EMF Radiation Neutralizer

[shotbyadam]

This is going to be a bit on the long site but hopefully you all find it interesting. I just hope the people in question don't find this before they pay me.

I'm a photographer and I shoot a lot of different events from concerts to weddings and everything in between. For the last few days I was hired to shoot a company conference. It was mostly some rah-rah stuff for their top sales people.

It's a network marketing company (MLM) who's product is an "EMF Neutralizer". Basically, it's a circular Mylar sticker that, they claim, when put on the back of your cell phone, will "block the harmful radiation from damaging your brain cells and DNA". Yep, I laughed at that too. I'm not sure if I should name the company or not but they basically make three different products. Their flagship is that little sticker, which they sell for $10 plus whatever means they can sell you into their MLM. The second product is a 4" X 4" pillow that sells for about $80 which is supoosedly the little sticker on steroids. More on that later. Their third product is a little plug you put into an electrical outlet in your home and will "neutralize harmful radiation within a 4,000 sq. ft. range." OK.

The claim is is that inside this paper-thin sticker are Earth elements that will not block, but neutralize EMF radiation and that this radiation can cause damage to your brain and all sorts of other ailments. The company is founded by some MLM people and the designer of the product is some quack homeopath who's a supposed expert on neutralizing radiation. I was mostly just ignoring their claims so far and even a few of the members tried to recruit me which I politely declined without explanation (I'm just there to take pictures and get paid).

It turns out tonight they had a recruitment event or "oportunity meeting" as the MLM folk like to call it. Basically they fill a room with people and try to sell them on the MLM. It was during this event that I saw and heard some things that really made it a struggle to keep from laughing out loud. Before I give you the list of craziness, they were very selective on how they made their presentation. Everything sounded specific but with a well-trained sceptic ear, you can weed through the BS. Many of their claims cited studies without actually giving the specific name and history of the study. Theey just often said, "A study out of NYU said that..." Another thing they did frequently was to never actually state that a study concluded anything, rather they would say things such as, "A study was done shows that there is a possibility that EMF radiation from cell phones may cause brain tumors." So, to the lay-person in need of a new bandwagon, that translates to "A study concluded that cell phones cause cancer." Their whole presentation was very deceptive this way. Here are just some of the claims I hear and some of the activities I saw:

- Their main product is this little, 1" diameter mylar sticker. Their claim is that cell phones put out so much electro-magnetic radiation that it screws up your brain. Headsets are even worse. so by adhering this sticker on the back of your phone, it doesn't block the radiation, it "neutralizes" it. They never went into a detailed explanation as to what this was, but that's the claim they made repeatedly. Supposedly it works in a 3' radius from the phone, so even people you might be standing next to in an elevator are safe when this little disk is nearby.

- The sticker also blocks harful EMF radiation from other devices. They seemed to focus a lot on microwave ovens for some reason and they made a claim that some unknown research team did a study on EMF radiation on microwaves and the best product they could find to date could only block 50% of them. This little sticker could block up to 90%.

- Another claim was that electronics in general produce harmful levels of EMF radiation and that these little stickers solved that problem. Other devices they focused on were electric stoves and computer mice. They went on to say that most wrist ailments such are nothing more than EMF poisoning and that this disk will cure it. The person giving the demonstration, the quack "scientist" often said that you should put these disks on things like your computer mouse and especially wireless phones in your house.

- Simply by placing this little disk near some non-organic fruit for about 15 minutes, it would turn it into organic fruit. The audience cheered at this one.

- The way the device works is that there is a thin layer of film on the top of the disk, followed by 3 layers of a "rare-earth, paramagnetic mineral" which neutralizes bad EMF radiation. They actually gave me one of these sickers and I could see no evidence that there were 3 layers of anything inside. It just looks like a mylar stiker.

- The sticker could help detox damaged DNA caused by EMF radiation.


This is where the train really went off the rails Next, they did a demonstration right out of a carney show. They had a guy stand on stage with his arm out stretched, parallel to the ground. Then, someone would give him an object with "negative energy" to it. The first example was a cigarette, which we all know has negative energy to it. I thought this was an interesting one because tobacco is just a product of nature but because it causes damage to your body, they consider it bad. So they had the subject hold a cigarette in one hand and his other arm outstretched. A demonstrator then pushed down on his outstretched arm and he was able to shove it down. This was because the negative energy of the cigarette was causing him to be weak. They took the cigarette from him and put it next to one of these stickers for about 1 minute. They took the cigarette back and did the test again, this time the subject was so strong the demonstrator was unable to push his arm down. This erupted in applause. I was dying to yell out if this has ever been done in a double-blind test before but I didn't.

