Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Anyone want to buy some snake oil?

Today I got an email from a neighbor who is promoting a new product that is supposed to relieve pain. The "amazing product" shown in the picture is touted as an energy wand that uses "breakthrough amized fusion technology." The claim is that the wand will "turn on your body's own source energy within" so you can "experience your aches and pains leaving your body."

In the email, the wand is said to be responsible for immediately relieving the pain of a man whose ribs were sore for three years since his second open heart surgery. Sounds pretty good, right? Well, additionally, the wand was able to make lemons taste sweeter and make bitter olive oil lose its bitterness and become “quite pleasant.”

Now, these claims were only the beginning. Migraines went away; knee pain vanished, back pain immediately gone, broken noses healed, nasal steroids were no longer needed! I know that some people will actually find relief when using it. Why?
For the same reason that placebos work 10-15% of the time. The mind is a miracle worker when belief is strong enough. But how can individuals sleep at night when they promote such products without any real scientific support that they work?

To be thorough, I did some research on the company’s website and on Google and was unable to find any scientific research on this product. In fact, I didn’t find any research, scientific or otherwise! With a product that claims this much, then we should see support in studies using a double blind comparison between a real wand and a look-alike wand that has no technology. However, products such as these come around all the time and—surprise—no valid research exists to supports the claims.

Now, the tragic part of this all-too-common story in my view is that people will buy this product. The reason this is sad is because these people are desperate souls who have chronic health issues that neither modern medicine nor their prayers of faith have been able to heal. We all know such people who have suffered for years or even decades and found no relief. They have had multiple surgeries and taken all sorts of medications and yet they still suffer.

Because of their desperation, when a friend offers a testimonial and shares this product with them, their quality of life is so poor that they will try anything. They have been praying for years for relief and maybe this is the answer to their prayers! Surely a trusted friend would only bear testimony on a true and valid product! Especially when the friend is a fellow church member. Why not try this miracle technology?! What is there to lose except a few thousand dollars that I don’t really have?

I find it immoral that businesses and individuals will promote such an untested product that has such wild claims. This is pure greed at work.

Unfortunately, some industries seem to prey off these products. The multi-level-marketing industry seems full of health products with amazing claims. Drink this juice and your cancer will go away! Often the promises are passed along by word of mouth (or email) so the company won’t be held accountable.

In the case of the “amazing amized energy wand” it appears that the product is also promoted through a MLM. I went to the company website in the email and found the phrase “Building Wealth Through Wellness” immediately under their name. Now the motive appears clear: building wealth. To be more accurate it should say “Building wealth by taking it from others under the pretense of healing them.”
Now here is my advice to any readers out there who are promoting such products or services: Get a real job that contributes a meaningful good or service to society! Also, if you want to keep me on your email list, I won’t mind too much since I need something to write about on occasion. I always find it interesting to see what insane things people get caught up in.

Like a neighbor friend and M.D. said when I showed him the email: "I don't even think some of these people are from our planet." He also quoted P.T. Barnum: "There's a sucker born every minute."

Unfortunately, I think Barnum might be right!

11 comments:

  1. No thank you, I will pass on this one.

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  2. I tried this technology in December for an acute Rotator Cuff injury. Within 5 minutes the pain subsided by over 80%...I could lift my hand above my head which I could not do prior to the application. When I looked into it further I was led to believe that the only thing it does is help the body move into balance and that the body is doing the healing. I went to some demonstrations to see if anyone else was experiencing any benefits. I saw the results replicated to a lesser and greater extend on a host of people volunteering to experience it. I guess the most important part of validation is to experience it for yourself. Anything else said on the subject is heresay. pc in Vancouver.

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    Replies
    1. yes this product delivers sorry you make claims without using!! I will notify corporate about your blog!

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  3. Namaste, I would beg to differ about what is needed for validation. Like my post points out, a placebo works 15% of the time. Your anecdotal evidence is not validation in my view. A double-blind study done by competent researchers who are independent of the company would answer a lot of questions. If this "technology" has any validity at all, such studies will be performed soon. The fact that there are none yet is good reason to be skeptical. Any valid technology would encourage such studies before it would even start marketing. Also, given that this product is marketed through an MLM that is purported to Build Wealth is more reason to be suspicious.

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  4. Bought a wand through http://www/zeropointwellness.org
    On the day I bashed my left shin with a huge wooden dumpster fence and it swole up, turned purple and bled, my wife and I used two wands on the injury. Before our eyes(2 witnesses)the bruise returned to normal skin colore, the swelling returned to perfect condition and the bleeding stopped.
    We see experiences like ours everyday with users of the wand..... Let the reader decide!

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  5. @Brother Sage: If the wand is that effective then the company should ask researchers to test it using a double-blind study. Otherwise, there are a lot of other explanations that can explain why you and others seem to see effects including, but not limited to, the placebo affect which works in about 15% of all cases.

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  6. MZ I totally agree. If it is that effective then there should be no harm in getting it independently verified.
    I've had a rep come into my pharmacy telling me all about the wonderful things these wands can do but as you said correctly there is no independent research done to verify these claims.
    My own father is very ill at the moment so like everyone else in the same position im looking to find something to help him but you just doont know what products are scams and what are not.
    Yes these wands sound amazing and i am sorely tempted to try anything but is it really worth it???
    If the company behind this revolutionary wand want everyone to take take them seriously then what is the harm in having this technology independently verified or is it that they are afraid that people will find the wand is nothing more than a money making scam!!!
    qam UK

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  7. qam: I personally don't think we will ever see any real research on this product since it is so far fetched that any legitimate scientist would laugh it off before even testing it. It sounds like something out of Harry Potter to me!

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  8. If you believe something is good for you, it is, and if you believe the exact same thing is bad for you, it is, too.

    I agree totally that it sounds a lot like they are riding on the placebo effect.

    Why?

    There is no entry on wikipedia!

    There is no peer review of this "fantastic" product!

    The story above with the magically healed leg actually made me laugh, because it is so obviously fake. The guy has to mention the website where HE bought A wand, and then he banged his knee and him and his wife used TWO wands!? LFMAO... that makes no sense, especially if the technology does what it say it does.

    The technology claims to bring all cells in perfect balance, so they can operate at peak efficiency and your body may heal as fast as possible. 1 or 2 or 100 devices should not make a difference, as the cells can't be balanced more than perfect.

    Also, when you got banged up to the point that your skin turned blue, it means that your tissue broke and blood went to places it shouldn't be.

    Even if our bodies would have a 5000% higher healing capability, it would be physically impossible to make a bruise disappear "in front of your eyes". This device does not claim to improve our healing capabilities beyond what our body can normally do, and our body can definitely not heal a bruise within minutes. So I call BS on that story.

    IF I were to buy one, it wouldn't be from that website because of this fake testimony.

    Also, just because of this testimony my doubts that this technology really "works" have just won over my tiny hope this may actually do something else than make people believe.

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  9. How to sell a fake product: 1. Play upon peoples fears and pains. 2. Make the product as obscure and unprovable as possible (Quantum Physics/Mechanics). 3. Marketing Marketing Marketing! Remember a while back with John Edward, the television psychic? Watch Lie To Me and you will see how he did it. Please people, we were meant to be discerning and wise. Ask questions! Even God tells us to do this.

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