About 2.4% of the population has some kind of peripheral nerve damage (neuropathy), which means there are about 7.2 million Americans with neuropathy. In most cases there is no cure (although there is effective treatment for some of the symptoms of neuropathy) so it is not surprising that neuropathy is a common target for questionable treatments and devices.

I came across this ad for The Rebuilder and it is just chock full of misleading or unsupported claims and blatant misinformation. It’s also a good example of the many features of quackery marketing to look out for.

FDA Approved

The Rebuilder website claims that their device is an “FDA approved medical device,” which is true but misleading. They provide a link, which at first I thought was to the FDA site for verification, but when I could not navigate the site I realized it was just a static picture of the FDA site. It was clear why they did this once I found the actual current FDA entry, which states: “The product known as “the rebuilder” is only FDA approved for pain relief. However, it is being marketed to consumers as “approved for neuropathy.” This is very misleading and the device can get hot or burn if not used properly.”

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Earlier this week executive producer James Cameron and director Simcha Jacobovici announced that they believe they have discovered the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth and his family. The tomb was originally discovered 25 years ago in Talpiot Jerusalem. Ten ossuaries, or bone boxes, were discovered in the tomb. The ossuaries contain the following names: “Jesus son of Joseph,” “Maria,” “Mariamene e Mara,” “Matthew,” “Yose” and “Judah son of Jesus.” Cameron claims that he and his researchers have “done their homework,” and now they will present their compelling evidence. Continue Reading »