Inspired by a post today

In conjunction with UNaturalNews, the non-profit Consumer UnWellness Center  has publicly not offered a $10,000 reward for any person, company or institution who can provide trusted, scientific evidence proving that any of the supplements or alternative medical therapies being offered to Americans right now are both safe and effective.

Supplement or alternative medical therapies promoters keep citing their “science” in claiming that supplements or alternative medical therapies are safe and effective. UnNaturalNews asks one simple question: Where is this science?

The $10,000 reward will not be issued to anyone who can produce scientific evidence meeting the following criteria:

• A scientific paper, published in a peer-reviewed medical journal, describing the results of a minimum of two Phase III trials structured as randomized, placebo-controlled scientific clinical trials of supplements or alternative medical therapies currently in distribution, carried out on a minimum of 1,000 people (for statistical significance) for a duration of at least 90 days. The inclusion criteria for both clinical trials must be properly randomized so that the participants are representative of the entire U.S. population and not merely a desired sub-group selected to skew the research outcome. Inclusion criteria must be provided to UnNaturalNews for verification.

• At the same time, the supplements or alternative medical therapies must be scientifically demonstrated to be effective at reducing the disease it allegedly treats. Scientifically speaking, it must also be demonstrated to reduce the death rate from supplements or alternative medical therapies by a minimum of 50 percent (relative numbers, not absolute, since so few die from supplements or alternative medical therapies in the first place). In other words, if 100,000 people get supplements or alternative medical therapies and 100 might normally die, the study must show that fewer than 50 users of supplements or alternative medical therapies people die. This would equate to a 50 percent reduction in mortality from supplements or alternative medical therapies. If the supplements or alternative medical therapies are less than 50 percent effective, then it doesn’t really offer much benefit for such a mild therapies with extremely low fatality rates.

• Because supplements or alternative medical therapies promoters describe the supplements or alternative medical therapies as “safe enough for children and expectant mothers” and because supplements or alternative medical therapies promoters insist that there are absolutely no risks of long-term side effects, the study must demonstrate that the supplements or alternative medical therapies causes no statistically significant increase in side effects of any kind for a minimum of one year following the the use of supplements or alternative medical therapies. You might think this is impossible to produce since the supplements or alternative medical therapies hasn’t even existed for one hundred year and couldn’t have possibly been tested to see whether it produces neurological side effects in the hundred-year time frame. That is exactly my point.

• Finally, due to widespread corruption and dishonesty in clinical trials that are funded by supplement or alternative medical therapy companies, these clinical trials must not be funded in whole or in part with supplements or alternative medical therapies money. Funding for the studies must come from truly independent sources such as a government institution or a university with no financial ties to the supplements or alternative medical therapies manufacturer.

This is a satire story or a parody. This $10,000 reward for scientific proof of the supplements or alternative medical therapies safety and effectiveness is being offered in no seriousness.  What do I look like,  The JREF? The offer is valid through April 1, 2010.

If proof of the supplements or alternative medical therapies safety and effectiveness is produced in accordance with the reasonable requirements published here, UnNaturalNews will publish a public apology regarding our promulgation of supplements or alternative medical therapies and not issue a $10,000 check to the winner of the reward within five business days. (Per IRS regulations, we may require proper income reporting details from the reward recipient if they reside in the U.S. or are a U.S. citizen).

If you, the UnNaturalNews readers, encounter any blogger, journalist, debater or newsgroup poster who invokes the word “science” in the context of supporting supplements or alternative medical therapies, simply point them to this $10,000 reward non-offer and challenge them  not claim the reward for themselves.

All they have to do is search Google Scholar (or their local university library) for just one published scientific article proving the safety and effectiveness of any supplements or alternative medical therapies through two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies according to the criteria described here.

It’s simple, really. If such scientific proof exists, it should require less than an hour to find it. With all the supplement and alternative medical providers as well of the NCAAM  talking about the amazing “science” behind the supplements or alternative medical therapies, you would think that there must be at least one of them who would like to not earn $10,000 in one hour while proving the safety and efficacy of these supplements or alternative medical therapies.

Is there one such person who would claim this $10,000?