From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lee@piclab.com)
Date: Thu May 25 2000 - 17:01:22 MDT
> > Well, we'll just have to wait until one of them is indicted and tried,
> > and see if the state's attorney feels the same way.
>
> I dont feel ANY way, I am just askign you to back your claim that you can
> prove it. : )
I claimed that I could prove fraud to the standard of criminal law,
but we'd need a jury and an indictment to find out for sure (not to
mention the small matter that it's illegal for me to litigate the
laws I'm forced to pay for--but that was last month's discussion).
Let me be quite clear--I never did, and never would, say that I
could prove that accupuncture was ineffective (i.e. no better than
placebo) for weight loss. It probably is ineffective, but that's
beside the point. I'm talking about the criminal activity of fraud;
the actions of a seller to knowingly make claims in advertising to
sell a service without /any/ valid evidence that the service offers
the benefits claimed. I'm not arguing about science here, just
about prosecution of a simple con game.
Every careful double-blind study I am aware of for using accupuncture
to treat various other ailments has found it no better than placebo
(placebos are quite powerful on some things like pain). I am not
aware of any such study on using it for weight loss or for smoking
cessation, both of which I've seen advertised. Those sellers haven't
seen any such study either, and that's what makes their actions fraud.
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC
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