Ewan's Corner

Posts Tagged ‘badscience’

This re-posting was inspired by Simon Dingle’s great opinion piece “Cellphones and Cancer” posted on Fin24 today, and all the stupidity surrounding the recent media-hyping of the announcement by the WHO.

Written by Dr. Milton Mermikides, Tuesday, 14 June 2011 00:00, originally from Swift

The skeptic community often provides, most commendably, the calm voice of reason during periods of public scares (and outright panics) such as the MMR and vaccine ‘controversy’, fears surrounding fluoride, mobile phone and Wi-Fi usage, the perils of Facebook, overblown drug risks and the impending doom from microwave ovens. Although opposing false fears is admirable work, it is important that we don’t become blasé and, through habit, allow genuinely concerning public health issues to escape our criticism. By way of a demonstration I would like to share some genuinely alarming information that I recently discovered about a supplementary nutritional practice. It is conducted by a sub-culture of adults for personal use and by (presumably well-meaning) parents in an effort to enhance their children’s performance. It seems, that this has been happening for years and has as yet escaped critical examination, so in this brief time please allow me to present an overview.

The substance is known as Ba-2Na (not barium disulphate – it is in fact an organic mixture) and can be found in green-form, black-form and yellow-form. The latter state being highly desired among users. As it is consumed all over the world, there are numerous names for Ba-2Na (depending on the method of production) including mauz, musala, musa and even, believe it or not, superbum. The latter conjuring up images of a superhero rushing into a phone booth not to don a costume but simply to urinate.

Dosages are bought (sometimes in the street in plain view) in individually ingested units of approximately 200 grams each, consolidated in to ‘bunches’ of 4-7 units. The reported effects include a rush of energy and a sense of contentment and satisfaction. In fact some are so enamored with the substance, that they believe it to be a proof of the existence of God. However, as far as I can discover, there have been no safety testing of this substance, rather worrying considering the following facts, one starts to wonder who is protecting the interests of the dealers.

Ba-2Na is highly genetically modified – often synthesized using a tissue culture – and is virtually unrecognizable from its wild natural counterpart.

This sugary concoction of chemicals includes phenylalanine (a component of aspartame and found in diet drinks, the possible dangers of which are well discussed), threonine (which can be absorbed directly into the human heart), extremely toxic phosphorus (used in matches of all things) and particles of ash. This toxic cocktail is also cut with mind-numbing dopamine and serotonin (which can cause endomyocardial fibrosis) – hence the sense of gratification reported by users- and other biogenic components. The substance can also spread infectious diseases if handled unhygienically, which is sadly often the case.

Parents are forcing their children to consume this gunk under the impression that they will give them a burst of energy and strength – an edge over their peers – however Ba-2Na interrupts the natural digestive function, appetite response and formaldehyde levels in the blood, and no-one really knows the cumulative effect of all these chemicals in the absence of adequate testing. Not to mention the fact that Ba-2Na emits over a 1000 times the ionising radiation of a mobile phone, the health effect of which doesn’t bear talking about. Allergic reactions (bizarrely from users who are allergic to latex) have also been noted but for some unknown reason have not made it to public knowledge.

Finally, the discarded casing of this substance can potentially cause physical harm to others – and most shocking of all – this can even be a source of amusement to the addled brains of users.

It is appalling that we haven’t highlighted these dangers and I suggest an imminent large-scale response. We need to peel back the outer layer to get to the centre of the issue, and then we might have a ray of comfort. If we don’t take this sort of thing seriously, we’ve all slipped up.

A large haul of uncut street Ba-2Na in its highly desirable yellow-form:

Postscript 

Ok so that’s very silly, but other than the ill-concealed name, all the statements I’ve made about the humble banana are basically true, deceptive, but true. Any old nonsense can be supported on a foundation of carefully-selected – and omitted – truths- All this can of course be achieved completely unconsciously. The alternative medicine, pro-homeopathy/anti-‘allopathy’ community, nutritionists, ‘wellness’ ‘experts’ and the anti-vaccination crowd are all deeply guilty of this massaging and careful compilation of truths and the use of scary science-y terms to convince themselves and others of whatever agenda to which they’ve formed an allegiance. Of course, these can be supplemented with a healthy dose of toxic lies – a level to which I haven’t needed to stoop in order to make a case against Ba-2Na.

Son of a CERN nuclear physicist, Milton was raised with wide artistic and scientific influences, an eclecticism that remains with him today. He has a BSc from the London School of Economics, a BMus (Berklee College of Music) and a PhD in music (University of Surrey), and holds commendations for his education and charity work. Milton now lives in London (UK) where he enjoys teaching, performing, composing, producing and writing about music. To learn more please visit miltonline.wordpress.com

Following on from my previous rant informative post on the subject, numerous people (including my lovely wife) let me know about some great Power Balance related news:

• Power wristbands a dud, says ACCC (news.smh.com.au)
• Sports band slammed in Australia (www.news24.com)

as well as much happiness in the skeptic world (scepticsbook.com, Vic Skeptics, Skeptic Money).

In summery Power Balance Australia, when approached by the OZ Competition and Consumer Commission, couldn’t provide *any* credible evidence of their claims that the hologram-powered rubber bands helped the wearer in any way. What a shocker.

The best part is that they are now forced to refund anyone who asks, as well as modify their advertising / packaging to remove false claims – and their website now includes the following statement:

We admit that there is no credible scientific evidence that supports our claims and therefore we engaged in misleading conduct in breach of s52 of the Trade Practices Act 1974.