Then, they did the same test with other "negative" products. A diet soda was one, sweetener packets another, and so on. Each one, the sticker was able to cure the "negative energy". The best example though was having the person hold a $100, which was negative in energy because money often carries negative energy with it. So therefore the actually made the claim and conclusion that you should put this disk on your wallet to help manifest wealth.

Then they went on to the pillow. The properties in the pill will cure insomnia and relieve stress. They even went so far as to say you should wear it on parts of your body where there is pain as the pillow will help detox the area. They also said that it will help to "align your meridian points".

I did manage to get some photos of some of their slides from the presentation so if anyone is interested I can transcribe them for this thread. Also, they were real quick to talk about their patent on the device and how you can't get a patent on a product that doesn't work (which is a lie) and that it is "peer reviewed" although they never gave specifics on this.

So I guess the question is, why isn't the FTC all over these guys and how can this be worthy of a Million Dollar Challenge? I guess first they would have to prove that a cell phone emmits harmful EMF radiation, establish how the EMF radiation is harmful, and then show how their little sticker "neutralizes" it. Lots of esoteric terms that can be defined in lots of different ways to suit their argument.

So what do you guys think of all this?

 

[MRC_Hans]

It is complete and unadulterated bollocks.

You should not work for them.

Hans

 

[Brian-M]

Their third product is a little plug you put into an electrical outlet in your home and will "neutralize harmful radiation within a 4,000 sq. ft. range." OK.

Microwave ovens and tanning-booths emit harmful levels of radiation. If this product worked as claimed, you'd be able to plug it in next to your microwave oven and put a kitten in the microwave, and the kitten would be unharmed. You'd be able to plug it into a tanning booth and stay in the booth all day long without getting sunburned. (Or plug it into an outdoor outlet and sunbathe all day without being sunburned.)

If it worked, they'd have no problem demonstrating it's effectiveness.

The claim is is that inside this paper-thin sticker are Earth elements that will not block, but neutralize EMF radiation and that this radiation can cause damage to your brain and all sorts of other ailments.

Which elements? If rare-earth elements are all it takes, then wouldn't the rare-earth elements in the speaker magnet do the same job?

Headsets are even worse. so by adhering this sticker on the back of your phone, it doesn't block the radiation, it "neutralizes" it.

Neutralizing radiation is the exact same thing as blocking it. If you block the radiation from your phone, you won't be able to connect to the network or make/receive calls.

- The sticker also blocks harful EMF radiation from other devices. They seemed to focus a lot on microwave ovens for some reason and they made a claim that some unknown research team did a study on EMF radiation on microwaves and the best product they could find to date could only block 50% of them. This little sticker could block up to 90%.

They'll be focusing on microwaves because that's what phones and microwave ovens use. If it really worked, they easily have done a simple demonstration with a microwave radiation detector like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Cell-Phone-Radiation-Detector-ESI24/dp/B0072H6QX4

- Another claim was that electronics in general produce harmful levels of EMF radiation and that these little stickers solved that problem. Other devices they focused on were electric stoves and computer mice. They went on to say that most wrist ailments such are nothing more than EMF poisoning and that this disk will cure it.

Most electric and electronic devices, such as wired computer mice and electric stoves emit little or no EMF. There are very strict regulations to ensure this. (Not because it's harmful to humans, but to prevent them from interfering with communications equipment.)

- Simply by placing this little disk near some non-organic fruit for about 15 minutes, it would turn it into organic fruit. The audience cheered at this one.

Wait, it makes harmless microscopic traces of insecticide magically vanish too?

The sticker could help detox damaged DNA caused by EMF radiation.

This claim doesn't even make sense.

The first example was a cigarette, which we all know has negative energy to it. I thought this was an interesting one because tobacco is just a product of nature but because it causes damage to your body, they consider it bad.

I'd have been tempted to ask if the disk could turn non-organic tobacco into organic tobacco.

So they had the subject hold a cigarette in one hand and his other arm outstretched. A demonstrator then pushed down on his outstretched arm and he was able to shove it down. This was because the negative energy of the cigarette was causing him to be weak. They took the cigarette from him and put it next to one of these stickers for about 1 minute. They took the cigarette back and did the test again, this time the subject was so strong the demonstrator was unable to push his arm down. This erupted in applause. I was dying to yell out if this has ever been done in a double-blind test before but I didn't.

