Snake oil was used as traditional medicine throughout history. How did it get such a bad name?


Since the pandemic began, there's been talk of numerous dubious cure-alls for COVID-19.

President Trump spruiked the malaria treatment hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the coronavirus, even though the World Health Organization says that clinical trials show it doesn't prevent illness or death.

And earlier this year, US TV pastor Jim Bakker was ordered to pay restitution for selling a health supplement that he falsely claimed could cure COVID-19.

Historically, dodgy remedies have been dubbed 'snake oil' and those that push them 'snake oil salesmen'.

But what are the origins of snake oil and how did selling it get such a bad name?

Healing benefits

According to Dr Caitjan Gainty, who lectures on the history of science, technology and medicine at London's King's College, snake oil was sold throughout America in the 18th and 19th century.

"Snake oil was regarded as something that was a very effective cure for a lot of different kinds of things, especially for things like rheumatism and arthritis," Dr Gainty tells ABC RN's Sunday Extra.

Some advertisements went a step further and claimed it could cure a sore throat, catarrh, hay fever, cramps and even deafness.

"Whether or not it helped in every case isn't totally clear," she says.

"But certainly, in the cases of arthritis, it seems like it did make a difference."

Snake oil has always had exotic origins, Dr Gainty says.

"Some people would say: 'This is from an African Voodoo doctor that I met or this is from a Native American or this is secured from China and brought here by the Chinese migrants who are working on the railroad'," she says.

It was used medicinally in many different cultures because of the benefits from the omega-3 fatty acids found in the flesh of certain snakes, particularly the water snake in China. This could have been why it seemed to help with ailments such as arthritis.

"But whatever the origins, the idea was that snake oil in this form was actually helpful and curative."

In the 19th century, the American pioneers, who'd likely heard about the reputed healing benefits of snake oil, would capture many of the native rattlesnakes and sent them off to be turned into oil in the hope of making some extra money, Dr Gainty explains.

Snake oil was also cheaper than other available medicines at the time. So when unorthodox medical practitioners started selling it on the travelling medicine show circuits, the public was open to trying it.

"These traveling entertaining events would move from town to town," Dr Gainty says.

"You would get great entertainers like Harry Houdini and lots of bluegrass and country music people playing. And you'd also get these people who were selling their snake oil."

What's in it?
Initially the product was what it claimed to be — namely actual snake oil. But over the years, it became unclear exactly what was in these remedies.

That was until the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act came into force and investigators began taking a closer look.

It turned out that snake oil wasn't as authentic as it was purported to be.

Dr Gainty said there was a classic example at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.

"This snake oil salesman Clark Stanley boiled up some snakes on the spot and then sort of skimmed [the oil] off and put it in bottles and said 'Here is your snake oil'," she says.

"They said, 'This is red pepper and camphor — that's not snake oil. This is a problem'," she adds.

The legislation went even further. Manufacturers were required to label their products if ingredients such as alcohol, opium, morphine, heroin, cannabis indica, chloral hydrate were present.