More Magnet BS

Take a look here at some brushing boots for horses with magnets in them.

There's also dog and cat collars made of...er...rubber and lycra which apparently relieve pain.

And there's also a magnet for your phone to protect you from harmful radiation (endorsed by the Daily Mail in 2004!).

Exactly.

Return to the Ecozone

From the beginning of March this year the ASA is able to look as misleading and false claims made by websites. Previously the ASA could only investigate if the claims were part of a promotion, but not anymore.

So I revisited the Ecozone website which makes the same claims as the leaflet I complained about back in February. And today I sent another complaint to the ASA of the same spurious magnet water softening and stainless steel odour neutralising claims (yes really, see my previous post).

We'll see what happens...

Eco Claims and the ASA

It's nice to know you're doing something good for the environment. It's even nicer to know you're saving money while you do it.

Which brings me on to Ecozone, a company that offers "eco friendly products". And their advertising leaflet which fell out of the Soil Association's (Boo! Hiss!) Organic Farming journal.

According to their website, Ecozone products are stocked by Amazon, Comet, Currys, The Co-operative, House of Bath, John Lewis, Lakeland, The National Trust, Ocado, Oxfam, Scotts of Stow and Whole Foods.

"So what's wrong with that?" I hear you ask. "Saving the planet and all that?"

"Well…" I say.

"Well what?" you say.

"Well, give me a chance," I respond. Bloody hell.

So, as I was saying, they sell the usual eco stuff, energy saving lightbulbs and the like. But a couple of items (well, three) caught my eye.

The first is called Magnoloo. Can you guess what woo it contains yet, kids?

Yes, that's right, magnets! Yes, using the power of magnets you can

...prevent unsightly limescale build up in your loo and save you time and money. No need to use toxic cleaners anymore. Magnoloo harnesses the power of magnets to crystallise the calcium particles so that they do not settle in the toilet bowl.

Just pop one in your cistern. Simples. Of course, the claims above are a load of old dangle berries but who cares, there's a planet to save!

The second product is called Magnoball. Any guesses?

Use the power of magnets to soften the water in your washing machine or dishwasher. Using magnetic power the Magnoball reduces limescale in your appliance by crystallising the particles - this prevents limescale build up in your machine or on pipes.

Yup. Same as the Magnoloo but for your kitchen appliances. Just pop a ball in with your washing and no more limescale! Or not.

The third product is my favourite. It's called Toilet Smellkiller. And surprisingly it isn't based on magnets. So what is it?

Eliminate horrid smells coming from your toilet with the Ecozone Toilet Smellkiller which lasts an absolute lifetime!

The Toilet Smellkiller is made from special high grade stainless steel that neutralises odours as soon as they come into contact with air and water, leaving your bathroom smelling clean, fresh and non-toxic.

Yup, it's a bit of stainless steel in a plastic clip.

No, really, that's it. Check out the image. See? Who'd have thought you can eliminate potty smells with a bit of stainless clipped to your loo? Brilliant.

So not so much saving the planet as flogging products which don't do what they claim to. Unless Ecozone have some evidence to back these claims up, of course. Which is where the ASA come in. Here's my email to them.

To whom it may concern:

I am writing to complaint about an advertising leaflet I have found in the Winter 2010 issue of Organic Farming. The advertisement makes a number of claims which I believe to be unsubstantiated.

I have attached a copy of the full leaflet. The pages of concern are in the files Ecozone2.jpg and Ecozone3.jpg.

1. The product Toilet Smellkiller description claims "Eliminate horrid smells coming from your toilet with the Ecozone Toilet Smellkiller which lasts an absolute lifetime!"

I doubt that Ecozone have any evidence to back up their claim that the Smellkiller "eliminates horrid smells coming from your toilet".

2. The advert states:

"The Toilet Smellkiller is made from special high grade stainless steel that neutralises odours as soon as they come into contact with air and water, leaving your bathroom smelling clean, fresh and non-toxic."

