Straits Times 20 Nov 07;
Group worried that advertisers are using technical-sounding terms to hoodwink shoppers
LONDON - WHEN biologist Harriet Ball noticed that a popular vitamin B-enriched yogurt made by Nestle promised to 'optimise the release of energy', she queried the company about its claims and found they had no evidence to support it.
Ms Ball belongs to a group of more than two dozen British scientists who became so fed up with advertisers' seemingly bogus claims that they started a campaign to debunk bad science.
Those who have run afoul of scrutiny by them include French cosmetic company Clarins and pop star Madonna.
The group, Voice of Young Scientists, published a report last month chronicling their encounters with 11 companies.
'These are just a few of the products that particularly annoyed us,' said Ms Alice Tuff, coordinator of the group.
It found that none of the companies investigated had proof to support their assertions. Products ranged from a cleanser purported to wipe the body clean of parasites to Himalayan salt lamps that supposedly relieve asthma.
Ms Tuff said they were not intentionally trying to show up the companies.
'All we wanted to do was track down the evidence,' she said. 'We were really shocked that we didn't find anything at all.'
The scientists are worried that advertisers are increasingly employing technical-sounding language to hoodwink consumers, while in some cases their pseudo-science has caused alarm about supposed health threats, with no supporting data.
In the Clarins case documented by the group, Britain's Advertising Standards authority ruled that the French cosmetics company had needlessly worried people about the dangers of electromagnetic radiation waves in marketing their 'Expertise 3P spray'.
Clarins claimed their spray protected skin against pollution and the effects of artificial electromagnetic waves.
Company officials did not answer calls seeking comment on how the product works.
The advertising authority judged that Clarins had not proven that electromagnetic waves could damage skin in the first place.
Last year, the group chastised Madonna for her attempts to 'neutralise radiation' by using a mystical Kabbalah fluid that allegedly decontaminated nuclear waste in Ukraine.
Voice of Young Scientists is part of Sense About Science, a charity that promotes better understanding of science in the general public.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
