snake oil


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A popular term for any substance claimed—without substantive evidence—to effectively treat one or more medical conditions

snake oil

A general informal term for a fraudulent PANACEA.
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References in periodicals archive ?
Keratin Oil, Fish Oil Omega-3, and Snake Oil are available in convenient packs of 400ml at SR 12 ($3.
Dabur re-launches new amla shampoo range in ME
Just keeping the snake oil salesmen away is no longer enough.
Helping consumers navigate the wild world of health apps
The Ballad of Snake Oil Sam captivates an audience of young and old alike, transporting you into the Wild Wild West with the inspiring mystical story of a desert traveler, inventor, alchemist and magical elixir salesman in pursuit of redemption.
Indie Film by LA Female Director Embarks on Global Film Festival Tour from Its Debut at Cannes, LA, Madrid to New Hope, PA
We can continue to buy the snake oil, potions, ointments, and elixirs hoping for the quick cure, or we can deal with the real ailment.
On grifters, research, and poverty
That of the father-daughter team of Lester and Carol Reed (Chapter 7)--third and fourth generation residents whose family was famous for snake oil production--is most illustrative, but that of Bill Galick, a Vermont native, relict of the past and modern pioneer (the title of Chapter 8) is even more fascinating.
Timber Rattlesnakes in Vermont and New York: Biology, History and the Fate of and Endangered Species
It sounds like a snake oil pitch," admits chemist Ronald Jandacek, an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine who once worked for olestra developer Procter & Gamble.
Olestra's second wind
The truth is that most of the pills and potions that line store shelves and Web sites are little more than snake oil, and behind their lofty references to scientific research, most of the marketers are little more than MBA-toting snake-oil sellers.
The bath water
As "Pennsylvania snake oil," oil was the preferred term for quack patent medicines worse than the disease.
2004: the year of oil
In La Bayadere, poor little rich Gamzatti finds that a lowly temple maiden has stolen her prince's heart: time for a little snake oil, with snake attached.
Born to be bad: why dancers can't resist their dark side
Proponents of 'it never fails' hangover cures are the modern equivalent of the old American snake oil merchants.
Birmingham Post Comment: Ideal cure
One guy in Boston actually looked at me and said, 'You keep saying fish oil, but I keep hearing snake oil.
Innovation: a cure for what ails you
Worse, when confronted by less-than-terrific results from free market experimentation, wizened First World economists suddenly reanimate as 19th-century snake oil salesmen, prescribing more of the same tonic that ails us: "Been trying it for 20 years and your people are still starving, your foreign debt is even larger, and your politicians more corrupt?
A failing grade on global trade: NAFTA's a disasta': what to do? More free trade, anyone?

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