While some people believe that stainless steel objects can reduce strong odours, the advertisement presents these beliefs as true. I do not believe that Ecozone possesses evidence to back up the claims that;

a. "high grade stainless steel" "neutralises odours as soon as they come into contact with air and water."

b. that the interaction of air and water with the stainless steel part of their product can leave "your bathroom smelling clean, fresh and non-toxic."

3. Ecozone claims that the product Magnoloo Toilet Descaler "can prevent unsightly limescale build up in your loo and save you time and money." and "Magnoloo harnesses the power of magnets to crystallise the calcium particles so that they do not settle in the toilet bowl."

I doubt that Ecozone have evidence to back up their claims that;

a. the Magnoloo product can "prevent unsightly limescale build up in your loo."

b. the product saves consumers time and money.

c. that magnets can "crystallise calcium particles so that they do not settle in the toilet bowl."

4. The product description for the product Magnoball is thus:

"Use the power of magnets to soften the water in your washing machine or dishwasher. Using magnetic power the Magnoball reduces limescale in your appliance by crystallising the particles - this prevents limescale build up in your machine or on pipes."

I doubt that Ecozone has evidence to back up the claim that magnets "soften the water in your washing machine or dishwasher".

Furthermore the Drinking Water Inspectorate in their Water Hardness leaflet states (emphasis mine):

"Some devices are sold on the basis that they produce a magnetic field which reduces scaling by altering the shape of the crystals from needle like to rhomboid – which means they are less adherent to the heating elements in boilers. These devices do not soften the water. The science behind them is based on continuous water flow and they were designed originally for large industrial water systems, not for the household situation, where water tends not to flow for up to 8 hours in 24 hours (at night)."

(http://www.dwi.gov.uk/consumers/advice-leaflets/hardness.pdf)

5. The Magnoloo description continues with this claim "Save money on water softening tablets and washing powder (you can use up to 70 per cent less detergent)"

I would contend that money cannot be saved on water softening tablets due to the use of this product as there is no evidence that the product softens water (as noted in point 4 above).

Also, I doubt Ecozone has evidence to show that "up to 70 per cent less detergent" can be used when using this product - the implied claim being that this would be as effective.

I am complaining as a concerned member of the public and wish to confirm I have no commercial interest.

Thanks

Dale Williams

And the ASA's response

Dear Mr Williams

YOUR COMPLAINT ABOUT ECOZONE (UK) LTD

Thank you for contacting the Advertising Standards Authority. I’m sorry to learn that this ad has caused you concern.

As this ad contains several claims similar to those that we have not seen evidence for in the past I’ve passed the case to our Compliance team, which will follow it up. The Compliance team doesn’t report to complainants or publish the details of its work but it will address the problem.

Thank you for taking the time to bring this matter to our attention. Further information about the ASA and the work we do is available on our website, www.asa.org.uk.

Yours sincerely

James Duckworth

Unfortunately the ASA does not report the actions of their compliance team. So for now, job done. Though Ecozone have the above claims on their website, so roll on March 1st!

Sheffield Skeptics in the Pub take part in mass Homeopathic Overdose (and survive)

Members from Sheffield Skeptics in the Pub took part in the 10:23 Challenge on Sunday 6th February protesting against homeopathy by making the statement, 'Homeopathy - there's nothing it'.

Over 300 protesters in Manchester and more than 1000 around the world participated in the largest ever single demonstration against the treatment by 'overdosing' on homeopathy.

The protesters took 100 times the recommended dose of belladonna (deadly nightshade) to show that homeopathy ie nothing more than sugar and water.

Homeopathic remedies are made from successive dilutions of a substance that causes the symptoms trying to be relieved, caffeine to relieve insomnia for instance. Even though there is an ingredient listed on the bottle, the dilution in a standard remedy means that you would need take many trillions of pills to get just one molecule of the original substance. Homeopathy is not the same as herbal medicine.

