Scams Galore

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The article below is from www.microwavenews.com/

Scams Galore

October 20… " Nobodyever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the

Americanpublic, " H.L. Mencken, the American journalist,famously said years ago.

And so it continues today, not only in theU.S. but most everywhere else. The

continuing EMF controversy,stimulated bythree new books —Sam Milham's Dirty

Electricity,Devra 's Disconnect andAnn Gittleman's Zapped,— has fueled

the demand for quick fixes. (None of these authorsrecommends them.) Just about

every day, someone contacts us, pitching anew product or, on the consumer

side,asking if they do any good.

The gizmos promising protection includebracelets,pendants and headbands.Two of

the best-known are BioPro and Q-Link, which have been around for years. They are

really no different from all the others. That's to say, they don't work.The most

charitable way to describe them would be as placebos, or more appropriately,

very expensive placebos.

Last week, for instance, a Canadian outfit called MicroAlpha wrote to us about

itsNeutralizer,which if installed " before the first frost " would stop " bad

electric energy " from rising and stunting plants and trees. Itpromises that a

vineyard, once neutralized, would yield grapes as goodas those in France and

Italy. The Neutralizer is alsoavailable as a " Peace Ball, " designed to be worn as

a necklace. It's yours for C$100. Or you can gettheball in an industrial

strength version(600 times stronger) for C$450. In line with the old saying,

never givea sucker an even break, MicroAlpha recommends that you go for

thestrongest one you can afford, that is, the most expensive.And for those who

have money to burn, there is the mightyDiamond Edition Peace Ball, yours for up

to C$8,000. While you're at it,you might want to protect your pets with

the " Happy Ball " (C$165-$650).

We should acknowledge that there isone paper in the peer-reviewed literature

that claims that these things might actually do something. In 2002, a group led

by Rodney Croft,currently the head of the Australian Centre for RF Bioeffects

Research, reportedin the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine that

the Q-Link and its Sympathetic Resonance Technology did in fact " have an affect

[sic] onneural function. " Croft's paper was sponsoredby Clarus Products

International, which makes and markets the Q-Link. Croft is now well known as

one of Australia's leading defenders of cell phone safety.

Alasdair Philips, the director of Powerwatch, a U.K. advocacy group, tooka look

at how Croft had carried out his experiment and determined that the results

were " virtually worthless. " Philips also took the Q-Link " Ally " apart andfound

that it had been put together " in such a way as it could never, even vaguely,

work. "

What sets BioPro apart is that its business model is not too different from a

pyramid scheme,or to use a more genteel term, it's a multilevel marketing

company. You too can get in on the scam and make money by becoming aBioPro

Independent Consultant and selling these worthless gadgets and recruiting others

to do so too.

Don Bauder provides an inside look at how such companies work in arecent article

for the San Diego Reader. One take-home lesson isthat BioPro and its latest

incarnation, Gia Wellness,look for any possible way to make you part with your

money.There is nothing special aboutpreying on people's fears of EMFs. Gia

Wellness also sells " inspirednutrition " products. The most amazing (and

appalling) of these is theGia Smart Cardâ„¢.It looksvery much like a credit

card, but, apparently, has some very specialproperties: It " is designed to

transfer its vital energy onto any foodor beverage you consume, to release its

natural energetic potential, " according to Gia.

Now that BioPro has lost whatever cachet it once had, Gia is marketing another

cell phone protection device, the Cell Guard.You can buy a pack of four for

$147.50.Cell Guard looks a lot like BioPro and there is every reason to believe

that it is just as effective.

For a time, the most notable proponent of BioPro Technology was Carlo,

the sometime epidemiologist,lawyer and entrepreneur. They formed a " Strategic

Alliance " about five years ago.In a videoarchived on YouTube, Carlo describes

this alliance as a way to fulfillhis " moral and ethical obligation to get

[bioPro] in the hands ofthousandsand thousands of people as soon as

[possible]. " In 2008, however, the relationship soured and Carlo confessed

thatBioPro is nothing but quackery. This was one of " my most

regrettableprofessional mistakes, " he said.That's saying quite a lot given that

in the 1990s he ran a $25 millionscam, known as Wireless Technology Research

(WTR) on behalf of the cellphone industry trade group,CTIA. Carlo and CTIAhad

promised a research program on the health effects of cell phoneradiation but

delivered practically nothing,except to show, yet again, that H.L. Mencken knew

what he was talkingabout.