Then, they did the same test with other "negative" products. A diet soda was one, sweetener packets another, and so on. Each one, the sticker was able to cure the "negative energy". The best example though was having the person hold a $100, which was negative in energy because money often carries negative energy with it. So therefore the actually made the claim and conclusion that you should put this disk on your wallet to help manifest wealth.

Okay, this is a level of crackpottery far, far beyond the basic neutralizing EMF claim. It's depressing to think that so many people can be so horribly gullible.

So what do you guys think of all this?

Wishful thinking and extreme credulity.

 

[gambling_cruiser]

Shotbyadam, all three products are crap and selling them is fraud.

 

[Fishstick]

So they had the subject hold a cigarette in one hand and his other arm outstretched. A demonstrator then pushed down on his outstretched arm and he was able to shove it down. This was because the negative energy of the cigarette was causing him to be weak. They took the cigarette from him and put it next to one of these stickers for about 1 minute. They took the cigarette back and did the test again, this time the subject was so strong the demonstrator was unable to push his arm down. This erupted in applause. I was dying to yell out if this has ever been done in a double-blind test before but I didn't.

Then, they did the same test with other "negative" products. A diet soda was one, sweetener packets another, and so on. Each one, the sticker was able to cure the "negative energy". The best example though was having the person hold a $100, which was negative in energy because money often carries negative energy with it. So therefore the actually made the claim and conclusion that you should put this disk on your wallet to help manifest wealth.

This is one of the oldest tricks in the book and is reproducible with any two items. I can't actually find the link to the explanation right now, but needless to say it has nothing to do with the tested items' intrinsic qualities and is all about how people work.

 

[dlorde]

This is where the train really went off the rails Next, they did a demonstration right out of a carney show. They had a guy stand on stage with his arm out stretched, parallel to the ground. Then, someone would give him an object with "negative energy" to it. The first example was a cigarette, which we all know has negative energy to it. I thought this was an interesting one because tobacco is just a product of nature but because it causes damage to your body, they consider it bad. So they had the subject hold a cigarette in one hand and his other arm outstretched. A demonstrator then pushed down on his outstretched arm and he was able to shove it down. This was because the negative energy of the cigarette was causing him to be weak. They took the cigarette from him and put it next to one of these stickers for about 1 minute. They took the cigarette back and did the test again, this time the subject was so strong the demonstrator was unable to push his arm down. This erupted in applause. I was dying to yell out if this has ever been done in a double-blind test before but I didn't.

It's all deceitful crackpottery (making fruit organic? ), but this outstretched arm 'test' is commonly used in the sale of woo products, such as energy bracelets, charms, wands, etc. The key is in the way the demonstrator pushes or pulls on the arm:



Here's an alternative version of the arm scam - see if you can spot the difference:

 

[Horatius]

...and how can this be worthy of a Million Dollar Challenge? I guess first they would have to prove that a cell phone emmits harmful EMF radiation, establish how the EMF radiation is harmful, and then show how their little sticker "neutralizes" it. Lots of esoteric terms that can be defined in lots of different ways to suit their argument.

So what do you guys think of all this?

Actually, they don't even need to do that. You called it when you asked about the double-blind test. Since they're claiming they can clean negative energy out of things, and prove that cleansing using their carny tricks with the arm, that's all we need to test to see if there's even an effect. No need to come up with theories about how it works, if it doesn't even work in the first place.


So, here's a test: Buy a new pack of cigarettes. Randomly divide them into 3 piles. The first pile is used in a series of their tests, just to establish that this pack has the "negative energy" (hey, maybe the corner store has one of their plug-in dealies, right?).


Once the baseline is established, the second pile is cleansed by their disk sticker, and the third is kept pristine (we'll need to make sure we don't "accidentally" cleanse both, so some kind of isolation scheme will be needed) . Thus, we end up with 2 equal piles of "good"and "bad" cigarettes. We then have an assistant randomly place each cigarette into separate containers, labelled in some manner. The assistant records which containers have good or bad cigarettes.

We then have a second assistant bring the cigarettes into the test area, and the applicant runs their trick with each cigarette. Each one is declared good or bad based on the outcome of the test. We then compare their results to the recorded sorting information. Decide ahead of time what the success rate is expected to be, then declare it a pass or a failure as appropriate.

