Chemists reclaiming chemicals for £1m

26 November 2008 · Comments

From a press release of from The Royal Society of Chemistry:

The Royal Society of Chemistry is today reclaiming the word chemical from the advertising and marketing industries.

It has been misappropriated and maligned as synonymous with “poison”. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) recently defended an advert which perpetuated the myth that natural compounds are free of chemicals.

The truth, as any right-minded person will say, is that everything we eat, drink, drive, play with and live in is made of chemicals - both natural and synthetic chemicals are essential for life as we know it.

The RSC is offering a £1m bounty to anyone that can provide evidence of something—anything—that is “100% chemical free”.

Dr Neville Reed, a director of the RSC, said today: “I’d be happy to give a million pounds to the first member of the public who could place in my hands any material I consider 100% chemical free.

Finally, someone standing up to the purveyors of woo and their fantastic¹ claims.

Read the full press release.

in the original sense [↩]

Tags: <advertising, chemistry, reality, science, The Royal Society of Chemistry, UK, woo>

Sceptical? Bored? A solution is at hand

13 August 2008 · Comments

While playing catch up with Planet Atheism, I saw this Google advert at the foot of the page:

100% accurate astrologer... teehee!

“100% accurate” and “astrologer” are to my mind not two items that should appear in any sentence that makes any kind of sense, but I’m willing to allow someone claiming such things to try to demonstrate it, especially when I don’t have to pay for their ~~woo~~ 100% accurate predictions.

“Jenna”’s credentials appear to quite impressive indeed:
Jenna's credentials

I do like the discovers precise dates & times bit, but I tried sending the form without any information apart from my email address, but apparently she’s not psychic enough to already know my name, gender, date of birth, occupation and marital status.

If you’re sceptical and bored and looking for some woo to experiment on feel free to give “Jenna” a whirl.

Tags: <advertising, astrology, bizarre, reality check, scepticism, web, woo>