1 The Laundry Solution
FOR RAPID NEUTRALIZATION OF HIV VIRUS IN HUMAN SUBJECTS
Some scientific references to magnetics in pain management
There is some evidence that externally-applied magnetic fields can provide relief of certain types of chronic pain. A major difficulty in any such study is in eliminating the placebo effect which generally requires a double-blind protocol. Here are a few recent references to the scientific literature:
"Magnets for patients with leg pain", M.I. Weintraub J. Am. Medical Assn 291(1) 43-44 (Jan 7) 2004.
"Magnetic neuromedicine: an 'attractive' promise", by Frank Adams, a physician and neuropharmacologist, in the American Journal of Pain Management (AJPM), 1998; 8:17-18. This article reports some positive clinical results and calls for more comprehensive studies.
"Chronic submaximal magnetic stimulation in peripheral neuropathy: is there a beneficial therapeutic relationship?", Michael Weintraub, AJPM 1998 8(1). This study suggests that magnetic foot pads may relieve neuropathic pain in some cases. Detailed paper with many references.
"Magnetic Mattress Pad Use in Patients with Fibromyalgia: A Randomized Double-blind Pilot Study", Journal of Back and Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation 13(1999) 19-31
"Effect of oral irrigation with a magnetic treatment device on plaque and calculus
",
(J. Clinical Peridontology, 1993) reports positive results in what appears to be a well-conducted study.An extensive compilation that summarizes over 300 literature references to medical applications of magnetic fields, both permanent and alternating, can be found at the Gary Null site
http://www.garynull.com/Documents/magnets.htm#PEER-REVIEWED SCIENTIFIC STUDIES,
http://www.garynull.com/Documents/magnets.htm. The range of ailments covered seems too great to be entirely believable, but some of the articles appear to be in reputable journals. *BIOMAGNETIC HEALING [Magnesoft shower heads] Magnetic chlorine removal
Chlorine is by far the most widely-employed agent for disinfecting municipal water supplies, and there is no question about its effectiveness in reducing water-borne disease. Unfortunately, this active element also reacts with some of the organic components present in certain water to generate small amounts of
chlorinated products such as chloroform and chloramines which have been shown to be mutagens and may be carcinogens. Although there are no epidemiological studies that demonstrate an adverse effect of
chlorinated water on human health, it is understandable that many people would prefer their drinking water to be chlorine-free, if only to reduce the unpleasant taste in localities where the chlorine content is especially high. This can usually be accomplished by activated charcoal filters, and in extreme cases, by boiling.
Numerous vendors sell magnetic devices, often in the form of shower heads that purport to remove the chlorine from the water. Their Web sites paint frightening pictures of the dire consequences of showering in water containing this poisonous element. Consider, for example, this breathless paragraph from one sales site, obviously intended for people the vendor considers so dumb that they will be impressed by all of the words being capitalized:
"CHLORINE IS ONE OF THE MOST TOXIC ELEMENTS FOUND IN NATURE.
Chlorine In Shower Water Can Trigger Negative Reactions In Those Who Are Chlorine Sensitive. Small Children And The Elderly Are Often The Most Susceptible. Asthma And Emphysema Sufferers Should Be Cautious Of The Chlorine
Vapors Trapped In A Shower Recess. Magnesoft Shower Head Removes +90% Of Free Chlorine And Effective Life Of 15,000 Gallons. Now You Can Have Softer, Silkier Hair, A More Complete Shampoo Rinse And Squeaky Clean Skin.
Your Water Will Taste And Smell Better, Especially On Rural Well Systems Or City Water." [a similar link]
... but if you think chlorine is bad, consider a substance that had proven deadly to far more people: see the
"Ban DHMO"(dihydrogen monoxide) Page! Chlorine, like any gas, is less soluble in hot water than in cold, so it is likely that some chlorine is released in a shower– although as one who often takes long, hot showers, I've never noticed it, even in places like Istanbul where the water is almost too highly chlorinated to be potable.
However, it is not at all clear how a magnetic device can reduce the emission of chlorine, a gas that is completely unaffected by magnetic fields. One wonders where the chlorine is supposed to go!
Claims that magnets can remove chlorine or chlorine by-products from water are false.
As any high school Chemistry student should know, chlorine, Cl2, contains no unpaired electrons and is therefore not attracted by a magnet. The same is true of chlorine by-products.