When tested under rigorous conditions -when neither the patient nor the doctor knows whether they're using homeopathy or not until all of the tests are done -homeopathy has shown to work no better than a sugar pill. That doesn't mean people do not feel better after taking homeopathy; only that those feelings aren't related to the homeopathy. This is known as the placebo effect and is often misunderstood. Conventional medicine also has a placebo effect, on top of its other benefits. The choice between medicine and homeopathy comes down to a simple question: would you have a placebo, or a placebo plus a treatment that has been proven to work?

The theoretical principles that underpin homeopathy lack any scientific credibility and the so-called 'laws of homeopathy' do not tally with anything we know about the world around us. Only a basic understanding of chemistry is needed to demonstrate that that homeopathic remedies can only be plain water.

Buy a vial of 30C homeopathic sulphur at your local pharmacy and one thing you can be sure you won't find in the bottle is any sulphur. You have significantly more chance of winning a triple rollover on the lottery than you have of finding even a single atom of sulphur in that tube; but the label still reads 'Sulphur'.

#1023 - Which remedy will you choose?

The QED conference is fast approaching which can only mean one thing - the 10:23 challenge 2011 is nearly upon us. For those that don't know, this will involve an international homeopathic 'overdose' by protesters in more than 10 countries around the world over the weekend of February 5-6 2011 to make the simple statement

Homeopathy - There's Nothing In It

The most important question you should be asking yourself is;

"Which remedy will you choose?"

You could go for the standard Boots Belladonna 30C , or Nelsons Arnica 30c. If you read the Science and Technology Commons Select Committee's Evidence Report on Homeopathy you'll know that homeopathic remedies can be far more ridiculous than this.

We are concerned by some homeopathic products. For example, it is possible to buy homeopathic products made from body parts such as hip joints and colons, animals such as iguana and dragonfly, and different kinds of sunlight. We are doubly concerned that it is also possible to buy products derived from precious archaeological features such as the Great Wall of China and Stonehenge.56 We do not understand what symptoms could be induced (and therefore be treated) by these products under the like-cures-like principle.

Helios Homeopathy (reference #56 in the report) supplies all these products and more, they have gems (literally) such as:

• Magnetite (gem ess.)
• Jet (Gem essence)
• Ruby (Gem Essence)

As well as some more unusual remedies:

• North sea oil mud
• D N A and the associated R. N. A
• Stonehenge
• Vacuum - I'm guessing this is the empty space type rather than the cleaner type - although I'm not really sure how you could make a remedy out of nothing
• Exhaust fumes - QED is in a city after all
• Light (Energy Saving Bulb)

Some of my favourites include laser beam, especially at the wavelength of 2940nm. Guiness to cure drunkenness, or maybe Irishness, or maybe alcoholism. If I was an alien visiting the milky way and caught a 'Milky Way disease' I would take Milky Way (Essence). For people suffering from electromagnetic hypersensitivity caused by mobile phones, they'll need a Mobile Phone remedy, you'll of course need to be carefull to choose the correct frequency band, 900Mhz or 1800 Mhz.

Now, one final recommendation, for Marsh from the Merseyside Skeptics Society, I would recomend Palladium metallicum to cure his problems with accepting the existance of this element.

I've chosen my remedy, I understand that Manchester can be a dangerous place with all the gun crime, so I've chosen... Gunpowder... in case I get shot! Enjoy choosing your homeopathic remedy.

And on a related note... there is no difference in remedy composition above a 12C dilution so this really doesn't matter too much!

Dodgy Chiropractic Advertising and the ASA

A common criticism I come across (from my girlfriend especially) about skeptics is that the majority of us do not play an active roll, that we simply absorb skeptical material as entertainment and talk about it rather than getting up and doing something about it (I think I agree with this overall). Of course, Simon Perry is the obvious example we should all think about when considering what each of us can easily do to make a difference.

When I came across some dodgy advertising for a local chiropractic clinic in Sheffield I saw this as an excellent opportunity to become more active.

