Are Placebo’s Ripping Me Off?

Is $60 a good price to pay for improved health and improved sporting performance? Many athletes will tell you that it is a small price to pay. The use of holographic wristbands has been taking the sporting arena by storm claiming to do just that. The British cricket team, Shaquille O'Neal and many others have jumped on the band wagon to try and get that little bit of an advantage.

But before you run out and grab one for yourself there are a few points of concern that you, as a consumer should be aware of. One is that the cost of the bracelets are any were up to $60, and manufacturing is up to $2 a bracelet. How can they justify a 3,000% mark up? They have also been forces by the ACCC to make the following statement on there website:
“In our advertising we stated that Power Balance wristbands improved your strength, balance and flexibility. We admit that there is no credible scientific evidence that supports our claims and therefore we engaged in misleading conduct in breach of s52 of the Trade Practices Act 1974. If you feel you have been misled by our promotions, we wish to unreservedly apologise and offer a full refund. To obtain a refund please visit our website www.powerbalance.com.au or contact us toll-free on 1800 733 436 This offer will be available until 30th June 2011. To be eligible for a refund, together with return postage, you will need to return a genuine Power Balance product along with proof of purchase (including credit card records, store barcodes and receipts) from an authorised reseller in Australia. This Corrective Notice has been paid for by Power Balance Australia Pty Ltd and placed pursuant to an undertaking to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission given under section 87B of the Trade Practices Act, 1974.”

This is not exactly the whole truth either because there have been studies conducted on the bracelets. Choice magazine tested the bracelets and found that the effect was nothing more than placebo. The same result was found by Vanguard University students. At this stage I think conducting larger blind placebo trials are a waist of time and giving this company far to much attention than they deserve. The existing trial evidence and the companies own admission and refusal to conduct and publish it’s own double blind placebo trails is enough evidence to put this one to sleep. Even if we ignore how outlandish there claim is to begin with.

This is a wonderful story of people thinking and digging for evidence to support suspicions. It is also a story that shows that the ACCC is doing its job. But are the power bands alone. Are there other items in the market that are making the same outlandish clams and ripping off the public with incredible mark-ups? Many spring to my mind strait away!

Acupuncture has been with us for centuries but what would happen if I told you that tests have shown it be nothing more than placebo. Yes there have been tests that show that it has an effect, but as soon as it is double blind (testing for placebo) it falls in a heap. So far acupuncture is on par with our bracelets. What about the price of a session with a qualified acupuncturist. I did a quick search on the internet and found that the cost can be as high as $150. Trials have shown that it does not matter were the needles are placed the effect is the same. If a trainee charges $10 for the experience and an acupuncturist with “experience “ can charge up to $150 that’s a 1500% mark-up for exactly the same service. So why does acupuncture get such a good rap? Is it because so many people in the public report a positive effect. The manufacturers of the bracelet made this same argument and received no remorse.

The answer to this question eludes me. Why is it easy for people to openly reject and condemn one pseudoscience and openly embrace another? Why do people find anecdotal evidence so easy to accept when it is so obviously flawed?

I’ve picked on Acupuncture in this case but there are many more out there and this blog would never end if I tried to address them all. I urge you to just stop and think about products or services that seem as though they are bordering on pseudo science and do a little research before you blow your money.

Shane Geenen

Acupuncture trials revealing the effect to be placebo.
Streitberger, K. & Kleinhenz, J., 1989. Introducing a placebo needle into acupuncture research. EBSCO Host, 352(9125), p.364.
Pariente, J., White, P., Frackowiak, R.S. & Lewith, G., 2005. Expectancy and belief modulate the neuonal substates of pain treated by acupuncture. Neuolmage, 25(4), pp.1161-67.
Leibing, E. et al., 2002. Acupuncture treatment of chronic low-back pain - A randomized, blind, placebo-controled trial with 9-month follow-up. Pain, 96(1-2), pp.189-96.
Bausell, B.R. et al., 2005. Is acupuncture analgesia an expectancy effect? Preliminary evidence based on participants percieved assignment in two placebo-controlled trials. evaluation and the health professions, 28(1), pp.9-26.
Madsen, M. V., Gotzsche. P. C., Hrobjartsson, A. 2009. "Acupuncture treatment for pain: systematic review of randomized clinical trials with acupuncture, placebo acupuncture, and no acupuncture groups".

