Guest guest Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 We should all know by now, it will only work if in the shape of a pyramid. (tic) Health nuts have been popular since at least 55 yrs ago. I attribute my aunt's shortened life to a "nutritionist" named Gaylord Houser who preached "blackstrap molasses and wheat germ bread". As a noted nutritionist said recently, it wouldn't be her fault if someone died following her sayings. So who can I believe? Whether it be Trudeau or Mirkin, we should all look at the refs if any, search pubmed, or medical books, before making any kind of health decision. Diane's recent post "The weight Debate" indicates to me just how "fragile" is the medical/nutrition knowledge base amongst people who think they know something. Regards. [ ] pretty scary The following article about a snake oil salesman was in today's WP. His bookhas sold millions of copies and is on the bestseller list as contrasted withDr W's books which have never made the bestseller list.Wait, There's MoreBy Libby CopelandNEW YORKOn this, our lucky day, Trudeau is introducing us to his personalelectromagnetic chaos eliminator.Trudeau, who has sold millions of books by touting the curative propertiesof things such as magnetic toe rings and crocodile protein peptide, believesthe sole thing keeping his brain from being "microwaved from the inside out"by cell phones and radio waves is this electromagnetic whatever. We areintrigued."Would you like to see this magical device?"Boy, would we!On a publicity tour in the suite of a midtown hotel room, Trudeau unbuttonshis fine white dress shirt.This seems like a good time to note how extremely well-dressed Trudeauis, in the fine tradition of TV salesmen and televangelists. Over the dressshirt is a butter-colored tie that precisely matches the pocket squaretucked into his luxury Brioni suit. He wears alligator shoes. On his leftwrist is a Rolex Masterpiece dripping with diamonds, and on his right ringfinger is a rock so big a child could choke on it.Over the years, Trudeau, an ex-con who never went to college or medicalschool, has been remarkably successful doing infomercials for everythingfrom how to achieve a photographic memory to how to cure your addictions tohow to beat cancer by ingesting a particular type of calcium that, as fatewould have it, he also happened to sell.Now he sells the most popular nonfiction book in the country, according toPublishers Weekly. In "Natural Cures 'They' Don't Want You to Know About,"Trudeau explains how a massive cabal formed of the federal government,pharmaceutical companies and the media is keeping Americans from living wellpast 100. He advises everybody to get off prescription drugs, even if theyhave serious problems like diabetes or blood clots; he reveals how multiplesclerosis can be cured by magnetic mattress pads.He says sunscreen doesn't prevent skin cancer. Instead (wait for it),sunscreen causes skin cancer.But back to the microwaved-brain problem. Trudeau parts his shirt andreveals a necklace with a disk of metal hanging on it. Glory of glories! Soflimsy, yet so powerful. This is the vaunted electromagnetic chaoseliminator. It is called a Q-Link, and for a while lots of celebrities weresupposedly into it, before they joined the Kabbalah bracelet craze.Beneath the Q-Link is another necklace with a black triangle pendant. Thisis yet another electromagnetic chaos eliminator, and we stop Trudeau as he'sclosing his shirt and ask him about it. Trudeau says he's not sure exactlywhat it's made of or what it does; supposedly it offers some sort ofbalancing "vibration." He's just trying it out to see if it works, he says,sounding a little sheepish."The guy who sent it to me is kinda way out there," he says.Trudeau's publishing company -- which he happens to have founded -- sayshe's sold 4 million copies of "Natural Cures," many of them through phoneorders. While those numbers can't be verified, his sales through traditionaloutlets have been astonishing -- so far he's spent 16 weeks on the New YorkTimes bestseller list.For those who want to save their $29.95, here are the secrets to health thegovernment is keeping from you, according to Trudeau:Get an electromagnetic chaos eliminator. Do some "bioenergeticsynchronization." Give yourself some enemas, and then give yourself somemore enemas. Wear white, for positive energy. Don't use a microwave or anelectric tumble dryer or fluorescent lights or artificial sweeteners; don'tdry-clean your clothes or use swimming pools or eat pork. Don't usedeodorant (causes cancer) or nonstick cookware (causes cancer) or watch thenews (stress alters your body's pH, which can make you get cancer). Removethe metal fillings from your mouth, and you're all set!Trudeau's "Natural Cures" also references several helpful Web sites. Oneclaims that if you stare into the sun every day while barefoot, you won'tneed food anymore. Another sells an instrument that looks rather like anindex card but which promises to open a "temporal and spatial gate" that"enables an individual's entire etheric system to interface with a verylarge, complicated, partially automated, predefined healing process."Lastly, if you have depression, Trudeau writes, stop taking your medicationand by all means stop seeing