JREF Homepage Swift Blog Events Calendar $1 Million Paranormal Challenge The Amaz!ng Meeting Useful Links Support Us
James Randi Educational Foundation JREF Forum
Forum Index Register Members List Events Mark Forums Read Help

Go Back   JREF Forum » General Topics » Science, Mathematics, Medicine, and Technology
Click Here To Donate

Notices


Welcome to the JREF Forum, where we discuss skepticism, critical thinking, the paranormal and science in a friendly but lively way. You are currently viewing the forum as a guest, which means you are missing out on discussing matters that are of interest to you. Please consider registering so you can gain full use of the forum features and interact with other Members. Registration is simple, fast and free! Click here to register today.

Tags emu , blue

Reply
Old 19th October 2003, 05:02 PM   #1
BTox
Graduate Poster
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,588
Blue Emu

I heard an ad for this scam product on the radio and had to check it out. Can't believe they are rendering the oil out of these poor birds for a skin product they claim contains oleic acid as the major component - why not just use olive oil?.

blue emu
__________________
"Your ignorance makes me ill... "
BTox is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 19th October 2003, 05:21 PM   #2
Yahweh
Ayay ashay ayay
 
Yahweh's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 9,029
Funny Disclaimer:
Quote:
This Internet site is used for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to replace discussions with a healthcare provider. Super Strength Blue-Emu™ is not a drug and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or ailment. It is not intended to affect the structure or functions of the human body.
Translation:
Quote:
Buy this product if you like, it wont work. Any results you get are purely coincedental. Have a nice day.
Yahweh is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 19th October 2003, 05:27 PM   #3
Yahweh
Ayay ashay ayay
 
Yahweh's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 9,029
Funny Research Also:
Quote:
Testing done by Strickland revealed that the carbons in Emu Oil have a number of double and triple bond carbons. The presence of the multiple bonds allows the oil to be unsaturated. There was also noted a lack of phospholipids. This chemical structure allows the oil to be readily absorbed by human skin.

Another pharmacist offered that phospholipids are polar compounds, which means they carry an electrical charge at one end. Polar compounds do not pass through the skin as readily as non-polar compounds. The lack of phospholipids in Emu Oil, or the oil's non-polarity, could well explain why the oil penetrates so well and would be so useful for compounding drugs.
Translation:
Quote:
Are you overwhelmed by our use of these scientifical sounding words?

Here are some of the credited doctors:
Quote:
Dr. Patty Headly of Tonkawa, OK and Dr. Ron Westbrook of Decatur, TX have used Emu Oil in their Chiropractic businesses. Their patients have experienced the benefits of Emu Oil. "I have started using massage treatments in my practice," explained Dr. Headly. "Since I have been doing massage, Emu Oil has become a major part of my practice. I do both massage and adjustments and the Emu Oil is used virtually from head to toe. People with chronic shoulder and knee problems get help from the adjusting, but the Emu Oil really does the final trick during the massage. I find it absolutely amazing."

"I can get results using chiropractic alone on lower back pain." said Dr. Headly. "However, it seems that when I use the Emu Oil in conjunction with the chiropractic, the relief is quicker and the muscles stay relaxed longer, and therefore the treatment lasts loner."
That's right, a message therapist and a Chiropractor.


Here is my favorite thing that is written:
Quote:
1 Emu Today & Tomorrow - October, 1995
2 Emu Today & Tomorrow - July, 1995
3 Emu Today & Tomorrow - February, 1996
Apparently the testimonies are from no later than Feb. 1996.

The site reports this product is "an excellent 'transdermal carrier' which means it penetrates the skin with great effiency". The only good thing about this product is it may have moisturizing properties, and it is supposedly hypoallergenic.

The product is crap and Emus are cool, At US$20 for a 4oz jar its nothing you wouldnt expect from pseudoscience.
Yahweh is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 19th October 2003, 05:31 PM   #4
Iamme
Illuminator
 
Iamme's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Western Wisconsin
Posts: 4,622
A note to all fellow posters reading this thread.: The disclaimer Yahweh posted is the actual disclaimer at the Blue Emu website. For real.

I only thought John Edward was the only one who made a claim and then had a disclaimer that basically says that what is being offered is not based in any fact. The Blue Emu disclaimer is right up this alley.