The poster I saw was shown in a public place and therefore comes under the remit of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

Usual stuff really, apart from the paragraph 'Chiropractic has been shown to help with a vast array of musculoskeletal promlems, in almost every part of the body, not just the spine and neck'. This claim jumped out at me.

I reported this to the ASA (unfortunately I didnt keep a copy of the complaint, I'll try and get a copy to add on here).

The general gist of my argument referred to the General Chiropractic Council who are the body established by parliament to regulate the profession. Fairly recently they published the 'Effectiveness of manual therapies: the UK evidence report' which 'intends to be a comprehensive summary of the scientific evidence regarding the effectiveness of manual treatment for the management of a variety of musculoskeletal and non-musculoskeletal conditions'.

The GCC wrote [PDF] to the UK's chiropractors in March 2010 advising them to refer to this report when advertising their services.

In summary, the report concludes that there is only one treatment with a high level of positive evidence (chronic low back pain), the remainder are moderate or inconclusive. In the 'extremity - musculoskeletal' conditions reviewed, 12 had inconclusive evidence and 8 had moderate evidence (with a mix of favourable and un-favourable). The conclusions on non-musculoskeletal conditions were even worse. This seemed to be in direct contradiction to the advertising and didn't follow the advice given to the chiropractor by their regulatory body.

The ASA seemed to agree and I received the following response;

A job well done I think!

If you fancy submitting your own complaint then check if it falls within their remit and fill in the online form, it only took me 20 minutes.

Quote of the Week

Nature composes some of her loveliest poems for the microscope and the telescope.
- Theodore Roszak, Where the Wasteland Ends, 1972

Why Do Atheists Care What Other People Believe?

The title of this post is a quote from an article by Kelly McParland on nationalpost.com.

He refers to the atheist bus campaign in Canada and wonders

Why do atheists care what other people believe?

Well, Kelly, atheists care what other people believe when it affects us. And when it affects other people too.

We care what other people believe when creationists attempt to impose their religious beliefs into science education.

We care what other people believe when religious organisations are given special treatment (tax breaks, exemptions from non-discrimination laws for example) for no other reason that they are religious.

We care what other people believe when supposed faith healers dupe innocent believers out of their money and steer them away from appropriate medical treatment, often treatment which could make their life much more comfortable and even save it.

We care what other people believe when the religious attempt to ban things of which they do not approve or that they consider an insult to their beliefs.

We care what other people believe when innocent children are harmed or even die because of their parent's beliefs.

We care what other people believe when the requirement of empirical evidence is substituted by belief.

And we care about all this without fearing an all-powerful Big Brother bully figure who will punish us if we don't act like good little creations and reward us if we do nice stuff.

That is why we care what other people believe.

How to make your own homeopathic vodka!

Quote of the Week

I maintain there is much more wonder in science than in pseudoscience. And in addition, to whatever measure this term has any meaning, science has the additional virtue, and it is not an inconsiderable one, of being true.

- Carl Sagan

Shameless Post Promotion

Tinnitus Retraining Therapy and Current Practice

Hi all. This is a little niche but as it has a skeptical bent I hope it may interest some of you.

As this website is a resource for all SYSS participants if you have a blog or essay you feel would be of interest please get in touch and we'll throw it up here.

Kind Regards,

Tim

How Do I Know If I Might Be Psychic?

Before I complete my write up about Manchester Mind Body Spirit festival I will share some information the The Institute of Psychic Development gave to me at the fair yesterday (I'm sure they won't mind too much).

Their leaflet is entitled, "How Do I Know If I Might Be Psychic?" and lists a number of signs potential psychics should be on the look out for.

These include;

'Common co-incidences occurring in your life'

Yes, plenty of co-incidences in my life.

'Seeing things out of the corner of your eye'

Yes, I have fairly good vision, the corners of my eyes work fairly well.

'Feeling a 'breeze'...'

Ok, this is getting a bit spooky now.