doctors, who can't be trusted. Rather, go for along stroll outside every day and "look far away as you walk."If that fails, the book advises you to try Scientology.Trudeau is a remarkable American success story in the grand tradition oftraveling salesmen with cure-all potions. He could sell you your own shirtand leave you grateful for the bargain.When he talks, his hazel eyes get big and he taps his listener on the knee.He claims he knows important people in important places. He says he was juston the phone with Kirstie Alley. He says he met Mikhail Gorbachev,"fascinating guy."He's a victim. He's a martyr. He's just trying to help his fellow man. Hehasn't been sick in 25 years and he's going to stay healthy till 150 and hemight run for president one day because "there's 25 million people thatwould probably vote for me."He is like a magician; you're watching his hands and all of a sudden there'ssome confetti and a woman in a bathing suit and when you look back, lo andbehold, there's a dove. When you ask Trudeau over and over for proof of his"natural cures," he says his studies are unpublished; he says he doesn'tbelieve in studies; he says the studies are in the book -- but they're notthere. They're never there.Watch the hands.He does an infomercial with Tammy Faye Bakker Messner and manages to seemutterly reasonable.He makes the credit-card fraud and larceny he committed in his twentiessound like no big deal.Trudeau, who now lives in Ojai, Calif., east of Santa Barbara, grew up nearBoston. He says his dad was a welder and his mom a housewife. He went to hisfirst Amway meeting at 15, and there learned he wanted to be "financiallyfree." He started a mail-order business, which he says netted him a $1million profit by the time he was 18.After high school he sold cars, then joined the seminar circuit, offeringtechniques to help people improve their memories. It was during this periodthat he says he got caught up in the fast life and making money. In 1990, hepleaded guilty to depositing $80,000 in worthless checks. In the sentencingmemorandum, prosecutors said he impersonated a doctor when he met with bankofficials. Trudeau says he served fewer than 30 days.In 1991, he pleaded guilty to obtaining and fraudulently using 11 creditcards and served close to two years in federal prison.Trudeau, now 42, has several explanations for his crimes: They were youthfulindiscretions and not as bad as they sound, and besides, both were partlythe fault of other people, and besides, he has changed. The larceny heexplains as a series of math errors compounded by the "mistake" of a bankofficial. As for why the bank thought he was a doctor, that was just asimple misunderstanding, because he jokingly referred to himself as a"doctor in memory."He still can't quite believe he was prosecuted. "Give me a break," he says.The fraud he says he committed because he paid a bill late, which led toAmerican Express giving him a bad credit rating, which just wasn't right.After that, no one would give him a credit card, which was "insane," so hehad little choice but to apply for cards with fake Social Security numbers.According to officials at the time, Trudeau also misappropriated for his ownuse credit card numbers belonging to customers who'd signed up for hismemory improvement courses. The man formerly known as "Mr. Mega Memory" sayshe doesn't think he did that, but adds that was a "very blurry time in myhistory with all the stress."He calls that prosecution "outrageous" and says American Express and theprosecutor had it in for him, rather like he believes the federal governmenthas it in for him now."It was a sad day because I remember walking into the courtroom and abovethe courtroom it says these words which are completely untrue: 'Hall ofJustice,' " Trudeau says, relaxing in the hotel suite with fresh fruit andmagnetic water nearby. "And I thought, 'This is not the Hall of Justicebecause this is not justice. This should say 'Hall of the Technicalities ofthe Law.' Where's the justice? Where's King ? But I said, 'Y'know,I've been focused on making money and what I did was wrong -- even though itwasn't a heinous crime and I could justify it nine different ways.' "In any case, in prison "everything got reprioritized," and Trudeau says hedecided to stop focusing on money. He became buddies with a visitingLubavitch rabbi. He decided to try out being Jewish (he'd gone to Catholicschools) and found out about "corruption in the Department of Justice" whenhe had difficulty getting kosher food.He decided his new mission was to help people. (The Jewish thing didn'tlast.)In prison on the West Coast, Trudeau hooked up with a fellow inmate namedJules Leib, who was in for attempted distribution of cocaine. He gave Leibsome self-help books. When they got out, they went into business together,making infomercials and selling health products as distributors for anAmway-type multilevel marketing company called Nutrition for Life. Rightaway the trouble started. Bertrand, the former president of Nutrition for Life, remembersTrudeau listening to motivational tapes "incessantly." He says Trudeau was"brilliant" and "one of the best salespeople I've ever known," and recallsthat in 1996 the company nearly tripled its sales in large part because ofTrudeau. The