Did you do a B次元官网网址渃leanseB次元官网网址� to start the year? A diet or supplements to, you know, B次元官网网址渄etoxB次元官网网址� your body?
Please, if you did, I donB次元官网网址檛 want the details. IB次元官网网址檓 here to discuss the underlying assumptions of this fad. TV presenter Dr. Oz is a promoter of various schemes, soup diets and the like, but there are many books and consumer products being flogged.
B次元官网网址淪upplements, tea, homeopathy, coffee enemas, ear candles and foot baths promise you a detoxified body,B次元官网网址� writes Ontario pharmacist Scott Gavura, who treats cancer patients with modern medicineB次元官网网址檚 most potent drugs.
Frustrated by the pharmacy industryB次元官网网址檚 willingness to cash in on fake cures for nonexistent conditions, Gavura began contributing to ScienceBasedMedicine.org, where you can find of this notion.
Gavura traces the roots of purification rituals in religious and medical history, such as when patients were bled with leeches.
Actual B次元官网网址渄etoxB次元官网网址� is administered in hospital for those with dangerous levels of drugs, alcohol or other poisons. Credible physicians abandoned theories of B次元官网网址渁utointoxicationB次元官网网址� in the 19th century.
B次元官网网址淭odayB次元官网网址檚 version of autointoxication argues that some combination of food additives, salt, meat, fluoride, prescription drugs, smog, vaccine ingredients, GMOs and perhaps last nightB次元官网网址檚 bottle of wine are causing a buildup of B次元官网网址榯oxinsB次元官网网址� in the body,B次元官网网址� Gavura writes. B次元官网网址淎nd donB次元官网网址檛 forget gluten. Gluten is the new evil and therefore, is now a toxin.B次元官网网址�
Gluten-free products now occupy whole sections of grocery stores, not far from the pricey B次元官网网址渙rganicB次元官网网址� produce that may or may not be tested for synthetic pesticides.
Living in the Lower Mainland 20 years ago, I noticed people lugging big plastic jugs to the grocery store to fill with water. Metro Vancouver is a rainforest, with some of the best tap water in the world, so I wondered what they were trying to avoid.
Discreet inquiries yielded similar answers. Aside from the odd superstition about chlorine or fluoride, they had no idea at all. They didnB次元官网网址檛 know about the Coquitlam reservoir, or , or what they were buying, which was essentially municipal water run through a filter. They had been convinced to pay $2 for water in plastic bottles, and this somehow led to the conclusion that their tap water is only fit for washing clothes and driveways.
Vaccinations? DonB次元官网网址檛 get me started. In the past year I have had an argument with a registered nurse at a blood donor clinic, annoyed that the health ministry denied her imagined B次元官网网址渞ightB次元官网网址� to infect frail patients with influenza, and with a veteran politician who only recently overcame a vague taboo against putting vaccines in her body.
ItB次元官网网址檚 no wonder people constantly fall for enviro-scares like toxins from the Alberta oil sands that are actually concentrated in cities where all that fuel is burned, or the threat of genetically modified canola oil, or smart meters. The media are frequently part of the problem, lacking scientific literacy and preferring conflict over common sense.
Take Vancouver (please). The mayor rose to fame with a company that sold overpriced imported tropical fruit juice in single-serving plastic bottles. Calling it B次元官网网址淗appy PlanetB次元官网网址� convinced a new generation of urban rubes that theyB次元官网网址檙e doing something for the environment. Plus, there are B次元官网网址渘o chemicalsB次元官网网址� in it, to cite the central myth of hippie science.
At the risk of giving you too much information, I did a cleanse last year. It was for a screening colonoscopy, one of many that have taxed the B.C. health care system since a new test was added to the standard medical checkup.
Try that one if youB次元官网网址檙e over 50.
Tom Fletcher is legislature reporter and columnist for Black Press. Twitter:
