As some of you know, Dr. Joseph Mercola, multi-millionaire osteopath entrepreneur of mercola.com, began his practice in the Chicago area. Sometime in the early 1990s, he and I crossed paths at alternative medical meetings and I remember just one exchange.
JM: “The future is on the internet.”
Me: “What’s that?”
JM: “Don’t you know what a website is?”
Me: “No.”
As they say, the rest is history. Dr. Mercola would go on to create by far the largest internet site devoted to nutritional supplement sales, its content translated into dozens of languages.
From where I sit, his objectives have been twofold: to trash just about everything conventional medicine offers and to urge his readers to use more mercola.com products and supplements.
It’s not integrative medicine at all. Not much of anything about, say, chiropractic or acupuncture. Dr. Mercola follows the time-tested Madison Avenue rule, “Sell the sizzle, not the steak.”
Most of his products are OK, though nothing you can’t get from amazon, The Vitamin Shoppe, or WholeHealth Chicago. I suspect most mercola.com customers are loyal because they believe in Dr. Mercola and boy, does he know it.
Some products are truly bonkers, like the tanning bed he claimed would “slash your risk of cancer.” The Federal Trade Commission didn’t buy it and made him refund $2.59 million to purchasers.
Turning anti-vaccine
Some years ago, Dr. Mercola turned anti-vaccine and, as this 2019 Washington Post piece explains, started donating vast amounts of money to organizations that supported this position. From the article:
But over the past decade a single donor has contributed more than $2.9 million to the National Vaccine Information Center, accounting for about 40 percent of the organization’s funding, according to the most recent available tax records. That donor, osteopathic physician Joseph Mercola, has amassed a fortune selling natural health products, court records show, including vitamin supplements, some of which he claims are alternatives to vaccines.
In recent years, the center has been at the forefront of a movement that has led some parents to forgo or delay immunizing their children against vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles. Health officials say falling vaccination rates contributed to the infectious virus sickening more than 1,200 people in the United States this year, the largest number in more than 25 years. Measles outbreaks are surging worldwide, including in Samoa — where nearly 80 people have died since mid-October, the great majority of them young children and infants.
Mercola’s still at it with Covid-19
And now, during the Covid-19 pandemic, he’s capitalizing on his approach in a big way. Here’s a fascinating history of Dr Mercola from his Arlington Heights roots to his rise to power as the #1 spreader of vaccine disinformation worldwide.
Of course he’s not alone. The nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) has been tracking vaccine disinformation and published this report, entitled “The Disinformation Dozen.”
Not surprisingly, Dr. Mercola heads the list at #1. His partner/girlfriend Erin Elizabeth, with her own website, lands at #7. If you scroll down to page 27 of the CCDH site you’ll see she is curiously anti-Semitic, posting a conspiracy theory about the Rothschild family on her Instagram account (since removed, apparently).
The only other person on the Disinformation Dozen list I’m more-than-vaguely familiar with is Christiane Northrup, MD, the once-respected ob-gyn author of Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom. You used to see her on Oprah a lot. She was one of the original founders of the American Holistic Medical Association and I took her course on bioidentical hormone therapy, gosh, 30 years ago. Oh, well. People change.
Which brings us to today
As the Delta variant spirals out of control among the unvaccinated– largely in the deep south, rural west, and Midwest–hospitals and medical staffs are under terrific strain.
The past two weeks’ 51,209 new cases translate to an increase of 172% in the US alone. In that time, 267 people died of Covid-19 who might, just might, be alive had they walked into their local Walgreens or CVS and rolled up their sleeve a few weeks ago. On the plus side, in response to rising infection rates, vaccine rates in some states are rising.
I do wonder if Dr Mercola is worried about this trend and its effect on his bottom line.
Every day in the office I’m seeing patients, most of whom are vaccinated. I say “Good choice, let’s take off our masks and breathe.” We enjoy that first cool puff of oxygen.
Those who aren’t vaccinated I simply ask, “Any reason why not?” About half the time, their fears have a rational basis, which (I think) I’m able to offer reassurance for and then encourage them to go down the street and get vaccinated.
