What is this about?

January 27, 2011 1:07 PM

I just came across this; it was a banner ad on a site that was linked to from a comment here.

This makes no sense at all to me. Write to the UN?

My first though was to debate whether this is like "hoarding-gold-because-socalism!!!!!" crazy, or like "collodial silver repels the aliens" crazy?

Or did I misunderstand this entirely? maybe it's something else with a reasonable explanation?

posted by dubold to Society & Culture (3 answers total)

Best answer: No, it's pretty illogical to me

The FDA and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) caused the Mg-deficient-water problem by Un-Constitutionally destroying the American mineral water industry in the 1930’s, in the mistaken belief that pure water was good, and that mineral water was just impure water. No other country has ever destroyed their mineral water industry.

Bottled water is not the only source of magnesium in a developed country, so even if the FDA outlawed magnesium in bottled water (which I do not believe - I know for a fact that mineral water is available for purchase in the US), it does not follow that the FDA is responsible for deaths due to magnesium deficiencies.
posted by muddgirl at 1:10 PM on January 27, 2011

Actually, dig around his website a bit: I think this guy is a legitimate kook ah, conspiracy theorist - he unsuccessfully sued the FDA back in '99.
posted by muddgirl at 1:13 PM on January 27, 2011

Best answer: At least he's not trying to SELL magnesium, which puts him head and shoulders above most of the health hucksters you'll find online.

• It's probably true that most Americans are lacking in magnesium, just because most Americans' diets are poor. Most Americans are lacking in most vitamins, is my guess.
• It's probably UNtrue that magnesium deficiency causes the dozens of ills he cites (from aging to violence).
• It seems peculiar to attack this problem by tilting at the FDA's restrictions on bottled water. How many Americans get their water solely from bottled water? Why not crusade to have magnesium added to municipal water supplies? Or advocate magnesium supplements? Or healthy eating?

To sum up, I would rate him as "mostly harmless" on the kook scale. And you should probably take a multivitamin and eat lots of healthy foods.
posted by ErikaB at 2:04 PM on January 27, 2011