The Detox Foot Pad Scam

Source: http://www.devicewatch.org/reports/kinoki.shtml

Stephen Barrett, M.D.

Various adhesive pads and patches are claimed to detoxify the body when applied to the feet. The best known is the Kinoki Detox Foot Pad, which is claimed to remove toxins, restore "balance" within the body, and boost energy. Various other products are claimed to strengthen the immune system, reduce stress, improve circulation, improve sleep, enhance mental focus, relieve headaches and arthritis pain. The alleged explanation for their working include reflexology, unblocking of lymphatic passages, and negative ions that release far infrared rays. All such products should be regarded as fakes, and the proposed mechanisms should be regarded as nonsensical.

Users are instructed to apply the products to the soles of the feet and leave them on overnight. In the morning, they claim, the pads will absorb toxins and turn muddy brown or black.

"Detox" product marketers have done no studies that identify what they claim to remove, measure its level in the body, and see whether such substances accumulate in the pads and have their level reduced in the body. It is unlikely they will ever try, because the basic idea that toxins will be excreted through the skin clashes with what is known about human anatomy and physiology. Real detoxification of foreign substances takes place in the liver, which modifies their chemical structure so they can be excreted by the kidneys which filter them from the blood into the urine. Sweat glands in the feet can excrete water and some dissolved substances. However, its minor role in ridding the body of unwanted substances is not changed by applying foot pads.

In April 2008. ABC's "20/20" investigated Kinoki ad Avon pads and reported:
When used overnight, the pads darkened, but dropping distilled water on the pads produced the same dark color.

Laboratory analysis of pads used by eight volunteers showed no significant evidence of heavy metals or commonly used solvents.

When asked for tests that would show that their products really work the companies offered no valid scientific studies.

A few months later, a radio reporter in California conducted a similar investigation. First she had her husband wear pads overnight and then too them to a laboratory for testing. The lab found that the heavy metal content of the used pads were the same as that of an unused pad, which meant that the pads don't "suck out any toxins." Then she held an unused pad over a pot of boiling water. The steam caused the pad to turn black, indicating that the dark color that results from wearing a Kinoki pad is caused by a chemical in the pad that reacts to moisture [2].

The Better Business Bureau has given the Kinoki Detox Foot Pads Company an "unsatisfactory" rating [3].

Detox foot baths should also be regarded as fakes [4].

In 2009, the Federal Trade Commission charged Yehuda (“Juda”) Levin, Baruch Levin, and their company (Xacta 3000 Inc.) with deceptive advertising. According to the complaint, the defendants claimed that applying Kinoki Foot Pads to the soles of the feet at night would remove heavy metals, metabolic wastes, toxins, parasites, chemicals, and cellulite from their bodies. The ads also claimed that use of the foot pads could treat depression, fatigue, diabetes, arthritis, high blood pressure, and a weakened immune system [5]. The case was settled with a stipulated agreement under which Yehuda Levin and the company were barred from promoting or selling any dietary supplement, food, drug, or medical device, and from helping others do the same. The defendants agreed to a judgment of $14.5 million, which represented the total revenues from the sale of the pads. However, based on their inability to pay, the entire judgment was suspended but will become due if they are found to have misrepresented their financial condition [6].

References

1. Stossel J. Ridding yourself of toxins or money? Company says Kinoki Foot Pads 'capture toxins from your body.' ABC News, April 11, 2008.
2. Varney S. Japanese foot pad is latest health fad. KQED, Aug 18, 2008.
3. Kinoki Detox Foot Pads. BBB reliability report, Aug 23, 2008.
4. Barrett S. The Aquadetox scam. Device Watch, Dec 28, 2004.
5. FTC charges marketers of Kinoki Foot Pads with deceptive advertising; seeks funds for consumer redress. FTC news release, Jan 28, 2009.
6. At FTC's request, judge Imposes ban on marketers of "detox" foot pads: Aadvertising claimed "ancient Japanese secret" could treat medical conditions. FTC news release, Nov 4, 2010.

This article was revised on November 12, 2010.

Human Embryonic Development

Source: http://scienceislam.com/quran_human_embryonic_development.php

In the Holy Quran, God speaks about the stages of man's embryonic development, 1,400 years before modern day scientists 'discovered' important information on creation of man and his development:

We created man from an extract of clay. Then We made him as a drop in a place of settlement, firmly fixed. Then We made the drop into an alaqah (leech, suspended thing, and blood clot), then We made the alaqah into a mudghah (chewed-like substance)...
[Noble Quran 23:12-14]

Literally the Arabic word alaqah has 3 meanings:

• leech 
• suspended thing 
• blood clot

1. "In comparing a leech to the embryo at the alaqah stage, we find similarity between the two."
[The Developing Human p.8].
"Also, the embryo as this stage obtains nourishment from the blood of the mother, similar to the leech which feeds on the blood of others."
[Human Development as Described in Quran and Sunnah p.36].

2. The second meaning of the word alaqah is 'suspended thing'. The suspension of the embryo, during the alaqah stage, in the womb of the mother very appropriately fits this description.

3. The third meaning of the word alaqah is 'blood clot'. We find that the external appearance of the embryo and its sacs during the alaqah stage is similar to that of a blood clot. This is due to the presence of relatively large amounts of blood present in the embryo during this stage. Also during this stage the blood in the embryo does not circulate until the end of the third week. So the embryo at this stage is like a clot of blood.

Gas Saving Devices A Scam?

