APP - Joseph Mercola and his mercola.com website

[Scott]

Recently, a poster named archives quoted the introduction to Wikipedia's article on Joseph Mercola, the founder of the mercola.com website. Here's the quote:

**
“ Joseph Michael Mercola is an American alternative medicine proponent, osteopathic physician, and Internet business personality.He markets largely unproven dietary supplements and medical devices. On his website, Mercola and colleagues advocate unproven and pseudoscientific alternative health notions including homeopathy and opposition to vaccination.”
**

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Mercola

He's certainly not the first person here to disparage the man and I strongly suspect that he won't be the last. This isn't even the first thread on Dr. Mercola. evince made a rather disparaging one here, again citing the Wikipedia article on him:

Joesph Mercola is evil and needs to shut up | justplainpolitics.com

In light of all this, I thought it would be best to try to have a civil conversation on both Joseph Mercola and the mercola.com website he founded.

I think a good place to start would be the quote from the Wikipedia article posted above.

There is nothing wrong with the first sentence, but the second sentence is highly misleading. For one, saying that dietary supplements and medical devices that Joseph Mercola markets through his website are "largely unproven" hides 2 key points:

1- "Largely unproven" suggests that some of Dr. Mercola's claims are in fact proven.

2- Many things are "largely unproven". The real question should always be whether a given claim has the preponderance of evidence on its side.

Perhaps more importantly, most of Mercola.com's articles aren't even marketing anything, but instead providing information on various health subjects.

Here we get into the 3rd quoted sentence:
**
"On his website, Mercola and colleagues advocate unproven and pseudoscientific alternative health notions including homeopathy and opposition to vaccination.”
**

As I've said here in the past, proving just about anything can be a next to impossible task. The focus should always be on where the preponderance of evidence lies.

Finally, I believe there is a vast amount of evidence that strongly suggests that all vaccines are harmful, as well as strong evidence that none of them actually help prevent the diseases they allegedly protect against.

 

[archives]

As I said, the guy is a snake oil salesman

“Old-Time Sales Tricks on the Net”
https://web.archive.org/web/2009070...mallbiz/content/may2006/sb20060523_063274.htm

Three are dozens of exposing reports on Dr Mercola, just read the footnoted sources on the Wiki page, the guy is a huckster, he profits off of being a Covid contrarian, creating a false paradigm to turn a buck

If you are going to come with varying views you got to do better than a Dr Mercola

 

[Scott]

As I said, the guy is a snake oil salesman

You saying that doesn't make it true.

“Old-Time Sales Tricks on the Net”
https://web.archive.org/web/2009070...mallbiz/content/may2006/sb20060523_063274.htm

I think I've seen that article before, though I think I only skimmed it. This time I read the entire thing. His main focus is on some of the marketing techniques that mercola.com had used as of 2006. He seems reasonable enough in his points, but I think it should be pointed out that 2006 was 17 years ago. I suspect that mercola.com has improved since then. Furthermore, you don't actually have to buy anything on mercola.com's site in order to get his daily newsletter and read all the articles he publishes. I know this because I've been a subscriber of his newsletter for years and have never bought anything from his site.

You may not know this, but originally, Dr. Mercola had wanted to make a news only site. However, he soon came to the conclusion that he wouldn't be able to afford the time and money involved in having such a site by only providing news alone, so he began to sell products as well. I've always considered mercola.com's primary asset for users to be its news services, but I can certainly understand that if he stuck to news, he wouldn't be able to afford to keep the site up.

I can certainly agree that he seems to have done relatively well for himself by selling products. The article is somewhat old, so it doesn't take into account that Dr. Mercola stopped consultations, meaning that selling health products is now his main if not only form of income, at least as far as I know.

As to the 2005 warning letter by the FDA that Mr. Gumpart mentions, I believe Dr. Mercola addressed that a long time ago, but I couldn't find him addressing it on mercola's substack by searching for FDA (there were a lot of results and I eventually decided it wasn't worth the trouble). I -did- find him addressing a new warning letter by the FDA in 2020. I think the contents of that article is worth taking a look at. Most of his substack articles only let you see the start of them if you haven't paid for a subscription, but he makes an exception for this one. I'll quote the "story at a glance" part here:

**
STORY AT-A-GLANCE

•In the summer of 2020, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) launched a social media campaign to put an end to Mercola.com. CSPI admitted they pressured the FDA to issue me a warning letter to stop writing about nutritional products that can lower your risk of respiratory infections such as COVID-19

