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Wooist extraordinaire Gwyneth Paltrow, whose “lifestyle brand” Goop is based wholly on pseudoscience, told the BBC that Goop is not based on pseudoscience, in an interview about losing a lawsuit over Goop being based on pseudoscience. (I’m convinced.)
Now, this is not new news — this happened in 2018, when Goop paid a settlement of $145,000 to California over their false claims. (Such a trivial amount reminded me of Sting in Quadrophenia when he whips out his checkbook in the witness box and tells the judge “I’ll pay now, if you don’t mind. Haven’t got a pen, have you, Your Honor?”)
The reason I dredge this up today is that I was just given some very similar arguments to the ones Paltrow made to the BBC and they are worthy of refutation, as they’re popular and compelling to many. For example, she said:
We really believe that there are healing modalities that have existed thousands of years, and they challenge maybe a very conventional western doctor that might not believe necessarily in the healing powers of essential oils or any variety of acupuncture, things that have been tried and tested for hundreds of years.
To the average person, these might sound like some good points. But they’re not, they’re terrible points. Here’s why:
“Having existed for thousands of years” is not a merit in a healing modality. It means it was developed in prescientific times when little true information was known about how the human body works. Bloodletting and the casting out of demons have also been around for a long time. We call this fallacious argument the “Appeal to Antiquity.”
“A western doctor”. This is a silly term. If it is intended as a pejorative for doctors who practice science-based medicine, it’s inaccurate, as such doctors are all over the world, as are unscientific practitioners who use the kind of nonsense Goop gets sued for and that Paltrow advocates.
“Doctors who believe in essential oils or acupuncture.” Doctors’ beliefs are not how standards of care are established, but by clinical trials. And when you look at the trial data, it’s clear that science-based medicine is what works, and Goop’s version does not. Essential oils are shown to have no “healing powers” and acupuncture has long been exhaustively proven to be no more than placebo. My bet is that Paltrow does not know or care about this research, as her belief system is rooted in notions far outside the realm of science.
“Tried and tested for hundreds of years” is also not a merit in medicine. People have believed in ghosts, psychics, a wide assortment of mutually exclusive deities, and countless false conspiracy theories for the whole history of humanity. We go by what works, not by what’s popular or by who believes in it.
What really annoyed me is that Paltrow compared Goop’s charlatanism to the struggle of women for empowerment, as if the regulatory actions against Goop are just more systemic misogyny:
I think any time you are trying to move the needles and you’re trying to empower women, you find resistance and we just think that’s part of what we do and we’re proud to do it.
Wrong, Gwyneth. Medical misinformation is peddled by charlatans everywhere, both men and women — and many of the most prominent promoters are men like Dr. Oz, Joe Mercola, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Very few women, I think, would agree that the promotion of medical misinformation is a goal of women’s rights advocacy. Nor would they agree that regulatory actions against companies making false claims constitute a blow against women everywhere.
This kind of nonsense is not only tiring to those of us who promote science literacy and critical thinking, it’s also harmful as it drives people away from medical treatment and toward woo. In the worst cases, this promotion of nonsense costs lives; and even in the best cases, it gives life and oxygen to the cases where lives are lost.
Call it out wherever you see it.
Your article reminded me to send the Skeptoid articles on Acupuncture [https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4431] and Aromatherapy [https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4405] to my massage therapist, who uses essential oils and has recently hired someone who used to practice acupuncture. Now I'm waiting to see what their reaction is.
good one, Brian. I was recently shopping for a little make up and heard the same claims in the up-sell from the 'cosmetician'