Disclosure of the quackery: Testing of the bactericidal action of products based on the 'Hydronic' technology ("informed glass") on ATCC strains of <i>Enterococcus faecalis, Salmonella enteridis</i> and <i>Candida</i>

Abstract

To disclose a quackery called “revitalisation of tired water by hydronic technology”, scientific experiments have been conducted with drinking water kept in ‘‘ordinary, everyday-use’’ drinking glasses and so-called ‘informed’ glasses, a patent-protected product supposed to have an effect on the ‘‘structure, vitality and memory of water‘‘. Drinking “informed” water is claimed to have a wide range of positive revitalising health effects (blue informed glass), to facilitate weight loss (red informed glass) and to have a stress-relieving action (green informed glass). Allegedly, by the use of the “orgon methodology”, information is coded into the glass, which action is additionally enforced by the addition of the ‘‘magic life’’ symbol – a specially designed energy condenser which, together with the selected information, is permanently introduced into the liquid contained in the glass. Since the manufacturer claimed the products to have a broad bactericidal action, regardless of the external conditions and completely independent from additional factor that would lead to the activation of the system, the efficacy of the informed drinking glass was tested using standardised, microbiological tests. Respecting the principle of a single-blind test for each of 5 samples of each type of the informed glass, growth reduction factor (RF) (difference log cfu/ml - colony per unit/ml of control glass and log cfu/ml of each informed glass) was determined after
0,2,4,6 and 8 h in spring water experimentally contaminated with standardised ATCC strains of two types of bacteria and one yeast. The results showed a statistically significant bactericidal action of the blue informed glass with all strains - Enterococcus faecalis (RF 0.62/0.76), Salmonella enteritidis (RF 0.87/0.97), and Candida albicans (RF 0.5/0.60) - as opposed to the red and green glasses where this effect was negligible (RF < 0.1). However, when the tests were repeated in complete darkness, none of the three informed glasses showed any bactericidal action. The obtained results indicate a fraud: bactericidal effect is rather a result of photocatalytic action of a hidden component used on purpose in the production of glass or subsequently applied by the use of nanotechnology (possibly antimony trioxide or titanium oxide) than of the so-called
‘‘orgon and hydronic technology’’.

Key words: Nostrums, Water, Quackery, Complementary therapies, Health care fraud, Homeopathy, Self -care

doi: 10.4314/ajtcam.v8i4.2