•CSPI is a consumer advocacy group bankrolled by billionaires and their corporate ties to Monsanto, the Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Rockefeller Family Fund and Bloomberg Philanthropies

•CSPI rails against published science demonstrating certain nutrients can boost your immune function and help lower your risk of severe infection, saying that science discourages mask wearing — which has no published scientific evidence to back its universal use

•CSPI has a history of promoting industry science and propaganda, having supported artificial sweeteners, trans fats, GMOs, fake meat and the low-fat myth. They’ve also actively undermined transparency in labeling efforts

•We have fully addressed the warning letter, and put the FDA on notice that it cannot stop speech it does not like
**

Full article:
Why FDA Warned Dr. Mercola to Stop Writing About Vitamin D | takecontrol.substack.com


I think the above article is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how the FDA is influenced by outside parties with sinister motives. I think the following article from Bloomberg Law from last year speaks volumes as to the corruption that has inserted itself into the FDA:

Why a Judge Ordered FDA to Release Covid-19 Vaccine Data Pronto | Bloomberg Law


Quoting from it:

**
A group of scientists and medical researchers sued the FDA under FOIA to force release of hundreds of thousands of documents related to licensing of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. Plaintiff’s attorney Aaron Siri, who is representing the group, explains the fight that led a federal court to order expedited release of documents the agency claimed it would take decades to process.

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the Food and Drug Administration asked a federal judge for permission to make the public wait until the year 2096 to disclose all of the data it relied upon to license Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine.

That is not a typo. The FDA wanted court approval to have up to 75 years to publicly disclose this information.

In its attempts to build public support for Covid-19 vaccinations, the FDA repeatedly promised “full transparency,” and reaffirmed its “commitment to transparency” when licensing Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine.

With that promise in mind, after the vaccine’s licensure in August 2020, Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency, a group of highly credentialed scientists submitted a FOIA request to the FDA for the data submitted by Pfizer. The scientists explained that, until all the data is produced, a proper review cannot be conducted because missing even a single data set could throw off any analysis.

In response, the FDA produced nothing. Therefore, in September 2021, the scientists, represented by their attorneys at Siri & Glimstad, sued the FDA demanding it produce this data by March 2022.
**

The rest of the article is behind a paywall, but that part alone is definitely quite revealing.


Here's another article from last year that dives into the corruption in the FDA:

FDA Executive Officer Exposes Close Ties Between Agency and Pharmaceutical Companies: 'Almost a Billion Dollars a Year Going into FDA’s Budget from the People we Regulate' | projectveritas.com

From the article:

**

•FDA Executive Officer Chris Cole: “The drug companies, the food companies, the vaccine companies. So, they pay us hundreds of millions of dollars a year to hire and keep the reviewers to approve their products.”

•Cole on FDA fees: “Congress approved user fees for [the] FDA. Basically, we charge the industry millions of dollars in order to hire more drug reviewers and vaccine reviewers which will speed up the approval process. So, they [pharmaceutical companies] make more money.”

•Cole: “They [FDA] tone down the impact of the user fees on their operations because they know they’re dependent on the drug companies, and the vaccine companies, and these other companies for their agency to operate.”

•Cole on blowing the whistle: “There’s not an incentive to speak out in government, surprisingly. You would think there would be, but there’s not. It’s better just to just not say anything and just ignore it.”

•Cole on retaliation in government: “You’ll be marked from getting other jobs because another office is not going to want to hire you if you’ve spoken out about something, right or wrong. They don’t look at what you’ve spoken out about. They’re just not willing to- government’s about rocking the boat and they don’t want to- which is the problem I have with- one of the problems I have with government is, like, they don’t like people rocking the boat, for right or wrong, at all costs. They want to hire a safe person that can do the job, but doesn’t necessarily- is a great hire.”

•FDA OFFICIAL STATEMENT: "The person purportedly in the video does not work on vaccine matters and does not represent the views of the FDA nor does he speak on behalf of the agency. User fees provide instrumental funding for the FDA’s independent review of medical products that make a difference in the lives of all Americans, without compromising the agency’s commitment to scientific integrity, public health and regulatory standards, patient safety, and transparency."
**

Another article that I think is worth taking a look at:

FDA conceals serious research misconduct–fraud, deception, even deaths | Alliance for Human Research Protection

 

[Poor Richard Saunders]

You saying that doesn't make it true.