Too bad they couldn't have printed the disclaimer even smaller than what they did.
__________________
I lost my mind many years ago and it hasn't affected me a bit...a bit..a bit..a bit.
Iamme is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 19th October 2003, 05:40 PM   #5
Iamme
Illuminator
 
Iamme's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Western Wisconsin
Posts: 4,622
While we are on sucker products. Here is another: Products that claim to clean and sanitize and remove mildew. Active ingredient is Sodium Hypoclorite. They want anywhere from $2.95 for a spray bottle used for cleaning/sanitizing, to around $8 a gallon for deck wash products that contain this ingredient as their main active ingredient.

Buyer beware!
__________________
I lost my mind many years ago and it hasn't affected me a bit...a bit..a bit..a bit.
Iamme is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 19th October 2003, 06:40 PM   #6
BTox
Graduate Poster
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,588
Quote:
Originally posted by Yahweh
Funny Research Also:

" Testing done by Strickland revealed that the carbons in Emu Oil have a number of double and triple bond carbons. The presence of the multiple bonds allows the oil to be unsaturated. There was also noted a lack of phospholipids. This chemical structure allows the oil to be readily absorbed by human skin."

That is funny, considering triple bonds (acetylenic) in fatty acids are pretty rare in the animal kingdom. They probably mean to say triple double bonds (as in linolenic acid).
__________________
"Your ignorance makes me ill... "
BTox is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 19th October 2003, 06:41 PM   #7
Zep
Banned
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 26,985
FYI, there IS such a substance as genuine emu oil. Also emu meat and emu leather. Yes, the aborigines did/do use emus as a food and other resource. So that part of it is true.

HOWEVER...

They ascribe no magical properties to it in the way of health-giving. It is purely used for whatever they use fat for - cooking, paint base (for body and object decoration), etc. It just happens that emus have a fair supply of fat, from which an oil can be rendered. Chances are you can get similar substances out of ostriches (if you squeeze them hard enough).

Also, the aborigines also get a similar fat/oil from goannas, the large native Australian llizards, and this is now on sale as a commercial product. And also from a native bush called a ti-tree, the oil of which IS reputed to have mild antiseptic properties. So keep an eye out for all that stuff too - they could be the next woo-woo medicines!
Zep is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 19th October 2003, 06:42 PM   #8
BTox
Graduate Poster
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,588
Quote:
Originally posted by Iamme
While we are on sucker products. Here is another: Products that claim to clean and sanitize and remove mildew. Active ingredient is Sodium Hypoclorite. They want anywhere from $2.95 for a spray bottle used for cleaning/sanitizing, to around $8 a gallon for deck wash products that contain this ingredient as their main active ingredient.

Buyer beware!
At least that product will work (it is bleach). I guess laundry bleach is a bit cheaper than $8 a gallon, no?
__________________
"Your ignorance makes me ill... "
BTox is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 19th October 2003, 06:50 PM   #9
BTox
Graduate Poster
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,588
Quote:
Originally posted by Zep
So keep an eye out for all that stuff too - they could be the next woo-woo medicines!
It's one thing to squash the oil out of big bird, but when they start selling koala bear oil, I'm drawing the line
__________________
"Your ignorance makes me ill... "
BTox is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 19th October 2003, 06:56 PM   #10
popsy
Thinker
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 204
I've used lotion containing emu oil. The lotion is very nice but WAY overpriced. There are other nice lotions for less money.

When I first heard of emu oil, a skeptic friend told me about finding it on a website about hand made soap. The soap with emu oil was advertised as all-vegetable.
popsy is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 20th October 2003, 03:56 PM   #11
Iamme
Illuminator
 
Iamme's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Western Wisconsin
Posts: 4,622
Btox--That is my point. And I plan to address this issue with a consumers affair dept., or the attorney generals office. I believe there should be a law that says that common household ingredients, when used as the primary ingredient in a chemical formula, need to be listed on the label as being what it is. In this case: Bleach. You have companies bottling bleach as some magic cleaner/disinfectant.

This sort of ranks up there with bottled water. Companies are skirting the law in the type of water they are selling, by how they label it on their bottles. There have been legal issues addressed with some of THOSE companies.
__________________
I lost my mind many years ago and it hasn't affected me a bit...a bit..a bit..a bit.
Iamme is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 20th October 2003, 08:00 PM   #12
espritch
Graduate Poster
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 1,380
God forbid they should ever decide there's a market for kowala bear oil.
__________________
"I'm the master of low expectations." - G. W. Bush
espritch is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 20th October 2003, 08:04 PM   #13
LucyR
Graduate Poster
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 1,086
Kowala?
LucyR is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 20th October 2003, 08:08 PM   #14
neutrino_cannon
Master Poster
 
neutrino_cannon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Seventh circle of limbo
Posts: 2,575
i'd never use oil from something as mean as a goanna. Varanids have a long, proud history, and I fear using their bodies for something so base as a paste to rub my skin will cause me much trouble.

