linuxmafia.com 2016/linuxmafia.com.tar/linuxmafia.com/pub/skeptic/files-to-classify/gerovita.txt

Internet Message Format | 1996-02-19 | 8KB

From: [e-mail]
Subject:      Healthy skepticism
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date:         Tue, 10 Nov 1992 06:56:42 -0600
Things are getting slow again, so here is an article on pseudoscience
in medicine currently appearing in The Skeptic, the newsletter of the
North Texas Skeptics.

Healthy Skepticism

By Tim Gorski, M.D.

Gero Vita Resurfaces

Area residents are the targets of a new marketing scheme for Gero
Vita GH3, the notorious "antiaging" quack remedy.  The promotional
mailing arrives without a return address and consists of what appears
to be an advertisement for the product torn from a newspaper.  Attached
is a note with the addressee's first name and the words: "Try it.
It's only 1/2 price! -R," so that it appears to be a recommendation
from someone the victim knows personally.

The product advertisement is a welter of pseudoscientific claims
that build on the initial claims of Rumanian doctor Ana Aslan that
she had invented an effective anti-aging treatment.  Experimenting
initially with aging rats, she subsequently devised a "secret formula"
that supposedly turned a disheveled bedridden 109-year old "in a
terminal stage of senility" into "an alert, vigorous" spry man "with
much of his memory restored."  Another 68-year-old woman is said
to have had her wisdom teeth appear after starting the treatment.
It's later claimed that "meticulous records" were kept on 111 patients
treated over 15 years, who are said to have "lived 29% longer than
the normal life expectancy."  It's not mentioned what "normal" life
expectancy was used for comparison, as life expectancy naturally
varies with a person's attained age, as any actuary knows.  Later,
the ad says that experience with "thousands of patients" proves the
effectiveness of the treatment.  Unfortunately, no one has ever been
able to get the treatment to "work" outside of Rumania.

The original Gero Vita GH3 was given by injection and contained
procaine, a local anesthetic, it being well-known that the best
placebos, (which by definition are therapeutically worthless) have
some kind of noticeable effect nonetheless.  The current marketing
scheme, though, is for an oral product which may contain
para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA), apparently on the strength of the
fact that PABA is known to appear in the urine of people who receive
procaine injections.  "Another Discovery Added to GH3," according
to the mailing, is the "brain fuel" L-glutamine, a "shortage" of
which, it is alleged, "can cause your brain never to get into 'high
gear.'"

The predictable testimonials of amazing benefits are offered along
with these ridiculous pronouncements.  A month's supply is offered
for $19.95 with a money-back guarantee.

Law enforcement authorities have acted repeatedly against  Gero Vita
GH3, the promoters of which are said by one official to "somehow
always stay one post office box ahead of the law."  And, indeed,
the address given for Gero Vita Laboratories is that of "Postal Plus,"
a mail receiving service in Phoenix, Arizona.

Rejuvex

Florida-based Ginsana USA, in addition to promoting its ginseng
preparation which is claimed to improve physical endurance, is now
aggressively marketing an herbal/vitamin/mineral product called Rejuvex
over local radio stations.  The advertisements imply that estrogen
therapy for menopausal women is dangerous and encourage listeners
to use this "natural" remedy instead.  But despite the supposed hazards
of hormone therapy, its manufacturers include "raw mammary, raw ovary,
raw uterus, raw adrenal and raw pituitary powders" in their
preparation.  The product is sold not only through health food stores,
but through otherwise reputable outlets such as Eckerd's as well.
As anyone who has contact with the "detail representatives" of the
ethical pharmaceutical industry can testify to, great care is taken
not to point too enthusiastically to the significant health benefits
of hormonal replacement therapy for menopausal women lest it go beyond
the FDA-approved product labeling of estrogen medications.

But here is a small-time operator getting away, not only with claiming
that its concoction can do what estrogens can in relieving menopausal
symptoms, but that it can "protect from both osteoporosis and heart
disease" just like estrogens as well!  One naturally wonders why
the stuff wouldn't have the same occasional side-effects and
contraindications as estrogen, since it supposedly has all the
benefits.

The FDA is aware of this product, but it's anyone's guess when, or
if, they will take any action against it.

Pro-Quackery Bill Under Consideration

But if law enforcement finds it difficult to protect consumers from
the lies and deception of the vitamin, supplement, and health food
industry now, it will be made even tougher if legislation sponsored
by Senator Orrin Hatch becomes law.  This past June, the Utah
Republican introduced S2835, The Health Freedom Act of 1992, which
was developed with the help of a supplement  industry group that
includes several manufacturers of herbal products.  Accordingly,
the new freedoms that S2835 will bestow are on the billion dollar
business of health and nutrition schemes, scams, and frauds.

The Hatch Bill will gut the consumer protection powers of the FDA
by prohibiting the classification of vitamins, minerals, herbs, or
any other "nutritional substance" as a drug, no matter the dose and
no matter the health claims made for them by promoters.  S2835 would
also downgrade the standard of truth in assessing promotional claims
made for such products from that of a scientific consensus to
"scientific evidence, whether published or unpublished  [emphasis
added]."  Manufacturers would also be able to seek immediate court
review of any FDA warning letters.

If the Hatch Bill becomes law, the health food industry will be free
to call anything it pleases a "nutritional supplement" and be thereby
entitled to make false claims with impunity so long as it continues
to engage in its sham reliance on "scientific evidence."   The passage
of S2835 would put an effective end to the FDA's irksome (from the
industry's point of view) consumer protection efforts in this
profitable area, since such attempts could be tied up in the courts
while business went on as usual for the supplement entrepreneurs.

[Editor's note: Readers can write to Sen. Hatch by addressing their
comments to Senator Orrin Hatch, United States Senate, Washington,
D.C. 20510. The Senate's telephone number is 202-224-3121.]


This information is provided by the D/FW Council Against Health Fraud.
We welcome new members and would like especially to suggest that
you let your doctor know of the existence and efforts of the Council
in combating false, misleading and questionable claims in the areas
of health and nutrition. The Council has found that most physicians
do not have the time and inclination to look into what they quite
rightly consider to be rubbish. But with your help, the Council can
provide the resources your doctor needs to advance the cause of
skepticism in this important area. For more information, or to report
suspected health fraud, please contact the Council at Box 202577,
Arlington, TX, 76006, or call metro 214-263-8989

Dr. Gorski is a practicing physician, chairman of the D/FW Council
Against Health Fraud and an NTS Technical Advisor.

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| John Blanton                                                    |
| Secretary, North Texas Skeptics                                 |
| [e-mail]                                      |
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