Fight quackery! 1950s FDA public service announcement

Here's a fine old FDA public service announcement in which Raymond Massey gravely warns America to steer clear of bizarro quack devices that claim to treat arthritis with z-rays or cure cancer with music.

‘Help Stamp Out Quackery’, 1950s

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: health • Old school • Science • video • woo • youtubescience

More at Boing Boing

Eurovision 2013: An American in London

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

666beast1

But z-rays cured my green fever.
http://twitter.com/hoydenhere Hoyden Here

Quakery or quackery? At first I thought there was an epidemic of oatmeal eating Friends we had to be on the lookout for.
Rich Samuels

A bit naive even by mid-century standards to believe that humans will not continue to believe in utter bollocks, even when disproved, if they’re desperate. A nice attempt all the same.
- C W
  
  Yep. There are plenty of gullible/naive homeopaths and “allopathic/naturopathic” believers that jump into the BB comments page on every story about Alt-Med.
Erin W

Quackery is bad, but I’m down with the Quakers. Pretty chill religion.
princessalex

That’s how I read it, too. I wondered what on earth the Quakers did wrong THIS time. :-)
666beast1

And the violet ray cured my sprue.
millie fink

I love the way he says “quackery” at the end. He seems to relish the word.

As do I, actually. Especially when Raymond Massey says it.
666beast1

And spectrum therapy cured my scriveners palsy.
Martin Harley

There are no zee rays! What have I been using all these years?
teknocholer

Zee rays are useless. Zed rays, on the other hand, are known to be efficacious, but are illegal to import into the US thanks to the efforts of the powerful zee ray lobby.

Also, I miss the days of doorbell doctors.
idiosynchronic

I’d love to rent a truck with a flatscreen monitor on it, running that in a loop, and drive around Fairfield, Iowa all day long.

The Maharishis here would not be pleased.
Gutierrez

Sure, Z-Rays are fake, but fluoridation of water is not. Do you realize fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous Communist plot we have ever had to face?
http://www.facebook.com/scaredsacred Kevin Ɍ. Smith

Sooo, what does anybody know about that anti-cancer device? Me thinks I want one.
herrnichte

As Drs Rand|Ron Paul would tell you this sort of badgering by the FDA against your basic freedoms to be fooled into squandering your money on false and desperate hope is the continuing travesty of government overreach!

You sad shepherds must only wait until Ron|Rand Paul attain the sufficiently higher offices of authority so that they can make clear to you how you must never listen to any government official or accept any …hey, wait a minute… hm.
Ryan Lenethen

All I know is that the Q-Band balances my aura using ions and mystic Chinese Chi which cures everything. Some random golfer on TV told me so.

Anyway I have to go read about manifesting my desires using my brain waves, see ya!
glaborous_immolate

why can’t they do PSAs like this for homeopathy?
- Ashen Victor
  
  Best idea I heard today. Maybe this week.
- Marktech
  
  why can’t they do PSAs like this for homeopathy?
  
  Actually, they tried making subliminally short PSAs about homeopathy. Didn’t work.
- sorrykb1
  
  Well, there’s this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMGIbOGu8q0
Petzl

1. I was waiting for Massey to declare “Oh, yeah, and ”Wings over the World” is taking over.”
2. Nice logo, FDA. Where’d you get it? Goodwill?
bkad

Does anyone know if the FDA still does public service announcements? My quick search of their website leads me to believe they provide limited materials to help public health educators, but don’t do any of that work themselves. Which is disappointing. I guess the CDC does some of that, but it would seem quack medicine would be the FDA’s job.
benher

Who needs Z-rays and music when you have the all healing power of prayer? (It’s 2011… no really)
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=693064597 Ian Whitehouse

This quackery should not be confused with the e-meter which has an invaluable role in clearing engrams and is necessary to ensure the billion year future of humanity.
http://twitter.com/JackDoe2 Jack Doe

There are no PSAs for homeopathy because they have enough money to buy immunity from the authorities.

Except here in Germany, where they’ve been legalized by an old law. Enacted by Hitler.