Tribunal de Saint-Etienne: des allégations trompeuses sur les bienfaits du magnétisme?

Le catalogue de cette société vantait les bienfaits pour la santé de produits magnétiques et promettait des résultats. Méthodes « empiriques », allégations mensongères selon l'accusation pour qui aucune expérimentation ne donnait crédit à ces dires.

En 2005, un catalogue publicitaire de la société stéphanoise Auris (1) vantait les mérites de huit articles ayant pour corollaire l'utilisation de champs magnétiques aux multiples bienfaits. Les aimants et « l'eau aimantée » avaient un effet bénéfique, selon ce document dans le domaine du bien-être et de la santé. C'était la « brosse magnétique » entraînant une « repousse vigoureuse des cheveux », le « coffret magnétique », « foudroyant la douleur », la « casquette magnétique » « idéale pour les maux de tête ». Et le texte ne manquait pas de prétentions. C'est bien là que le bât blesse, surtout dans le domaine médical puisqu'il « promettait des résultats » a noté le président Cuer. C'était le cas en matière de traitement des lombalgies, et de glaucomes, (un « masque oculaire ») ce qui a quelque peu stupéfait le tribunal. Or, si une action de nature à soulager peut bénéficier de la tolérance des pouvoirs publics, il n'en est pas de même d'une « action curative ». Ou alors, seulement si le produit a bénéficié de toutes les expérimentations.

« Publicité mensongère »

« C'est le principe des données acquises de la science » a rappelé le procureur, « avant la mise sur le marché, il y a un champ expérimental. Ce n'était pas le cas là ». Voila ce qui expliquait les poursuites contre ce chef d'entreprise pour « publicité mensongère », suite à la plainte d'un client mécontent à la DGCCRF (2) qui a enquêté.

Alors, il est vrai que des clients ont loué les bienfaits de ces produits, a noté Me Maisonnas pour la défense. Son client a tenté maladroitement de faire passer sa conviction, sa foi même dans le magnétisme, s'appuyant sur la thèse d'un scientifique. Thèse brillante certes, mais prudente quant aux effets réels d'une pratique aux « vertus millénaires » pourtant « saluée par la presse » a dit le défenseur.

« Charlatanisme »

Alors « charlatanisme aux fins d'appâter les gens crédules », pour l'accusation, ou costume bien trop grand pour un prévenu de bonne foi ? Non sans humour, la défense a bien voulu faire une concession : « Je ne dis pas que le délit n'existe pas, sinon j'aurais des cheveux sur la tête, mais ramenons cette affaire à de justes proportions : huit produits sur quatre cents c'est peu ». Le parquet a requis une amende de 30 000 euros pour la personne morale, quatre mois avec sursis et 5 000 euros d'amende pour la personne physique.

Délibéré au 30 juillet.

(1) Installée à Saint-Étienne, dix-huit salariés : vente par correspondance de quelque quatre cents produits.
(2) Direction générale de la consommation, de la concurrence et de la répression des fraudes.

Magnet therapies 'have no effect'

Magnet therapies which are claimed to cure conditions ranging from back pain to cancer have no proven benefits, according to a team of US researchers.
Sales of the so-called therapeutic devices, which are worn in bracelets, insoles, and wrist and knee bands, top $1 billion worldwide, they said.
But a major review showed no benefits, a British Medical Journal report said.
The team also warned self-treatment with magnets risked leaving underlying medical conditions untreated.
Professor Leonard Finegold of Drexel University in Philadelphia and Professor Bruce Flamm of the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in California said turning to magnetic therapies could also cause "financial harm".
"Money spent on expensive and unproved magnet therapy might be better spent on evidence based medicine," their report said.
"Sadly some advertisers even claim that magnets are effective for cancer treatment and for increasing longevity; not surprisingly, these claims are unsupported by data."
The team reviewed about 10 earlier studies into the effectiveness of magnetic therapy.
It said many "controlled" experiments used to show the worth of such treatments were suspect because of the difficulty of hiding the presence of a magnet to those involved.
Patients were given dummy magnets and real magnets, but because the real magnets would stick to keyrings in their pockets and other metal items, they could tell if they were part of the real study or the control.
Boxed magnets
An example of this was a study in chronic pelvic pain which reported improvement.
But the researchers admitted the ability to ensure patients did not know if they had the real or dummy magnets was compromised.
The team does refer to one study on the effects of carpal tunnel syndrome - a painful wrist condition - in which the magnets and the sham treatments were boxed so they could not be identified.
In this, they said, there was no statistical difference between patients with real and sham magnets, with both reporting an improvement in their condition.
The study concludes: "Magnets are touted by successful athletes, allowed to be widely advertised, and sold without restrictions, so it is not surprising that lay people think that claims of therapeutic efficacy are reasonable."
Dr Max Pittler, research fellow in complementary medicine at the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth, said the study suggested static magnets which were most often used to treat pain of different origins were not likely to be effective.
He said: "Although the authors cite only selected studies to back up their statements, also a systematic assessment comes to the conclusion that the evidence is not compelling for the effectiveness of static magnets for reducing pain above non-specific effects."
Debbie Shimadry, director of World of Magnets, said use of magnets was not a cure, but a treatment that was very effective for relief of symptoms of joint-related disorders.
She said: "It is important to have the right type of magnet of the right strength, placed in the right area.
"Magnetic bracelets worn around the wrist are not going to allievate pain all over the body - they need to be placed directly over the area of injury for the right length of time."

