Tag: TGA

May 5, 2011

Power Balance: the End of a Shonky Fad

What can we learn from the short history of the Power Balance wrist bands in Australia?  It was a pseudo science fad that the Australian Skeptics played a part in ending.
The recent ACCC threat to prosecute retailers who continued to sell them has had an immediate chill effect.
Sports shops, health shops and retailers of all kinds have now removed Power Balance wrist bands from shelves and counters all over Australia.
How did it happen?  Who’s behind it?  Can we do the same to (insert your favourite pseudo science product here)?
What follows is a potted history of the end of the Power Balance fad.  (If you disagree or have more to add please make a comment below.)
How did it all start?
2007 (USA)
Two young entrepreneurial brothers, in Orange County California, Troy Rodarmel and Josh Rodarmel started the company in early 2007.
The business model is quite straight forward: design colourful, stylish wrist bands that can be manufactured very cheaply in China and sell them locally at a much higher price.  Market the bands by making health and technology claims and View More Power Balance: the End of a Shonky Fad

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May 1, 2011

Herbal Remedies: new Rules in the EU

Under new stringent guidelines adopted from this weekend, herbal medicines will now have to be registered. Products must meet safety, quality and manufacturing standards, and come with information outlining possible side-effects. 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/may/01/new-eu-rules-on-herbal-remedies
For many people, the surprise is that such regulatory oversight has not already been automatic.
This is the kind of approach that Skeptics have been asking Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration to adopt. At present, manufacturers can choose whether to apply for registration of each remedy as a Listed Product. The TGA’s rule-of-thumb is that listed products must be safe and efficacious; however, the TGA rarely tests Listed Products.
See our earlier article: http://skeptics.cafe/2011/03/19/aca-miracle-fruit-or-fruity-marketing/

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March 19, 2011

ACA: Miracle Fruit or Fruity Marketing?


Another new miracle skin product suddenly appears on our retail shelves. Another uncritical product promotion gets a run on the ACA. There’s nothing new there, but this time ACA may have gone too far, by claiming that the product is TGA approved.
Sorry about all the acronyms in the opening splash. Just in case you’re not keeping up:
ACA = Channel Nine’s A Current Affair (It’s on between the news and Two and a Half Men.)
TGA = Therapeutic Goods Administration (Our thin line of government defense against medical quackery.)
I think we need to come up with a snappy name or acronym for that period of time between the introduction of a new miracle health product to our retail shelves, and the eventual release of data from clinical trials showing a distinct lack of the miraculous. View More ACA: Miracle Fruit or Fruity Marketing?

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November 16, 2010

TGA calls on Power Balance to withdraw claims and advertising

The promoters of Power Balance wrist bands are in trouble again. This time the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has ruled against them. 
In part the decision says:

In reaching this conclusion, the Panel noted that the claims made in the advertisements were extraordinary to such a degree that no reasonable retailer could publish them on the basis of assurances from the product sponsor, without requesting evidence that such claims could lawfully be made about the product.

The TGA are asking for the: Withdrawal of representations, Withdrawal of advertisement and the Publication of a retraction.
To re-cap;  Power Balance wrist bands are coloured silicone rings with two small plastic holograms glued on.  The popular silicone bands sell for about $60 (Aus).  A pendant version of the Power Balance sells for about $90 (Aus). The promoters of Power Balance claim View More TGA calls on Power Balance to withdraw claims and advertising

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October 17, 2010

Some pointers on critically assessing the validity of claims

by Lucas Randall
Wide-scale access to the Internet has resulted in unprecedented access to information for the average citizen of any developed nation, and the more recent proliferation of mobile data devices and networks have exponentially increased our ability to reference the collective body of knowledge on a whim.
This access comes at a price however, as tech-savvy marketers have outstripped science and education practitioners’ resources, funding and drive to make information easily accessible, effectively saturating the search-engine and news-reporting info-spheres with commerce-driven interpretations of research, opinion, tradition and in many cases, out-right pseudo-science or fraudulent claims.
Whilst most developed economies provide some levels of consumer protection, in Australia including bodies such as the Therapeutic Goods Administration, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) various industry ombudsmen and voluntary ‘societies’ with industry codes-of-practice, most consumers have very limited understanding of the significant differences in evidentiary support pharmaceuticals require, for example, as compared with “complimentary” or “alternative” medicines.
View More Some pointers on critically assessing the validity of claims

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August 3, 2010

Our submission on the Position Paper on the Promotion of Therapeutic Goods

Dr Ken Harvey

When Dr Ken Harvey spoke to Vic Skeptics earlier this year, a lot of us came away feeling that the Therapeutic Goods Administration was not serious about its role in ensuring that Australians have good information about and acess to reliable and safe over-the-counter medicines and therapeutic devices. An opportunity has since arisen for us to have our “two bob’s worth” before the Federal Government looks at revamping the TGA. Our first of two scheduled submissions is included here.

It has been sent primarily to The Hon Mark Butler in his capacity as Parliamentary Secretary for Health.

The Hon Mark Butler MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Health

Dear Mr Butler,

Australian Skeptics: Submission on the Position Paper on the Promotion of Therapeutic Goods

The Victorian Branch of the Australian Skeptics is part of a loose confederation of groups across Australia that investigates and debates pseudo-scientific and paranormal claims from a responsible scientific viewpoint. The Australian Skeptics publish a quarterly magazine entitled The Skeptic and host an annual national convention which includes prominent scientists, researchers and authors amongst the keynote speakers. View More Our submission on the Position Paper on the Promotion of Therapeutic Goods

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