man could sell because he seemed to really believe in what hewas saying, Bertrand says, but he repeatedly took it too far.Bertrand says he became concerned that Trudeau was making overly optimisticpromises to potential distributors about how much profit they could make."We had a number of conferences where we asked him to cool it," Bertrandsays. "It scared us."At one point, Bertrand says, he learned that Trudeau had promised free tripsto entice people to sign up as distributors. The trips never materialized,there were complaints, and Nutrition for Life had to step in, says Bertrand,and fund a weekend cruise for thousands of people."At the time he made the promise he fully intended to comply," Bertrandsays. "He always intends to but he kind of gets carried away in hisexuberance."In 1996, the state of Illinois sued Trudeau and Leib, accusing them ofoperating an illegal pyramid scheme. The men wound up settling with Illinoisand seven other states after agreeing to change their tactics. Trudeau andLeib split up, though Leib still speaks fondly of the former "life coach"who introduced him to the magic of multilevel marketing."He's probably one of the brightest guys you'll ever meet," says Leib. "Hegave me Robbins's 'Awaken the Giant Within.' " (Later, Leibencourages a reporter to try supplements. "I'm on this great liquid," hesays.)In 1998, Trudeau paid half a million dollars to settle a Federal TradeCommission complaint that several infomercials he helped create were falseand misleading. The products included a "hair farming system" that --according to the infomercial -- was supposed to "finally end baldness in thehuman race," and "a breakthrough that in 60 seconds can eliminate"addictions, purportedly discovered when a certain "Dr. Callahan" was"studying quantum physics."In 2003, the FTC came after Trudeau again. The complaint and a separatecontempt action centered on two products, one of which, Coral CalciumSupreme, was being billed as a cure for cancer, according to the FTC.Trudeau's guest on the infomercial, a man named Barefoot, went so faras to claim that in cultures that consume a lot of calcium, people are sohealthy "they don't even have children until they're in their seventies whenthey're mature enough to handle kids."This time, said FTC attorney Hippsley, the settlement was"unprecedented" in its scope. In addition to paying $2 million (in part byhanding over his $180,000 Mercedes Benz), Trudeau agreed not to do any moreinfomercials selling products or services. The only thing he would bepermitted to sell on-air was "informational publications," and he hasgreater leeway with what he can say in those because of his right to freespeech.Hence, the book.Trudeau points out that his settlements were not admissions of wrongdoing.His attorney, Bradford, suggests that the terms of the most recentsettlement weren't terribly punitive -- indeed, this was a direction Trudeauwanted to take anyway."Trudeau had made an independent decision that he really wanted to focus onbeing an author and consumer advocate," Bradford says.Still, in his book, Trudeau claims repeatedly that he's the victim ofcensorship. He likens the government to the Gestapo. He compares himself to Parks and Gandhi. He says because of "this FTC suppression" he can'trecommend specific products to cure his readers' illnesses.However, he says, readers can join his Web site. For just $9.99 a month or$499 for a lifetime, they can gain access to the special members-onlysection, and there they can e-mail him and he'll reveal his secrets.Trudeau says he has considerable proof of the conspiracy working against thehealth of the citizens of this nation, but the nation will have to take iton faith. He says there are "government agencies" and "entire industries"that are spending "billions of dollars" to keep people sick so they cancontinue to make money. He says he has Nobel Prize winners as informants."I can't mention their names," he says. "There's a lot of insiders that Iknow, that are friends of mine, but I can't mention their names because oneof the reasons why I was capable of writing this book was I have so manyinsiders that give me the information. . . . And this is why everyone inWashington is frightened to death, and that's why the government is tryingto shut me up. Because they know that I know. They know I've been in themeetings. You know what it's like? It's kind of like I've got the black bookwith everyone's names. And they know: This guy starts naming names, it'sgoing to be out of control."Readers will have to trust that Trudeau knows of a doctor who found a curefor AIDS, and that another doctor "discovered a serum that virtually madecancer tumors vanish in 90 minutes" but "was completely shut down by theFDA." Trudeau never names these doctors. He says "researchers have concludedthat speaking the correct form of words and thinking the correct thoughtsactually changes a person's DNA," but he never reveals who these researchersare.Readers will have to take it on faith that Trudeau will soon be puttingproceeds from the book and the Web site into nonprofit groups dedicated toteaching natural remedies and suing the government. They'll have to trustthat they don't really need medications their doctors have prescribed andthat the