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Qualification: Medical, Osteopathic, or Podiatric School, University Of Colorado Health Sciences Center School Of Medicine – Denver CO. Graduated: 2002. Internal Medicine,MD – Charlottesville, VA USA, Residency Completed: 2005. Bush is currently certified in only one discipline, that of Internal Medicine: Hospice & Palliative Medicine.

Current Licensing Status: Licenced to practice in Virginia by the Virginia Medical Board, License# 0101239018. You can check his current status here

Resident: Charlottesville , VA

Existing Complaints: None listed in a professional capacity.

Website: zachbushmd.com, intrinsichealthseries.com, farmersfootprint.us, ionbiome.com, themclinic.com

What happens when you cross alt-Health, traditional medicine, Deepak, and Yoda? You end up with someone like Zach Bush, MD. He is the poster boy for Predatory Health and with a string of medical qualifications behind him and a very carefully managed public profile,

Bush appears at first glance to be squeaky clean, a real medical messiah, but looks can, as we all know, be deceptive. Dig a little deeper and the real picture behind a slick, well oiled, and carefully orchestrated marketing machine emerges. One designed with a singular purpose. To enrich Zach Bush.

His website offers little gems of new-age “Deepak Chopra like nonsense-statements”, pseudoscience mixed in with traditional medicine, and his range of natural (of course) products and alternate therapies. The lines below are taken directly from his site on a page where he discusses Covid’s impact on the world.

May this respiratory virus that now shares space and time with us teach us of the grave mistakes we have made in disconnecting from our nature and warring against the foundation of the microbiome. If we choose to learn from, rather than fear, this virus, it can reveal the source of our chronic disease epidemics that are the real threat to our species.

The page also just happens to feature a range of cleverly identified products designed to boost your immune system. The insinuation is clear. Covid is a virus-like influenza and these products will help you combat it. Here is how he phrases the sales pitch.

 I’ve included below a series of Lifestyle Cornerstones to integrate into your everyday practices, particularly during respiratory risk seasons, as well as the regimen that I recommend for those feeling the need for more health resources during this time.

Bush has become prominent in Autism circles, touting his theories of gut health as the root cause of autism and offering his products as a treatment. Although the idea of the gut’s involvement in autism is under serious investigation there is, as yet no hard scientific evidence to validate his claims. Bush possesses none or he would most definitely be sharing it. At the Autism One conference in Chicago in 2016, Bush made this statement;

Bush explained, using slides of the gut viewed through a microscope as visual aids, how his plant-derived mineral supplement, RESTORE ($49.95 for a one-month supply), strengthens cell membranes in the gut to keep toxins from leaking out. Bush told the parents in the audience that he was “excited to just be a piece of your puzzle” in the parents’ quest to “rebirth that child into a state of health.” 

Bush isn’t the only doctor that’s cashing in on the gullibility of the public and their desire for new-age hocus pocus, but he is by far the slickest. It’s what makes him so appealing, so believable and so dangerous. He is well aware of where the line is, drawn by the FDA in shifting sand, and he ensures he doesn’t step over it. He now regularly shares platforms with proponents of Covid conspiracies and his views on the coronavirus are dangerous.

Bush’s video interviews on Covid, featured on LondonReal, are accompanied by trailers of the movie Plandemic, a falsified load of pseudoscience and nonsense that is now banned from numerous platforms. These associations confirm his position as quackery’s new poster boy. If you’ve got the money, Zach Bush has the answers. Look deep into his eyes and suspend belief.

Let’s examine the claims published on his website about autism. The following quote is lifted directly from his site’s page on the topic.

Autism spectrum disorder has risen in prevalence from 1 in 5000 children in 1975 to 1 in 36 children in 2016, and the rate has been doubling every 3-4 years in the last decade in the US.

And the rate has been doubling every 3-4 years in the last decade in the US. We are on target to experience 1 in 3 children with Autism by 2035, just 16 years away

Complete and utter lies and fabrication, designed to instill fear in you and make you want the solutions and products he sells. It’s textbook deception, practiced by quacks and charlatans across the globe. I hereby issue a direct challenge to Bush to produce statistical data to verify this claim. He cannot.

