Vereniging tegen de Kwakzalverij
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| Formation | 1881 | ||
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| Founder | Bruinsma brothers | ||
| Type | Non-profit organisation | ||
| Purpose | Opposing quackery and promoting evidence-based medicine | ||
| Location | |||
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Area served
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Netherlands, Belgium | ||
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Membership
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2000+ (2011) | ||
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Chair
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Nico Terpstra | ||
| Affiliations | European Council of Skeptical Organisations, Stichting Skepsis, SKEPP | ||
| Website |
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The Vereniging tegen de Kwakzalverij or VtdK (English: Association Against Quackery or Society Against Quackery) is a Dutch organisation that investigates the claims of alternative medicine and opposes quackery.
The organisation was founded in 1881, making it the oldest skeptical organisation in the world. It has published its magazine Nederlands Tijdschrift tegen de Kwakzalverij (NTtdK, "Dutch Magazine against Quackery") ever since. In these early years the Vereniging tegen de Kwakzalverij played a part in the professionalisation of medicine. Its efforts in the public debate helped to make the Netherlands one of the first countries with governmental drug regulation.
Initially, quackery mainly consisted of the unauthorized practice of medicine and the peddling of "secret remedies". By the 1950s, their energy mostly shifted to magnetizers. Since the 1980s the society has fought against so-called alternative medicine. Their primary targets are Chinese acupuncture, homeopathy, manipulative therapy, anthroposophical medicine, and naturopathy.
In 2000 the organisation published a list of what it considered to be the "greatest quacks of the 20th century". This publication would later lead to legal and financial troubles (see below). In 2003 the organisation began awarding the annual Meester Kackadorisprijs to discourage influential people from spreading quackery. This mock award frequently makes the national news.
The VtdK opposes all medical and paramedical treatments that are not scientifically substantiated. It concerns those "that are not supported by testably logical or empirically viable hypotheses and theories" and/or "that are actively distributed amongst the public, while no testing on its efficaciousness and safety has taken place within the professional group". The VtdK stresses that "the term kwakzalver ("quack") or kwakzalverij ("quackery") does not necessarily constitute an accusation of bad faith or fraud."
When asked in a 2015 interview, "What are the greatest challenges the Dutch skeptics face?" Catherine de Jong responded that they are seeing alt med "creep into schoolbooks". Small newspapers and advertisers are seeing quack operators infiltrate unsuspecting news media with sciencey sounding claims. Some are advertisements for alt med doctors, other articles are "health scares" or misinformation. One example she gave was a food blogger writing that honey when baking is healthier than sugar. When VtdK made the newspaper aware of this, the newspaper apologized and pulled the article.
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Wikipedia