Quackpotwatch

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Quackpot Watch is the website of Tim Bolen (full name Patrick Timothy Bolen), a self-proclaimed health care consumer advocate, who is supportive of alternative medicine. He is very critical of outspoken skeptics he calls "quackpots" and "quackbuster conspirators," especially targeting Stephen Barrett, MD, webmaster of Quackwatch.

Bolen introduces his website with this statement:

This website, the official archive of Tim Bolen's "Millions of Health Freedom Fighters - Newsletter" is about the conspiracy, by a group calling itself the "quackbusters," to suppress leading-edge health care in North America. No studies have ever been done to determine the level of suffering, and death, inflicted on Americans because of the activities of these conspirators...yet. So, let's begin...

Bolen accuses quackbusters of being part of a huge "conspiracy" to suppress "unconventional" and "natural" therapies, as well as those who promote them. He alleges that this conspiracy is backed and funded by the pharmaceutical industry, the authorities, the established health care system (represented by the AMA, FDA, and FTC), and an unnamed "New York ad agency" for the purpose of preserving their power and increasing their profits. No evidence of such a connection has as yet been provided by Bolen.

Bolen states:

The "quackbusters," we know, were originally organized, and funded, by the pharmaceutical industry. But that original operation, Bolen believes, has fallen, because of losses in Court and other humiliations, on hard times and has been replaced by one run directly out of a New York ad agency. [link]

I think the whole "Quackbuster" conspiracy, and I have documents that back up my thinking, is being run out of a conference room at a pharmaceutical advertising agency in New York City. It's there that all the decisions, and plans are made, about where to focus the campaign, who to attack, and what cards to play in each attack. It's there that the checks are written. [link]

Bolen is the nemesis of the now failing "quackbuster" operation, and seems to take delight in frustrating their aims and humiliating their leadership. [link]

Health Freedom Fighters, tired of the persecutions, and outnumbering the "Quackbusters" 100,000 to 1, are now watching Barrett and his soldiers carefully. They've decided to put a stop to Barrett and company. Lists are being made of who the "Quackbuster Conspirators" are, what their function is, where they fit into the conspiracy, who they work for, who their associates are, where they live, and what their probable motives are. Their daily activities, as "Quackbusters," are being monitored, and documented.

Health leaders consider Barrett, and company, to be running a subversive organization working against the interests of America. [link]

Among his many allegations, are included that Barrett is paid in part by pharmaceutical companies and private industrial interest groups in the health care industry to discredit alternative health care for competitive reasons. Barrett was forced to concede his ties to the AMA, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Food & Drug Administration (FDA) during cross-examination of a 2005 lawsuit. During the same trial, Barrett admitted that he was not a Medical Board Certified psychiatrist because he had failed the certification exam and that though he had claimed to be a “legal expert” in the past, Barrett had no formal legal training. [link].

Bolen regularly uses Quackpot Watch and his ["Millions of Health Freedom Fighters"] newsletter to defend these practitioners. He describes his newsletter as "Opinion pieces by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen about health care issues in North America." These newsletters constitute the bulk of content at Quackpot Watch, as is indicated by the description at the top of the website's screen image.

External links

Advocacy

[Quackpot Watch] - Tim Bolen
[Bolen Report] - Tim Bolen
[North American Consumers Against Health Fraud] - Tim Bolen

Critiques

[Quackwatch] - Stephen Barrett, MD
[A Response to Tim Bolen] - Stephen Barrett, MD
[Careless reporting by Tim Bolen] - Stephen Barrett, MD
[Full Canvas Jacket Award] - Peter Bowditch

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