The other half usually start by quoting something wildly anti-scientific that they saw on a website. If I spent time trying to convince them that I can’t scientifically endorse hydrogen peroxide inhalation (Mercola) or Northup’s claims of DNA alteration, then I wouldn’t have time to deal with what brought them into the office in the first place.
In other words, I end the visit with a “Gosh, I do hope you change your mind about getting vaccinated.”
In the meantime, the next time you order supplements from mercola.com, just remember your dollars are supporting him and the rest of the Disinformation Dozen.
Be well,
David Edelberg, MD
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this Health Tip are opinions of Dr David Edelberg and do not represent the overall opinions of any entity with which he has been, is now, or will be affiliated.
And fluoride is still good for you, right? Inferring that conventional medicine is unquestionable and always right is itself a red flag to me and if you truly cared about health rather than reputation can be a lot more responsible with your assertions as well you would confront directly to people you are criticizing, no?
You can ‘wake’ many of use kooks up quite easily, take on those critical of conventions directly and publicly, when you have that really happens even though the criticisms from the medical establishment are abound.
Challenge del big tree to public debate on his own platform about vaccines, he welcomes it and you will be reaching millions that trust him it’s your best opportunity to reach those that you would not ordinarily be able to. If you truly cared you wouldn’t be preaching to your own choir of members and readers, you would challenge the ‘mis/disinformation’ at the source, no?
If your answer is the all-to-predictable;”i won’t waste my time,” then your motives can only be suspect.
Considering the public are the direct beneficiaries as well bare the liabilities, not to mention costs, the medical establishment, as per it’s hippocratic oath, is responsible to us.
Mur B
I love Dr. Mercola. In fact, it seems that this article is outdated based on the new information out there. A retraction, maybe?
Christina Nickerson
mRNA technology had in the past failed to get FDA approval until Covid. Why now was it approved? Why are all the studies showing side effects of the vaccine on young people being released? What of studies showing more vaccines more Covid? We need yo ser all the data. Why is the vaccine recommended for 6 months & up when we know children & healthy adults are least effected from Covid? The vaccine does not stop the spread.
Leah
Thank you, Rick Farmer, for your logical response to Dr Ed.s nonsense.
Delia
“Cause Unknown”: The Epidemic of Sudden Deaths in 2021 & 2022
Book by Ed Dowd
Delia
My favorite thing to do is go back and read these old posts of yours and see how much mis information and fake news you are putting out there. Science doesn’t care about your opinion Dr. Edelberg.
Becca
We are sorry you feel that way Becca.
WholeHealth Chicago
Rick Farmer you said it so well I have nothing to add other than thank you for adding a different perspective. While I continue to have a functioning brain, I cannot jump on the CDC falsehood spreading bandwagon and Big Pharma supporting agenda.
Patricia Loughlin
I see Baylor has a lawsuit and restraining order against Dr. Peter McCullough for misusing his terminated affiliation with them.
Patricia Woodbury-Kuvik
Thank you for sharing Patricia.
WholeHealth Chicago
I used to get Mercola’s daily newsletter. Never bought any of his products though. However, his rhetoric started sounding really out there and I read another article how the top 10 health influencers were influenced by Q-Anon and realized that he started sounding like Trump saying the election was rigged so I unsubscribed!
Karen Cole
Glad you are still subscribed to WholeHealth Chicago!
WholeHealth Chicago
Dear Dr. E, perhaps we all need to unite and look at the information at hand. Here are some key things to note (all backed with learned journal sources so people can make up their own minds).
