Who Funds Quackwatch?

Stephen Barrett, M.D.

Quackwatch is an international network of people concerned about health-related frauds, myths, fads, and fallacies. The primary focus of our Web sites is on quackery-related information that is difficult or impossible to get elsewhere. The organization was founded in 1969 as the Lehigh Valley Committee Against Health Fraud and was incorporated as a nonprofit in 1970. In 1997, it assumed its current name and began developing a worldwide network of volunteers and expert advisors. The nonprofit corporation was dissolved in 2008 after I moved to North Carolina, but our activities have not changed.

Quackwatch.org and its affiliated Web sites use no salaried employees. They operate with minimal expense, covered mainly by small individual donations, commissions from sales on other sites to which we refer, sponsored links, and profits from the sale of publications. Money donated to Quackwatch supports research, writing, and legal actions that can protect many people from being misled.

Many people wonder whether Quackwatch or my activities are a "front" for the American Medical Association, the pharmaceutical industry, the "medical establishment," or whomever else they might not like. Nearly every week I get e-mails accusing me of this—and worse. Quite frankly, the idea is preposterous.

• I have no financial tie to any commercial or industrial organization.
• My viewpoints are not for hire. Even if they were, none of my imaginary funders would actually have a reason to hire me.
• Standard medicine and "alternative medicine" do not actually compete for patient dollars. Well-designed studies have shown that most "alternative" methods are used in addition to—rather than instead of—standard methods.
• The total cost of operating our many Web sites is approximately $7,000 per year. If donations and other income fall below what is needed, the rest comes out of my pocket.

Online Contributions

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