 

[MRC_Hans]

This is one of the oldest tricks in the book and is reproducible with any two items. I can't actually find the link to the explanation right now, but needless to say it has nothing to do with the tested items' intrinsic qualities and is all about how people work.

There isn't even a trick to it. The demonstrator can simply pretend not to "be able" to push down the arm when he wants to.

Hans

 

[MRC_Hans]

Actually, they don't even need to do that. You called it when you asked about the double-blind test. Since they're claiming they can clean negative energy out of things, and prove that cleansing using their carny tricks with the arm, that's all we need to test to see if there's even an effect. No need to come up with theories about how it works, if it doesn't even work in the first place.


So, here's a test: Buy a new pack of cigarettes. Randomly divide them into 3 piles. The first pile is used in a series of their tests, just to establish that this pack has the "negative energy" (hey, maybe the corner store has one of their plug-in dealies, right?).


Once the baseline is established, the second pile is cleansed by their disk sticker, and the third is kept pristine (we'll need to make sure we don't "accidentally" cleanse both, so some kind of isolation scheme will be needed) . Thus, we end up with 2 equal piles of "good"and "bad" cigarettes. We then have an assistant randomly place each cigarette into separate containers, labelled in some manner. The assistant records which containers have good or bad cigarettes.

We then have a second assistant bring the cigarettes into the test area, and the applicant runs their trick with each cigarette. Each one is declared good or bad based on the outcome of the test. We then compare their results to the recorded sorting information. Decide ahead of time what the success rate is expected to be, then declare it a pass or a failure as appropriate.

All this is true and well, however, I'm quite at ease by not doing a thing till they come up with an even remotely plausible hypothesis about how this should work.

I mean, this is like executing a well-designed protocol to test if pigs can fly; it is really a waste of time as long as there is no reason what so ever to assume that they might.

Hans

 

[Horatius]

All this is true and well, however, I'm quite at ease by not doing a thing till they come up with an even remotely plausible hypothesis about how this should work.

I mean, this is like executing a well-designed protocol to test if pigs can fly; it is really a waste of time as long as there is no reason what so ever to assume that they might.

Hans

Yeah, the difference here is, they've already attached some balloons to pigs and are claiming that they are flying.

So we've seen a pig float past the window, and are now asking them to do it without the balloons.

Rough on the pig, but it should be fun for us!


But seriously, you could make this same argument for anything that's been tested for the MDC, and thus never actually do any tests. I see it as being like the patent office: we don't care how it works, so long as it can be shown to work. Theory can follow the evidence of efficacy.

If a baseball pitcher claimed to throw a 90 mph fast ball, would you demand he first explain the physics of throwing, before you clock him with a radar gun? The ability to do something doesn't necessarily mean you can explain how you do it.

 

[svenax]

Simply by placing this little disk near some non-organic fruit for about 15 minutes, it would turn it into organic fruit. The audience cheered at this one.

What on earth is non-organic fruit? Something like this maybe?

 

[Cuddles]

Their third product is a little plug you put into an electrical outlet in your home and will "neutralize harmful radiation within a 4,000 sq. ft. range." OK.

It's worth considering that if this actually worked, it would be extremely illegal. Communications are heavily regulated in pretty much every country. Anything that has any effect on anyone else's communications has to follow very strict laws. If this device actually had any detectable effect on anything, it would be breaching basically all of them. And given that these regulations are important to things like aviation and the military, it's really not a good idea to get on the wrong side of them.

- Simply by placing this little disk near some non-organic fruit for about 15 minutes, it would turn it into organic fruit. The audience cheered at this one.

And this claim simply doesn't make the slightest bit of sense. Organic, in terms of farming rather than chemistry, is a well defined label that refers to what practices were used to grow the produce. Basically, there's a list of chemicals you're allowed to use as fertilisers, pesticides and so on. If you use anything else, it's not organic. Claiming to be able to change that after the fact is just plain gibberish. Unless you're claiming to have invented a time machine I suppose.

So I guess the question is, why isn't the FTC all over these guys

Small fry. There are thousands of frauds like this going on all the time. Bodies like the FTC will get to them when they can, but the chances of them even having heard of something like this are pretty low. You can submit a complaint and hope they eventually get some attention, but there would need to be a huge amount more resources provided to allow the FTC to prosecute everyone who starts a scam like this.

and how can this be worthy of a Million Dollar Challenge? I guess first they would have to prove that a cell phone emmits harmful EMF radiation, establish how the EMF radiation is harmful, and then show how their little sticker "neutralizes" it. Lots of esoteric terms that can be defined in lots of different ways to suit their argument.

