6 ms·

Charlatans sell bogus treatment exposing blood to UV light (2016)

89 points by computer23 6y ago

LatteLazy 6y ago
@computer23 Did you submit this after seeing this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22968075 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22968075 Either way, good article with timely content, upvoted!
- chrisco255 6y ago
  The first article was an academic publication. This is a news story on a scammer from 4 years ago. It says nothing about the efficacy of the technology from the previous one.
  - LatteLazy 6y ago
    No, the first url is a chapter from some guys book. He reviews dog experiments done in the 1940s. Call me when he's finished a double blind trial with a significant number and cross section of participants. Until then, it's all just people clutching at straws (just like yesterday's smoking study or last week's Chloroquine study).
carlsborg 6y ago
It would be nice to link to peer reviewed research instead.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
LifeLiverTransp 6y ago
I still stand by the idea of uv-lightmasks though. With a severe shortage of PPE, especially in poorer countrys, the idea to filter air - by piping it through a stainless coated plastictube with uv-light is way better then a glorified rag and face shields for protection.
yread 6y ago
On the other hand just because charlatans sell something doesn't mean that it doesn't work - there are crooks selling masks, fake COVID-19 infection and antibody tests. Theranos were crooks, but there is a whole bunch of companies who are presumably for real selling similar stuff https://www.medicalstartups.org/top/bloodtest/ https://www.medicalstartups.org/top/bloodtest/
- smt88 6y ago
  I think you might reconsider this comment if you look up what others mean when they say "charlatan" and also what Theranos did wrong. Many businesses sell a mix of proven products and snake oil (homeopathic meds mixed into real ones, for example). That doesn't make them charlatans, although the sellers of those homeopathic remedies might be. Inventing or promoting an ineffective product with the knowledge that it's ineffective is what makes someone a charlatan. The people selling these ineffective Covid-19 remedies are only charlatans because they're selling bad remedies. If they weren't, the label wouldn't fit. I think you may have accidentally put the cart before the horse here.

89 points by computer23 6y ago

@computer23 Did you submit this after seeing this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22968075 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22968075 Either way, good article with timely content, upvoted!

chrisco255 6y ago
The first article was an academic publication. This is a news story on a scammer from 4 years ago. It says nothing about the efficacy of the technology from the previous one.
- LatteLazy 6y ago
  No, the first url is a chapter from some guys book. He reviews dog experiments done in the 1940s. Call me when he's finished a double blind trial with a significant number and cross section of participants. Until then, it's all just people clutching at straws (just like yesterday's smoking study or last week's Chloroquine study).

carlsborg 6y ago

It would be nice to link to peer reviewed research instead.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

LifeLiverTransp 6y ago

I still stand by the idea of uv-lightmasks though. With a severe shortage of PPE, especially in poorer countrys, the idea to filter air - by piping it through a stainless coated plastictube with uv-light is way better then a glorified rag and face shields for protection.

yread 6y ago

On the other hand just because charlatans sell something doesn't mean that it doesn't work - there are crooks selling masks, fake COVID-19 infection and antibody tests. Theranos were crooks, but there is a whole bunch of companies who are presumably for real selling similar stuff https://www.medicalstartups.org/top/bloodtest/ https://www.medicalstartups.org/top/bloodtest/

smt88 6y ago
I think you might reconsider this comment if you look up what others mean when they say "charlatan" and also what Theranos did wrong. Many businesses sell a mix of proven products and snake oil (homeopathic meds mixed into real ones, for example). That doesn't make them charlatans, although the sellers of those homeopathic remedies might be. Inventing or promoting an ineffective product with the knowledge that it's ineffective is what makes someone a charlatan. The people selling these ineffective Covid-19 remedies are only charlatans because they're selling bad remedies. If they weren't, the label wouldn't fit. I think you may have accidentally put the cart before the horse here.