The only reason there has been an increase in autism diagnosis over the last few years (and Bush is well aware of this) is that guidelines for diagnosing the condition were relaxed. Resultantly, many more people were reclassified as having autism. Deception, misdirection, and lies. Which cup is the ball in! Here’s a screenshot, just in case the page is whitewashed.

Zach Bush uses a mix of science, pseudoscience, and untruths (lies) couched in new age terminology to fool his victims into purchasing his products and seminars. He is a health predator, no matter how you dress him up, and he is an embarrassment to traditional medicine and the healthcare profession in general.

If you have a serious medical condition or are feeling unwell, you need to seek advice from reputable and established practitioners of evidence-based medicine. There is no harm in seeking alternate treatments to supplement a medical regime of treatments if this is done in careful conjunction, and with the knowledge of, your healthcare provider. In and of their own, alternate treatments aren’t going to cure you, and believing they will, can cost you your life.

Supporting Articles

Articles critical of Bush are hard to come by, buried below his domination of Google searches on the topic of, well, Zach Bush. His newly employed marketing agents (2019) have done him proud. It is also a clear indication of how alt-Health now dominates Google’s pages and how simple it is to manipulate appearances. You simply flood the market with new articles.

Publication – C-Ville: Author Melissa Angell, on June 28, 2016. Missing doctors: Patient seeks records after clinic closes Verdict: The caption on the photo gives an indication of how long Bush has been at his game, and how he has refined his earlier techniques.

Dr. Zachary Bush, right, opened alternative clinic Revolution Health Center in Scottsville. Dr. Martin Katz was a partner there, and both told their patients: “You have the power to heal yourself.”

John Robinson

Publication – Provocative Change Works: Author Nick Kemp, July 29, 2020. Open letter to Michael Hall by Richard Bolstad. Verdict: Bush is a quack, uttering pseudoscientific nonsense.

this stuff by Zach Bush is just wacky.“Bush ruined what could have been an interesting talk when he said that microRNA can be transmitted by breathing. He claimed that you can literally go to the gym, do nothing except breathe in the microRNA that others exhale, and benefit because your cells think they worked out. And, in case that wasn’t enough of a stretch, he described how consuming microRNA from “bored” corn grown in a field with “tens of thousands of corn plants” makes us afraid of diversity and directly contributes to racism and mass shootings.”

Publication – Chad Hayes MD: Author Chad Hayes on March 4, 2017. Citations Needed: The curious “science” of integrative medicine. Verdict: A clinical dissection of the rubbish Bush spews by a medical doctor who practices pediatrics. An excellent article well worth reading and many of the other charlatans we highlight are included in this breakdown of a Conference Hayes attended called, “Get Your Life Back NOW!” held in Orlando, FL in 2017, at which Bush spoke.

In addition to poorly executed science, there were a lot of “facts” tossed out at the conference that left me wondering if the speakers were being intentionally dishonest, or if they were just really, really wrong. Chief among these offenders was Zach Bush, MD, who runs the M Clinic and “Intrinsic Health” center in Charlottesville, VA and sells the RESTORE line of supplements.

Bush, who seems to have some difficulty understanding basic concepts of genetics and mathematics, informed the audience that “genetically speaking, humans are pathetically simple.” His rationale for this was that humans have 20,000 genes, while fungi have 2 trillion. I’ll admit my initial ignorance; although 2 trillion seemed high, I didn’t really know how many genes fungi have. But it wasn’t hard to look up. Gene sequencing reveals that fungal genomes are similar in size to our own, at around 10,000-25,000 genes. But what are eight orders of magnitude among friends? Actual numbers aside, Bush further argued that “if microorganisms were the enemy, we’d be dead.” Which of course, many of our species are, having been unable to overcome infections from a dazzling array of microorganisms.