supplements they're ordering over the Internet will work.They'll also have to ignore the places where Trudeau stretches the truth:What appears to be a back cover endorsement from a former FDA commissioneris actually a 35-year-old quote. Quotes inside are purportedly from BillGates in a television interview, but Trudeau puts more words in Gates'smouth. ("I paraphrased," Trudeau says.)Trudeau's book appeals to a nation that has been disillusioned by managedhealth care, by rushed and impersonal doctors, by diseases that didn't useto be diseases except these days everything has a name and a pill to go withit. Ask your doctor if it's right for you.Those who report success with Trudeau's book say they're discovering thatthey've been overmedicated. They've cut down on this or that drug for thisor that minor problem and discovered they never needed it. They've tried thebook's most conservative recommendations -- eating organic foods, takingsupplements, cutting out sodas -- and write in to say they've lost weight.Few appear to be curing their muscular dystrophy, or reporting success withmagnetic toe rings.Some people post angry reviews on Amazon.com, saying they feel "ripped off"and "gullible" for buying "Natural Cures."Some vacillate."It's a scary step to take," says Joyce Nuuhiwa, 61, who lives in Honoluluand has Type 2 diabetes. Nuuhiwa has read Trudeau's book, and she'sconsidering quitting both her medications and trying a combination of herbsthat Trudeau advises. (He writes in the book that this diabetes "cure" wasdiscovered at the University of Calgary, but officials there say they'venever discovered any such thing.)Nuuhiwa is disappointed by what her doctor said -- that the disease isprogressive, that eventually she'll have to be on insulin. She wants tobelieve the diabetes is reversible, and frankly, she doesn't trusteverything doctors tell her. She suspects, for example, that there's alreadya cure for cancer, that Trudeau is right about the conspiracy. But she's notsure if he's right about her diabetes.She says there's something "slick" about him that makes her uneasy."If I could be assured that he's totally honest I would be diving into this,but this is my life I'm talking about," she says.He is slick, but somehow likable, too. He curses and does voice imitations.He is attractive, if not handsome, and people say he's popular with theladies. He says he has a girlfriend who's almost 20 years younger; she's astudent and part-time model.He says he lives out his healthy living convictions. He says he recently gotback from an ashram. He says he carries a shower filter with him wherever hegoes, to eliminate the fluoride and chlorine he considers poisonous. After afew hours with Trudeau, you think maybe it's not all just a show. Maybe hereally believes he's offering cures. Then he says this about thatfunny-looking necklace he wears, the electromagnetic chaos eliminator:"If it doesn't work, what's the harm?"He reveals that when he was young he used to perform magic tricks at kids'birthday parties.Watch the hands." wouldn't allow us to have Equal in the office," says Janine Contursi,who briefly dated Trudeau in the 1980s and then worked for him in the '90s.She remembers that once, when she worked for him, she threw out her back,and Trudeau spent "thousands of dollars" to send her to an alternativehealth clinic. There, she was offered tips on positive thinking.Her back did get better, she says. But it could have been because of thechiropractors.Libby Copeland will discuss this article at noon tomorrowathttp://www.washingtonpost.com/liveonline Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 We should all know by now, it will only work if in the shape of a pyramid. (tic) Health nuts have been popular since at least 55 yrs ago. I attribute my aunt's shortened life to a "nutritionist" named Gaylord Houser who preached "blackstrap molasses and wheat germ bread". As a noted nutritionist said recently, it wouldn't be her fault if someone died following her sayings. So who can I believe? Whether it be Trudeau or Mirkin, we should all look at the refs if any, search pubmed, or medical books, before making any kind of health decision. Diane's recent post "The weight Debate" indicates to me just how "fragile" is the medical/nutrition knowledge base amongst people who think they know something. Regards. [ ] pretty scary The following article about a snake oil salesman was in today's WP. His bookhas sold millions of copies and is on the bestseller list as contrasted withDr W's books which have never made the bestseller list.Wait, There's MoreBy Libby CopelandNEW YORKOn this, our lucky day, Trudeau is introducing us to his personalelectromagnetic chaos eliminator.Trudeau, who has sold millions of books by touting the curative propertiesof things such as magnetic toe rings and crocodile protein peptide, believesthe sole thing keeping his brain from being "microwaved from the inside out"by cell phones and radio waves is this electromagnetic whatever. We areintrigued."Would you like to see this magical device?"Boy, would we!On a publicity tour in the suite of a midtown hotel room, Trudeau unbuttonshis fine white dress shirt.This seems like a good time to note how extremely well-dressed Trudeauis, in the fine