You see, if all the woo-woo goanna oil does help my joints, then what about the woo-woo summoning of a deranged megalania the label did not inform me of? I do not wish to be eaten by an angry twenty five foot long monitor avenging it's kind, nor do I wish to defile the long and proud history of the ratites by smearing them all over my skin. An angry cassowary might decorate the room with me just for that.
__________________

"Man would have been too happy, if, limiting himself to the visible objects which interested him, he had employed, to perfect his real sciences, his laws, his morals, his education, one half-the efforts he has put into his researches on the Divinity"

-Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Necessity of Atheism
neutrino_cannon is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 20th October 2003, 08:29 PM   #15
WildCat
NWO Master Conspirator
 
WildCat's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Albany Park, Chicago
Posts: 49,469
Quote:
Originally posted by BTox
It's one thing to squash the oil out of big bird, but when they start selling koala bear oil, I'm drawing the line
What about baby oil?

There's even a pic of a guy holding a baby, right before he drops it in the press no doubt.
WildCat is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 20th October 2003, 08:31 PM   #16
BTox
Graduate Poster
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,588
Quote:
Originally posted by Iamme
Btox--That is my point. And I plan to address this issue with a consumers affair dept., or the attorney generals office. I believe there should be a law that says that common household ingredients, when used as the primary ingredient in a chemical formula, need to be listed on the label as being what it is. In this case: Bleach. You have companies bottling bleach as some magic cleaner/disinfectant.

This sort of ranks up there with bottled water. Companies are skirting the law in the type of water they are selling, by how they label it on their bottles. There have been legal issues addressed with some of THOSE companies.
FYI, there are labeling laws, which usually require that ingredients be listed using standardized names. In the drug/cosmetic products that I deal with, we use INCI nomenclature, which would require that sodium hypochlorite be listed instead of "bleach", which could be different chemical compounds. And bleach is a pretty good cleaner/disinfectant.
__________________
"Your ignorance makes me ill... "
BTox is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 21st October 2003, 07:19 PM   #17
espritch
Graduate Poster
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 1,380
Quote:
Kowala?
You say koala, I say kowala. Want to fight about it?

Of course the joke was too late anyway. I somehow missed BTox's post. Sigh.
__________________
"I'm the master of low expectations." - G. W. Bush
espritch is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 21st October 2003, 07:59 PM   #18
EdipisReks
Custom Title
 
EdipisReks's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: The 'Nati
Posts: 1,952
Quote:
Originally posted by WildCat

What about baby oil?

There's even a pic of a guy holding a baby, right before he drops it in the press no doubt.
babies are better when dropped on the barbeque. great deep fried, too.
__________________
"Candy to rot your teeth. Bible to rot your brain."
--EvilDave (7-24-2003)

"I read the Book Of Mormon once. Wasn't it about Uma Thurman, um, thrumming a Theremin?"
--epepke (9-22-2004)
EdipisReks is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Old 21st October 2003, 08:20 PM   #19
Abdul Alhazred
Yes, that one.
 
Abdul Alhazred's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Chicago
Posts: 5,508
Quote:
Originally posted by Zep
FYI, there IS such a substance as genuine emu oil. Also emu meat and emu leather. Yes, the aborigines did/do use emus as a food and other resource. So that part of it is true.
Emu schmaltz!

I wonder if I could market chicken schmaltz as the magical remedy from Bessarabia? As long as they think that's some kind of "Arabia" it might work.
__________________
The lack of a rational explanation is not evidence for an irrational explanation.
Abdul Alhazred is offline   Quote this post in a PM   Nominate this post for this month's language award Copy a direct link to this post Reply With Quote Back to Top
Reply

JREF Forum » General Topics » Science, Mathematics, Medicine, and Technology

Bookmarks

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 10:13 AM.
Powered by vBulletin. Copyright ©2000 - 2013, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
© 2001-2012, James Randi Educational Foundation. All Rights Reserved.

Disclaimer: Messages posted in the Forum are solely the opinion of their authors.