If you feel you have been misled by our promotions, we wish to unreservedly apologise and offer a full refund.

That should hopefully hammer their Christmas sales.

Feeling a little silly now are we Mick Fanning, Benji Marshall, Brendan Fevola, Damien Oliver, David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, Leonardo diCaprio, Shaquille O’Neal, Kevin Pietersen, Rubens Barrichello, Kate Middleton, P Diddy etc?

For all you South Africans (thanks James) a link to a petition (update: OK Caroline, it’s not a petition, it’s a formal complaint by the FSI) preparing for a formal complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASASA). Go sign up.

I’m tired of seeing Power Balance bracelets being worn around the office⁽¹⁾, I’m tired of being spammed via email and twitter and web adverts and magazines, I’m tired of seeing so called sporting celebrities endorsing them, and most importantly I’m tired of people being ripped off financially and mentally by a blatant lie.

Last night’s official South African Power Balance launch in Cape Town was the final straw, so I’m joining the growing online education effort and trying to help expose Power Balance for what it really is – a hoax and a scam, preying on innocent people and (perhaps worst of all) promoting bad science.

To be clear, wearing a bracelet _may_ help with your strength / balance / whatever, but it is *NOT* the bracelet (and in particular not the utterly fake and useless hologram) which helps. That’s all – literally – in your mind, and any perceived or measurable benefit is NOT due to a Power Balance product. What I really object to is people making money by duping people into buying their fake product, people who convince innocents that some outside woo woo technology is helping them, rather than the readily available (and free) power of their own minds.

Ash Donaldson’s interesting TEDx Canberra talk on “Cognitive Dissonance” specifically mentions how whole industries and hoaxes (like Power Balance, which he directly references as an example) grow up around innate flaws in our ability to think and reason logically. Skip to 11 minutes into the talk if you’re impatient.

“Multiple-TED attendee and human factors expert, Ash Donaldson, wants us to better understand why we believe what we do. In this talk, Ash explains how our minds build belief and then breaks it down, showing us how and why humans are fooled into believing that things like Power Bands, anti-aging treatments and supplements actually work. Along the way, he tells us how as a trainee pilot he managed to nearly get himself killed by allowing his beliefs to rule logic and provable fact.”

Some great references:

• Power Bollocks: holograms, unicorns, and Shaquille O’Neal’s magic underpants
• How do those Power Balance bracelets work? I think it’s because of the 20-Hz difference between a genius and an ascending colon.
• The entertaining and opinionated @kevipedia’s post: Powerbalance bracelets are complete and utter bullshit
• various posts and discussions on granitestateskeptics.org

If you want to see how the demonstrations given by the salespeople work (and are in fact old stage magician tricks), have a look at the following two YouTube videos:

• Power Balance Tests
• Applied Kinesiology – How it’s Done

And this Surfing Magazine article / interview “Do You Believe in Holograms” (which made me alternately want to cry and laugh) highlights the ridiculous lengths to which the Power Balance sales people are willing to go to promote their scam:

“if you put a Power Balance hologram under a glass of beer for five minutes, it will energize the beer and you can do the balance test before and after drinking the beer, and it should work because liquid, as a medium, absorbs the frequency. We were doing it the another night with martinis and everyone was flipping out.”

If that doesn’t ring alarm bells, all hope is lost.

Finally, go support SkepticBros and buy yourself a few Placebo Bands to further the movement :-)

Notes:

1. although that has largely stopped due to a tough-love grass-roots education process :-)

I hadn’t seen Ben (of BadScience fame) speaking live – and wow was I missing out! He is one of the few speakers for which VLC’s awesome speed-up-without-changing-the-pitch feature is unnecessary – and he’s funny and interesting too!

Watch his great Nerdstock outtake on the fascinating placebo (and nocebo) affects, with obligatory homeopathy back-slap included – a cup of strong coffee beforehand is recommended :-) It’s properly outrageous.

Or use KeepVid to save the video locally as a high quality MP4 to entertain and educate your friends.

For more info on the placebo effect, the Skeptic’s Dictionary has a good writeup.

(disclaimer: this post has very little value right now, It’s mainly a placeholder for future ramblings and rants)

Gillian appears to have taken on Ben Goldacre of Bad Science fame – an ill-advised move if ever there was one – which was then followed by what seems to be a massive PR blunder on her behalf via Twitter (details recorded by JackOfKent and others – The Integrity and Honesty of @gillianmckeith).

Quoting from Dara Ó Briain’s brilliant performance at the Theatre Royal:

“that hideous wench, that cow McKeith. Have you seen "You Are What You Eat"? Its hosted by a whiny, naggy, bony, seed pimp bitch who goes into
the homes of morbidly obese people….

The bit that irritates me the most is the bullshit science she comes up with. However there is a science to nutrition, there is technical information that need to be gotten across. she just makes stuff up i think some bullshit about the different vibrational energies for food and different colours and all this yadda-yadda-yadda she might as well just say "eat broccoli, because in it there live imps that will climb out of the broccoli and night and mine the fat off your arse”.

If you are what you eat, she’s eaten a fecking shrew"

And the best part of all – Ben’s post And then I was incompetently libelled by a litigious millionaire contains this little gem of a tune by DogHorse: DrGillian (lyrics).

Further reading:

• Wikipedia’s main article on Gillian – with mentions Ben and his highly recommended book Bad Science
• Wikipedia’s You Are What You Eat article, notable for the controversy section