Where's Our Protection From Those Internet Scams?
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- Written by James Randi
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The public is under attack, as if that's news. The Internet – nowadays available to anyone with a computer – offers all sorts of products and services that we should be able to assume have at least been considered by one of our federal agencies for legitimacy before being offered for sale. In the USA, the Federal Drug Administration [FDA] and the Federal Trade Commission [FTC] are in place to serve in that capacity, but they don’t because they can’t.
Anyone with a credit card can freely order diet drugs, sexual dysfunction devices and supplements, and a variety of items that are said to enhance athletic performance, and these are often sold exclusively via the Internet to escape regulation. Take one example, the “Slimming Beauty Bitter Orange Slimming Capsules,” which the vendors assured customers were “100% herbal” and “a Natural vitamin and calcium capsule.” But these pills – illegally – contained a powerful prescription-strength stimulant that in some patients could have brought about a heart attack. Luckily, this product was “withdrawn at the FDA’s request” before anyone was fatally affected by it.
Read more: Where's Our Protection From Those Internet Scams?
Homeopathy exposed by consumer advocates on CBC Marketplace
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"Erica Johnson investigates one of the country's fastest growing alternative health treatments: homeopathy. Ontario homeopaths are about to become the first province in Canada to regulate homeopathy — lending credibility to this unproven practice."
Of Licorice And Skepticism
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- Written by Steve Cuno
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Those of us who are eager to introduce friends to critical thinking could learn a thing or two from black licorice.
Licorice is a confection that some people like and sane people detest. As a charter member of the detest group, I can assure you that not even the most skilled licorice monger with the smoothest, most convincing sales pitch in the history of humankind, beast-kind and quite possibly plant-kind could get me to relent.
My reaction to licorice is not altogether unlike the reaction of many people to skepticism.
I won’t insult your intelligence with an argument from analogy. I concede substantial differences between skepticism and licorice. Not least is that skepticism is, by definition, a wholly rational approach, whereas any line of thought that ends by endorsing licorice for human consumption manifests irrationality at its finest. But perhaps you’ll indulge me while I illustrate from analogy. If we can find a way for a skilled licorice monger to crack a nut like me, perhaps we’ll happen upon an insight or two for sharing skepticism with people who would otherwise dig in their heels at its very mention.
Worldwide 10:23 campaign on homeopathy: Feb. 5
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The JREF is supporting the U.S. contingent of the worldwide 10:23 campaign organized by the Merseyside Skeptics Society—an effort to raise awareness about homeopathic "remedies" sold by major retailers that put unknowing consumers at risk.
We'll be organizing a homeopathic "overdose" event of our own on Feb. 5, similar to the ones across Britain last year which were inspired by James Randi's frequent demonstrations with homeopathic sleeping pills.
We'll also be sending support materials to local groups who want to join the campaign with their own demonstrations, to help you get the truth about homeopathy into the local media across the United States.
If you want to participate by coordinating a local event, click here to sign up!
I CAN'T WAIT!
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- Written by James Randi
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I just heard from Magali Cotard, a French reporter who recently interviewed me on the subject of homeopathy and Dr. Jacques Benveniste, the scientist who so enthusiastically accepted and promoted the quackery when Sir John Maddox, Walter Stewart, and I – for Nature Magazine – investigated his lab at Clamart, France, where Benveniste conducted his research back in 1988. The report of our investigation resulted in a serious reversal for the lab, and for its conclusions.
During that visit, we’d witnessed the regular routine of the personnel when they did their work, noting that it was not done “double blind,” which certainly was called for in such research, and we then initiated this precaution for a controlled set of tests over which we had control. The eventual result was that for the first time in the history of their work, null results were produced. That was no surprise to us, since we’d seen ample evidence of data selection and other errors taking place during their procedures.
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