tradition of TV salesmen and televangelists. Over the dressshirt is a butter-colored tie that precisely matches the pocket squaretucked into his luxury Brioni suit. He wears alligator shoes. On his leftwrist is a Rolex Masterpiece dripping with diamonds, and on his right ringfinger is a rock so big a child could choke on it.Over the years, Trudeau, an ex-con who never went to college or medicalschool, has been remarkably successful doing infomercials for everythingfrom how to achieve a photographic memory to how to cure your addictions tohow to beat cancer by ingesting a particular type of calcium that, as fatewould have it, he also happened to sell.Now he sells the most popular nonfiction book in the country, according toPublishers Weekly. In "Natural Cures 'They' Don't Want You to Know About,"Trudeau explains how a massive cabal formed of the federal government,pharmaceutical companies and the media is keeping Americans from living wellpast 100. He advises everybody to get off prescription drugs, even if theyhave serious problems like diabetes or blood clots; he reveals how multiplesclerosis can be cured by magnetic mattress pads.He says sunscreen doesn't prevent skin cancer. Instead (wait for it),sunscreen causes skin cancer.But back to the microwaved-brain problem. Trudeau parts his shirt andreveals a necklace with a disk of metal hanging on it. Glory of glories! Soflimsy, yet so powerful. This is the vaunted electromagnetic chaoseliminator. It is called a Q-Link, and for a while lots of celebrities weresupposedly into it, before they joined the Kabbalah bracelet craze.Beneath the Q-Link is another necklace with a black triangle pendant. Thisis yet another electromagnetic chaos eliminator, and we stop Trudeau as he'sclosing his shirt and ask him about it. Trudeau says he's not sure exactlywhat it's made of or what it does; supposedly it offers some sort ofbalancing "vibration." He's just trying it out to see if it works, he says,sounding a little sheepish."The guy who sent it to me is kinda way out there," he says.Trudeau's publishing company -- which he happens to have founded -- sayshe's sold 4 million copies of "Natural Cures," many of them through phoneorders. While those numbers can't be verified, his sales through traditionaloutlets have been astonishing -- so far he's spent 16 weeks on the New YorkTimes bestseller list.For those who want to save their $29.95, here are the secrets to health thegovernment is keeping from you, according to Trudeau:Get an electromagnetic chaos eliminator. Do some "bioenergeticsynchronization." Give yourself some enemas, and then give yourself somemore enemas. Wear white, for positive energy. Don't use a microwave or anelectric tumble dryer or fluorescent lights or artificial sweeteners; don'tdry-clean your clothes or use swimming pools or eat pork. Don't usedeodorant (causes cancer) or nonstick cookware (causes cancer) or watch thenews (stress alters your body's pH, which can make you get cancer). Removethe metal fillings from your mouth, and you're all set!Trudeau's "Natural Cures" also references several helpful Web sites. Oneclaims that if you stare into the sun every day while barefoot, you won'tneed food anymore. Another sells an instrument that looks rather like anindex card but which promises to open a "temporal and spatial gate" that"enables an individual's entire etheric system to interface with a verylarge, complicated, partially automated, predefined healing process."Lastly, if you have depression, Trudeau writes, stop taking your medicationand by all means stop seeing doctors, who can't be trusted. Rather, go for along stroll outside every day and "look far away as you walk."If that fails, the book advises you to try Scientology.Trudeau is a remarkable American success story in the grand tradition oftraveling salesmen with cure-all potions. He could sell you your own shirtand leave you grateful for the bargain.When he talks, his hazel eyes get big and he taps his listener on the knee.He claims he knows important people in important places. He says he was juston the phone with Kirstie Alley. He says he met Mikhail Gorbachev,"fascinating guy."He's a victim. He's a martyr. He's just trying to help his fellow man. Hehasn't been sick in 25 years and he's going to stay healthy till 150 and hemight run for president one day because "there's 25 million people thatwould probably vote for me."He is like a magician; you're watching his hands and all of a sudden there'ssome confetti and a woman in a bathing suit and when you look back, lo andbehold, there's a dove. When you ask Trudeau over and over for proof of his"natural cures," he says his studies are unpublished; he says he doesn'tbelieve in studies; he says the studies are in the book -- but they're notthere. They're never there.Watch the hands.He does an infomercial with Tammy Faye Bakker Messner and manages to seemutterly reasonable.He makes the credit-card fraud and larceny he committed in his twentiessound like no big deal.Trudeau, who now lives in Ojai, Calif., east of Santa Barbara, grew up nearBoston. He says his dad was a welder and his mom a housewife. He went to hisfirst Amway meeting at 15, and there learned he wanted to be "financiallyfree." He started a mail-order business, which he