Other dubious uses of magnets
[The Perfect Sommelier®, BevWizard, Shooter Buddy] Magnetic wine enhancement The Perfect Sommelier http://www.perfectsommelier.com/ improves virtually any wine in less than 30 minutes. It will bring out the maturity and subtlety that the vineyard intended. Replace the cork with the Sommeliers' top and place the bottle of wine on the stand. In 30 minutes a remarkable change occurs due to the strong magnetic field created by The Perfect Sommelier." I have corresponded with the proprietor who seems quite sincere, but I can't help but be quite skeptical!
A more recent product is the Bev Wizard Wine Enhancer whose promoters claim (with no supporting evidence) that the magnetic field causes negatively-charged tannins to coagulate. See this Decanter article http://www.decanter.com/news/112353.html*on this dubious device. *see following page
Shooter Buddyhttp://www.sylves.com/shooterbuddy/howItWorks.htmlclaims to be a magnetic wine-aging accelerator.
"The Earth’s magnetic field helps create the great taste of fresh fruits. During the long growing season, fruit is held in a relatively constant position in relation to the Earth’s magnetic field, aligning the liquid particles much like tiny compass needles. This natural balance gives fresh picked fruit its smooth, natural flavor."
*MW student in with chance of $1m payout March 9, 2007 By Jamie Goode
An MW student stands to win US$1m if his dissertation proves magnetic wine-improving devices work as claimed.
James Cluer is testing the BevWizard, a magnetic wine pourer marketed by Dr Pat Farrell, a medical doctor and MW.
The device, Farrell claims, causes hard small tannins to bind together into larger, softer tannins, thus making cheap wines more drinkable. Many people are unconvinced by such claims. US sceptic James Randi*, whose Florida-based educational foundation is committed to providing reliable information about paranormal claims, is doubtful enough to offer a large cash prize to anyone who can prove the claims.
'We will pay $1m to anyone who can tell the difference between wine that has been treated with any of the so-called wine magnet devices, and the same wine not so treated', he said. 'It should take less than a day to perform a comprehensive set of tests, and the potential payoff is a million dollars—plus my personal, abject, apologies for having doubted the applicants.'
Cluer's research is for his MW dissertation and is approved by the Institute of Masters of Wine. The research inlcudes extensive testing at the ETS laboratories in California, randomized blind tastings, and a marketing survey of wine retailers around the world.
'Many of the world's leading winemakers and retailers are currently testing the BevWizard,' he said.
The single published scientific study into the effects of magnets on wine tested a device called the Perfect Sommelier. Of the 60 participants, 29 preferred the magnetized wine and 31 the non-magnetized one. 'More research into this area is now called for,' the authors conclude.
Lead author of this study, Dr James Rubin, told decanter.com, 'It's hardly rocket science setting up a decent study. I would say that the fact that the producers of these devices haven't done that speaks volumes.'
Other scientists too are sceptical. 'I can't see any way that this device could plausibly work, at least not based on the magnet,' tannin expert Dr Markus Herderich of the Australian Wine Research Institute said.
*see HOMOEOPATHY_BBC_THE TEST http://ephesians-511.net/docs/HOMOEOPATHY_BBC_THE_TEST.doc Effects of magnetic fields on microbial metabolism
Some references to this topic can be found in U.S. patent 5318045 for the use of magnets in bioremediation processes. The applicants show some experimental data indicating that a N. pole can materially alter the efficacy of certain types of bacterially-mediated oxidation of pollutants. No references to published studies are given.
[Green Star Gold Juice Extractor] Juicer jiggery-pokery
Several manufacturers offer juice-producing machines that incorporate magnets, which they variously claim, without any supporting evidence, to mellow the taste [link
http://www.discountjuicers.com/greenpower.html], to enhance the stability of the juice [link
http://www.greenstar.com/index.asp], or generally to maintain the freshness of fruit and vegetable juices. A typical false claim is that the magnets "add more positive ions and vitality to minerals in the juice. ... the magnets are creating positive ions... Bioceramic particles, produced by far-infrared technology, also emit positive ions. The magnets recharge the bioceramic material and the bioceramic material recharges the magnets. ...many of these
positive ions go into the juice. These additional positive ions add more vitality and longevity to the life of the minerals, reducing oxidation and keeping the juice fresher longer." [link http://www.ezjuicers.com/grlife.htm]
[Cells Alive System or CAS] Fast-freezing foolishness
ABI, a Japanese outfit, offers a Cells Alive System (CAS) http://dl.dropbox.com/u/70716/CAS_ABI.pdf whose purpose is to improve the industrial-scale fast-freezing process by inhibiting the growth of ice crystals that tend to break down cell walls when foods are frozen. The idea is to employ a magnetic field to allow the food to be supercooled (that is, cooled below the freezing point without forming ice), and then turning off the field causing the ice to form so rapidly that only very small crystals are able to grow. A fine idea, except for the fact that I know of no evidence that a magnetic field is able to alter the freezing point of water. The CAS promotion claims that the magnetic field acts by aligning "the magnetic moment of the electrons" — which strikes me as scientific nonsense, given that all 10 electrons in H2O are paired so that the molecule has a zero magnetic moment. A 2006 article http://foodreview.ihs.com/news/2006/re-invention-freezer.htm in a South African food processing magazine describes the process in more detail, but confuses the issue by invoking the use of an alternating electric field as well (which should have the same effect as a microwave oven) and making the unlikely claim that a glass of water frozen by this method will not break.