He then told us how amazing it is that the DNA repair enzyme “travels near the speed of light.” Unfortunately, this is even less true. DNA polymerases responsible for DNA repair travel along DNA strands at approximately 10-20 nucleotides per second, each of which is approximately 0.6 nanometers in length. Being as generous as I can, that comes out to 12 nanometers/second. And in that same second, a photon of light travels 300 million meters, or 25,000,000,000,000,000 times farther than the DNA repair enzyme.

Further revealing his ignorance about genetics, Bush informed us that while “scientists call 99% of DNA ‘junk,’” that simply can’t be correct because “there’s no waste in nature.” Bush asserts that what geneticists refer to as “junk DNA” actually codes for microRNA, small strands of RNA that regulate how our genes are expressed. While microRNA does actually exist, and the roles it plays are fascinating, it makes up a relatively small percentage of our genetic code, about 1-5%.

But then, Bush ruined what could have been an interesting talk when he said that microRNA can be transmitted by breathing. He claimed that you can literally go to the gym, do nothing except breathe in the microRNA that others exhale, and benefit because your cells think they worked out. And, in case that wasn’t enough of a stretch, he described how consuming microRNA from “bored” corn grown in a field with “tens of thousands of corn plants” makes us afraid of diversity and directly contributes to racism and mass shootings.

Publication – Fueled by Science: Author Chana Davis, PhD, 2019. Dear Scientific American. Vegetables are Not Toxic. Down with Fake News. Verdict: A damning condemnation of yet more pseudoscience Bush managed to get published in Scientific American. Bush was asked to redraft the article after this complaint. The original still stands and you can compare the misleading statements Bush presents as fact.

Rather than sticking to legitimate scientific sources (e.g. peer-reviewed scientific publications and meta-analyses by national organizations) the authors turn to a food author, a health product pushing salesman (Dr. Zach Bush) and pseudoscience haven Planetary Health (check it out if you want a smoothie that can cure Ebola!).

Zach Bush, MD, images are all used in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, and increase public health knowledge.

The post Zach Bush, MD on Medika’s Quack Scale appeared first on Medika Life.

Confused about Covid? Hell yes, who isn’t and you have every right to be. People are lying to you and feeding you misleading information every day. Almost all businesses do it, politicians and the media do it and more recently, a new group has joined their ranks. So-called medical experts — many of whom hold actual qualifications in their ‘fields of expertise’ — are now also misleading you about Covid-19 and a host of other health-related issues.

If you’re not interested in how and why we’ve compiled this list and the criteria we applied in selecting the names below, you can scroll down to the actual list and skip the bits below.

Misguided, Misdirected Medical Mayhem

The key difference between these self-styled “health guru’s’ and your run of the mill politician or media company, is that following their advice can scar you emotionally, cripple your life and your health, bankrupt you — it is your money and blind allegiance they covet — and at worst, lead to your death. They are, what we refer to when we talk about Predatory Health practitioners.

The list below will highlight, by name, some of the most prominent purveyors of Covid-19 falsehoods. You may have already fallen for their self-serving propaganda. It is easy to do. Most of the individuals listed are charismatic, intelligent, educated and some even enjoy the respect of colleagues within their profession. They appear beyond reproach and they specialize in mixing scientific facts with pseudo-science and new age fallacy, little bits of truth to support their larger lie.

They are dangerous, unethical, and empowered as never before by social media platforms that reward their controversial views with algorithms that promote their voices. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and a host of others are all willing participants. Controversy is good for business.

The list has been prepared by Medika Life in the interests of public safety during the Covid-19 Pandemic. We process masses of information on the pandemic. Research, opinions, and all the latest news and we afford everyone an equal, impartial opportunity to be heard, no matter their views. Opinions are judged based on supporting figures, verifiable data, and the voices we are privy to from within the medical community reflecting the true impact of Covid in hospitals across the US. We don’t publish one mantra but try to address all aspects of the Covid-19 virus and this is where you come in.