1. SARS Cov 2 (the virus) has never been isolated. In fact the “isolation” procedure is actually combination. People can read the methods section of the study. They used bovine serum and antibiotics in their so-called isolation. That is not isolation, that is manipulation. The gene sequence could have been from other cellular debris. Antibiotics damage cells, DNA breaks off. There is no isolated virus. Here it is –> https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/6/20-0516_article
2. The injection (it is NOT a traditional vx) uses a novel #mRNA technology that has never been used in humans on a mass scale. The animal studies for previous mRNA (this had no animal studies as it was rushed to market and human studies) resulted in organ failure and death. Here is the link –> https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2004/12/sars-vaccine-linked-liver-damage-ferret-study
3. In the UK and Israel, two of the most injected countries in the world, they are reporting that many injected people are in hospitals and dying. In the UK 63% of those deaths are in the injected! How could there be such a strong difference between USA reporting and UK reporting? Let’s investigate. Here is the link–> https://theconversation.com/most-covid-deaths-in-england-now-are-in-the-vaccinated-heres-why-that-shouldnt-alarm-you-163671
This is not anti-vx or any other media-created moniker, this is free and critical thinking to figure out what is going on.
Instead of asking Dr. Mercola to stop, perhaps an open dialogue and debate are needed. We’re all in this together.
Much appreciation,
John
John Elligott
Thank you for your perspective John.
WholeHealth Chicago
I’m disappointed to see Dr. Edelberg citing the CCDH, The NY Times and the Washington Post to criticize Mercola. Seriously? I expect that most folks are aware that each of those entities are fully under the financial control of the big drug companies. And I also have to hope that most folks are aware that the key public “data” relating to Covid is completely useless due to the issues with the PCR testing (e.g. large numbers of false positives due to high amplification cycles) and the fatality rates (no attempt globally to confirm that deaths among persons with positive PCR tests actually died primarily as a result of a SARSCov 2 infection). Also seems odd that Dr. Edelberg criticizes Mercola due to his internet supplement sales since Dr. Edelberg’s apothecary has been active online for many years (personally I see no problem with you or Mercola selling products that you believe in). If anyone is interested in further info related to the problems with Covid treatment and the experimental gene therapy (also known, inaccurately, as the Covid “vaccines,”) you could watch these interviews of Dr. Peter McCullough of the Texas A&M/Baylor medical faculty: https://www.algora.com/Algora_blog/2021/06/27/dr-peter-mccullough-whistleblowers-inside-cdc-claim-injections-have-already-killed-50000-americans and
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2021/07/no_author/dr-peter-mccullough-urgent-warning-about-poisonous-jabs/
You could also visit Children’s Health Defense (RFK Jr.’s organization) website: https://childrenshealthdefense.org/
Here’s a quote from Dr. McCollough: “And doctors, good doctors, are doing unthinkable things, like injecting biologically active messenger RNA that produces this pathological spike protein into pregnant women. I think when the doctors wake up from their trance they’re going to be shocked to think what they’ve done to people.”
Also interesting that the inventor of the mRNA technology is now opposed to the use of the mRNA Covid vaccines: https://www.algora.com/Algora_blog/2021/07/17/mrna-vaccine-inventor-shares-viral-thread-showing-covid-surge-in-most-vaxxed-countries-2
Rick Farmer
Thank you so much for this article, Dr. Edelberg! I used to follow Mercola, but was so disappointed when he switched to marketing his own products instead of spreading information on holistic health. I follow your blogs and love your message. I have referred your practice to some of my clients in the Chicago area and look forward to doing so in the future!
Evey Schweig
Thank you for being a beacon of sanity in times like these. Will be sharing this article around.
Izzy
Thank you Izzy!
WholeHealth Chicago
I logged on just to stand up for the slow clap… thank you for maintaining a strong clear voice in this industry. I walked out on Mercola after looking into his product line… ingredients lists and price tags were enough to make me start questioning his validity.
Kaitlin Simmeth
I totally agree that Dr. Mercola has used the internet to misinform and fleece countless numbers of patients.
Unfortunately he gives osteopathic physicians a black eye. I know many excellent OD’s – surgeons, specialists and GP’s. Many people don’t realize that an OD is a fully qualified medical physician, just with different initials, and I feel you should point this out in your discussion.
Thank you.
Patti Woodbury Kuvik
Thank you for this newsletter, a perfect response to the irrational naysayers . I for one do not want to spend the rest of my life masked and quasi isolated, (77).The last year and a bit has taken its tole on all of us and the I don’t think we have even started to see the fall out from far too much pure greedy information.
Sharon Figueroa