Posts Tagged ‘ electromagnetic quackery ’

How to Turn your Whole House into a Big Bad Wi-Fi Aerial.

May 28, 2007

So, with all this hot air blowing around about the inevitability of our imminent deaths due to mobiles and Wi-Fi, it is no surprise that nutrient supplement salesman Patrick Holford starts using his extensive physics knowledge to keep us safe from the evils of the ‘New Big Pharma’, the mobile-wifi-EMR conspiracy of ‘Vested Interests’. Patrick rids his home of Wi-Fi and in doing so starts a new experiment in the dangers of EMR – but that is to come. Patrick has sent his latest missive from 100% Health e-news, entitled ‘Wi-Fi Health Warnings: Is Your Broadband Harming Your Health?’. The short answer ought to be of course, ‘No’, but instead Patrick subjects his subscribers to his flaky knowledge of electromagnetic theory. Let’s pull his email apart… Read the rest...

Wi-Fi, Quackery and the MPs

May 21, 2007

By Andy Lewis

Well, today’s news has had lots of Wi-Fi scares being reported. Tonight’s Panorama is going to look at the ‘dangers’ of bringing Wi-Fi into schools. Let’s wait to see what they have to say, but early reports do not bode well as they are claiming that their ‘independent tests’ showed WiFi produces EM levels three times higher than mobile phone masts. It is difficult to think up a more meaningless statement. But such is the quality of debate at the moment in the hysteria being whipped up about the dangers of all things electrical. Will Panorama fuel or dampen the flames? We shall see. But the news has prompted me to do a little more looking at the subject, and in particular, one campaign group that I have not...

My Sparrow Dead and Cold

May 2, 2007

By Andy Lewis

I have recently been rather drawn into the world of electrosenstivity and found that passions run high. But loudness of voices and strength of convictions rarely match closely to soundness of argument. Indeed, high voices, closed minds and poor debate are a good indicator that quackery might be at work. I have been quite critical of those that support electrosensitivity suffers for being so hostile to the idea that people who believe that their ill health is due to Wi-Fi and mobiles may be suffering from psychological problems, or just be plain wrong in their self-diagnosis. Roderick, who runs Eletrosensitivity UK, is particularly shrill at those who put forward psychological explanations of some of the symptoms. He appears to believe that such possibilities somehow diminish his supporters even though...

Electrosensitivity: Caused by Wi-Fi and Mobiles?

April 27, 2007

By Andy Lewis

Electrosensitivity: Caused by Wi-Fi and Mobiles?

The Daily Mail brings us the story of Sarah Dacre who suffers terribly from a range of symptoms including “hair loss, sickness, high blood-pressure, digestive and memory problems, severe headaches and dizziness. ” Sarah believes the symptoms are caused by the effects of the ‘electrosmog’ in our environment, the electromagnetic radiation (EMR) given out by mobile phones and Wi-Fi networks. She is so troubled by these devices that she resorts to wearing a metallic shield over her head. She covers her rooms with tin foil and avoids electrical equipment at all costs. Sarah is not the only person in this position. More and more people report suffering as a result of electrosmog. The comment section in the Mail article testifies to this. Support groups have been set up and...

Teachers’ Union Demand Meteorite Shields For Schools

April 23, 2007

By Andy Lewis

Teachers’ Union Demand Meteorite Shields For Schools

Quackery thrives on fear. Cancer, infection and injury are rightly things to be concerned about. Despite the near doubling of our expected life span in the last hundred years or so, scientific medicine will eventually let us all down and we shall eventually succumb to the final inconvenience of death. In the meantime, the fear of suffering creates opportunities for quacks to exploit. The entrepreneurial quack will fan the flames of those fears as a sales technique. However, this is not always necessary, as the media do a pretty good job of stirring things up too as way of creating ‘shock’ stories. This week we have seen pretty much all the UK newspapers report on the ‘fear of Wi-Fi’. The Independent on Sunday started the ball rolling with its...

Beauty and the Quack

March 20, 2007

By Andy Lewis

Quackery is not just found in ‘alternative’ medicine and the high street homeopathic practice. Quackery exists wherever claims for health benefits are made that do not stand up to scrutiny. Today I want to look at the claims of a billion dollar business, one of the top 20 household products sellers outside of the US, Clarins. Are they guilty of quackery? This is a bit of departure for the quackometer as it has not looked into beauty products before. People have been buying over-priced and over-promised products since the dawn of time in order to look younger and feel better. And this really does not concern me. We all like to have a good soak, preen ourselves, spruce up our feathers and feel invigorated and refreshed, smelling nice and...

Step Aside, I’m a Homeopath!

February 27, 2007

By Andy Lewis

It is difficult to know when looking at the claims of many alternative medicine web sites, whether the people involved are a) deluded or b) fraudulent. For my part, and being a good natured soul, I tend to believe most people are just into weird things and are rather locked into their strange world view. They genuinely feel they are helping people by selling their products and services. To challenge their own beliefs and let in new arguments would mean risking abandoning so much about how they define themselves – and how they earn a living. A journey through quackland is a salutary reminder of how we need to guard ourselves against false beliefs. The existence of quackery ably demonstrates that the easiest person to fool is yourself and...

The Guild of the Gullible?

August 17, 2006

By Andy Lewis

I think that this may be a story of despair. It may be a story about the mountain that has to be climbed if we are to live a society where quacks find it hard to profit from their lies, misinformation and delusions. At present it is a story about how newspapers contribute significantly and fundamentally to the environment in which people are swindled out of their money by quacks and how illness and suffering may be prolonged by irrational thinking. The story is not over yet, but let me tell the first part. The story starts with my newspaper quack story alert engine that I have been working on recently. It is beginning to settle down now, and has spotted some interesting departures from reality in our esteemed...

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Posts Tagged ‘ electromagnetic quackery ’

How to Turn your Whole House into a Big Bad Wi-Fi Aerial.

Wi-Fi, Quackery and the MPs

My Sparrow Dead and Cold

Electrosensitivity: Caused by Wi-Fi and Mobiles?

Teachers’ Union Demand Meteorite Shields For Schools

Beauty and the Quack

Step Aside, I’m a Homeopath!

The Guild of the Gullible?

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