It is an impossibly complex web of information, misinformation, conspiracies, for lack of a better term (yes, they do actually exist within the industry) to try and disseminate. Even experts hold up their hands in confusion and yes, medically trained professionals are as susceptible to being misled as the public. They too rely on data and advice from within the industry and its governing bodies. The Covid-19 pandemic and our global responses have rapidly devolved into a multi-layered cluster-fuck of monumental proportions and again, you have every right to be confused.

You are required to exercise your free will, to inform yourself and to form an independent opinion based on ACTUAL FACTS supported by research that is above reproach. Sadly, of late, even giants like the CDC have been questioned and found wanting. So too with research. Not all of it is to be trusted. In choosing your sources for reliable information, it is as important to know whom you shouldn’t trust.. Here then the criteria, for the sake of fairness and transparency, that we apply to arrive at the list below.

Our Fallacy Filters

This list is based on a single FACT. Covid-19 can kill you and depending on any comorbidities you may exhibit, an unfortunate possession of a gene, and your age, that risk can increase exponentially. This is a fact, as inescapable as the rise and setting of the sun. All else is open to conjecture and sensible debate, as it should be. However, anyone whose statements attempt to diminish the risks of Covid-19 to the public falls foul off the filter. They are endangering the public’s life. Your life and my life.

This one simple fact places them at odds with the basic premise of the medical profession — first do no harm. Our Filters we use are these.

• Do the views espoused encourage individuals to expose themselves to risk from Covid-19?
• Are the views promoted harmful to the health of the community at large?
• Is there a fusion of proven medical science with unrelated and unsubstantiated pseudo-science?
• Are unrelated and unproven alternate health concepts and beliefs introduced through the selective use of proven but unrelated facts?
• Is the individual or business abusing its position within the industry to spread disinformation?
• Are the agendas presented associated with or tied in any way to anti-vaccine groups, conspiracy theorists, and new-age spiritualism?
• Is there financial motivation, political, social gain, or other to the parties involved in the message they are conveying?

Answering yes to the questions above will place you firmly on Medika’s naughty list. What matters here is that the general public recognizes the importance of these criteria. You can use them to objectively judge news you encounter on a daily basis. If it isn’t free of the above, then chances are there is an agenda involved, one that does not include consideration for your individual health or wellbeing.

Medium recently released a list of trustworthy sources for Covid-19. None of the names on our list appear on their list and the Medium list is an excellent if slightly biased resource for science-based information on the pandemic. Whilst we do not agree fully with all the views these professionals may offer, none of the those mentioned in Medium’s list would intentionally place you in harm’s way and their advice is offered with your wellbeing as the sole motivation. The same cannot be said for the individuals on Medika’s list.

Here then, our list and below it, a little guidance on how to filter the many voices you encounter on social media and across the internet and the press.

in light of recent events (Nov 17, 2020) we have now added Scott Atlas to the Medika Quack Scale. You can read our review of his disinformation campaign here.

