| Water
is cheap. In the Sydney metropolitan area, abundant water is available
from taps in every household at a cost to the consumer of 80 cents per
kilolitre. To flush a toilet, take a shower, clean your teeth, wash
your hands or make a pot of tea, all cost a fraction of a cent. So if
someone can convince you that by adding ingredient "x" to a litre of
ordinary tap water which costs .08 of a cent, it suddenly becomes worth
$33 per litre, you could reasonably expect to get something worthwhile
for your money. If, on the other hand, your expensive bottle of H2O
turned out to be just that and nothing more, I believe there would be
every justification to accuse the promoters and retailers of misleading
advertising and deceptive conduct under the Fair Trading legislation.
Yet it seems that in the case of "treated" water, the old adage "once
bit twice shy" has had no impact on those still gullible enough to
believe the pseudoscientific advertising used to promote the nonsense.
Take for example Willard's Water, otherwise known as Catalyst Altered
Water. The Theory
According to the advertising brochures, back in the 1920s in the United States, a chemical engineer named "Doc" John Willard Ph.D., developed a cleaning solution for engine parts, and while working in his lab burnt himself on a hot plate. Trying to ease the pain he dipped his hand into the cleaning solution and Bingo! his hand stopped hurting. It also healed very quickly and did not leave a scar. Doc was a brilliant man according to his promotional material and wanted to know how come this stuff could do all that. He soon came to believe that Catalyst Altered Water, (CAW), as he came to call it, has an unlimited number of quite phenomenal, even 'magical' uses. Doc supposed he had created a much more biologically active form of water with incredible properties. The combination of ingredients had formed what is now a patented catalyst particle called a 'micelle' which, it is claimed, makes water wetter, more reactive, more penetrating and much more efficient, yet totally safe. This micelle is a tiny but very high-energy particle with a powerful magnetic field around it. It amazingly draws in energy from water and the atmosphere and has an abundance of free electrons. It is therefore called a reducing agent or anti-oxidant ... but much more powerful than the rest. What happens is the micelle donates these electrons to the dreaded 'free radicals' we hear so much about lately and so prevents them from damaging other molecules and cells and so causing disease and aging. Doc said free radicals are vicious particles that are constantly wanting to steal electrons from healthy cells and so causing them to mutate. When healthy cells are forced to give up an electron, they too become free radicals and so there is big trouble, unless this process is arrested. So, by drinking a couple of glasses of CAW, not only are free radicals eliminated, but the micelles disperse to protect all the healthy cells by forming a highly efficient defence force. Science has now realised that, although oxygen is needed by every living organism, it is at the same time, as a free radical, the most detrimental element for a living organism. Most anti-oxidants, like vitamin E or C, have limited electrons to donate to damaged cells, and in doing so they can be altered. But with CAW it can keep handing out electrons forever. Wow! Researchers of CAW have described it as a universal hormone or as a 'normaliser', because it normalises all living things (humans, animals and plants) that are not in their normal state ... amazing! Another fascinating ability of the micelle is that it speeds up chemical reactions without changing the natural end result. What this means is that our wounds and injuries heal a lot faster, pain goes away more quickly, plants grow faster and animals recover remarkably — kind of like 'fast forwarding' to the desired results. Another beaut thing is that this micelle has a negative charge on its surface. This allegedly helps detoxify and remove all sorts of toxins, chemicals, harmful bacteria, pollutants and carcinogens which have a positive charge. This, according to the promoters, makes CAW the most powerful known cleanser, purifier and balancing agent for our bodies on the planet today. CAW begins immediately to balance the pH of the whole body system. A scientist in the United States by the name of Dr. George Sarantakos, says this was the reason for the multitude of 'miracle cures' constantly being reported. He stated that CAW has a polymer nature that simply neutralises the alkaline or acid nature of man, beast, plants and soil. He also said that it repels oil and breaks down fatty tissue. Think of that. The 'magic' part is that this balancing of the pH starts a healthful reaction in the body so that our enzymes start to work. He said it's really very simple — if the enzymes don't work, nothing else works either. Even just one gram of enzymes in a neutral pH body would do more good work for the body than the body's total 10,000 grams of enzymes in a negative (acid or alkaline) pH. In fact, he reckons that CAW makes the 10,000 grams of enzymes that are in the body work ten times as effectively. This would give a ten-fold increase in the body's own natural healing power. Ah ha! Now we can see why there are so many wonderful and rapid healing results. He also tells of yet another exciting factor. CAW penetrates the skin, tissues, cells, organs, muscles, bones and bowels like no other penetrant. Furthermore, this is why so many people get great results with arthritis and other health problems. When the CAW causes the enzymes to work, they in turn, make the glands work to secrete healing hormones. CAW also cleans out any infected areas just like hosing down a dirty pathway. The doctor really did his homework on CAW. He pointed out that old age is brought on by poor enzyme activity and eating dead food. When you kick-start the enzymes again you must get regeneration and rejuvenative effects. The Claims
The beneficial claims associated with the drinking or external application of CAW are mind blowing, to say the least. It also raises the question why anyone would bother to invent, design, develop or research any other consumer item ranging from pesticides to cure-all medicines when CAW does it all. Here is a list culled from the advertisements: "Heals
wounds and injuries, alleviates pain, makes plants grow quicker,
detoxifies, balances the pH in the body, repels oil, breaks down fatty
tissues, good for arthritis and other health problems, helps the body
assimilate vitamins, helps teeth, gums and bones to absorb calcium,
electrically prohibits bad salts from accumulating in our bodies,
breaks up lipids, oils, or fatty deposits, kidney stones and toxins,
good for emphysema, dandruff and pink eye, aids diabetics to produce
insulin, vanishes wrinkles, stimulates collagen production, helps to
clear up acne and psoriasis, 'de-stresses' pets, plants and people,
great for accident victims, hyperactive or uncontrollable kids,
nervousness, pets in boarding kennels or at the vets, racehorses, exams
and all sorts of situations, sleeplessness, strengthens the thymus
gland, stimulates the immune system, cleans fish tanks and mirrors,
razor blades last longer, promotes hair growth, cleans teeth, for use
on rashes, insect bites, bathing sore eyes, sore throats, scratches,
internal and external ulcers, burns, good for cleaning clogged drains,
paint brushes and ovens."
