Government inaction is one reason why Stephen Barrett created his website, Quackwatch , which compiles information on questionable practices and products. Congress has very little interest in consumer protection. They have some fantasy of super-intelligent Americans. One of Barrett's recent crusades involves a woman who believes diseases such as AIDS and cancer are caused by parasites. Barrett is compiling a list of people who feel they have been victimized by Clark in order to build a lawsuit against her, he said.
Shysters thrive on the Internet like mold on a piece of old bread.
It's a cheap and easy way to reach a vast consumer pool. On the Internet there is no such gatekeeper. But Stier maintains that the specious arguments of some hoaxes are outright dangerous. During the aspartame scare, for example, he got a call from an elderly diabetic woman in Florida who wanted to know if she should switch her daily diet cola to regular Coke after friends warned her of the alleged aspartame health risks. No one can be held accountable and there is no correction page on the Internet.