The Covid ‘Medical’ Scam Artists Top 10 List of 2020

1. Kelly Brogan: At number 1 for good reason. Her growing reach and influence belie her message. She is a new age conspiracy theorist/alternate health ‘expert’ and a qualified (currently unregistered) psychiatrist gone bad. The worst kind, who feeds off the misery and mental conditions of her patients for profit and fame. For an object lesson in the abuse and manipulation of the mentally-ill, read this excellent and in-depth report. Her unashamed denial of Covid-19 as a potential killer makes her all the more dangerous and every effort should be made to de-platform her. View Kelly Brogan on Medika’s new Quack Scale.
2. Sayer Ji: Included at number 2 as he has the questionable distinction of being married to Brogan. A health food salesman with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Rutgers, he runs the pseudoscience, anti-vax website GreenMedInfo.com, which attracts over a million visitors a month. His support of Brogan, ties to QAnon, and his promotion of their dangerous and misleading narrative earn them both the distinct dishonor of top spot. Avoid, unfollow and move on
3. Zach Bush, MD. Bush now enjoys his own page on our Quack Scale. An interesting inclusion on the list. Triple board-certified and until recently widely respected within the medical community, his use of science and his medical credentials make his abuse of office and position all the more reprehensible when it comes to diluting the dangers of Covid-19. His newly discovered spiritualist beliefs in an existence beyond this one encourage him to espouse a view of embracing death as an expansion of consciousness. His vocal criticism of Covid-19, which occasionally raises valid issues, has been completely compromised by his views on our ‘journey to the light’. Visit his site and once you’re done taking in his Covid-19 advice, you can shop to your heart’s delight from the range of products he recommends. It would appear not even three medical degrees are a good enough substitute for a paying affiliate stream. A particularly dangerous and beguiling individual. By all means, hope for life after death, just don’t expose yourself to Covid-19 in an effort to achieve it.
4. Christiane Northrup, MD: With 108 000 followers on Twitter alone, Dr Northrop has reach and is recognized as one of the leading voices in Women’s Health.Northrup’s Facebook post of the fake documentary Plandemic catapulted it out of QAnon groups and into mainstream social media. As with Dr Bush, she raises certain valid points on aspects of the pandemic, only to discredit her voice by siding with fringe elements. This association is dangerous and lends credibility to organizations that should simply be banned for the harm they do to healthcare and the health of individuals or their ability to access care. Read more about Dr Northrup on Medika’s Quack Scale
5. Dr Joseph Mercola: Dr. Mercola went hog-wild on Covid, recommending a smorgasbord of products and therapies claiming to help treat COVID-19 through his website. Check out his news archive, where you can get a sense of the range of therapies he was pushing, from beets to sweet wormwood to antacids and vitamin C. According to the CSPI, he even advised consumers in a podcast episode and an online article “that intentionally contracting the virus after consuming purportedly immunity-boosting supplements would confer greater protection against COVID-19 than a vaccine would. A complete and utter crock of shit that encouraged people to infect both themselves and others. Inexcusable and his continued ability to trade is a serious indictment of medical regulatory bodies within the US. Read more about the dodgy Dr Mercola on his Quack Scale on Medika Life
6. Dr Judy Mikovits: She obtained a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from George Washington University in 1991. In a recent video that exploded on social media, the virologist claimed the coronavirus is being wrongly blamed for many deaths. She makes head-scratching assertions about the virus — for instance, that it is “activated” by face masks. The video is an excerpt from the movie Plandemic, which promised to “expose the scientific and political elite who run the scam that is our global health system.” Both her association with and support of Plandemic and her unsubstantiated views on Covid-19 make her a dangerous and unreliable source of information to be avoided. Read more about Judy Mikovits on Medika’s Quack Scale
7. Dr. Richard Bartlett: Dr. Bartlett claims that he has discovered a magic bullet for the treatment of Covid-19, an existing asthma medicine — inhaled budesonide, a corticosteroid — whose success, he suggests, negates the need for a vaccine. His claims are unsubstantiated outside of the scope of his limited experience with his own patients and ignoring and diminishing the importance of a vaccine, which would prevent infection in the first place, is also hugely irresponsible. As any doctor should know, rigorous trials are required across a large group of patients to accurately establish the real efficacy of any treatment. He has also made various unsubstantiated and false claims about the more widespread use of budesonide in Asian countries as a standard treatment. It would not appear Dr Bartlett has any nefarious intent to spread misinformation, merely that he has preempted a possible treatment in an irresponsible fashion and without due concern for established clinical process and the wellbeing of the broader community.
8. Dr Stella Immanuel: A Texas-based Nigerian born doctor who highlighted the use of Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), suggesting it was the only thing required to cure Covid-19. Medika is of the belief that there is value to the use of HCQ as a form of early intervention if used in conjunction with other treatments. The drug has however been tainted, both politically and within the industry, and is now effectively buried. Dr Immanuel is a pastor of her own church in Texas and readily mixes science, religion, spiritualism, and esoteric beliefs. She is no stranger to controversy and once again, the undesirable mix of science, new age magic, and religion simply added to the controversy surrounding HCQ. A potentially useful treatment that has now been lost.
9. Dr. Sherill Sellman (featured on Medika’s Quack scale here): This naturopathic physician is a real piece of work. She currently faces legal action and cease and desist letters from both the FDA and the New York Attorney General’s office. Her recommended cure of colloidal silver for Covid-19 included products offered for sale on her website. Colloidal silver has no proven effect on the coronavirus and can cause serious side effects including permanent discoloration of the skin. Dr. Sellman serves as an excellent example of the following. Never make the mistake of confusing a medical qualification with honesty or integrity. Neither of the latter are prerequisites for the former.
10. America’s Frontline Doctors (AFLD) (read our latest expose, 2021/13/01, on Simone Gold, MD the founder of this dangerous group, here): An organization fills No 10 and you’ll soon see why. Not to be confused with the AAFP. The Academy is in no way affiliated with this group. The AAFP is a partner in America’s Front-line Physicians — the Group of Six(www.groupof6.org) — a coalition that advocates for evidence-based care. America’s Frontline Doctors are in no way connected. Here are 7 of AFLD’s founding members, in no particular order;