Mercola saying it doesn't make it true.

You falling for Mercola's snake oil doesn't make your statements or Dr Mercola's statements true.

I always find it funny the way you bring up old data and pretend it is new. (Your article is over 18 months old and isn't behind a paywall in the US.)
The standard for releasing documents with personal information is to wait 75 years. The court ruled all the personal information should be redacted and the FDA said they didn't have the staff available to redact the documents.
The FDA has now turned over to Public Health and Transparency over 300,000 documents. Not a single one of those documents has supported Dr Mercola's claims.
https://www.courtlistener.com/docke...ofessionals-for-transparency-v-food-and-drug/

 

[Scott]

As I said, the guy is a snake oil salesman

You saying that doesn't make it true.

Mercola saying it doesn't make it true.

True. Perhaps we can agree to refrain from making unsubstantiated assertions on others and focus on the evidence?

You falling for Mercola's snake oil doesn't make your statements or Dr Mercola's statements true.

I completely agree that anyone making statements doesn't mean they are automatically true. Speaking of unsubstantiated statements, you adding yours on top of archives' doesn't help create a productive conversation. Hopefully further down you get into actual evidence for your claims...

I always find it funny the way you bring up old data and pretend it is new. (Your article is over 18 months old and isn't behind a paywall in the US.)

I brought up an article that I felt was relevant. I even stated that the article was from last year. As to the article being behind a paywall, when you said it wasn't, atleast for U.S. users, I went back to the site to see if it was actually behind a paywall for me or if I'd gotten confused. Turns out, I'd gotten confused- there was a button to subscribe and I missed a nearby button to "read more" to see the rest of the article.

The standard for releasing documents with personal information is to wait 75 years. The court ruled all the personal information should be redacted and the FDA said they didn't have the staff available to redact the documents.
The FDA has now turned over to Public Health and Transparency over 300,000 documents. Not a single one of those documents has supported Dr Mercola's claims.
https://www.courtlistener.com/docke...ofessionals-for-transparency-v-food-and-drug/

I'm not sure what alleged claims you're referring to, but here's something that was revealed after the release of the initial batch of documents:

**
The first batch of documents produced in Nov. 2021, which totaled a mere 500 pages, revealed there were more than 1,200 vaccine-related deaths within the first 90 days following the release of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine.
**

Full article:
Pfizer, FDA Lose Bid to Further Delay Release of COVID Vaccine Safety Data | Children's Health Defense


I've also noted that you had nothing to say about the other 2 articles that I brought up in post #6. In case you've forgotten, they're these:

Why FDA Warned Dr. Mercola to Stop Writing About Vitamin D | takecontrol.substack.com

FDA conceals serious research misconduct–fraud, deception, even deaths | Alliance for Human Research Protection

Is there a reason that you didn't feel these articles were worth responding to?

 

[Poor Richard Saunders]

Simply repeating what you already posted is not a valid rebuttal.
I find nothing bout 1200 deaths in any of your links.

 

[Poor Richard Saunders]

I've also noted that you had nothing to say about the other 2 articles that I brought up in post #6. In case you've forgotten, they're these:

Why FDA Warned Dr. Mercola to Stop Writing About Vitamin D | takecontrol.substack.com

FDA conceals serious research misconduct–fraud, deception, even deaths | Alliance for Human Research Protection

Is there a reason that you didn't feel these articles were worth responding to?

Is there any reason why you can't tell us what you think is valid in those two articles?
Simply posting links and not telling us why they are relevant is lazy on your part and only supports the notion that you simply here as a troll.

 

[midcan5]

For those of us old enough to remember Polio, this sort of baseless opinion is not only wrong but scary. Our children and grandchildren have all been vaccinated. I was amazed at the number of vaccines they receive today, but they are all healthy and doing well. For anyone who served in the military they lined us up and shot us in both arms. My wife and I got all the Covid shots and because her mom had shingles we got that shot too. One of my sisters just came down with it. Darn if only....

'A child or youth died once every 4.4 seconds in 2021 – UN report'


'Another 1.9 million babies were tragically stillborn during the same period, according to a separate UN report.'


"It is grossly unjust that a child’s chances of survival can be shaped just by their place of birth, and that there are such vast inequities in their access to lifesaving health services," said Dr Anshu Banerjee, Director for Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing at the World Health Organization (WHO)."