Salam,

Thinking critically during assessment in any condition is very important. The thinking faculty allow humans to make the correct choice. Alhamdullilah, Allah gave us this. Even so, most of us failed to use it.

The following video shows how some of us have been scammed to think that there are such device which can save petrol/gas.

Homeopathy

The following article and youtube video will give you some ideas about homeopathy. Many people still believes in homeopathy even though there are no scientific proof of the effectiveness. From what I know, its as good as a fake medicine made to make money.

Source: http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=2558


Closing the Door on Homeopathy

Homeopathy, as a cultural phenomenon, remains an enigma. In the two centuries since its invention it has failed to garner significant scientific support. In fact, developments in physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine have shown the underlying concepts of homeopathy to be wrong – guesswork and speculation that lept in the wrong direction.

It turns out, like does not cure like. This is nothing more than sympathetic magic – popular at the time but now considered nothing more than superstition without any scientific basis.

It also turns out that diluting a substance does not make it more potent – this nonsensical idea (ridiculed even in the 19th century) violates the laws of thermodynamics, and the chemical principle of mass action. This is especially true when you dilute a substance beyond the point where chance would have even a single molecule of active ingredient left behind. The background noise of chemicals in homeopathic water is orders of magnitude greater than the signal of whatever had previously been diluted in it.

I also understand that water does not have a magical memory of the vibrations of what was diluted in it. Transient interactions of water molecules does not, by any stretch of the imagination, confer upon water the ability to store and transmit complex chemical information from a solution to a tablet to a biological system.

It is therefore demonstrably true, even with simple high school level science, that the plausibility of homeopathy, for all practical purposes, and to the extent that it is possible to make such statements within the methodology of science – is zero.

Is Bacterial Resistance to Antibiotics an Appropriate Example of Evolutionary Change?

 Source: http://www.trueorigin.org/bacteria01.asp

Kevin Anderson, Ph.D.
© 2005 by Creation Research Society. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
This article first appeared in Vol. 41, No. 4 of the Creation Research Society Quarterly,
a peer-reviewed journal published by the Creation Research Society.

Abstract

Evolutionists frequently point to the development of antibiotic resistance by bacteria as a demonstration of evolutionary change.  However, molecular analysis of the genetic events that lead to antibiotic resistance do not support this common assumption.  Many bacteria become resistant by acquiring genes from plasmids or transposons via horizontal gene transfer.  Horizontal transfer, though, does not account for the origin of resistance genes, only their spread among bacteria.  Mutations, on the other hand, can potentially account for the origin of antibiotic resistance within the bacterial world, but involve mutational processes that are contrary to the predictions of evolution.  Instead, such mutations consistently reduce or eliminate the function of transport proteins or porins, protein binding affinities, enzyme activities, the proton motive force, or regulatory control systems.  While such mutations can be regarded as “beneficial,” in that they increase the survival rate of bacteria in the presence of the antibiotic, they involve mutational processes that do not provide a genetic mechanism for common “descent with modification.”  Also, some “relative fitness” cost is often associated with such mutations, although reversion mutations may eventually recover most, if not all, of this cost for some bacteria.  A true biological cost does occur, however, in the loss of pre-existing cellular systems or functions.  Such loss of cellular activity cannot legitimately be offered as a genetic means of demonstrating evolution.

Five Major Evolutionist Misconceptions about Evolution

Extracted from:
Source: http://www.trueorigin.org/isakrbtl.asp

A major reason why evolutionist arguments can sound so persuasive is because they often combine assertive dogma with intimidating, dismissive ridicule towards anyone who dares to disagree with them.  Evolutionists wrongly believe that their views are validated by persuasive presentations invoking scientific terminology and allusions to a presumed monopoly of scientific knowledge and understanding on their part.  But they haven’t come close to demonstrating evolutionism to be more than an ever-changing theory with a highly questionable and unscientific basis.  (The situation isn’t helped by poor science education generally.  Even advanced college biology students often understand little more than the dogma of evolutionary theory, and few have the time [or the guts] to question its scientific validity.)

The five propositions below are among the most troublesome to evolutionary theory. Evolutionists have worked hard to counter them, but with no genuine success, because they are based on empirical scientific data and/or scientific laws. In his “Five Major Misconceptions about Evolution” FAQ in the Talk.Origins Archive, Mark Isaak (ostensibly a spokesperson for evolutionary thought) says concerning these five arguments, “If you hear anyone making any of them, chances are excellent that they don’t know enough about the real theory of evolution to make informed opinions about it.” He then attempts to refute each of them with a few brief and dismissive paragraphs:

• Evolution has never been observed. 
• Evolution violates the 2nd law of thermodynamics. 
• There are no transitional fossils. 
• The theory of evolution says that life originated, and evolution proceeds, by random chance. 
• Evolution is only a theory; it hasn’t been proved.

For the objective reader, these explanations should help to put to rest the popular myth that the domination of evolutionary thought in modern thinking is based on scientific knowledge.  In reality, and in spite of the much-parroted claims of evolutionists, the facts of science (i.e., the empirical data and natural laws known to man), when examined without the prejudice of a naturalistic, mechanistic philosophy/belief system, do not support evolutionary theory.

Welcome!

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullah Wabarakatuh,

Dear brothers and sisters,

I hope this blog will be able to help you understand Biology and pass SHF1415 with flying colours.
In this blog, you will find many useful links and information which will enhance your understanding of lessons taught in class.

Other than that, we will also share interesting scientific information on Science and Islam.

Feel free to ask any question and we will try to answer them, insyaAllah


Yours truly,
Bro Ng