Normal Dude
20th September 2007, 03:27 AM
... or not.
Watching some late-night Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo on the telly and in between Girls Gone Wild commericals came across a lovely infomercial for a product called ZeroSmoke. As soon as I heard the word "magnet therapy" my skeptic radar tingled and I googled it.
http://www.zerosmoke.org/
I mean, they got a docterish-looking dude on the front page, they GOTTA be legit! Look, he's even got a stethoscope! ;)
Anyways, a quick web search only netted to three skeptical links:
Skepticsantuary:
http://skepticsanctuary.com/viewentry.php?id=5
And our Dr. Buzzo:
http://depletedcranium.com/?p=102
And someone who used it: (Apparently it is painful as well and their business practices leave something to be desired)
http://www.byedr.com/Alternative-Medicine/163-Alternative-Medicine-4.html
I think there *might* be a csicop piece on it as well, but could not find it.
Anyways... Here's how it (supposedly) works:
It uses "auricular therapy", which I gather is related to acupuncture, by using two magnets attached to your earlobe.
Basically, you take two small magnets, place them on each side of your ear, and after a week or so you begin to lose the urge to smoke.
Why?
<snip>... because the magnets have already induced the production of endorphins that remove the craving to smoke.
Some claims made include an 80% success rate, registered as Class 1 with the FDA (whoop-de-do), and of course the fact that no needles are involved.
In the disclaimer it says pregnant people should not use it. Does anyone know why? That has me stumped.
I, for one, would like to some clinical trials supporting that 80% success rate.
Anyways, I really just wanted to ask about the pregancy disclaimer above. Why should pregnant women avoid small magnets (Apart from the usual choking and bowel obstruction hazards with strong magnets)?
Watching some late-night Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo on the telly and in between Girls Gone Wild commericals came across a lovely infomercial for a product called ZeroSmoke. As soon as I heard the word "magnet therapy" my skeptic radar tingled and I googled it.
http://www.zerosmoke.org/
I mean, they got a docterish-looking dude on the front page, they GOTTA be legit! Look, he's even got a stethoscope! ;)
Anyways, a quick web search only netted to three skeptical links:
Skepticsantuary:
http://skepticsanctuary.com/viewentry.php?id=5
And our Dr. Buzzo:
http://depletedcranium.com/?p=102
And someone who used it: (Apparently it is painful as well and their business practices leave something to be desired)
http://www.byedr.com/Alternative-Medicine/163-Alternative-Medicine-4.html
I think there *might* be a csicop piece on it as well, but could not find it.
Anyways... Here's how it (supposedly) works:
It uses "auricular therapy", which I gather is related to acupuncture, by using two magnets attached to your earlobe.
Basically, you take two small magnets, place them on each side of your ear, and after a week or so you begin to lose the urge to smoke.
Why?
<snip>... because the magnets have already induced the production of endorphins that remove the craving to smoke.
Some claims made include an 80% success rate, registered as Class 1 with the FDA (whoop-de-do), and of course the fact that no needles are involved.
In the disclaimer it says pregnant people should not use it. Does anyone know why? That has me stumped.
I, for one, would like to some clinical trials supporting that 80% success rate.
Anyways, I really just wanted to ask about the pregancy disclaimer above. Why should pregnant women avoid small magnets (Apart from the usual choking and bowel obstruction hazards with strong magnets)?