Thursday 13 August 2009

Three drops a day is all you need to:

and the list began with "Relieve your joint discomfort, Alleviate morning stiffness, Improve your mobility, Restore your independence and... (wait for this one) Give you the freedom you deserve."
The pamphlet arrived in the letter box. It was a "special report on Joint Health". It was addressed to my father. We can only conclude that someone has 'borrowed' a mailing list from somewhere - possibly COTA (Council of the Ageing). It even had a price on it ($6.95 should you be interested) although the postman did not appear at the door and demand we pay anything.
Both of us read on and on and on...after all, it said "Backed by 10 human clinical trials, 14 US Patents and a decade of research". The claims and the testimonials sound amazing.
BUT, where are the references to the scientific data? Why aren't doctors using this truly amazing liquid? It's the elixir of life! There was all this talk about toxins and 'less is more' and 'tipping point' and 'balancing your immune system'. Vital stuff (and the stuff is called Vital3)
By the end of page 16 however we had discovered not one single reference, although there were some amazing (and amazingly unverifiable) "testimonials".
The man who is promoting it is a doctor, one Dr Eugene R Zampieron, ND, MH(AHG). He is a doctor of (wait for this one too) Naturopathy from "the Bastyr University of Natural Health Sciences, the most esteemed doctoral program of natural medicine in the world".
I had never heard of this university but assumed it was somewhere in the old Soviet bloc. However it is apparently a private accredited institution in Seattle WA.
I wonder whether they approve of the way in which one of their former students is apparently so successfully treating thousands of individuals with the modern equivalent of cute little pink sugar pills?

6 comments:

Rachel Fenton said...

"Just a spoonful of sugar..."
There are a lot of dodgy practitioners around, taking advantage of vulnerable people. As usual, the devil's in the small print: much use of the words possibly, may help, some?

Holly said...

privately accredited means that it does not meet the standards for any of the US nationally recognized accreditation bodies.

You, too, could set up your own university of anything. As long as you have a curriculum and appropriate teaching staff (see above) you might just be good to go.

How else do you suppose that naturopathy, homeopathy and all the various forms of massage therapy get accreditation?

Many are licensed, as a way for the state to track, handle complaints and collect registration fees. Not because the practices have been validated.

calirad said...

So, what were the ingredients? That's what matters....Sorry you hadn't heard of Bastyr--now you know about this institution dedicated to promoting & maintaining optimal health....(And, by the way, Holly, it's "private accredited", not "privately".)

Unknown said...

Wow Calirad did you bother to look at the date these comments were at least 7 years ago.
Just came looking for info myself. Funny how it has taken so long for this Amazing stuff to surface. If it is as good as is claimed doctors all over would know about it by now.

Anonymous said...

At the very end of the booking form in small print is the following disclaimer...says it all really.

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
*** Individual results may vary.

Fireshadow Pottery said...

Thanks, it's always the same with these things; Too good to be true.