in food, or flouride and chlorine in conventional tap water), electromagnetic chaos ("I've been able to cure men of infertility by having them stop using laptop computers"), or stress; this weakens the body, making one vulnerable to disease. Treating the cause will result in eliminating the disease. For example, he advocates organic homemade juice fasts for the purpose of getting nutritional benefits without ingesting the chemical additives found in conventional processed food. Alternative medicine Even some advocates of alternative medicine point to the fact that many of the remedies Trudeau cites as too controversial to talk about on television or even in his book are widely available in other publications or on the Internet. For example, one of his suggestions for losing weight is to have 15 colonics over a span of 30 days. On his very first infomercial advertising his book, Trudeau gave out "medical facts" such as if your body's pH is alkaline, you can virtually never get sick. He goes on to say that, through his research, all cancer patients he has observed have an acidic body. Critics have disputed with this statement, asserting that one's body can be neither basic nor acidic as blood pH is fairly neutral but slightly alkaline at 7.4; [1] and any significant deviation from that could result in serious illness (see acidosis and alkalosis). On one of his latest infomercials, Trudeau offers a companion CD with a title that has been "censored by the FTC" according to Trudeau. That title is "Lose 30 Pounds in 30 Days - The Weight Loss Secret 'They' Don't Want You to Know About". Media interviews Trudeau has caused a stir in the media, having been interviewed by CNN's Paula Zahn, NBC's Today Show, and CBS's The Early Show. Video footage of these interviews can be seen on Trudeau's Natural Cures website. Trudeau was also interviewed for investigative reports on Inside Edition and ABC's 20/20. During such interviews, whenever Trudeau is "tripped up" or a statement exposed as untrue (such as his claim that the FTC could find no wrong-doing in any case brought against him), he will often begin ranting that the television program in which he is being interviewed is "owned" by the drug companies. This statement is meant to refer to the advertising dollars spent by pharmaceutical companies or the number of perscription drug commercials which air on the network. This tactic has proven most successful in live broadcast interviews as it is meant to "eat up" time and avoid further questioning. In some cases Trudeau has attempted to gain sympathy from his supporters, via his newsletters, by claiming to have been "attacked" or "ambushed" on a particular program or by a particular interviewer. He says that he has been offered taped interviews, which he refused. When he requested a live interview, no live interview was granted, he says. On another occasion, he relates that a television crew arrived early in the morning while he was asleep. They started shouting accusations and, as he was not showered, or fed, or dressed, he could not come out and answer. According to Kevin, he had to call the police to have them removed from his property, and they never broadcasted the footage, only said he denied them an interview. He blames all of these alleged events on the pharmaceutical industry, which, he says, sponsors and, for all practical purposes, owns the media. Retail In August 2005, the drug store chain Walgreens pulled the book from its shelves, but the book continues to be sold at Sam's Club and elsewhere. Millions of copies have already been sold through retailers Waldenbooks, Costco, and Wal-Mart. International Pool Tour Kevin Trudeau founded the International Pool Tour (IPT), with some of the largest purses and prizes given out in billiards. [2] This has attracted the interest of some of the best pool players in world. It also sets itself apart from the many 9-Ball tournaments as all IPT events are 8-Ball games with very strict rules. Criticism of infomercials Trudeau's infomercials typically consist of a conversation with a co-host. This is a recent program for his updated Natural Cures. Since the Federal Trade Commission's ban on Trudeau applies to almost everything except publications, Trudeau has gone into the publishing business. The FTC concluded that prohibiting him from selling publications would infringe upon his first amendment rights. All of his recent infomercials advertise his book, Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You To Know About, and he has a minimum of five different versions of this infomercial that have aired in 2004 and 2005. Pharmaceutical companies Trudeau argues that pharmaceutical companies (he never mentions specific ones) "don't want us to get well" because, if all diseases were cured, these companies would be out of business. According to Trudeau, pharmaceutical companies are only oriented towards profit, and have no real interest in helping their consumers. He states in one infomercial that there are twelve known cures for cancer, but they are