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Iconic Foot Bath Scam
When a client asked me to buy an Ionic Foot Bath for my shop, I investigated its claims, and discovered a slick scam.
http://www.spaindex.com/Articles/IonicScam.htm
> here are a great many websites which claim this method of detox helps (or even outright cures) everything from parasites and worms to AIDS, Herpes, and Cancer. There is even a YouTube Video of the process. Sound too good to be true? Too easy to be real? We found a great many websites touting the amazing benefits of this treatment. Every one of them had a direct financial interest in the treatment -- the dealers and treatment providers.
Another couple of sources:
http://www.chem1.com/CQ/FootBathBunk.html
there is no way an electric current passing through a part of your body can distinguish between "good" molecules and "bad" molecules ("toxins"), most of which are electrically neutral anyway;
the skin is impermeable to all but a few chemical substances; there is no evidence that any that are found inside the body can pass through the skin to the outside, with or without the help of an electric current.
All but a very few of the "toxins" produced as metabolic products are colorless— suggesting that what you see during these "treatments" is put there for show.
An explanation of how the scam works:
http://www.chem1.com/CQ/FootBathBunk.html
You place your feet in a bowl of water to which a bit of salt has been added. A small electric current is passed between two electrodes immersed in the water, which soon becomes quite discolored. The color, of course, comes from electrolytic corrosion of the metal electrodes. These are usually made of iron, nickel, and copper, all of which decompose into colored ions. These colors will vary with the amount of salt present and the pH of the solution, and they can be changed and greatly intensified by the substances that either added to the bath before use, or are present in the "soaps" often used to prepare the patient's feet. By-products of the electrolysis process are bubbles of hydrogen and chlorine gases (both of which are dangerous in confined spaces) and sodium hydroxide, commonly known as "lye". The latter tends to soften skin, allowing it to flake off, pick up various colors on reacting with the metal ions, and complete the illusion that one usually pays dearly for: individual treatments can be from $50 up, and the grossly overpriced power supply "machines" sold for home use can go for more than $1000.
If you just have to try this, here's how you can build one yourself (Radio Shack $35).
http://www.wikihow.com/Test-a-Detox-Foot-Bath
Hopefully, no one will see this scam as an opportunity to make money off their more gullible clients.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Carrie Patrick on
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Thank you for posting this. The number of times I see friends and relatives talking about things like this ... things that can't POSSIBLY work and come with claims and language that makes no sense at all, but contains enough buzzwords to make people think it must be scientific ... it makes me want to tear my hair out sometimes!
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Permalink Reply by Lee Edelberg on
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I think.....Miles Davis famous tune......
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Permalink Reply by Gary W Addis, LMT on
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What led me to google this was a discussion among MTs on another thread on another forum--they were raving about how great this thing works! One paid $890 for hers (discount price). Another took a foot soak at a beauty supply shop and loved it, said she too was going to buy when she saved the money.
I hope the research changed some minds.
Carrie Patrick said:Thank you for posting this. The number of times I see friends and relatives talking about things like this ... things that can't POSSIBLY work and come with claims and language that makes no sense at all, but contains enough buzzwords to make people think it must be scientific ... it makes me want to tear my hair out sometimes!
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Permalink Reply by Therese Schwartz on
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Here's another good article that is both informative and entertaining:
http://inkfish.fieldofscience.com/2012/06/shambulance-ionic-foot-de...
I know people who have these and have spent a lot of money on them. I don't quite know how to tell them they wasted their money...
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Permalink Reply by Maryshka on
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJNnTKw8-jE
I just don't know... if an organic carrot and my feet detox the same way... what to make of it.
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Permalink Reply by Abram Herman on
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The comments on that video are funny, I guess some people will never be convinced :-)
Maryshka said:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJNnTKw8-jE
I just don't know... if an organic carrot and my feet detox the same way... what to make of it.
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