Summary: This post first focuses on Goldacre's analysis of the rubbish Detox scams and then switches to something supremely exciting, the Mars Rover, Curiosity! Are those two topics related in anyway shape or form? One could link the two with a whalloping stretch of the imagination (like...detox scams are spurious and the science and physics utilized to engineer Curiosity are truth), but generally, no; they're just topics I found interesting content for a Tuesday Post. The Scam of Detox Ben Goldacre, a medical doctor and sort of a British medical debunker of scams (maybe like a medicinal version of James Randi, but not that extreme), penned a great book called Bad Science. In that book he debunks (amongst other things) many things related to detox. First off, Goldacre addresses (and cunningly and accurately annihilates) the absurd Phenonemon of the 'Foot Bath'. Apparently (I was not aware of this, fortunately), some imbeciles pay top dollar to go to a spa, dunk their feet in a bath of water and watch it turn brown. Why would anyone do that? Simple, they're victims of a scam, a deplorable hoax! The 'foot baths' supposedly release 'toxins' from the body. However, what really happens is the Sodium Chloride in the water turns the water "brown, due to a very simple process called electrolysis; the iron electrodes rust, essentially, and the brown rust goes into the water" (Goldacre "Bad Science", pg. 5). A strange smell is also released. Footbath conmen declare that 'chlorine-like' smell has to do with the toxins released from the body, but really it's just chlorine gas given off from the breakdown of NaCl in the water. The 'footbath' doesn't have anything to do with 'detoxifying'! At best it's a chemistry experiment that will make the epidermal layer of your feet wrinkly! Goldacre's ridicule of the entire concept of 'bodily toxins' is profound as well: "Are there toxins in the water/ Here we encounter a new problem: What do they mean by toxins? I've asked the manufacturers of many detox products this question time and again, and they demur (one of the handful of well-chosen words I had to refresh memory on its definition, which means to suspend judgement or hesitate). They wave their hands, they talk about stressful modern lifestyles, they talk about pollution, they talk a bout junk food, but they will not tell me the name of a single chemcial that I can measure. "What toxins are being extracted from the body...tell me what is in the water, and I will look for it in a laboratory." (Goldacre pg. 6) I really liked that because not only are the claims of toxins being released from one's feet (freakishly absurd) spurious, but the entire existence of 'bodily toxins being released' is nonexistent! Goldacre moves on and quickly dismantles 'Detox Foot Patches', noting the key ingredients are "pyroligneous acid" (wood vinegar) and "hydrolyzed carbohydrate" (sugar). The moisture of one's feet makes for another trivial chemistry experiment when that moisture causes the vinegar and sugar to turn brownish, which is just vinegar and sugar, not "purging detox of one's body"! It's taking me awhile to get through that book not because it's dense; it's very accessible and beautifully written, but because it's true. I had relatives claiming the benefits of ear candles (another thing Goldacre debunked as just fluid in the candle itself draining out, not anything from one's earlobe) and have seen ads and people claiming the benefits of 'detox'. It's reassuring to read Goldacre's book. I feel safer from scams, but I also have an increasing horror of the people who a)devise these scams and b)actually are duped by them. The debunking of these medical scams a)doesn't interest me enough and b)is something I am not nearly as qualified as one should be to investigate them, so my analysis of them will be brief, but, while it's reassuring that people like Goldacre are cracking (or have cracked away at) away at those scams,
