Bent Spoon Winner 2002

Gentle Heal Pty Ltd

By Barry Williams

Bent Spoon Winner

Several worthy contenders were nominated for the honour of being the 2002 winner of the annual Australian Skeptics Bent Spoon Award (presented to the perpetrator of the most preposterous piece of pseudoscientific or paranormal piffle), but after much consideration one contender won the universal support of the judging panel.

While many "alternative medicine" proponents were in contention for the award for their promotion of homeopathic potions for very serious ailments such as meningococcal disease, hepatitis (in its various manifestations), malaria, smallpox, et al, most of them relied on innuendo and word-of-mouth to promote their worthless potions. One manufacturer, however, came right out and labelled its potion as a "vaccine" and was thereby judged as the most worthy recipient.

Gentle Heal Pty Ltd, of Seven Hills, NSW, sold a Skeptic (by mail) bottles labelled as "Meningococcal Vaccine" and "Hepatitis C Vaccine" among others. These "vaccines", based on an entirely unproven, unscientific technique, were labelled with the notation "200C" which means in homeopath-speak that any active ingredient has been diluted by a factor of 10⁴⁰⁰ (ie 1 followed by 400 zeros - by comparison, it has been estimated that the Universe contains around 10⁸⁰ atoms).

The very real danger of such potions is not that they have any inherent capacity to cause harm (assuming that normal hygiene precautions are observed in their preparation - they usually consist of water with a small amount of alcohol) ) but that they impart a false sense of security to those who rely on them for protection. It's not that they will do harm, it's simply that they won't do anything at all.

While Gentle Heal is the nominated winner, we have many similar potions from many other manufacturers, making similar claims for efficacy, albeit couched in euphemism and equivocal language, and all of them deserve to be treated with equal suspicion.

One benefit that has already accrued from the exposure of these pseudo-vaccines and of our representations to the authorities is that the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has now banned their sale.

The second award announced at the Skeptics annual Convention in Melbourne (Nov 9-10), was one that afforded all of the judges a great deal of pleasure. The Skeptic if the Year accolade is awarded to a person, not an official Skeptic, who has done sterling service in promoting the cause of critical thinking and rational scientific analysis of what is going on in the world. Past recipients have included Profs Derek Freeman, Peter Doherty, Mike Archer, and John Dwyer, and Ms Cheryl Freeman.

This year our winner comes from a different field but he was unanimously acknowledged by the entire judging panel (drawn from the officers of the various Skeptics groups attending the annual convention) as a most worthy recipient.

Nominations:

• Catalyst on ABC TV
  (5 Nominations: 1 for "Glycaemic Index", 3 for "Creationism", 1 for the "Yowie" story)
• Newton's Pharmacy & Gentle Heal (for homoeopathic vaccine)
• Russell Beckett (for "magic water", 3 nominations)
• John Edward for Crossing Over (3 nominations)
• Channel 10 for John Edward's Crossing Over
• Arena TV (on Foxtel) (3 nominations)
• The Bert Newton Show (3 nominations)
• Suncorp Metway Insurance (3 nominations)
• David Suzuki and SBS (2 nominations)
• Victor Zammit (2 nominations)
• West Australian Newspapers Ltd. (2 nominations)
• The Sunday Mail's "Body+Soul" liftout (2 nominations)
• 'New Woman' Magazine
• ABC News (for weeping statue story)
• Sunshine Coast's Radio 92.7 MIX-FM
• Nexus Magazine
• Dymocks Bookshops (for the "Left Behind" series)
• Cenovis Vitamin Company
• Channel 10 (and Angela Bishop)
• Channel 10 for "Did We Land On The Moon?
• Workers Educational Association of South Australia (WEA)
• ABC Radio & Robyn Welch for "intuitive medicine"
• Jodhi Packer's numerologist
• Professor Mike Archer
• Cadbury Schweppes
• Borders Books
• Helen Crompton
• Greg Chappell and friends
• The ANZ Bank
• Jodee Rich and Brad Keeling
• Steve Waugh (for superstitious clothing)
• Southern Cross University & University of Queensland
• ACP Publishing Pty Ltd
• The entire economics profession
• Qantas and Holden
• The Mercury Newspaper
• The West Australian Newspaper

Dr Paul Willis is a palaeontologist by profession and a science broadcaster by choice. Working for the ABC Science Unit, Paul appears regularly on Catalyst (ABCTV), the Science Show (Radio National) and on the ABC web site. He edits the Correx Archives, a selection of skeptical short pieces on odd beliefs and claims, used by all ABC networks and regularly co-hosts the Science in the Pub series. He has contributed articles to the Skeptic on creationist misrepresentation of issues in his professional field, and is uncompromising in his support of a critical and skeptical approach to pseudoscientific and paranormal claims.

He is also our youngest ever winner of Skeptic of the Year.