FIDDAMAN book - Pig Pills, Inc. - The Anatomy of an Academic and Alternative Health Fraud

It's the unlikely story of a "cure" for psychiatric disorders by "inventors" who were neither doctors nor research scientists. They were, however, seasoned sales people with dubious tragic stories to help them focus their pitch on others in need. They were evangelical messengers to their flocks of true believers whom they had lured away from what medicine and science had to offer.



Their pitch was based on the absurd notion that young piglets on their way to becoming ham for your dinner table could be cured of a condition that is know as Ear and Tail Biting Syndrome. They claimed that pigs of course could be healed by just throwing them a haphazard mixture of vitamins, minerals, and herbs - the pig pills. Yes, pig pills! Then in an amazing leap of faith, these two fellows from rural Alberta, Canada, with connections to nutraceutical conglomerates in Utah, came up with the idea that their pig pill formula could help wipe out the scourges of otherwise incurable mental illness in humans.


Pig Pills, Inc. is based on over two-years of research into The Synergy Group of Canada, their product E.M Power +, Dr. Bonnie Kaplan PhD, Department of Pediatrics, University of Calgary, and:



How the Alberta government spent close to $3/4 million funding research based on this “cure”.

How Health Canada spent close to a year attempting to make a senior research psychologist from the Alberta Children's Hospital and the University of Calgary comply with the Food & Drugs Act and stop this dubious research.

How the Alberta government funded research on American children in spite of explicit refusal of permission to do so.

How Canada Customs issued orders to seize the pills at the border, and yet the research continued and sales to individuals continue to this day.

How products made by a company that had been warned by both the U.S. FTC and the FDA for making false health claims for their products, were approved for research with children at the University of Calgary.

How a respected Harvard affiliated psychiatrist participated.

How yet another pediatric psychiatrist at the University of Utah conducted research studies that his institution had not approved.

How major media outlets bought the "pig pill cure" hook line and sinker, and fueled the story around the world.

How the Canadian government has been unable to stop the sale of these pig pills, from June 2000, when the first complaint was received.


The biggest scandal of all, however, is the number of innocent people who have been, or could have been harmed because they followed the advice of untrained, lay people who advised them to either take their special "pig pills", or in many cases, stop their psychiatric medications altogether. The issue here is not the fact that people just wasted their money, some have had their hopes for good health shattered once again.

And readers will learn something amazing: if these folks conducted objectionable research on pigs, they could have faced staggering fines and penalties. Pigs - animals - used in research are protected by laws: humans, it would seem, aren't so lucky.



The Pig Pill, Inc. team:



Terry Polevoy, MD - Kitchener, Ontario physician and founder of healthwatcher.net

Ron Reinhold - Calgary, Alberta, Rainbow Investigations, and former Health Canada investigator

Marvin Ross - Hamilton, Ontario, Bridgeross Communications, freelance medical journalist and author


http://www.pigpills.com/

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Pig Pills, Inc.

Table of Contents



INTRODUCTION



CHAPTER 1 - CARDSTON, ALBERTA - THE DISCOVERY



CHAPTER 2 - PSYCHO PIGS



CHAPTER 3 - EARLY RESEARCH



CHAPTER 4 - BAIT AND SWITCH



CHAPTER 5 - RESEARCH AS MARKETING



CHAPTER 6 - SALES STRATEGIES & SPAM A LA CARTE



CHAPTER 7 - BONE PICKING @ THE U. OF CALGARY



CHAPTER 8 - RESEARCH ETHICS?



CHAPTER 9 - UNIVERSITY & RESEARCHERS AS SHILLS



CHAPTER 10 - PIGGING OUT



CHAPTER 11 - MILKING THE MEDIA



CHAPTER 12 - IT’S NOT THE LAW



CHAPTER 13 - SHOW ME THE MONEY



CHAPTER 14 - CORPORATE CHAMELEONS



APPENDIX 1 - ALBERTA & CALGARY COVER-UP



APPENDIX 2 - BARNYARD BULLIES



APPENDIX 3 - BONNIE KAPLAN ON SHRINK RAP



APPENDIX 4 - TRANSCRIPT OF A SALES PRESENTATION



APPENDIX 5 - FORMULAS COMPARED



APPENDIX 6 - SSO LETTER TO HEALTH CANADA



APPENDIX 7 - REVIS & BUTTHEADS



APPENDIX 8 - SYNERGY SPIN



APPENDIX 9 - CTV TRANSCRIPTS - AVIS FAVARO



ABOUT THE AUTHORS



BIBLIOGRAPHY - ON THE PIG PILL TRAIL

http://www.pigpills.com/