The 102,610 Studies They Buried as "Quackery"—And the Mercury-Pushing Dentists Who Started It All

The Ultimate Medical Irony: When the Accusers Become the Accused

Here's a question that might fundamentally challenge everything you've been taught about medicine: What if the real "quacks" aren't the herbalists, homeopaths, or traditional healers, but the very establishment that coined the insult?

The word "quack" – that favorite weapon of the medical establishment used to discredit anyone who dares practice outside pharmaceutical orthodoxy – has an origin story so ironic it borders on poetic justice. The term comes from "quecksilber," the German word for quicksilver, or mercury. It was first used in the 1830s by American dentists to describe their colleagues who were pushing mercury amalgam fillings – toxic dental work containing over 50% mercury that millions still carry in their mouths today.¹

Let that sink in: The original "quacks" weren't folk healers or snake oil salesmen. They were licensed, establishment dentists promoting one of the most neurotoxic substances known to humanity as a medical treatment. Today, their successors still place mercury in millions of mouths—while denouncing mercury-free dentists as "quacks" for refusing to poison their patients.

The Manufactured Myth of Snake Oil

Similarly, "snake oil" has become synonymous with fraudulent medicine, yet its true history tells a radically different story. Chinese railway workers in the 1800s brought with them oil from the Chinese water snake (Enhydris chinensis), rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which they used successfully to treat joint pain, arthritis, and inflammation. It worked because it contained higher concentrations of EPA than most modern fish oil supplements.²

The term only became pejorative after American entrepreneurs began selling fake versions – often containing turpentine, mineral oil, or beef fat – capitalizing on the remedy's reputation while delivering none of its benefits. The fraudsters ruined the reputation of a legitimate medicine, and the medical establishment was all too happy to use this as ammunition against all traditional remedies.

The Racist Roots of the "Snake Oil" Slur

When Medicine Met Xenophobia

The demonization of snake oil cannot be separated from the virulent anti-Chinese racism of 19th-century America. Between 1863 and 1869, an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 Chinese workers – representing 80% of Central Pacific Railroad's workforce – laid tracks through the Sierra Nevada mountains, performing the most dangerous jobs for lower pay than their white counterparts.³

These workers, derided as "coolies" and "celestials," faced not only backbreaking labor and deadly working conditions (an estimated 1,200 Chinese workers died building the railroad),⁴ but also systematic dehumanization. The same men who literally built the infrastructure that connected America from coast to coast were legally barred from becoming citizens, owning land, or testifying in court against white people.⁵

Working 12-hour shifts in extreme conditions – from scorching desert heat to frozen mountain passes – Chinese workers relied on their traditional remedies to survive. Snake oil wasn't just medicine; it was one of the few connections to their homeland and culture. They used it as both a topical liniment for their aching muscles and joints, and sometimes consumed it as a dietary supplement, understanding what Western science would take another century to "discover" – that omega-3 fatty acids reduce inflammation and support overall health.⁶

The workers would often share their snake oil with white workers suffering similar ailments. Initially, many were impressed by its effectiveness. But as anti-Chinese sentiment intensified – culminating in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the first law explicitly preventing a specific ethnic group from immigrating to the United States⁷ – anything associated with Chinese culture became suspect.

The transformation of "snake oil" from respected remedy to synonym for fraud paralleled the transformation of Chinese workers from "industrious" (when their labor was needed) to "dangerous" (when white workers saw them as competition). By the 1890s, white American entrepreneurs had begun selling fraudulent "snake oil" that contained no actual snake oil, deliberately trading on and ultimately destroying the reputation of the authentic Chinese remedy.⁸

This wasn't just cultural appropriation – it was medical gaslighting on a massive scale. The very people who built America's prosperity were mocked for their medicines, then watched as charlatans destroyed their remedy's reputation while the medical establishment used this as evidence of the "primitive" and "unscientific" nature of all traditional Chinese medicine.