 

[Scott]

Simply repeating what you already posted is not a valid rebuttal.

You might start by quoting what I have allegedly repeated. Otherwise I have no idea what you're referring to.

I find nothing bout 1200 deaths in any of your links.

Probably because I messed up on the link where the quote of 1,200 comes from. It's here:

Pfizer, FDA Lose Bid to Further Delay Release of COVID Vaccine Safety Data | Children's Health Defense

Quoting from the article:

**
The first batch of documents produced in Nov. 2021, which totaled a mere 500 pages, revealed there were more than 1,200 vaccine-related deaths within the first 90 days following the release of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine.
**

 

[Scott]

I've also noted that you had nothing to say about the other 2 articles that I brought up in post #6. In case you've forgotten, they're these:

Why FDA Warned Dr. Mercola to Stop Writing About Vitamin D | takecontrol.substack.com

FDA conceals serious research misconduct–fraud, deception, even deaths | Alliance for Human Research Protection

Is there a reason that you didn't feel these articles were worth responding to?

Is there any reason why you can't tell us what you think is valid in those two articles?

I already did that. Read post #3 for details.

 

[Scott]

For those of us old enough to remember Polio, this sort of baseless opinion is not only wrong but scary.

Exactly what opinion do you think is "wrong" and "scary"?

 

[Bai Lan]

As I said, the guy is a snake oil salesman

“Old-Time Sales Tricks on the Net”
https://web.archive.org/web/2009070...mallbiz/content/may2006/sb20060523_063274.htm

Three are dozens of exposing reports on Dr Mercola, just read the footnoted sources on the Wiki page, the guy is a huckster, he profits off of being a Covid contrarian, creating a false paradigm to turn a buck

If you are going to come with varying views you got to do better than a Dr Mercola

No.
Big pharma are mass murderers.

 

[Publius]

Recently, a poster named archives quoted the introduction to Wikipedia's article on Joseph Mercola, the founder of the mercola.com website. Here's the quote:

**
“ Joseph Michael Mercola is an American alternative medicine proponent, osteopathic physician, and Internet business personality.He markets largely unproven dietary supplements and medical devices. On his website, Mercola and colleagues advocate unproven and pseudoscientific alternative health notions including homeopathy and opposition to vaccination.”
**

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Mercola

He's certainly not the first person here to disparage the man and I strongly suspect that he won't be the last. This isn't even the first thread on Dr. Mercola. evince made a rather disparaging one here, again citing the Wikipedia article on him:

Joesph Mercola is evil and needs to shut up | justplainpolitics.com

In light of all this, I thought it would be best to try to have a civil conversation on both Joseph Mercola and the mercola.com website he founded.

I think a good place to start would be the quote from the Wikipedia article posted above.

There is nothing wrong with the first sentence, but the second sentence is highly misleading. For one, saying that dietary supplements and medical devices that Joseph Mercola markets through his website are "largely unproven" hides 2 key points:

1- "Largely unproven" suggests that some of Dr. Mercola's claims are in fact proven.

2- Many things are "largely unproven". The real question should always be whether a given claim has the preponderance of evidence on its side.

Perhaps more importantly, most of Mercola.com's articles aren't even marketing anything, but instead providing information on various health subjects.

Here we get into the 3rd quoted sentence:
**
"On his website, Mercola and colleagues advocate unproven and pseudoscientific alternative health notions including homeopathy and opposition to vaccination.”
**

As I've said here in the past, proving just about anything can be a next to impossible task. The focus should always be on where the preponderance of evidence lies.

Finally, I believe there is a vast amount of evidence that strongly suggests that all vaccines are harmful, as well as strong evidence that none of them actually help prevent the diseases they allegedly protect against.

I asked my doctor about Mercola and my doctor thinks he's a sharp fellow

 

[Scott]

I asked my doctor about Mercola and my doctor thinks he's a sharp fellow

Speaks well of your doctor I think . Mercola is part of a much larger movement, one villified by the mainstream but it persists nonetheless. An article on it:

What is Medical Freedom, Exactly? ⋆ Brownstone Institute

“Medical freedom” has become more than a buzzword. It is also a movement, with its advocates, experts, and critics. Multiple medical freedom conferences have been organized and are taking place in the United States and abroad, and political parties under its banner have formed.

brownstone.org