'Strong fascination for psychic or spiritual knowledge'

Wow, I think this would apply to a lot of skeptics, perhaps we are all psychic?

Now I've confirmed I might be psychic, what do the Institute of Psychic Development recommend I do now?

'Home Study, Online & Attended Psychic Development Courses.'

Ah, I see, some cash required... not really too much of a surprise! I don't think it is a coincidence that this list applies to all 6.8 billion people alive today, I struggle to comprehend how anyone wouldn't see right through this list of 'psychic traits' and tell that this group are simply attempting to sell their courses to as many people as possible.

I wonder if Randi would accept items on this list as evidence for claiming the million dollar prize... I think not.

Quote of the Week

There are two possible outcomes: if the result confirms the hypothesis, then you've made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery.

- Enrico Fermi (1901-1954)

Tumbleweed

Well, it's been a bit quite here for a while hasn't it?

I'm ashamed to say we (Tim & myself) have been neglecting SYSS a bit due to other commitments. Tim's have been a bit more important than mine (his being a new baby).

Hopefully we'll be able to post more soon (I admit I'm a poor blogger) and get some real activism going in the region. God willing. Hopefully.

The Atheist Pocket Debater

If you have an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad you may have noticed that there a lot of apps in the app store dealing with religion of various sorts, but very little related to atheism. Fortunately the balance has been restored a little with the release of the Atheist Pocket Debater from developer Jason Hagen for the very reasonable price of £1.79.

This app collects together a range of articles grouped into three sections dealing with Humanism, Skepticism and Atheism covering topics from the Humanist manifesto, to Pascal's wager to a handy checklist of questions to ask for debunking bogus claims. The app is easy to navigate with a useful search function and the option of changing the font size to suit your eyesight.

Some of the articles and arguments may be familiar to seasoned skeptics, but it is handy to have them available to you when you need to refer to them, and the developer has promised regular updates.

Worth checking out!

Would You Know if Someone Was Drowning?

As skeptics we often look at other people's beliefs and views and comment on those. How often do we look at our own in a critical way? And how often do we test our knowledge to see if what we believe to be true still is?

For instance, can you tell me what a person drowning looks like? And would you hear a person drowning if they were close to you?

If like me, your answer was, "Yes, of course - they'd be splashing about, probably shouting for help and stuff." then you'd be wrong. At least wrong most of the time.

I came across this interesting article last week entitled Drowning Doesn't Look Like Drowning and it was, for me, an eye opener.

You see, when people drown they don't usually shout or scream - the body prioritises breathing over talking. And a drowning person's instinct is to use their arms to press down onto the water's surface to lift their head out of the water to breathe, so they can't wave either. Which means there's usually not much splashing and no shouting for help.

This quote from the article may be particularly worrying for parents (figures are for the USA);

It is the number two cause of accidental death in children, age 15 and under (just behind vehicle accidents) – of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult. In ten percent of those drownings, the adult will actually watch them do it, having no idea it is happening (source: CDC).

So why are we so uneducated in what drowning looks like? Is it because we all think we know what drowning looks like?

Television and films are full of people drowning, waving their arms, shouting for help and such. Maybe that is the problem. Apart from a few lifeguards and so forth, we've all been educated in what drowning looks like from tv and film. Splashing and shouting is dramatic. It works for tv. It works for film.

Its just not realistic.


Of course, if someone is shouting and making a lot of noise they may still need help. We just need to be aware when we are near water (and when our children are near or in water) that no noise may be as much an indicator of a problem than a cry for help.


We just need to remember that a our information and knowledge these days comes to us via a large number of sources, from books to tv to the internet. Not all these sources will be factual and spotting the "embellished" stuff is not always easy or even obvious. We assume a lot every day, but every now and then it doesn't hurt to question the mundane things which seem so obvious that they must be true.


Until last week I would have been confident that I could have spotted a person drowning nearby. Now I am not so sure, but now I at least know I have a better chance of spotting someone drowning as I know the correct things to look for.