The supreme irony? The snake has been a symbol of Western medicine for 4,000 years. The Sumerian god of healing, Ningishzida, was draped with two snakes—an emblem still used by the medical profession today. The famous Greek physician Galen prescribed snake preparations that were still being used in Italy in the 1980s. Yet when Chinese workers used snake oil that actually worked, containing therapeutic compounds Western science wouldn't "discover" for another century, they were mocked as primitive.

Real Snake Oil Works—And Western Medicine Proved It 35 Years Ago

The bitter irony is that modern science has completely vindicated those Chinese railroad workers. In 1989, Dr. Richard A. Kunin, a San Francisco physician, published laboratory analysis in the Western Journal of Medicine that should have changed everything.

Dr. Kunin had snake oil samples analyzed using chromatography and flame ionization. His findings were stunning:

• Chinese water snake oil: 20% EPA concentration

• Black rattlesnake oil: 8.7% EPA

• Red rattlesnake oil: 12.8% EPA

To put this in perspective, the prescription omega-3 drug Lovaza that costs $300-400 per month contains about 46% EPA/DHA combined. The "quack cure" mocked for over a century contained therapeutic levels of the exact same anti-inflammatory compounds now sold by Big Pharma at a 5,000% markup.¹²

Dr. Kunin's conclusion deserves to be quoted in full:

"I find it humbling that the essence of today invests the quackery of yesterday with new credibility. Perhaps our ancestors were wiser than we could appreciate when they wrapped a snake around the staff of Aesculapius."

Think about that: A Western physician, publishing in a peer-reviewed medical journal, admitted that "this particular therapy, snake oil, has long been our favorite symbol of quackery" while simultaneously proving it works through the exact same mechanism as FDA-approved drugs.

This wasn't published last week. This was 1989—thirty-five years ago. Yet how many doctors know this? How many medical schools teach it? How many patients suffering from inflammation have been denied this information while being prescribed NSAIDs that destroy their stomach lining?

Multiple additional studies demonstrate that snake-derived lipids have legitimate therapeutic properties:

• Boa constrictor oil shows potent anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureusand Streptococcus pyogenes.⁹

• Erabu sea snake oil improves glucose control in diabetic mice¹⁰ and enhances physical endurance in aged mice by improving lactate metabolism.¹¹

• The fat from boa constrictors has even been shown to inhibit keloid and scar tissue formation,¹³ while having beneficial effects on wound healing comparable to pharmaceutical options.

The Modern "Disinformation Dozen": When Truth Becomes Treason

The same tactics used to discredit snake oil and label innovators as "quacks" continue today with even more sophisticated propaganda. In 2021, the Center for Countering Digital Hate coined the term "Disinformation Dozen" to target twelve individuals who dared question pharmaceutical narratives during the COVID-19 pandemic.³⁵

But who were these dangerous "spreaders of misinformation"? They included:

• Dr. Joseph Mercola, who promoted vitamin D and zinc for immune support

• Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who questioned vaccine safety and regulatory capture

• Dr. Christiane Northrup, who advocated for informed consent

• Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, who highlighted vaccine adverse events

• Sayer Ji (founder of GreenMedInfo), who compiled peer-reviewed research on natural interventions

Their crime? Speaking truths inconvenient and threatening to the medical establishment's monopoly. They cited peer-reviewed studies. They quoted CDC's own data. They asked questions that pharmaceutical companies didn't want answered. They promoted natural interventions that couldn't be patented.

The campaign against them wasn't about protecting public health – it was about protecting profits. When vitamin D studies showed it could reduce COVID severity by 80%,³⁶ this information was labeled "misinformation." When ivermectin showed promise in dozens of studies,³⁷ doctors were threatened for prescribing it. When natural immunity proved more robust than vaccine-induced immunity,³⁸ social media platforms banned anyone who mentioned it.

The "Disinformation Dozen" weren't spreading lies – they were spreading competition. They weren’t spreading misinformation, rather, were guilty as charged for spreading MISSING information. And just like Thomas Sydenham in the 1600s, they were labeled dangerous quacks for challenging orthodoxy with evidence. But we are fighting back.