Best-seller ‘Natural Cures’ sparks court battle

'Endorsement' from dead FDA official
The New York state board published a litany of similar complaints about the book in its press release. But agency officials agree Trudeau has the right to write whatever he wants in a book. Legally, the agency is attacking what it calls unfair advertising. 

But for each complaint, Trudeau's lawyers offer an answer.

For example, the agency cites what it calls a book jacket endorsement from Dr. Herbert Ley, a former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. But, the agency notes, Ley could not have endorsed or even read Trudeau’s book because he died in 2001 — about three years before the book's release.

Bradford said the quote on the back of the book jacket was not meant to indicate Ley endorsed the book. "I don't think it's fair to say that's an endorsement of the book," he said.  "There's no suggestion that this individual read the book or endorsed the book."

In one of the infomercials, Trudeau tells Tammy Faye Bakker Messner — former wife of televangelist Jim Bakker — that the book includes the method Trudeau used to quit smoking. But in the book, argues the Consumer Protection Board, Trudeau simply points people to the Web site: “If you want to know the exact method that I used to quit smoking, go to www.naturalcures.com and become a private member."

Bradford said the book contains general comments about cures for addictions, which would include smoking addictions.

But are there cures in the book?
But the agency's chief complaint is that the book contains no cures for conditions like diabetes, as promised by the infomercial.

Bradford sternly objects to that claim. In a letter sent to the New York state board Aug. 8, Bradford argues that a diabetes cure is included in the text, referencing mention of a combination of herbs that treat diabetes recommended by Dr. Yung Su Kim, "a Korean living in Canada."

Internet discussion boards attempting to find Dr. Yung Su Kim's herbal combination point viewers to a Web page called TheTruthAboutDiabetes.info, where readers learn about a "traditional Chinese formula" called Six Flavor Tea, recommended by a Dr. Youngsoo Kim.

Bradford said he was confused by the assertion that the book contained no cures.

"This is a very misleading issue for them to raise," Bradford said. "The book has a whole chapter, chapter 6, devoted to identifying cures. There's a chart in it that identifies 50 diseases and gives a natural cure for each of them. To say it doesn't have information about cures indicates somebody hasn't read the book."

Government unnerved by book, Trudeau's lawyer says
More fundamentally, Bradford argues that Trudeau doesn't promise to provide a "magic pill" for disease in the book.

"It is important to know that people who are looking for a specific cure for a specific disease are missing the point of this book. A disease is simply a label put on a series of symptoms ... this is one of the things that medical science does not want you to know or understand," he said. He goes on to say that such labels help the pharmaceutical industry earn billions. "That topic has obviously struck a chord with millions of people."

The board's complaints arise because government agencies are irritated by the book's accusations that they are cooperating with pharmaceutical companies to ensure big profits, Bradford said.

"I don't really understand why there's this critical focus on the book when there are very few consumers who are complaining about the book," Bradford said. "(The book) really does challenge a paradigm. People who are picking on this line out of the book, or that line, are really ignoring why this book is so successful and the real message."

But Bates, the dissatisfied consumer, said he thinks Trudeau's message is not only useless, but it could be risky for some.

"It's not truthful and it's dangerous to some people," he said. "People might read it and quit taking their medications."

And Scurry thinks Trudeau is simply taking advantage of people who are desperate to find some light at the end of their unhealthy tunnels.

"He's preying on people's feelings and hopes that there is something that's out there that can cure a certain disease or sickness," she said. "And there isn't."

A New York federal court is expected to hear the Trudeau case Aug. 30.

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