Water water everywhere, and how the frauds did shrink!

The Odd Emperor reads a lot, some people seem to disbelieve just how much the Odd Emperor reads.

Today for example; over my Imperial breakfast I was perusing someone’s newsgroup and found myself at the Art Bell page. At the bottom was one of their ubiquitous ads is link for water products.

When you follow the link you come to http://www.energels.com/ . The page says in part.

“Counter Clockwise Molecular Spin of Water Molecules is the KEY! Diseased Cells Spin Clockwise Healthy Cells Spin Counter Clockwise!”

Well, that’s news to me! It’s news to physics people too but let’s not get into science shall we?

Or shall we? Clicking on Click Here For the EnerGels.com website takes one to http://www.energels.com/main.htm  (or it once did!). Here one is treated to a sales pitch for energy mugs and “energy eggs,” in the links section is some information on the bogus scale (sorry EœBovis Scale.) There is a link labeled scientific evidence.

So like any chump I clicked there. http://www.energels.com/evidence.htm

Here is some of what I read.

 Every atom, molecule, or substance has its own unique oscillation pattern, or vibration, which can be measured in electromagnetic wavelengths. (Ciccolo, “Domenica del Corriere”, February 18, 1988) (Beneviste)

 Water is a Carrier of information; as a solvent it is the best known conductor of vibration, with information transfer possible without direct contact. (Ciccolo)

 Water possesses the ability to store information that has been impressed upon if from a given vibration for long periods (Engler and Kokoschinegg, 1988), as can be measured by specific electromagnetic wavelengths found in water; thus even after harmful physical substances are removed, their negative energy vibrational patterns, or “signatures” still remain, which can be traced back precisely to the original substances. (Ludwig)(Beneviste, in “Natur-Wissen”)

Water can transfer such information from vibrational patterns, or “memory”, to other systems, including living organisms. (Ludwig)(Felsch)

Water revitalization allows water in a higher vibrational state to transfer, or share, its higher frequencies, which act to balance out low energy and negative information. (Ciccolo)

• Water can retain the vibrational memory of a substance even after it is diluted beyond Avogardro’s number, where no physical traces of the substance remain. (Beneviste)

 Water quality can also be evaluated by the amount of ultra-violet light it absorbs. “Poor” quality water will absorb higher amounts of UV light, while “good” quality water absorbs low amounts. (Ludwig)

 The minimum specific warmth and the maximum structural potential of water is measured at 37.5 degrees C, or the normal human body temperature (98 degrees F); this finding indicates that water at this temperature is at a maximal structure point to acquire a large amount of information. (Felsch)(Engler and Kokoschinegg, 1988)

None of these claims make very much sense. Water has vibrational patterns? These can be “negative and positive.” Negative water can affect people in negative ways. Positive water can pass on  positive influence to other water by simply being in the vicinity? This all has something to do with molecular spin?

With the exception of the UV claims ( I can believe that ultra pure water will probably fluoresce less in UV light simply because it has less particulate matter.) none of these claims seem a have more than a shadow of substance.

But all are actually published in I assume scientific peer reviewed journals? Let’s find out!

1) Ciccolo, “Domenica del Corriere”, February 18, 1988
Sunday of the Courier, this seems to be an Italian supplement paper.

‘La Domenica del Corriere’ was an illustrated Sunday supplement to the Italian newspaper ‘Corriere della Sera’. The front and back coverpages were well-known for being richly and colorfully, if somewhat fancifully at times, illustrated with newsworthy event of the week. The inside pages were also richly illustrated with photographs and advertisements along with some text articles here

This was back in the 1920s however. The contemporary paper seem so obscure that ve found nary a reference to it, outside of the same magical water stuff and some UFO reports.

Big surprise.

Somehow, this does not seem to fulfill the requirements of a peer review or scientific journal.

2) Ludwig)(Beneviste, in “Natur-Wissen”) No reference to date.
Here is a typical reference, one of literally hundreds on the Internet. Not one (so far) actually cites the source of the quote. http://www.puregoodness.info/grander.htm

“Wolfgang Ludwig, physicist and advisor to World Research Foundation goes into detail by saying that water possesses the faculty to store information and that has been impressed upon it previously on a given frequency level and to transfer such information to other systems. He states that contaminated water can be purified chemically and freed of bacteria, but it will still possess electromagnetic oscillations in certain wavelengths: these can be traced precisely to the contaminants. Therefore, even after purification, water contains certain signals that can be detrimental to the health. Yes, water has memory.”

I was unable to find a direct reference to Natur-Wissen. Now this seems to be a derivative of Naturwissen, or Natural Science. The German – Natural Science appears to be a homeopathic publication, once again; this is not exactly a scientific journal. http://www.lebens-energie.de/\

3) Engler and Kokoschinegg, 1988 No publication referenced.

4) Felsch, no reference to any publication. Some reference that reads. “Dr. Horst Felsch, director of the Civil Environmental Laboratory in Fieberbrunn, Germany.” Cannot verify this, reference is only listed in magical water sales text.

This is not an exhaustive search to be sure, simply a quick check of references. I’m curious enough to run over to the Imperial Library and cross check these names in conventional published sources.

I find that outside of homeopathic water sellers, these people don’t seem to exist. I got a couple of hits in other branches of homeopathic products but no reference to papers in conventional journals.

One might conclude from all of this that fake water products need fake scientific citation to be effective. Since magical water products seem to be belief based the idea that science is invoked where there appears to be no science is repugnant. I think that the magical water’“industry” such as it is should rethink this tactic of citing obscure to non-existent sources and calling them’ “scientific.” For people who have already bought into this stuff, it’s not needed. The people who are somewhat skeptical are going to associate spurious citation with a phony product.

The undecided? They might be swayed by a bunch of bogus psudo-scientific bleatings but using such a tactic underlines how dishonest the purveyors of these products really are. If one is going to sell a belief based product, stick to personal testimonies. Don’ try to encase your claims in a thin sheet of science (paper-thin in this case.) The people who check this stuff out are not only going to realize how bogus the product really is but how ethically bankrupt the people behind the product.