an issue of great concern

[SteveS]

Guilty - I bit on the Airborne thing.  It didn't seem to help at all, and of course I gave up on it.  Snake oil, like you say.

I blame my lapse on desperation --- once my kids started going to preschool and park district classes they began dragging home more stinkin' head colds then you can shake a stick at, and I was damn tired of having a cold all the time.

Paying for useless supplements didn't help  :wink:  .

[Squid]

I tried Airborne once - it made me sick.  I went to the doctor, he told me not to take it again.

An interesting thing from ABCNews:

Airborne said that a double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted with "care and professionalism" by a company specializing in clinical trial management, GNG Pharmaceutical Services.

GNG is actually a two-man operation started up just to do the Airborne study. There was no clinic, no scientists and no doctors. The man who ran things said he had lots of clinical trial experience. He added that he had a degree from Indiana University, but the school says he never graduated.

And...

Airborne insists the results are valid, but the company is removing all references to the study from its Web site and packaging.

"We found that it confused consumers," Donahue said. "Consumers are really not scientifically minded enough to be able to understand a clinical study."

Now, Airborne is phasing in new packaging. Before, the box said that Knight-McDowell had created it because she was "sick of catching colds." Now, it says she created Airborne because she "needed help supporting her immune system." The word "cold" no longer appears on the new package or in the advertising.

All the new packages will be on store shelves by this summer.

Source - http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Health/story?id=1664514&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

[SteveS]

Yeah, this progression of events is indicative of some really solid BS.  If they had anything resembling proof they'd be printing it all over the box and advertising the hell out of it.  If you invented a cure/remedy for the common cold, and you had the proof, wouldn't you be shouting it from the roof-tops?  Not taking it off the package?  This is a transparent move to avoid getting sued for false advertising.

[skeptigirl]

Airborne insists the results are valid, but the company is removing all references to the study from its Web site and packaging.

"We found that it confused consumers," Donahue said. "Consumers are really not scientifically minded enough to be able to understand a clinical study."

Sounds more like they crossed from the false implication to the false claim side and the FDA told them to cease and desist. Boy that consumers wouldn't understand the science bit is a pretty crummy thing to say when the reality is you are lying about the science.

[SteveS]

that consumers wouldn't understand the science bit is a pretty crummy thing to say when the reality is you are lying about the science

Frickin' A right!

Although, they do have a point:  I don't actually understand their science. :wink:

[skeptigirl]

:badgrin: