Naked Science Forum
On the Lighter Side => That CAN'T be true! => Topic started by: chris on 19/06/2009 08:59:52
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Someone asked me the other day about orgonite. I've never heard of it. Apparently it has something to do with brainwaves?
Chris
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Orgonite is a solid material made out of a mixture of organic material and metals, usually a mix of polyester or epoxy resin, crystals and metal shavings like aluminium and copper, often "accented" by special clockwise wound metal coils, crystals like amethyst, rose quartz, aventurine and citrine, minerals, and occasionally herbs or special "charged" water.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgone
It seems to be a device for channelling a mystical source of energy called Orgone, which is basically the same as Chi. Some grossly irresponsible people claim it can cure cancer (but not if conventional treatments have been tried) and HIV/AIDS.
Some slightly less irresponsible people (at least not encouraging people to eschew cancer treatment) claim that orgonite reduces electricity usage by 30-50%. At least one blinded trial (http://www.dbskeptic.com/2009/02/14/orgone-chips-review-new-age-versus-the-scientific-method/) has shown this to be nonsense - I can't find any evidence for any valid trials showing any effect.
It's always a bit of a give-away when a wikipedia page has "Pseudoscience" in the "See also" section.