Magnetic Therapy and Roches Stores

williamgrogan

I have decided to open a thread on this subject and my attempts to get Roches Stores to stop selling magnetic appliances that claim to cure illnesses. The fact that the Gardai this week have raided the home and “practice” of the doctor defrauding people of tens of thousands of Euros who has been struck off must give us hope that the authorities will start cracking down on these CAM artists.

This months ISS magazine had an article on this written by Paul O'Donoghue.

The following is the original letter I wrote to Roches Stores:

Dear Mr Owens,

I was shopping in Roche’s Stores in Cork Thursday the 18th of March. I saw in your electrical department a display stand (about 2m by 2m) of various products from a particular company. These all had as a fundamental component a magnet or magnets.

These products claimed that the magnet and the field it produced had a beneficial effect on the health of the user. For example there was an insole that contained a magnet in the heel section and a diagram of the sole of the foot showing what parts of the body would benefit from the application of this magnet field.

As I am sure you realise, all these claims are completely bogus. Magnets have no beneficial effect on human health. Many studies have shown no relevant effect on human tissue of electromagnetic fields and certainly no study has shown a beneficial health effect.

It is wrong that Roche’s Stores should sell products whose primary function is to defraud the purchaser. Roche’s Stores has a well earned reputation as an honest trader that might be compromised if it sells bogus products. It is stating the obvious that many people would not realise that these products could not possibly do what they claim. Many of these people will be ill, poor and badly educated.

Do not take my word for this; ask any doctor if wearing magnets is beneficial to human health.

I would ask that these products be withdrawn from sale in Roche’s Stores shops in Ireland.

Thank you.

Their reply is as follows:

Thank you for your letter of the 19th of March 2004. We appreciate you taking the time and trouble to contact us and convey your dissatisfaction as it allows us the opportunity to investigate the matter and hopefully regain your confidence in our services.

We have contacted Mr Matt Connolly of Irish Response Ltd. who will be writing to you and will furnish you with information which hopefully will alleviate your concerns.

Yours

John McCarthy
Assistant to the General manager


I then got a letter from Mat Connolly, National Retail Manager of Lifes2Good Ltd.

Dear Mr. Grogan,

Following a request from Mr. John McCarthy in Roches Stores in Cork, please find attached some background information on magnet therapy and how it works.

To clear up and answer some of your queries.

We do not make any absolute claims on the product or any of the literature that accompanies Thera P. Homedics is a worldwide brand and we have been selling Homedics products in Ireland for a number of years without a complaint of this nature.

It is worth noting Thera P is sold widely into pharmacies across the country also and we would have thousands of satisfied customers at this stage.

We have constant feedback on how magnet therapy has relieved pain and stress (amongst other ailments) in many many cases, including GP's and doctors but it may not work for everyone and we do not claim it does.

I talk to people all the time that swear by magnet therapy and I can assure you they would not be as you refer - "ill, poor and badly educated".

Certainly the 'Quack watch' site you refer to does not mention Thera P or Homedics. Equally I think it is fair to say that this is one opinion and we know of many opinions that would differ to this site.

Thank you for your interest in our product and I would obviously refute your claim that it is a "bogus product" and hopefully some of the attached information will persuade you otherwise.

The documents enclosed consisted of an overview of the claims that magnets can cure illness. They also attached a few documents referring to what they claimed were experts in this field.

The following is my reply to Roches Stores.

Dear McCarthy, Date: 07-07-04

Thank you for your reply.

I do not know if you read the article on Quackwatch.com that I referred you to so I enclose three articles on Magnetic Therapy & Magnetic Insoles.

The company that supply you with this material sent me several documents claiming to prove magnetic healing works. I stress again this is total nonsense. One person referred to as an expert on Magnetic Healing was a Dr Buryl Payne. If you have the time read up on this man and you will realise that he could be rightly described as a nut case.

Here is some saying by Dr Buryl,

“He was able to show detailed documented studies which show a direct correlation between sunspot activity and wars.”

“Dr. Payne, along with myself and Dr. Mitchell Gibson MD, are currently working on an outcome study which is showing a higher rate of employees calling in sick, an increase of domestic violence, assault charges, anti-depression subscriptions, and a increasing rate of diagnosed mood and personality disorders. We will analyze a correlation between human symptomology as mentioned above, with solar cycles as well as other possible influences.”

Besides selling fake magnetic healing devices Dr Payne also promotes Telepathy and Brain Harmonisers.

You might wonder what a Brain Harmoniser is, well here’s what Dr Payne, the doctor used by Liefes2Good as an expert reference, says about it, “People with frequent headaches may obtain relief from a new device which produces a low frequency, low intensity pulsed magnetic force. Called the Brain Harmonizer, it also will help synchronize brain hemispheres, very important for clearing the mental fog that sometimes overcomes us when we are stressed out, or very tired.

He organises “Spin the Moon” parties, to quote him, “Organize a Spin the Moon festival, potluck party, event, or simply meditate on the eclipses. Sometime during the event take 7 minutes off quiet time to send love to the Moon and meditate on Moon Spinning (left to right) and the Earth temporarily spinning a little faster to keep in step.”

Think about it, your supplier is quoting as a medical expert a man who wants us to send love to the Moon and thinks that we can affect the rate of spin of the Earth by meditating.

Irish Response Ltd are making money via your company by defrauding your customers. You have a moral obligation and maybe a legal obligation to stop doing this.

The fact that some pharmacies are selling these bogus appliances is also a disgrace.

It’s amusing that while one bunch of quacks tries to sell people magnetic appliances for healing illness another group campaigns against the magnetic fields from power cables and claims they damage your health. Which set of quacks is right? Magnetic fields are good for you or bad for you? The answer is neither; they have no affect on human health.

Do not be fooled by the apparent difference of opinion between experts. The scientific world is united in condemning this type of fraud. Only those with a financial gain support magnetic therapy and magnetic appliances.

The Food and Drugs Agency in the USA fights these fraudsters by closing them down, fining them and jailing them but unfortunately the law in Ireland is a bit slow on the uptake.

However this may change, this week Gardai raided the home of a doctor who is now struck off and who defrauded people out of thousands of euros selling fake remedies. I presume you do not want Roches Stores raided next?

The Minister for Health is looking into these CAM treatments and some regulation has been promised soon. However, Roches Stores should not wait until threatened with legal action to stop selling bogus health appliances and should desist now.

With a turnover in the tens of millions of euros, surely Riches Stores does not need a contribution to profits from those that are being defrauded by selling them magnetic appliances that claim to cure illnesses that have no therapeutic value whatsoever?

Thank you for your time on this matter.

BrendanBurgess

William

Great stuff. Keep it up.

Could you make any sort of complaint to the ASAI? If they are making false claims. Even if your complaint isn't upheld, I presume that retailers don't want to be involved in this sort of stuff.

Brendan

dvpower

I hear Eamon Coghlan on the radio today trying to flog more magnetic therapy products from the same supplier (Lifes2Good).

I can't take this guy seriously again. Shame.