26. They Encourage Patients to Crusade for Their Treatment Methods.

A century ago, before scientific methodology was generally accepted, valid new ideas were hard to evaluate and were sometimes rejected by a majority of the medical community, only to be upheld later. But today, treatments demonstrated as effective are welcomed by scientific practitioners and do not need a group to crusade for them. Quacks seek political endorsement because they can’t prove that their methods work. Instead, they may seek to legalize their treatment and force insurance companies to pay for it. One of the surest signs that a treatment doesn’t work is a political campaign to protect the practitioners who are using it.

via Twenty-Six Ways to Spot Quacks and Vitamin Pushers.

I stumbled across Quackwatch recently. It looks like it could be a useful resource. The quote is the last of the 26 ways of quack spottery from a recent post.