I hope that now you also do too.

Skeptic Links

• What You’re Doing Is Important Why being a skeptic matters
• Vatican makes attempted ordination of women a grave crime Here's an idea. If a priest ordains a woman, then just move them quietly to another parish and let them do it again, and before you know it the church will be full of women priests.
• Fortune telling in Warren to get harder Psychics in Warren, Michigan now have to be licenced and police checked before they can ply their trade. Now, all that is needed is for them to prove their abilities before getting the licence as well.
• The Blue Brain Blues - Materialist ethics and simulated minds The ethical implications of creating artificial intelligence
• What are the chances Paul the octopus is right? A statistical analysis of the psychic octopus.
• Could "blue holes" offer clues about the biology of extraterrestrials? A uniquely strange environment could show how life could arise on other planets
  

Big Brother Dave : Mad, Sad or Bad?

If you have been following the current series of Big Brother then you will have seen housemate David Vaughn. In the opening show he entered the house dressed as monk, claiming to be 'drunk in the lord' as he laughed with something of a maniacal air. Outside of the goldfish bowl of reality television he is a christian minister from Pontypool who has achieved a certain notoriety by organising rave parties for believers, notably the 'Sloshfest' event of which he has said "We want to see fun coming back into the Church.”

Harmless enough, you might think. He's not all that different from the average nutter with a sandwich board that you might see in the High Street on a Saturday afternoon. However, I think that there are three possibilities to consider for his reasons for appearing on 'Big Brother'.

Firstly, is he mad? You don't have to go far on the internet to find videos of him acting in a very strange way - speaking in tongues, acting as if he were drunk on something stronger than the holy spirit. He has even expounded such far out ideas as UFOs being linked with fallen angels. However, the vetting process for Big Brother contestants is a stringent one. It involves numerous interviews with producers and psychiatrists to evaluate how the contestant will cope with the pressures of twenty four surveillance. Channel 4 and Endemol will be keen to avoid the potential bad publicity of somebody who is mentally unstable being harmed by appearing on the show.

The second possibility is that he is sad. Perhaps he does genuinely believe what he preaches and that by appearing on the show he will make his own modest contribution to spreading the gospel. Maybe he is happy to be ridiculed if he can metaphorically turn the other cheek and demonstrate the love of Jesus to his fellow housemates. In practice though, he has been shown as being rather mean spirited, arguing dogmatically with the others in the house and making his fair share of snide, bitchy and bullying remarks. When he was nominated for eviction he competed fiercely in a challenge and saved his place in the house by passing his nomination on to somebody else, showing himself to be as ruthless a game player as anybody else.

The final possibility is that he is bad. His own website describes his role on the show as a 'Glory Carrier' and his aim seems to be to generate as much media attention for his organisation as he can manage. He has made claims of curing diseases such as cancer, and even said that he could try to make fellow housemate Steve's amputated legs regrow. He has even gone so far as to pretend to be disabled and be pushed around in a wheelchair offering 'blessings from a real monk'. I think his role on the show can best be described as a cynical publicity stunt and at worst as an attempt to attract vulnerable people suffering from diseases into his church with a promise of healing that is not backed up with any evidence.

However, there is a reason for skeptics to keep an eye on the show. New contestant Andrew, a 19 year old student and self confessed maths geek has been seen standing up to Dave on a number of occasions, knocking back his arguments and assertions with the powers of rational debate and honest inquiry.

Who goes ... you decide!

If you can't tweet nothin' nice ...

... then don't tweet nothin' at all.

It seems that not-a-doctor Gillian McKeith has gone a bit mad on Twitter and then tried to delete it all. Fortunately all of her posts have been archived for posterity here ...

Skeptic Haikusday

Secrets of dowsing
No magic required, it's just
Simple gravity

The Friday puzzle
Posed by a Sheffield Skeptic
Baffles and delights

Hypnosis explained
Without recourse to myths of
The unconscious mind