Included in the five pages of testimonials were some from farmers who reported amazing crop yield increases and miracle cures on farm animals, a Benedictine nun who produced a prize winning squash after using CAW, dying animals suddenly rejuvenated with CAW, an optometrist who recommends CAW for cleaning contact lenses and as an eye rinse, a cat owner whose pet was dying of feline leukemia until it drank CAW, virus stricken greyhounds who suddenly started to win races after drinking CAW, poultrymen's chickens put on more weight and tasted better, cattle who developed curly, oily hair and bright alert eyes, and so on ad nauseum. Despite FDA regulatory action and Willard's death in 1991, these products are still marketed with long lists of unsubstantiated health claims. The only truisms included in the advertisements are that the material is non-toxic, non-carcinogenic, it's not a drug, it's not illegal, won't show up in the blood stream and it causes no mutagenic activity. The advertiser could also have added that it is non-flammable. CAW is now about to "take off" in Australia. An 8oz bottle will cost you $21, one gallon $125. Before you rush your order however, read on. Assessment
Willard's Water is typical of quack promotions. A sprinkling of scientific terms to impress those not familiar with them and "cure-all" claims. If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is. An 8oz (237 ml) bottle of CAW was purchased from a distributor at St Ives, Sydney, with the recommendation that it be diluted with 1 gallon (3.75 lt.) of purified or distilled water. It can then be drunk in increasing amounts "up to the level you feel good on". Clearly printed on the bottle in French and English was a list of ingredients — water, sodium meta silicate, fossilised organics, sulfated castor oil, calcium chloride and magnesium sulfate. Respectively the additives to the water are a material used in making artificial stone also known as waterglass; lignite, a type of coal; a laxative; a hygroscopic salt used as a preservative (CaCl2), and another laxative better known by its common name — Epsom Salts. Since it is claimed that CAW "makes seeds sprout faster", "plants grow quicker and bigger" and "increases crop yields", I decided to conduct an experiment of my own. Mung beans were chosen simply because I happened to have a packet and they are easy and quick to grow. I picked eight seeds at random, planted four in one flower pot of soil and four in an identical pot of the same soil. Four seeds were chosen as individual seeds tend to grow and yield at different rates. An average could then be taken as fairly accurate. The seeds were all planted at the same depth and watered daily at the same time with the same quantity of liquid. The seeds in pot "A" were watered with the recommended dilution of CAW in distilled water, the control seeds in pot "B" with tap water. Three of the seeds in pot "A" broke through the surface at the same time as the four seeds in the control pot, the fourth seed in pot "A" one day later. Thereafter the plant growth was monitored, those in the control pot consistently doing better than those being doctored with Willard's Water. At one stage both pots of plants were exposed to extremely hot weather conditions and wilted badly in the heat. The control plants recovered rapidly, the CWA assisted plants never fully recovered. Ultimately the control plants yielded more and better beans. In a chapter on Nutrition Fads, Fallacies and Scams in Consumer Health, A Guide to Intelligent Decisions, the authors dismiss Catalyst Altered Water with "There is no reason to believe that it has any healing properties or is significantly different from normal drinking water". Even Doc. Willard himself, when called upon, would not give his invention any legitimacy. The 14 page screed accompanying the bottle of CAW included the following paragraph: "One
day when Doc Willard was talking to a group of farmers he told them
their results, though impressive, did not constitute scientific results
or proof. One old rancher laid his checkbook on the table and said,
'This is my proof — the money I saved since I started using your
water'."
"Magic" waters are nothing new and periodically surface in one guise or another to take advantage of a lucrative market. The most recent in Australia (1998) being "empowered water". Marketed by an organisation called Infinity Ultima Thule "empowered water" is "alchemycally empowered" to improve one's physiological performance. What's more, it is claimed that it can be empowered via the internet. Supporting this claim is Dr. Greg Wilson, an associate professor of sport science at Southern Cross University who claims to have conducted tests on athletes that show improved performance after taking this water. Using a thermographic imaging camera while taking this water he purported to show rapid and distinctive changes in people's skin temperature. At the behest of the channel 7 programme Today Tonight, four Australian Skeptics plus Dr. Wilson, took it in turns to sit in front of a thermal imaging camera and monitor drinking plain water and "empowered" water. The sensitive thermal imaging camera for the test was calibrated to measure temperature variations of 0.1C. Most participants showed temperature fluctuations of +/- 0.2 throughout the duration of the test, with occasional momentary peaks of .3 or .4 degrees, an artefact of lifting the glass, or in my case, coughing mildly. Curiously, Dr Wilson, the only believer tested, showed the lowest number and magnitude of fluctuations. Dr. Wilson's statistical analysis of his successful athlete results was submitted to another skilled statistician who pointed out very serious anomalies in his conclusions. From: Edwards, H. 1999 Alternative, Complementary, Holistic & Spiritual Healing, Australian Skeptics Inc.
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