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sam_md

Whatever happened to Kevin Trudeau?

sam_md
18 years ago

Last year there were several infomercials featuring Kevin Trudeau. He was promoting his book on all natural cures. If I remember right he said he knew of natural cures for cancer, arthritis, obesity, diabetes and arthritis among others.

Other than that I know nothing about him. Is he still around? Have you read his book? He has been evaluated on this site http://www.quackwatch.org/ scroll down to hot topics.

Comments (4)

  • Heathen1
    18 years ago

    Looks like he is busy going broke paying back all the people he mislead... the modern day snake oil salesman

    Infomercial Marketers Settle Various Charges:

    Ad Claims For "Hair Farming," "Mega Memory System," "Addiction Breaking System,"
    "Action Reading," "Eden's Secret," and "Mega Reading" Were Deceptive

    Eight marketers of self-help and health-related products promoted in radio and television infomercials have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that ad claims for their products were false or unsubstantiated. The defendants will pay a total of $1.1M to settle the charges and one defendant will be required to establish a $500,000 escrow account, which will be used to repay consumers should he commit similar law violations in the future. A ninth defendant faces trial on FTC charges in federal district court.

    Course, I think that people who believe this stuff are closely related to the people who give money to Televangelists.

  • herbalistic
    15 years ago

    He is a writer. He researches and writes about stuff and is in the business of selling his books. I was flipping channels on TV and saw him selling something else now. Real Estate Secrets maybe?
    I checked one of his natural cure books out of the library out of curiosity. I didn't really care for the "tone" of the book. If you do your own research you will recognize the truth when and where you find it. [The Spirit of Truth is able to guide you into all truth.] So I could recognize that he did have a lot of things to say in his natural cures book[s]that I have also read elsewhere -- the jury may still be out on some of the other stuff and over all I just "took it with a grain of salt" as the old expression goes. The tone however, was that of someone with a huge chip on his shoulder which really detracted from the over all message. If you haven't been clued in to some of the FDA assaults on natural cures then maybe you should read his book -- it is not uncommon for lobbied AMA type concerns to attempt to discredit natural cures -its been happening for centuries. One has only to read a history of herbalism to discover that. Read Barbara Grigg's "Green Pharmacy - the History and Evolution of Western Herbal Medicine". This book parallels the evolution of modern medicine along with herbal medicine and the reason for all the back and forth competition over the centuries. Whenever so called "modern" medicine kills more patients than cures - people flock to the safer, less invasive forms of herbal medicine. You can see this over and over again thru'out history. This results in jealousies and attempts to get rid of the "competition". Plant medicine can't be patented. Anyone can learn how to use "weeds" from their own backyards. So drug companies and doctors joined forces [believe it or not they used to be in competition too]and began propaganda campaigns and patent medicines in order to make themselves rich whereas herbalists were mainly interested in helping people regain health and often did not receive payment at all.
    At any rate the information is out there and you don't need Kevin's books to find it. If you are curious as to what he has to say - check it out - then go on to more research before you make your conclusions. General rule of thumb in research is finding at least 3 unrelated sources that say the same thing gives validity.
    People get the best of both worlds thru'cooperation rather than competition and we must safeguard our freedom to choose our own course of action.

  • brendan_of_bonsai
    15 years ago

    He only became a writer because he was slapped hard by the FTC when people kept buying his "cures" and dieing from what he claimed to treat. In his book he lists "cures" but you have to go to his website to buy the information to get/make the "cures"

    Plant based medicine can and is very patentable. You just have to find a new use for a plant (in the US, natives in some back woods somewhere don't count as far as use goes) and prove that it works and that it does less harm than good. Much of the modern medicine pharmacy is made from plants, typically a specific chemical is pulled out and purified to avoid things like toxic effects off of the other chemicals, or fluctuating doses, modern medicine is not comfortable guessing at these things, they got tired of people dieing from them.

  • rusty_blackhaw
    15 years ago

    Kevin Trudeau has flourished because people have short memories about his crimes, and because sowing fear and suspicion about the "establishment" ("They don't want you to know") has always been a path to riches for those in the health con racket.

    "Trudeau went to jail twice, first for swindling a bank, and the second time for cheating his own customers through credit card fraud.

    Once out of jail, he appeared on TV as a memory expert and made false claims, according to the Federal Trade Commission, about improving your memory.

    Then he claimed to have a tape that would make your pain go away. Then he claimed calcium would cure cancer.

    Repeatedly, the government would move to take him to court, but without getting to court, he'd settle and sign what's called a consent order. A consent order is when you say, "I don't admit doing anything wrong, but I won't do it anymore." Then Trudeau would go right back into business, selling something different -- like weight-loss remedies.

    Finally, two years ago, frustrated government officials demanded a bigger settlement. Again, Trudeau admitted no wrongdoing, but he agreed to give up one of his million-dollar homes as part of a $2 million settlement, and they got him to agree to stop selling products for life. Officials thought that would be the end of his deceitful TV pitches, but no.

    Months later he was back on TV, selling books. The government couldn't prevent that -- freedom of speech laws make books different from other products. And books -- even though he's had to publish them himself -- have turned out to be his biggest gold mine yet."

    The economy may be down, but suckers are never in short supply.

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