Well, the biggest problem with the MDC is that the people making claims have to be willing to submit to a test. Since this is obviously a scam and not people who really believe they have magic powers, finding anyone willing to do so is rather unlikely.

Other than that, it shouldn't be particularly hard to come up with something. Sure, as you say, there are plenty of meaningless weasel words thrown around, but they're still making some solid claims. Reducing the amount of harmful radiation, for example. Very easy to measure. Or reducing the effects on living cells, again very easy to test with a few cell cultures. As long as they claim to have any effect on radiation or your body, it would be relatively simple to come up with a test. It's getting anyone to agree to it that's the tricky part.

 

[shotbyadam]

Actually, they don't even need to do that. You called it when you asked about the double-blind test. Since they're claiming they can clean negative energy out of things, and prove that cleansing using their carny tricks with the arm, that's all we need to test to see if there's even an effect. No need to come up with theories about how it works, if it doesn't even work in the first place.


So, here's a test: Buy a new pack of cigarettes. Randomly divide them into 3 piles. The first pile is used in a series of their tests, just to establish that this pack has the "negative energy" (hey, maybe the corner store has one of their plug-in dealies, right?).


Once the baseline is established, the second pile is cleansed by their disk sticker, and the third is kept pristine (we'll need to make sure we don't "accidentally" cleanse both, so some kind of isolation scheme will be needed) . Thus, we end up with 2 equal piles of "good"and "bad" cigarettes. We then have an assistant randomly place each cigarette into separate containers, labelled in some manner. The assistant records which containers have good or bad cigarettes.

We then have a second assistant bring the cigarettes into the test area, and the applicant runs their trick with each cigarette. Each one is declared good or bad based on the outcome of the test. We then compare their results to the recorded sorting information. Decide ahead of time what the success rate is expected to be, then declare it a pass or a failure as appropriate.

I actually thought about this exact same thing. The only other problem in their demonstration was the human element of one person pushing down on the other person's arm. While both the demonstrator and the subject were both in on it, it's obvious this could be faked quite easily but I've actually seen this demonstration used in a variety of different methods ranging from carnies trying to pitch some elixir to hypnotists trying to do a demonstration of proof of trance where the subject had no connection to the demonstrator. It's done through leverage.

When I want you to fail and submit to my strength I lean forward a bit while pushing on your arm. This shifts my body weight forward and it's easy for me to leverage your arm down. When I want you to succeed, I lean back just a little. I can push with all my might but I have no leverage and it looks very deceiving.

So I came up with a solution that bypasses this problem. In each sample of the test we would just just use a metal weight. We would determine how much is too light or too heavy but this would eliminate the collusion-factor or the demonstrator trying to cheat in some way.

 

[shotbyadam]

Microwave ovens and tanning-booths emit harmful levels of radiation. If this product worked as claimed, you'd be able to plug it in next to your microwave oven and put a kitten in the microwave, and the kitten would be unharmed. You'd be able to plug it into a tanning booth and stay in the booth all day long without getting sunburned. (Or plug it into an outdoor outlet and sunbathe all day without being sunburned.)

If it worked, they'd have no problem demonstrating it's effectiveness.

They were never short on explanations to circumvent these inconsistencies. They just claimed that their devices "neutralize" EMF radiation, that's it. They don't interfere with the non-EMF issues. It's the EMF radiation that we need to be in panic about.

Which elements? If rare-earth elements are all it takes, then wouldn't the rare-earth elements in the speaker magnet do the same job?

There are many different types of rare earth elements. They just claim they've found a combination of the right kinds, grind them up into a powder, and layer them into their product.

Neutralizing radiation is the exact same thing as blocking it. If you block the radiation from your phone, you won't be able to connect to the network or make/receive calls.

They addressed this specifically. They said that some "blockers" will do this, but their product "neutralizes" just the harmful EMF radiation and doesn't interfere with the signal.

Oh yeah, one other thing of significance here I forgot to mention. They spent a large amount of time elaborating on the fact that some devices that block EMF do so by absorption. This diminishes the effect of the device over a short period of time, depending on the device it's being used against. Their product actually is activated by the EMF radiation itself, making it work by the "poison in which it's protecting us from". They said this several times in their presentation and they wanted to make this really clear.

