Joseph Mercola, the Most Influential Spreader of Coronavirus Misinformation Online

[Eugene]

Source: New York Times

The Most Influential Spreader of Coronavirus Misinformation Online

Researchers and regulators say Joseph Mercola, an osteopathic physician, creates and profits from misleading claims about Covid-19. “I have every right to inform the public,” he says.

By Sheera Frenkel
July 24, 2021, 9:53 a.m. ET

SAN FRANCISCO — The article that appeared online on Feb. 9 began with a seemingly innocuous question about the legal definition of vaccines. Then over its next 3,400 words, it declared coronavirus vaccines were “a medical fraud” and said the injections did not prevent infections, provide immunity or stop transmission of the disease.

Instead, the article claimed, the shots “alter your genetic coding, turning you into a viral protein factory that has no off-switch.”

Its assertions were easily disprovable. No matter. Over the next few hours, the article was translated from English into Spanish and Polish. It appeared on dozens of blogs and was picked up by anti-vaccination activists, who repeated the false claims online. The article also made its way to Facebook, where it reached 400,000 people, according to data from CrowdTangle, a Facebook-owned tool.

The entire effort traced back to one person: Joseph Mercola.

Dr. Mercola, 67, an osteopathic physician in Cape Coral, Fla., has long been a subject of criticism and government regulatory actions for his promotion of unproven or unapproved treatments. But most recently, he has become the chief spreader of coronavirus misinformation online, according to researchers.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/24/technology/joseph-mercola-coronavirus-misinformation-online.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuonUktbfqohkT1UZBybJUNMnqBqCgvfeh747nXLmLG2QRCxJyOAcRoOH4UDLbLRifcYomjGaX95HPrg1QfVuz-hZektrTwiur92EhJEBaW0TmL6EY1kXjdjLTKxqtnjjdHW4I-Nyg7O0sx_daDHqRPPb0H0-IAxm9o81cQuhxX1fwPqRFuYm2YZ42OwzRcwvHUd2byeBvfHjCxl0KY_GOkmasl9qLrkfDTLDntec66YCdhFSDD_FSXB54WU_6rBMKY9dffa_f1N7Jp2I0fhGAXdoLYyqG5Q7W4HR8r1surPOohSNo9GkVlS4PGty6szob-7IVhgJkg&smid=url-share

[flying_wahini]

1. Wonder if he got the vaccine...?

He’s a liar anyway.

[NewHendoLib]

2. osteopath, homeopath... bullshitopath.

[Phoenix61]

4. An osteopath is a licensed medical doctor.

That being said Florida needs to pull his license.

[Warpy]

7. I worked with ostepaths during their internship and residency in teaching hospitals

and all were well educated and kept up with the guys from Harvard. Their focus in practice is quite different, but most of them know their stuff. They were also vaccinated, or they wouldn't have been allowed in teaching hospitals.

Mercola is a quack. He obviously wasn't much of a doctor, so he's been a crank for decades, pumping out maximum amounts of bullshit and misinformation.

There are DO's I'd go to in a pinch. I'd never go to Mercola or anyone who sounded like him. They're menaces and need their licenses pulled.

[hlthe2b]

3. Long history of quackery, flimflam scams.. It is absyssmal that we can't stop this kind of crap.

https://quackwatch.org/11ind/mercola/

Dr. Joseph Mercola Ordered to Stop Illegal Claims
Stephen Barrett, M.D.
May 16, 2021

Joseph Mercola, D.O., who practiced for many years in Schaumburg, Illinois, now operates one of the Internet’s largest and most trafficked health information sites. Since 2012, Mercola has stated that his site has over 300,000 pages and is visited by “millions of people each day” and that his electronic newsletter has over one million subscribers [1]. The site vigorously promotes and sells dietary supplements, many of which bear his name. It also publishes a steady stream of propaganda intended to persuade its visitors nit to trust mainstream healthcare viewpoints and consumer-protection agencies.

For many years, Dr. Mercola and other staff members saw patients at his clinic, which was called the Optimal Wellness Center. In 1999, Mercola announced that about one third of his new patients were autistic and that he had treated about 60 such children with secretin, a hormone he said “appeared to be a major breakthrough.” [2] After it was well settled that secretin is ineffective against autism [3], Mercola’s Web site still said it would work if a child complied with his recommended diet strategies [4].
--snip--

In 2006, an article in Business Week concluded that he was “one of a fast-growing number of alternative-health practitioners who seek to capitalize on concerns about the conventional health care system—in his case relying on slick promotion, clever use of information, and scare tactics.” The article described how his promotions included (a) promises of “free’ to sell stuff; (a) lots of “bonuses,” (c) reports of real news that link to marginally related products, and (d) exaggerated claims. [7]

In 2012, an article in Chicago Magazine reported that Mercola had stopped practicing medicine six years previously to focus on his Web site [8]. However, his decision may have been influenced by a 3-year battle with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation [9]. I did not see any mention of this on his Web site, and the site invited patients to come to his clinic—which was renamed Dr. Mercola’s Natural Health Center—for offbeat practices that included detoxification, chiropractic, Dispensary, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), Functional Medicine Program, homeopathy, Neuro-Structural Integration Technique (NST), Nutritional Typing Test, thermography, Total Body Modification (TBM), and Active Isolated Stretching.

In September 2014, Mercola announced that he had closed the clinic “in order to devote his full time and attention to research, education and increasing public awareness.” [10]

Many of Mercola’s articles make unsubstantiated claims and clash with those of leading medical and public health organizations. For example, he opposes immunization [11] fluoridation. [12], mammography [13], and the routine administration of vitamin K shots to the newborn [14,15]; claims that amalgam fillings are toxic [16]; and makes many unsubstantiated recommendations for dietary supplements. He has advised against eating many foods that the scientific community regards as healthful, such as bananas, oranges, red potatoes, white potatoes, all milk products, and almost all grains [17]. He has also given silly advice, such as minimizing exposure to electromagnetic fields by avoiding electric razors, microwaving of foods, watches with batteries [18]. Mercola’s reach has been greatly boosted by repeated promotion on the “Dr. Oz Show.”

Many of the articles he writes encourage readers to buy dietary supplements and other products that can be ordered from his companies. He has even found a way to profit from his opposition to fluoridation. In 2020, began promising that his $250 “Fluoride Removal Full Spectrum Countertop Water Filters” would remove up to 99.9% of the fluoride ions from tap water. The article promoting his filters claimed that “water fluoridation is a public health scam and one of the most unnecessary and severely health-damaging practices we are exposed to today.” [19] Nothing could be further from the truth.

[njhoneybadger]

5. Wow, thx for that information.

That charlatan should be in jail.

[mopinko]

6. well, i'm glad he moved to floriduh.

seems like a natural place for him to land. it was getting a little too warm for him in schaumburg, i guess.

[niyad]

8. I realized that he was a crackpot the first time I saw his web page. Have told a number

of people over the years not to buy his bs.

[Celerity]

9. K & R for visibility

[SouthernDem4ever]

10. I eat organic and try to keep chemicals to a minimum

I didn't need Dr. Mercola to tell me this, but that means to some people that he is the only one telling the truth. Then they believe everything else he says. He will throw up a few scientific words about genetics and disease and there you have it. You are now as intelligent as any Dr. This is how he gets them hooked and feeling like they know more than everyone else.