Biomagnetic Therapy

If you saw the ad that I saw on TV the other day you would swear that what they were selling was a magnetic device that would give you incredible relief from chronic pain. The device was an amazing underlay containing hundreds of magnets that you put on your bed. The underlay can be wool or cotton and is available in a variety of sizes, and you can also get a pillow. "How amazing" I thought and decided to check out the website. On their slick website the same impression is created but look again : when you read the actual words, there is not a single statement that is anything like a direct assertion that this product actually does anything at all. Its a masterful example of how advertising can be designed to create an impression - you know the old classic blond bombshell draped over say an outboard motor! - suck you in, relieve you of your cash and then be able to deny any liability for the product turning out to be useless. The Website has the personal story from "chronic pain to welcome relief thanks to Biomagnetic therapy"of Craig Trinder, an Australian Champion Motorcyclist who, when you read the story closely, is actually the owner of the company. "Welcome relief" - OK so what exactly is that? It doesnt even dare say pain relief but links the two ideas together in your mind. Now, he may indeed have had miraculous and welcome relief - of whatever - using biomagnetic therapy, and then decided to make a business out of promoting it, but on the other hand you would have to say theres a clear conflict of interest involved and you might expect him to talk it up. Actually when you look a bit further, you discover that he certainly had been talking it up, so much in fact that Biomagnetic Therapy and Craig Trinder were investigated by the ACCC - the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, a government agency whose function is to monitor commercial activity and try to protect consumers from being ripped off. Heres a bit of their report:"Biomagnetic Therapy and Craig Trinder have admitted that prior to 2002 some of the claims made in regard to their therapeutic magnetic products may have been, or had the potential to be, false, misleading or deceptive, in contravention of sections 52, 53(c), and 53(g) of the Act although they have advised it was never their intention to do so."
I thought it was nice of the ACCC to include that bit about "it was never their intention to do so" "Yeah right" was my thought! Later in their judgement they extracted the following undertaking:

"Biomagnetic Therapy and Craig Trinder will not make any claims regarding therapeutic magnetic products unless they are able to demonstrate that there are reasonable grounds for making the representation, for example, reliable scientific evidence. '

Of course none of this necessarily means that Biomagnetic Therapy doesnt work. But when theyve been ordered not to make claims unless they can back them up, and they then dont make any but just use advertising tricks to create impressions in the minds of vulnerable people with chronic pain, it makes me wonder.