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Quackery

Photo by Wayne S. Grazio, CC via Flickr, http://bit.ly/2DVg7uK
Photo by Wayne S. Grazio, CC via Flickr, http://bit.ly/2DVg7uK

Tuesday, we’re talking about some of the weirdest ways we’ve tried to cure our bodies and minds through the ages. Doctor and author Lydia Kang is our guide and she says we still need to be saved from quacks.

RadioWest divider.

Tuesday, we’re talking about some of the weirdest ways we’ve tried to cure our bodies and minds through the ages. Lydia Kang is an internist and co-author of a new book called Quackery. In it, she chronicles things like a 12th-century bird poop potion to aid in childbirth, a 17th-century recipe for blood jam to treat infections, and the 19th-century tapeworm diet fad. Kang joins us to talk about our ongoing search for a cure, and why we still need to be saved from quacks - and ourselves.

PROGRAM NOTE: RadioWest will not air at 7:00 p.m. so we can bring you NPR special coverage of President Donald Trump's State of the Union address.

Lydia Kang is a practicing physician, writer, and poet. Along with Nate Pedersen, she's co-author of  Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything [Indie bookstores|Amazon]

Doug Fabrizio has been reporting for KUER News since 1987, and became News Director in 1993. In 2001, he became host and executive producer of KUER's RadioWest, a one hour conversation/call-in show on KUER 90.1 in Salt Lake City. He has gained a reputation for his thoughtful style. He has interviewed everyone from Isabel Allende to the Dalai Lama, and from Madeleine Albright to Desmond Tutu. His interview skills landed him a spot as a guest host of the national NPR program, "Talk of the Nation." He has won numerous awards for his reporting and for his work with RadioWest and KUED's Utah NOW from such organizations as the Society of Professional Journalists, the Utah Broadcasters Association, the Public Radio News Directors Association and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.