• Stella Immanuel, MD (look familiar),
• James Todaro, MD,
• Bob Hamilton, MD,
• Dan Erickson, DO,
• Richard Urso, MD,
• Joseph Ladapo, MD, PhD
• Simone Gold, MD, JD,

AFLD’s agenda is interwoven with right-wing politics to the extent that the two are almost inseparable. The doctors listed above have no actual proven exposure to Covid-19 patients and as such are not in a position to make the outrageous claims they make relating to treatments and the opening of the countries economy and schools. Three of the doctors do not actively practice and two are ophthalmologists, hardly what you’d call a glowing recommendation and referring to themselves as ‘America’s Frontline’ is disingenuous and insulting to the real physicians that risk their lives daily on the forefront of Covid-19.

It is disrespectful to the thousands that have died and to our young doctor, Adeline Fagan, who selflessly made the ultimate sacrifice to protect her patients. Avoid both the organization and the doctors associated with it and should you encounter them or the doctors involved, unfollow, unfriend and de-platform.

The tip of the iceberg

Sadly, this isn’t a complete list, not by a long shot. Many other quacks and medical charlatans continue to operate openly and without consequence, spreading disinformation and false hope, mostly for the purposes of self enrichment. Sadly, one of the areas most prone to this is psychology, but that is another post for another day.

Hopefully, this list will offer you a little more insight into the mechanisms employed by these individuals and help you avoid them in the future. Their biggest sales tools are your desperation and your fear. They sell to this, they speak to this, they encourage it and they abuse these emotions for their own gain. Never forget that.

Finally, there is one last additional test you can apply to these individuals which will invariably expose them. It isn’t foolproof, but rather an additional tool in your “bullshit arsenal”. Use it when needed.

The Goodness Guide

Goodness is the one thing con artists and misleading marketing cannot fake, not for an extended period of time. Most doctors — there are many of them — who enter the profession motivated by a desire to help their fellow humans, exude this goodness. It cannot be faked convincingly and their overwhelming desire to assist their patients is obvious in all their actions. Good doctors are born to their profession. Want an example?

Read his articles. They are filled with compassion, care and genuine concern for his patients. He is quick to speak out against injustices in the profession, issues that affect his patient’s access to healthcare, in defense of minorities and in favor of equal opportunity. He is consistent and he is genuine. You cannot fake this and on a subconscious level, we can all recognize it. This is what I refer to as Goodness. Let it guide you.

Watch this space for our next list on the fraudsters that occupy psychology as we highlight the structural flaws in a system that will if left unchecked, become the healthcare scourge of our century.

The post Who Not To Trust: A List of 10 Covid-19 Charlatans and “Medical” Snake-Oil Salesmen appeared first on Medika Life.