I went to the #SXSW Health & Wellness expo on Saturday (it was free). There were I guess about 100 booths: yoga, aromas, herbs, juice, athlete energy drinks, energy healing, naturopathy, CBD etc. There was pervasive pseudoscience and I left feeling just... sad. (thread)
-
Show this thread
-
There were really only a few conventional health booths - a bone marrow registry that had a crowd all day & myLab box, a company that sends out home STD tests. The rest of the booths ranged from fine yoga/juice companies to some severe pseudoscience, with lots in between.
#SXSW3 replies 0 retweets 13 likesShow this thread -
There was a booth selling homeopathy, with big Rx branding & a medical 'look'. The salesperson said that the diluted-away substance leaves impressions in the water. She seemed to ethically justify selling homeopathy w/ the fact that the placebo effect can be powerful. Ok.
#SXSW2 replies 1 retweet 13 likesShow this thread -
This Tweet is unavailable.
-
It would have been more responsible for the company handing out sugar-free xylitol gum to warn customers that just a few pieces can be fatal to dogs. Or for the aromatherapy vendors to warn up front which essential oils are toxic to cat/dogs.
#SXSW1 reply 1 retweet 17 likesShow this thread -
I felt a lack of desire to seriously test if the substances being sold work or are safe. There were a few crummy "clinical trials" in bottom tier journals as support for efficacy, but if you really want to know if what you're selling is effective, you should test it.
#SXSW1 reply 1 retweet 9 likesShow this thread -
The supporting studies feel like just another marketing bullet point, not an examination of the evidence for the product's claims. Check, add 'Clinically studied', or 'Contains clinically studied ingredients' to the promotional materials. I'm sounding cynical at this point
#SXSW1 reply 0 retweets 11 likesShow this thread -
I think this lack of desire to test stems from a false but general idea of "natural" - that natural things aren't really going to hurt you, and don't really have to be rigorously tested. There's this feeling of exemption from needing to test rigorously.
#SXSW1 reply 0 retweets 17 likesShow this thread -
It could have been much worse. There were few things that I'd call outright frauds/dangers. BUT, there were many, many scientifically objectionable marketing claims (telomere lengthening skincream?). I've just discussed the few booths that I was able to speak with.
#SXSW2 replies 1 retweet 6 likesShow this thread
It sounds to me that much of what you have described for #SXSW consists of frauds and dangers. Certainly homeopathy is fraud. The idea that algae cell walls can remove radiation is fraud. Again, I called this a couple of months ago.https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/sxsw-goop-hivaids-denialism-antivax-kelly-brogan/ …
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.