Some really goofy schemes and scams
Found on the Balanced Lives site http://www.balancedlives.net/magneticwater.htm (the purple prose is all nonsense):
"The earth's magnetic field naturally charges water in lakes, wells, and running streams. Water that passes through your city water treatment plant is transported through underground piping which causes the water to lose its magnetic energy; therefore treating water by passing it through a magnetic field will restore the natural energy and balance. It also rids the water of memory. There are systems available that magnetize the water as it comes into the faucet. These are known as point of use or point of discharge systems. .
..Magnetized water tastes sweeter and has more clarity; promotes a more alkaline pH in the body; is beneficial to wounds and burns; has a beneficial effect on digestive, nervous and urinary systems; revitalizes the body; provides positive effect on the nervous system; has been beneficial for kidney ailments, obesity and premature aging, and may help relieve discomfort.
...Magnetic water controls scale buildup in pipes and plumbing. Magnetic water has a positive effect on plant growth.
Magnetic water is more solvent and has a lower surface tension, so nutrients in the water are absorbed more readily.
Use on agricultural crops results in improved quality of the plants with a reduction in the use of fertilizer.
[Magnetic tooth brushes, coffee cups, insoles, pet collars, pet beds, Quartz Crystal Simulators]
NESI (Natural Environmental Solutions Inc. of Las Vegas, Nevada, whose Web site, thankfully, recently disappeared) offered to "Magnetically enhance your body's natural energy" -- In addition to the usual water and fuel conditioners (including a magnetic showerhead that "Has Been Proven To Consistently Remove Over 90%
Of Free Chlorine", (starting every word with a capital letter presumably makes this more authoritative!) they offered a variety of Bio-Magnets that "magnetically enhance your body's natural energy", such as "Plaque fighting magnetic toothbrushes" ("Get teeth whiter and eliminate unsightly build up"), magnetic coffee cups, magnetic insoles (your choice of all-north or bipolar) and a Quartz Crystal Simulator ("High voltage stimulation ideal for on the spot use" ?!) .. or, for your dog, magnetic pet collars and a magnetic pet bed.
[Wholly water] "Charged" water *see pages 62, 73
This is really a separate subject, but the purveyors of at least one magnetic device
http://www.wholly-water.com/Magnetizer.htm appear not to understand that there is a distinct difference between "magnetized"
water (impossible) and electrically "charged" water (also impossible!), or more likely they hope that the suckers who come to their Web site will be sufficiently ignorant to miss this point. [Below are] some paragraphs we found a few years ago on their Web site; the parts that are incorrect, untrue, misleading or scientifically absurd are highlighted. Wholly-Water is not the only outfit that has hawked such schlock to the general public.
The hype and bunk "'Pure' water is a polar liquid, i.e. part of the water molecule has a positive and part of it has a negative, electrical charge; but, overall, the net electrical charge is negative."
The science Whoever wrote this probably never passed First Year Chemistry (not to mention English!) Although the positive and negative charges are geometrically unbalanced, they are exactly equal, and cancel out to zero. The H2O molecule is electrically neutral.
The hype and bunk "Thus, the water molecule being a small magnet (dipole), one may effect its magnetic (or electric) field by causing the molecule to turn or rotate in one direction or the other, taking on a positive or negative higher potential, depending on whether the S (South, positive) or N (North, negative) outside magnetic field had been applied."
The science The H2O molecule is an electrical dipole, not a magnetic one; it is not a magnet, and is not affected by a magnet. Equating the S and N poles of a magnet with the [electrical] "potential" is pure fantasy.
The hype and bunk "When we magnetize the water, all the electrons take on the same charge. Because like charges or poles repel each other, the molecules are pushed away from each other breaking up the associations into singular stasis known as molecularly mono-atomic."
The science These people apparently do not realize that all electrons everywhere have the same (negative) charge!
The hype and bunk "...regardless of whether the water is magnetized Positive or Negative, the water becomes molecularly mono-atomic."
