A group of UK scientists are taking a stand against bad science in the public domain.
Anne Corbett
A new publication initiates an ongoing project to expose bogus scientific claims and improve accuracy in product marketing. ‘There Goes The Science Bit…’ is published today by Voice of Young Science (VoYS), a network of determined young scientists who believe in the public’s right to good, credible science. VoYS is part of the London-based charity, Sense About Science, whose main objective is to promote good, clear science within the public domain.
VoYS is willing to fight for its cause. Frustrated by spurious marketing claims from various companies, VoYS members started calling customer service helplines and asking some cutting questions. Their enquiries focussed on 11 different companies, marketing a range of products from vibrating crystal pendants with healing powers to herbal nutritional supplements that cleanse the body of unwanted parasites. Their aim was to discover what scientific evidence, if any, these claims were based on.
Danger words and dubious claims
There Goes The Science Bit… is a dossier of some of the group’s experiences, which are amusing and unnerving in equal measure. It reveals the lack of research behind many claims, and the tactics employed by certain companies to exploit an uneducated public. Key danger words such as ‘radiation’ and ‘artificial chemicals’ convince the credulous of unsubstantiated risks while jargon and misleading technical language imply a scientific basis that simply does not exist. These misrepresentations are often targeted at highly vulnerable individuals, playing on their perceived fears. One of the publication’s contributors, student chemist Caroline Granger says, “It is completely immoral to exploit peoples’ anxieties, especially when the causes of these concerns are entirely fabricated, or when these products are used instead of proven treatments”.
Such products include Aerobic Oxygen, marketed by the Good For You Corporation as a stable form of oxygen that removes pathogens and impurities from water and food. A company representative was enthusiastic about the product, despite its shortcomings – it has no chemical formula, the company will not reveal the manufacturing process and it doesn’t appear to work – ‘Personally we’ve used it lots of times…we’ve been to Egypt and places like that, we still got a tummy bug but…’. Not exactly convincing.
A number of the targeted products claim to protect against supposedly hazardous electromagnetic frequencies (EMF) including a vibrating crystal pendant, glowing salt lamps and a skincare product from Clarins. Tom Sheldon, a computer scientist at the National Institute of Medical Research in Mill Hill, investigated Computer Clear, a software program that claims to release homeopathic ‘bio-resonance patterns’ to protect against EMF emitted by computers. After a chat with the manager, who says he measures the effects of the software by reading users’ auras, Sheldon discovered no scientific basis for the software and no reliable means to measure its effects. Computer Clear boasts over 340,000 copies sold worldwide, and as Sheldon points out, “That’s over £13 million spent on a product with no supporting evidence, no working theory and no conceivable mode of action”.
More familiar retailers are not entirely blameless, claims the report. Supermarkets Sainsbury’s and Co-op, and food chain Pret a Manger, boast that their products are free of chemicals such as monosodium glutamate or sodium benzoate, purely due to consumer concerns about their perceived health risks, rather than any scientific proof.
Stand up for science
VoYS was applauded by Nobel Prize winner Professor Sir Paul Nurse, “There Goes the Science Bit… is a refreshing and amusing look at the extraordinary claims being made by commercial producers and retailers to try and make us buy their products. Their lack of science is mercilessly exposed by young scientists prepared to spend their time unmasking the empty pseudo-science of so many of these claims".
Many others also seek to raise awareness of these issues, most notably journalist Ben Goldacre, whose Bad Science website and column in The Guardian regularly cock a snook at dodgy marketing.
Frank Swain, VoYS coordinator, urges more young scientists to come forward and stand up for their science. “There are no qualifications needed to do this – just an inquisitive mind and the tenacity to keep asking questions.” So why not act on your own bad science pet hate – pick up the phone and start asking questions.
There Goes The Science Bit is published by Sense About Science, and is available to download from the VoYS website
Anne Corbett is a contributor to There Goes The Science Bit…