says netted him a $1million profit by the time he was 18.After high school he sold cars, then joined the seminar circuit, offeringtechniques to help people improve their memories. It was during this periodthat he says he got caught up in the fast life and making money. In 1990, hepleaded guilty to depositing $80,000 in worthless checks. In the sentencingmemorandum, prosecutors said he impersonated a doctor when he met with bankofficials. Trudeau says he served fewer than 30 days.In 1991, he pleaded guilty to obtaining and fraudulently using 11 creditcards and served close to two years in federal prison.Trudeau, now 42, has several explanations for his crimes: They were youthfulindiscretions and not as bad as they sound, and besides, both were partlythe fault of other people, and besides, he has changed. The larceny heexplains as a series of math errors compounded by the "mistake" of a bankofficial. As for why the bank thought he was a doctor, that was just asimple misunderstanding, because he jokingly referred to himself as a"doctor in memory."He still can't quite believe he was prosecuted. "Give me a break," he says.The fraud he says he committed because he paid a bill late, which led toAmerican Express giving him a bad credit rating, which just wasn't right.After that, no one would give him a credit card, which was "insane," so hehad little choice but to apply for cards with fake Social Security numbers.According to officials at the time, Trudeau also misappropriated for his ownuse credit card numbers belonging to customers who'd signed up for hismemory improvement courses. The man formerly known as "Mr. Mega Memory" sayshe doesn't think he did that, but adds that was a "very blurry time in myhistory with all the stress."He calls that prosecution "outrageous" and says American Express and theprosecutor had it in for him, rather like he believes the federal governmenthas it in for him now."It was a sad day because I remember walking into the courtroom and abovethe courtroom it says these words which are completely untrue: 'Hall ofJustice,' " Trudeau says, relaxing in the hotel suite with fresh fruit andmagnetic water nearby. "And I thought, 'This is not the Hall of Justicebecause this is not justice. This should say 'Hall of the Technicalities ofthe Law.' Where's the justice? Where's King ? But I said, 'Y'know,I've been focused on making money and what I did was wrong -- even though itwasn't a heinous crime and I could justify it nine different ways.' "In any case, in prison "everything got reprioritized," and Trudeau says hedecided to stop focusing on money. He became buddies with a visitingLubavitch rabbi. He decided to try out being Jewish (he'd gone to Catholicschools) and found out about "corruption in the Department of Justice" whenhe had difficulty getting kosher food.He decided his new mission was to help people. (The Jewish thing didn'tlast.)In prison on the West Coast, Trudeau hooked up with a fellow inmate namedJules Leib, who was in for attempted distribution of cocaine. He gave Leibsome self-help books. When they got out, they went into business together,making infomercials and selling health products as distributors for anAmway-type multilevel marketing company called Nutrition for Life. Rightaway the trouble started. Bertrand, the former president of Nutrition for Life, remembersTrudeau listening to motivational tapes "incessantly." He says Trudeau was"brilliant" and "one of the best salespeople I've ever known," and recallsthat in 1996 the company nearly tripled its sales in large part because ofTrudeau. The man could sell because he seemed to really believe in what hewas saying, Bertrand says, but he repeatedly took it too far.Bertrand says he became concerned that Trudeau was making overly optimisticpromises to potential distributors about how much profit they could make."We had a number of conferences where we asked him to cool it," Bertrandsays. "It scared us."At one point, Bertrand says, he learned that Trudeau had promised free tripsto entice people to sign up as distributors. The trips never materialized,there were complaints, and Nutrition for Life had to step in, says Bertrand,and fund a weekend cruise for thousands of people."At the time he made the promise he fully intended to comply," Bertrandsays. "He always intends to but he kind of gets carried away in hisexuberance."In 1996, the state of Illinois sued Trudeau and Leib, accusing them ofoperating an illegal pyramid scheme. The men wound up settling with Illinoisand seven other states after agreeing to change their tactics. Trudeau andLeib split up, though Leib still speaks fondly of the former "life coach"who introduced him to the magic of multilevel marketing."He's probably one of the brightest guys you'll ever meet," says Leib. "Hegave me Robbins's 'Awaken the Giant Within.' " (Later, Leibencourages a reporter to try supplements. "I'm on this great liquid," hesays.)In 1998, Trudeau paid half a million dollars to settle a Federal TradeCommission complaint that several infomercials he helped create were falseand misleading. The products included a "hair farming system" that --according to the infomercial -- was supposed to "finally end baldness in thehuman race," and "a breakthrough that in 60 seconds can