"When mono-atomic water molecules enter the body, the body more efficiently metabolizes more the singular oxygen and hydrogen atoms due to its greater availability. The greater availability of the hydrogen and oxygen provides the body with a much larger share of its requirements of these important elements and as a result, the body has shown to start functioning in a more balanced state and therefore begins to heal itself."
The science "Positive" and "negative" magnetization is meaningless.
The idea that the H and O atoms can somehow become, or need to be, more "available", will greatly amuse biochemists. These arguments are similar to those offered by the water cluster clowns
http://www.chem1.com/CQ/clusqk.html see p. 8ff.
The hype and bunk "It has been firmly established in the world scientific theatre that the Positive,
expanding, field influence of the South Pole makes liquids more soluble (lowering surface tension); thereby hydrating, dissolving, and removing calcite and other mineral/various water by-product build-up in pipes and equipment. ... Under the same magnetic molecular dynamics, the Positive Pole also de-clusters paraffin build-up in oil well or transmission lines."
The science This "world scientific theatre" must be a theater of the absurd. What a "positive, expanding"
field might be baffles a simple chemist such as myself.
The hype and bunk "The water has a better taste that occurs from an actual reduction in the size of the water molecules. Compare it to a bucket full of rocks the size of pebbles versus the size of sand. The pebbles will bang around like rocks while the sand will pour like water.
The small Energized water molecule has a greater solvency and attraction that results in cleaner bathing and washing.
The science These folks are wholly-wrong on this one; there is no way the size of a molecule like H2O can be changed.
Whenever you see something described as "energized", you should think "scam"!
The hype and bunk You can visit this Web site http://www.tinet.cat/~sje/lqdmag/lqdmag.htm for info on how to construct your own "liquid magnetizers", where you learn that "This device can be used for the magnetization of any liquid that you can put in bottles, one bottle can be charged positively at the same time that the other bottle is charged negatively.
"The positively charged water (magnetized with the South Pole of a permanent magnet) have a lowered surface tension as the bonding lengths between the atoms lengthen under the expanding magnetic influence."
The science Here again, they confuse electrical charge (positive and negative) with magnetization.
There is of course no evidence at all that a magnetic field (or an electrical one, for that matter) can affect the H-O bond length in water.
The hype and bunk "... positively charged water gives energy and vitality. The negatively charged water (magnetized with the North Pole of a permanent magnet) have a higher surface tension as the bonding lengths shorten under the contracting magnetic influence. This negatively charged water can be used to accelerate the healing process, at the same time gives a calming and relaxing effect. "
The science Since "charged" water is unknown to modern science, I wouldn’t take these totally unsupported health claims very seriously!
6. Penta Water pseudoscience http://www.chem1.com/CQ/pentabunk.html [Penta™, Penta Water, Penta-Hydrate Water] see also pages 19, 20
Penta Water http://www.pentawater.com/_pw/index.php is one of many bottled waters whose manufacturers claim to have "restructured" the water in some way that provides special health benefits. In my opinion, there is no credible scientific evidence for either the altered water structure or for the health benefits.
Penta Water has been marketed for several years, formerly by a company known as Bio-Hydration Research Labs. It is sometimes referred to as "Penta-Hydrate Water"
http://web.archive.org/web/20020208182746/http://herbshop.com/pentahydrate_technical_info.htm. The principal marketing claims are that it is "the purest bottled water on the market", and that it is "restructured"
to reduce the "cluster size", making it more amenable to uptake by the body.
Penta Water is made by a succession of steps, the details of which have varied (6 steps
http://web.archive.org/web/20050214205055/http://www.cwgsy.net/business/teampenta/faqsr.html until early 2005, 14 since then.) In general, these steps include various forms of filtration, reverse osmosis, de-ionization, UV-light, "molecular redefinition" (currently referred to as the "Penta Process) and oxygenation treatment. All except the last two are conventional and generally effective methods that are widely employed in both domestic water treatment and in the manufacture of bottled beverages. The descriptions of the last two of these treatments (on an earlier Web page) are rather weird and lack scientific support. (The purple
http://web.archive.org/web/20050214205055/http://www.cwgsy.net/business/teampenta/faqsr.html until early 2005, 14 since then.) In general, these steps include various forms of filtration, reverse osmosis, de-ionization, UV-light, "molecular redefinition" (currently referred to as the "Penta Process) and oxygenation treatment. All except the last two are conventional and generally effective methods that are widely employed in both domestic water treatment and in the manufacture of bottled beverages. The descriptions of the last two of these treatments (on an earlier Web page) are rather weird and lack scientific support. (The purple