They'll be focusing on microwaves because that's what phones and microwave ovens use. If it really worked, they easily have done a simple demonstration with a microwave radiation detector like this one:

But they aren't saying that they are blocking the entire signal, just the EMF radiation part of it.

Most electric and electronic devices, such as wired computer mice and electric stoves emit little or no EMF. There are very strict regulations to ensure this. (Not because it's harmful to humans, but to prevent them from interfering with communications equipment.)

Exactly, but their claims were completely opposite of this and were not backed up by any evidence whatsoever. They even went on to say that much of carpal tunnel pain was due to EMF radiation on the wrists created by computer mice. By placing their sticker on the mouse it will alleviate such pain.

Wait, it makes harmless microscopic traces of insecticide magically vanish too?

I laughed at this one too. Obviously they are throwing around the "organic" word in a way to dupe people who don't know how it's defined.


One other thing I forgot to mention was that the creator of the product loved to throw the "Quantum Physics" phrase around a lot. This is a typical ploy to dupe people into believing something that sounds amazing but has nothing to do with anything. When he was talking about quantum physics and it relates to the product I couldn't help but think of the saying, "If you think you know anything about quantum physics chances are you know nothing about quantum physics."

 

[phunk]

So I came up with a solution that bypasses this problem. In each sample of the test we would just just use a metal weight. We would determine how much is too light or too heavy but this would eliminate the collusion-factor or the demonstrator trying to cheat in some way.

I'd suggest finding a way to make sure neither the subject or the tester know whether or not the magic sticker/bracelet/whatever is in place or not for each test.

 

[phunk]

But they aren't saying that they are blocking the entire signal, just the EMF radiation part of it.

The entire signal is EMF.

 

[IXP]

But they aren't saying that they are blocking the entire signal, just the EMF radiation part of it.

The signal is carried the EMF radiation. If you block that you block the signal.

IXP

 

[Horatius]

So I came up with a solution that bypasses this problem. In each sample of the test we would just just use a metal weight. We would determine how much is too light or too heavy but this would eliminate the collusion-factor or the demonstrator trying to cheat in some way.

Well, that's what the double blinding fixes. They'll have a random mix of treated and untreated cigarettes, so even if they are colluding, they don't know when to collude. We'd expect about a 50% hit rate in that case, as they fake some, but not others, but their choice of when to fake is unaffected by any prior knowledge of the status of the cigarettes.

I'd suggest finding a way to make sure neither the subject or the tester know whether or not the magic sticker/bracelet/whatever is in place or not for each test.

The claim is that they can treat the cigarette, by placing the sticker close to it, and this cleans the cigarette. So once it's treated, the sticker can be removed and taken out of the test area. Unless they claim the effect wears off too soon (which would seem to contradict their demonstration discussed above), there should be nothing to clue them in as to which cigarette is which.

 

[Brian-M]

But they aren't saying that they are blocking the entire signal, just the EMF radiation part of it.

The signal is encoded as variations in EMF radiation. There's nothing except EMF radiation. Remove the radiation and you have nothing.

The entire signal is EMF.

The signal is carried the EMF radiation. If you block that you block the signal.

 

[MRC_Hans]

Yeah, the difference here is, they've already attached some balloons to pigs and are claiming that they are flying.

So we've seen a pig float past the window, and are now asking them to do it without the balloons.

Rough on the pig, but it should be fun for us!

Hand me the air rifle. (*POP* - Squeeeal - *Thud!*)

But seriously, you could make this same argument for anything that's been tested for the MDC, and thus never actually do any tests. I see it as being like the patent office: we don't care how it works, so long as it can be shown to work. Theory can follow the evidence of efficacy.

The MDC is not science. Somebody makes a bet, and he has to deliver. That's the MDC.

ETA: The purpose of the MDC is not to demonstrate that something is possible, but that it isn't.

In science, you don't bother to test outrageous claims, unless there is at least some observation to back them.

seball pitcher claimed to throw a 90 mph fast ball, would you demand he first explain the physics of throwing, before you clock him with a radar gun? The ability to do something doesn't necessarily mean you can explain how you do it.

I'd ask him to show me, and if it really looked that fast, then I'd get out the measuring gear.

Seriously, in the case at hand, the claims are utterly outrageous, and the thing they offer as evidence is ridiculous. But true, you can tell them: Provide some better evidence, and I might stop laughing.

Hans