On remarque que quelles que soient les preuves scientifiques apportées, les croyants en ces pseudo-thérapies ont toujours une bonne explication pour justifier qu'ils continuent d'y croire.

Magnetic insoles do not provide pain relief

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Magnetic shoe insoles did not effectively relieve foot pain among patients in a study, researchers report in the current issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. And the results indicate that patients who strongly believed in magnets had pain relief even if they were given false magnets to wear.
"This study provides convincing evidence that use of these static magnets was not effective in relieving symptoms of nonspecific foot pain in the workplace," says Mark Winemiller, M.D., the lead author of the study and a Mayo Clinic physician.

Dr. Winemiller said adults with foot pain are likely to initiate self-treatment with magnets based on personal recommendations or belief systems, often without a specific diagnosis or prescription. That population was targeted in this study, he said, with the goal of determining whether magnetic insoles work in the way they are typically used. He said the randomized, double-blind nature of this study was chosen to minimize bias and maximize the validity of results, and he is confident that this was accomplished.

An interesting result in the study relates to "the placebo effect." Patients in studies who are given the placebo or false treatment often report improvement in their conditions when they believe they are receiving a treatment designed to provide relief. "A moderate placebo effect was noted in participants who believed the strongest in the potential of magnets to help their pain," says Dr. Winemiller.

Otherwise, the fact that magnetic and nonmagnetic insoles provided nearly identical pain relief suggests that it may have been simply the cushioning that was effective -- and not the magnets.

In the past decade, the use of magnets for pain relief has increased substantially. Despite little scientific evidence (and lack of Food and Drug Administration approval for pain relief), many people have used magnets to relieve their pain, spending approximately $5 billion worldwide -- an estimated $500 million in the United States annually -- on magnetic pain-relieving devices.

Magnetic devices use either static or pulsed magnets. Clinically, pulsed magnets have been shown effective for treating delayed fracture healing, for reducing pain in various musculoskeletal conditions, and for decreasing edema associated with acute trauma, although other studies have shown no benefit in these situations. Externally applied static magnets generally are considered safe and have few adverse effects, but little is known about their mechanism of action. Most basic scientific research has focused on movement of tiny electrical voltages that may lead to decreased pain.

The insoles studied were the Active Comfort magnetic insole (Spenco Medical Corp.), which has a magnetic foil pad located under the arch of the foot. These insoles were chosen because they are comfortably cushioned but do not have rigid arch support or acupressure features, which potentially could confound results if such features provided an independent effect. The special set of false magnetic insoles also were produced by the manufacturer, using a nonmagnetized metal foil embedded identically in the foam insole material.

Along with Dr. Winemiller, Edward Laskowski, M.D., and W. Scott Harmsen of Mayo Clinic, collaborated on this study, as did Robert Billow, D.O., who is now with Northwest Orthopaedic Surgeons, Mount Vernon, Wash.

This project was funded by an unrestricted educational grant from the Spenco Medical Corp, Waco, Texas. Spenco was not involved in any way in the study design, data collection, data analyses, or data interpretation or in manuscript preparation, review or approval. Both the active and false magnetic insoles were provided at no charge directly from the manufacturer. None of the authors have any affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in the subject matter discussed in this article.

In an editorial in the same issue, Roger Fillingim, Ph.D., and Donald Price, Ph.D., of the University of Florida College of Dentistry in Gainesville noted how the placebo controls of the study was important.

"Placebo controls are extremely valuable for determining the efficacy of pain interventions," the authors write.

Les petits aimants de la magnétothérapie toujours aussi inefficaces, mais pas pour les finances des vendeurs. Etude confirmant que l'effet placebo est d'autant plus puissant que la croyance dans l'efficacité d'une pseudo-médecine est importante, en plus de donner un exemple de raisonnement post hoc.