being kept from the general public by the FDA, the FTC, and the pharmaceutical companies. He goes on to say that the FDA and the FTC are two of the most corrupt organizations in America. One particular claim of his states that there is actually a long list of chemical ingredients that are secretly not required to be on the FDA "ingredients" label, and which are damaging to human health. Trudeau also promulgates a conspiracy theory, claiming that the drug industry and the FDA work "in tandem" with each other to deceive the public. In other words, Trudeau claims that the FDA bans all-natural cures to protect the profits of the drug industry. In addition, Trudeau claims that FDA commissioners who leave the FDA to work for large drug companies and are paid millions of dollars as soon as they leave the FDA. In any other industry, according to Trudeau, this would be called "bribery", a "conflict of interest", or "payoffs". Trudeau also claims in his infomercials that the food industry is including chemicals (such as MSG) to get people "addicted to food" and to "make people obese", which the pharmaceutical companies could then profit on. Some of his points may be valid, such as the issue he takes with television ads for prescription drugs. Many people, including Trudeau, believe prescription drugs should be advertised to doctors, not the general public (he frequently cites the number of advertisements on television for prescription drugs). He makes the statement that natural treatments, which are affordable cannot be patented, are not profitable enough to justify spending hundreds of millions of dollars in testing, resulting in a lack of approval by the FDA. Trudeau uses herpes as an example, a touted "incurable" disease: people with herpes must buy an expensive drug from the pharmaceutical companies, for the rest of their lives; however, if there was a cheap, easy, cure for herpes, "they" would not want us to know about it, because profits would no longer be made. References to scientific studies One of the major complaints about Trudeau's infomercials is that he makes only vague references to scientific studies, making them impossible to cross-check for accuracy. The same is true for the anecdotal evidence he presents in the infomercials. He never mentions names of people who have been cured by his methods, making it equally difficult to verify. For example, he tells a story in an infomercial about "a friend from England" who came to his house and complained of heartburn. Trudeau advised him to drink a sip of vinegar to alleviate the symptoms. According to Trudeau, his friend's burning sensation in his esophagus went away within seconds. It's possible that the vinegar, being a much weaker acid, washed the stomach acid away from the irritated area and back into the stomach. Also, the mere act of drinking may have caused the sphincter muscle at the bottom of the esophagus to open and drain the stomach acid that was causing the symptoms. He also references a study done on the antidepressant qualities of St. John's Wort compared to two prescription medications. The media reported that St. John's Wort was "proven ineffective in study", but, when the study is read carefully, it becomes clear that none of the medicines tested were effective at combating depression. Again, by failing to reference the study, it is impossible to substantiate this claim. This is where he gets into a conflict with the FTC. The infomercials seem to imply that these subjects will be addressed further in the book, but most who have read it disagree. Readers of his book are often referred to his website to find the supposed natural cures, where a fee must be paid for its use. Newspaper article A Sept. 18, 2005 Miami Herald article on the infomercials elaborates on the success and problems of the programs. By repeatedly mentioning government sanctions against him, Trudeau "anticipated any backlash with his cuckoo conspiracy theory" and can partially deflect any criticism of him or his infomercials; Trudeau's use of the word "cure" is also an issue for regulators. Bookstores are polled on how they sell one of the most successful and controversial self-published books in history. [3] Other criticisms No medical training One common criticism by consumer groups is that Trudeau has had no medical training. Trudeau responds that by not having such, he is not biased towards pharmaceutical companies and the FDA, and that medical doctors "are taught only how to write out prescriptions" for "poisons" and "cut out pieces of a person's anatomy." (This has now turned into an infomercial fad of sorts, as it is now not uncommon to see an infomercial touting FDA conspiracy theories.) No basis in research Another criticism is that Trudeau's claims are usually not backed by research and that much of his information is an overpriced repackaging of preexisting natural cure remedies. For example, "A Complete Handbook of Nature Cure" is a widely available PDF book with natural treatments that claim to cure a range of ailments. [4] No proof of