Non blind placebo trials showing an effect from acupuncture.
Sung, Y.F., Kutner, M.H., Cerine, F.C. & Frederickson, L.E., 1977. Comparison of the effect of acupunture and codeine on posterative dental pain. Anesthesia and analcesia, 56(4).
Roschke, J. et al., 2000. The benefirs of whole body acupuncture in major depression. Journal of effective disorders, 57(1-3), pp.73-81.

Special pleading and other logical fallacies are bout to the table.
Paterson, C. & Dieppe, P., 2005. Characteristic and incidental (placibo) Effect in complex interventions such as acupuncture. British medical journal, 330(7501), pp.1202-05.

Experimenting with the public

I have embarked on an experiment that aims to show true believers of psychic ability how easily they can be deceived. The hope is that it will empower people to think for themselves and ask questions before they believe in a person thats aim is to rip them off.
I am creating a series of movies that depict psychic ability and responding to people that believe its true. There is a lot of misinformation on the internet, I hope this is a little push back in the right direction.

Logical Fallacies a way of life

What would happen if everyone had the ability to pick apart information and expose lies, deception and propaganda? This blog will assist you to make informed decisions in your day to day life. Our why of thought can often be deceiving with reasoning that can sometimes be illogical. We are all guilty of making decisions that turn out to be wrong and it makes it worse when we incorrectly inform others. This blog studies logical fallacies that have been developed to assist the logical thought. Discussing the individual logical fallacies and putting forward examples will help us identify these mistakes. By putting popular beliefs and conspiracy theories through the test of logical fallacies we can reassure ourselves that we are acting rationally to our environment.

Non-Sequitur

In Latin this term translates to "doesn't follow". This refers to an argument in which the conclusion does not necessarily follow from the premises(WP). In other words, a logical connection is implied where none exists.
The term is often used in everyday speech and reasoning to describe a statement in which premise and conclusion are totally unrelated but which is used as if they were. It is often used in advertising especially this time of year. I saw an example of this today. An advertiser was trying to say that my wife would not be happy unless I bout here some jewelry for Christmas. This is a definite Non-Sequitur because my wife is very practical and would probably have the opposite effect. I often use this argument in life to help me justify buying things that I don't need.
Having a clear understanding of Non-Sequiturs will protect you against con artists of all descriptions.

Argument from ignorance

also known as argumentum ad ignorantiam or appeal to ignorance, is an informal logical fallacy. It asserts that a proposition is necessarily true because it has not been proven false (or vice versa). This represents a type of false dichotomy in that it excludes a third option: there is insufficient investigation and the proposition has not yet been proven to be either true or false. In debates, appeals to ignorance are sometimes used to shift the burden of proof(WP).
I had an experience today were a religious person was trying to explain to me that we were created due to the difference between a giant oak tree and its origin as a tiny seed. He just could not understand that the chemical and biological changes that happen over hundreds of years could allow for this change in size, so his conclusion was that everything must have been created. This argument does not say that we evolved but it does not say that we were created either. This argument has no burden of proof and is not an example of thinking logically. Almost all UFO eyewitness evidence is ultimately an argument from ignorance – lights or objects sighted in the sky are unknown, and therefore they are alien spacecraft.
This is a very deceiving logical fallacy that we as human beings find very easy to accept as a logical way of thinking.

Argument from authority

Argument from authority (also known as appeal to authority) is a fallacy of defective induction, where it is argued that a statement is correct because the statement is made by a person or source that is commonly regarded as authoritative (WP).
A simple explanation of this could be a child saying “Santa clause is real because my parents told me he was”. Another could be a popular television presenter such as Oprah saying that a particular item is good for your health or will reduce your weight. She may be an experienced television presenter but she has no experience in medicine or exercise science.
A company may produce a controversial product that makes the claim that it works or is safe because a particular person or small group of people in authority say it to be so. Sometimes these sources of recommendation can be biased or simply incorrect. The company could also be cherry picking information.
To ensure that the information you are receiving has a high parentage of accuracy you should use a large number of unbiased and pair reviewed sources. It is easy for us to just accept information that is presented to us. To ensure that we are not misinformed a little work on our part is required. Some times you can find people that have done the work for you but care must be taken. Be aware that some information can appear on the surface to be pear reviewed, for example some web sites often cross reference to themselves or refer to other bias sources.