Review of Bad Science

Impure Purification

Goldacre asserts that pharma companies, reporters and marketers co-opt and misinterpret research to legitimize and sell products, publications and services. Most of these products prove harmless when they reach the public – except to people’s pockets. Even so, Goldacre says their claims derive from pseudoscientific claims that make  the public dumber and enable dependence on “experts” who demonstrate a frightening lack of knowledge.

Goldacre offers detox treatments as an example. Purification rituals have been around for a long time and for good reason: They act as a reset button after unhealthy behavior. While fasting and special diets might retrain you to have healthy eating habits, other approaches – such as footbaths, ear candles and detox patches – don’t remove “toxins” from the body, whatever those “toxins” may be. Most purification rituals, Goldacre says, include unnecessary superstitious features, and couching these features in pseudoscientific terms is only natural for a culture that adopts science as its primary means of understanding the world.