Arthur Webster   Just plain honesty
After a week that has been high-lighted by a lot of anguish and pain and another potentially terminal episode, I simply had to have another 'go' at the snake oil salesmen and women who flood my in box with trash adverts for trash products that don't work, won't work and are capable of causing long term harm and short term confusion among people who allow themselves to be convinced that they MUST HAVE THIS!
I have always been aware that the provision of food suppliments in the guise of "life enhancing", "vitamin enriched", "anti-oxidising" and "life prolonging" tablets, liquids or gels is one of the biggest con jobs ever perpetrated upon a gullible public.
It galls me to see people posing as medical experts trying to push the latest berry juice to the same people they recently convinced that the LAST berry juice was the best.
 How can anybody who has spent their life as an ordinary housewife, audit clerk, shop assistant or motor mechanic have the least notion that what they have learnt by rote from the company's 'training manual' is true?
You've seen them. They promote Hello Maud, Applesteen, Stopji and loads of other exotically named extracts with the verve of early Christian missionaries. (You know the ones - bow to my God or He will smite thee mercilessly!)  They explain how your life is at risk because you are rusting away (Oops, silly me, oxidising!) but just a glass of this at €4.75 a go will not only make you nice and shiny, it will also cure warts, pork and fish.
Should we be admiring these zealous salespeople? Should we be grateful that they have taken the time to save our lives for 'only' €50 a month? Should we retire to a dark, cool room until their precious elixir has had time to rescue us from death's door?
I hardly think so.
These people are not motivated by altruism.
 They are motivated by greed!
It matters not one jot to them that at least 75% of what you are paying to 'save your life' is actually commission. They could care even less about your genuine health problems, if you have any - let's face it, they are totally inneffective when confronted with a genuine problem. They aren't trained for that.
The biggest and best known health company in the world does not sell its' products.
Let me repeat that . . The biggest and best known health company in the world does not sell its' products.
What does it sell?
It sells an opportunity to make money from home.
It is the same for all of these companies that are producing one exotic, never heard of before, berry juice after another - they are selling a business opportunity! They don't care who tries to sell their products as long as that person qualifies by buying the product for themselves, every month.
They don't care what the person says when selling the product to others - after all, they are independent and answerable to no-one.
It is a very sad fact that, apart from a distinct placebo effect, very, very, very few people actually need to suppliment their diet in the western world where all this trash is touted.
It is also a very sad fact that, despite all the promises and hype, nearly 100% of whatever is taken in will be excreted as surplus to requirements. The small percentage that is not excreted can actually lead to harm as it builds up to, potentially, toxic levels.
 If you can afford €50 a month to flush down the loo, do me a favour, send it to a charity that helps genuinely malnourished people around the world.
You won't go rusty, I promise, nor will your skin become more wrinkled, your cellulite become life threatening, your waist line become gargantuan but your opinion of yourself might become a lot higher. You might even be proud of the fact that you are helping to feed 30 or 40 families somewhere. 
As for the snake oil salesmen - doesn't anybody have the responsibility to train them properly?  
Jul 12th 2008 01:49