eliminate"addictions, purportedly discovered when a certain "Dr. Callahan" was"studying quantum physics."In 2003, the FTC came after Trudeau again. The complaint and a separatecontempt action centered on two products, one of which, Coral CalciumSupreme, was being billed as a cure for cancer, according to the FTC.Trudeau's guest on the infomercial, a man named Barefoot, went so faras to claim that in cultures that consume a lot of calcium, people are sohealthy "they don't even have children until they're in their seventies whenthey're mature enough to handle kids."This time, said FTC attorney Hippsley, the settlement was"unprecedented" in its scope. In addition to paying $2 million (in part byhanding over his $180,000 Mercedes Benz), Trudeau agreed not to do any moreinfomercials selling products or services. The only thing he would bepermitted to sell on-air was "informational publications," and he hasgreater leeway with what he can say in those because of his right to freespeech.Hence, the book.Trudeau points out that his settlements were not admissions of wrongdoing.His attorney, Bradford, suggests that the terms of the most recentsettlement weren't terribly punitive -- indeed, this was a direction Trudeauwanted to take anyway."Trudeau had made an independent decision that he really wanted to focus onbeing an author and consumer advocate," Bradford says.Still, in his book, Trudeau claims repeatedly that he's the victim ofcensorship. He likens the government to the Gestapo. He compares himself to Parks and Gandhi. He says because of "this FTC suppression" he can'trecommend specific products to cure his readers' illnesses.However, he says, readers can join his Web site. For just $9.99 a month or$499 for a lifetime, they can gain access to the special members-onlysection, and there they can e-mail him and he'll reveal his secrets.Trudeau says he has considerable proof of the conspiracy working against thehealth of the citizens of this nation, but the nation will have to take iton faith. He says there are "government agencies" and "entire industries"that are spending "billions of dollars" to keep people sick so they cancontinue to make money. He says he has Nobel Prize winners as informants."I can't mention their names," he says. "There's a lot of insiders that Iknow, that are friends of mine, but I can't mention their names because oneof the reasons why I was capable of writing this book was I have so manyinsiders that give me the information. . . . And this is why everyone inWashington is frightened to death, and that's why the government is tryingto shut me up. Because they know that I know. They know I've been in themeetings. You know what it's like? It's kind of like I've got the black bookwith everyone's names. And they know: This guy starts naming names, it'sgoing to be out of control."Readers will have to trust that Trudeau knows of a doctor who found a curefor AIDS, and that another doctor "discovered a serum that virtually madecancer tumors vanish in 90 minutes" but "was completely shut down by theFDA." Trudeau never names these doctors. He says "researchers have concludedthat speaking the correct form of words and thinking the correct thoughtsactually changes a person's DNA," but he never reveals who these researchersare.Readers will have to take it on faith that Trudeau will soon be puttingproceeds from the book and the Web site into nonprofit groups dedicated toteaching natural remedies and suing the government. They'll have to trustthat they don't really need medications their doctors have prescribed andthat the supplements they're ordering over the Internet will work.They'll also have to ignore the places where Trudeau stretches the truth:What appears to be a back cover endorsement from a former FDA commissioneris actually a 35-year-old quote. Quotes inside are purportedly from BillGates in a television interview, but Trudeau puts more words in Gates'smouth. ("I paraphrased," Trudeau says.)Trudeau's book appeals to a nation that has been disillusioned by managedhealth care, by rushed and impersonal doctors, by diseases that didn't useto be diseases except these days everything has a name and a pill to go withit. Ask your doctor if it's right for you.Those who report success with Trudeau's book say they're discovering thatthey've been overmedicated. They've cut down on this or that drug for thisor that minor problem and discovered they never needed it. They've tried thebook's most conservative recommendations -- eating organic foods, takingsupplements, cutting out sodas -- and write in to say they've lost weight.Few appear to be curing their muscular dystrophy, or reporting success withmagnetic toe rings.Some people post angry reviews on Amazon.com, saying they feel "ripped off"and "gullible" for buying "Natural Cures."Some vacillate."It's a scary step to take," says Joyce Nuuhiwa, 61, who lives in Honoluluand has Type 2 diabetes. Nuuhiwa has read Trudeau's book, and she'sconsidering quitting both her medications and trying a combination of herbsthat Trudeau advises. (He writes in the book that this diabetes "cure" wasdiscovered at the University of Calgary, but officials there say they'venever discovered any such thing.)Nuuhiwa is disappointed by what her doctor said -- that the disease isprogressive, that eventually she'll have to be on insulin. She wants tobelieve the diabetes is reversible, and frankly, she doesn't trusteverything doctors tell her. She suspects, for example, that there's alreadya cure for cancer, that Trudeau is right about the conspiracy. But she's notsure if he's right about her diabetes.She says there's something "slick" about him that makes her uneasy."If I could be assured that he's totally honest I would be diving into this,but this is my life I'm talking about," she says.He is slick, but somehow likable, too. He curses and does voice imitations.He is attractive, if not handsome, and people say he's popular with theladies. He says he has a girlfriend who's almost 20 years younger; she's astudent and part-time model.He says he lives out his healthy living convictions. He says he recently gotback from an ashram. He says he carries a shower filter with him wherever hegoes, to eliminate the fluoride and chlorine he considers poisonous. After afew hours with Trudeau, you think maybe it's not all just a show. Maybe hereally believes he's offering cures. Then he says this about thatfunny-looking necklace he wears, the electromagnetic chaos eliminator:"If it doesn't work, what's the harm?"He reveals that when he was young he used to perform magic tricks at kids'birthday parties.Watch the hands." wouldn't allow us to have Equal in the office," says Janine Contursi,who briefly dated Trudeau in the 1980s and then worked for him in the '90s.She remembers that once, when she worked for him, she threw out her back,and Trudeau spent "thousands of dollars" to send her to an alternativehealth clinic. There, she was offered tips on positive thinking.Her back did get better, she says. But it could have been because of thechiropractors.Libby Copeland will discuss this article at noon tomorrowathttp://www.washingtonpost.com/liveonline Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 Francesca Skelton wrote: > The following article about a snake oil salesman was in today's WP. > His book > has sold millions of copies and is on the bestseller list as > contrasted with > Dr W's books which have never made the bestseller list. > I bought this book--fully aware of what it was but curiosity overpowered me. Trudeau never saw an alternative " medical " practice he does not like. Let me give you one item from his book. said that keeping the sabbath from Friday night till Saturday night as a day of rest was good for your health. As someone who does this this naturally got my attention. His rational was that during this part of the monthly cycle rest was particularly important. The stupidity of this leaped off of the page at me. (Remember this is from someone who does this). Anyone with a basic knowledge of Astronomy, nuts even Astrology, knows that this is false. Think about it and see the answer below. There is no relationship between the moon and the weekly cycle. A month is about 29 1/2 days long, and not divisible by seven, so the Sabbath floats though out the lunar month. Trudeau makes mistake after mistake like this. But interestingly in those areas where I am not knowledgeable, he seems reasonable. Thus he convinces people of his ideas. Personally I wonder about Electromagnetic radiation. I realize that there is little or no evidence that it is harmful but it seems to be a point of concern. However, how can wearing a device that generates more radiation be a good idea? It just does not pass the smell test. Positive Dennis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 24, 2005 Report Share Posted October 24, 2005 Francesca Skelton wrote: > The following article about a snake oil salesman was in today's WP. > His book > has sold millions of copies and is on the bestseller list as > contrasted with > Dr W's books which have never made the bestseller list. > I bought this book--fully aware of what it was but curiosity overpowered me. Trudeau never saw an alternative " medical " practice he does not like. Let me give you one item from his book. said that keeping the sabbath from Friday night till Saturday night as a day of rest was good for your health. As someone who does this this naturally got my attention. His rational was that during this part of the monthly cycle rest was particularly important. The stupidity of this leaped off of the page at me. (Remember this is from someone who does this). Anyone with a basic knowledge of Astronomy, nuts even Astrology, knows that this is false. Think about it and see the answer below. There is no relationship between the moon and the weekly cycle. A month is about 29 1/2 days long, and not divisible by seven, so the Sabbath floats though out the lunar month. Trudeau makes mistake after mistake like this. But interestingly in those areas where I am not knowledgeable, he seems reasonable. Thus he convinces people of his ideas. Personally I wonder about Electromagnetic radiation. I realize that there is little or no evidence that it is harmful but it seems to be a point of concern. However, how can wearing a device that generates more radiation be a good idea? It just does not pass the smell test. Positive Dennis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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