claims Kevin Trudeau has also been criticized for his inability to provide substantial evidence to back up many of his claims. Although he is willing to provide anecdotal evidence he has yet to provide evidence that such customer claims have been evaluated by a licensed medical practitioner. As such any claims made by Kevin Trudeau or his supporters that his book or other business endeavours have "helped people" cannot be verified and are based solely on testimonials. In many instances where Mr. Trudeau has been asked to provide proof of his claims, he often misrepresents medical studies or cites dubious or fictitious studies. This includes, but is not limited to, a nonexistent 25 year research study involving a natural cure for diabetes at the University of Calgary. [5] False endorsements In August 2005, the New York Consumer Protection Board warned consumers that Trudeau has used false claims of endorsements to promote his products, noting that the back cover of Natural Cures "includes false endorsements, including one from Dr. Herbert Ley, a former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration who died three years before the book was even written." Further, the NYCPB states that Trudeau's television ads "give the false impression that Tammy Faye opposes chemotherapy in favor of the ‘natural cures’ in Trudeau’s book." A representative for Tammy Faye said that is not true and that she is starting chemotherapy again. [6] The Herbert Ley quote in question says, verbatim: "The thing that bugs me is that people think the FDA is protecting them. It isn't. What the FDA is doing and what people think it's doing are is different as night and day." That quote had absolutely nothing to do with Mr. Trudeau, his books, or his message. That quote was merely the doctor's experience concerning the Food & Drug Administration, which Kevin felt necessary to explain in his book. Audio Tapes: "Mega Memory" Kevin adapted techniques used to improve the memory of the blind and the mentally challenged to create Advanced Mega Memory and Mega Memory audio tapes. He also founded the "American Memory Institute". His promotion of memory-enhancing products was put to an end by an FTC crackdown, which determined that the programs involved resulted in very little success, if any. See also Coral calcium Reference Candice Choi, Associated Press, No Sure Cure, The Detroit News, page 3b, 25 Sep 2005, in court records. [7] Further reading Michael Shermer, "Cures and Cons: Natural scams 'he' doesn't want you to know about", Scientific American, vol 294, #3, March 2006, pg 35. More Natural "Cures" Revealed by Kevin Trudeau, Alliance Publishing Group, 2006. External links Kevin's Websites: NaturalCures.com – Kevin Trudeau's Homepage KevinFightsBack.com – Kevin Trudeau's Media Homepage TheWhistleblower.com – Kevin Trudeau's Blog Critics Websites: Federal Trade Commission statement: Kevin Trudeau Banned from Infomercials – FTC.gov, September 7, 2004 Cancer ‘cures’ are empty promises in Kevin Trudeau’s ‘Natural Cures’ book New York Consumer Protection Board warning, August 5, 2005 News articles: What Kevin Trudeau doesn't want you to know about – Christopher Dreher, Salon.com, July 26, 2005 Best-seller ‘Natural Cures’ sparks court battle – Bob Sullivan, MSNBC, Aug. 22, 2005 'Natural Cures' a success amid strong criticism – Candice Choi, Miami Herald, Sep. 18, 2005 Wait, There's More – Libby Copeland, Washington Post, Oct 23, 2005 Being Kevin Trudeau – Mike Panozzo, Billiards Digest, November, 2005 Is Infomercial King a Helper or Huckster? – Jake Tapper, ABC News Nightline, Jan. 13, 2006 King Con? John Stossel, Glenn Ruppel, Frank Mastropolo, ABC News 20/20, Jan. 20, 2006 Natural scams "he" doesn't want you to know about – Michael Shermer, Scientific American, March, 2006 Skeptical: Kevin Trudeau at the Notable Names Database Skeptics Dictionary entry on Trudeau Quackwatch page about Trudeau About his show on Coral Calcium Trudeau fined for making fraudulent claims Trudeau found to have made more fraudulent claims Transcript of his infomercial with analysis by Stephen Barrett, M.D. - Infomercial Watch, February 2, 2005 Kevin Trudeau Banned from Infomercials – ConsumerAffairs.com, September 10, 2004 Would You Buy A Used Cure From This Man? – The Smoking Gun, August 26, 2005 Mega Memory: Mega Memory – Does It Work? – Kevin Jay North, The Memory Page What's New paragraph about Trudeau – Bob Park, August 19, 2005 Related: FAQ on Bovine Growth Hormone in Milk Products – Dairy Institute of California (Christine Bruhn, Center for Consumer Research; John Bruhn, Department of Food Science & Technology University of California, Davis) Merck Manual Discussion of mitral valve prolapse – Sec. 16, Ch. 207, Vascular Heart Disease National Institutes of Health Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Search Term: "Kevin_Trudeau" Categories: American entrepreneurs | American non-fiction writers | Confidence tricksters | People in alternative medicine | People from Massachusetts | Adoptees | 1963 births | Living people