Present Day Snake Oil Salesmen

Present-Day Snake Oil Salesmen By Elton Camp In the past, hucksters came, patent medicine to sell “It will cure all human ills,” is what they would yell “While supplies last, only a dollar a bottle,” the call “It’ll cure cancer, rheumatism, dropsy—one and all.” Now all kinds of quack remedies we can easily get They are brought into our homes through the Internet “Doctors don’t want you to know about it,” they claim But throughout history, sick folks have heard the same That there is a conspiracy to suppress this they will say Because the greedy doctors want things done their way Glowing testimonials from users they proudly present “I was sick, took this cure, and away my troubles went.” Self-limiting conditions always fuel the quack’s success Improvement after using the “cure,” the gullible impress Many symptoms resolve without any treatment at all So that the snake-oil, a miracle the sufferer will call Also, the severity of most symptoms will come and go But it’s the “miracle cure” that supposedly made it so Can anyone think effective treatment a doc would hide And so deprive himself of cure and his family beside? If there was some natural stuff that would cure disease Then there would be untold doctors that it would please The next time e-mail with extravagant claims you meet Do yourself a big favor by simply punching up “Delete”