Magnets Attract Legal Judgment

Posting Date: 06/14/2000

Even though there is no evidence that magnets have any ability to reduce pain or fatigue, they still keep showing up in mattresses, pillows -? and now in shoes. Florsheim Shoes, which has shod the middle-class businessmen of America for more than 100 years, has come out with a new line of shoes -? MagnaForce.

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These shoes have a flexible magnetic sheet in the insole of the shoe, which they say, emits a magnetic field that encircles the foot and increases circulation and reduces fatigue. Of course, recent studies have found no connection between magnetic treatment and relief from back pain.

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Florsheim -? and other purveyors of magnet treatments -? had better be careful if they come to Northern California. The district attorneys of Sonoma and Napa Counties are really going after bogus health treatments. They?ve successfully shot down bogus weight loss products, and now they have gone after makers of magnet products who make unsubstantiated claims.

They?ve just announced a $45,000 settlement of a lawsuit brought against two corporations, Lipenwald, Inc., and National Magnet Therapy, LLC, for marketing "New Therapeutic Magnets" for pain relief.

Ads for these products claimed things like "magnets help draw pain, swelling, stiffness out of your body," and "Doctors report: pain sufferers enjoy instant all-day relief without the use of drugs!" When the District Attorney Offices asked these companies for scientific evidence to substantiate these claims, there was none ?- and this suit resulted.

"Based upon information which experts have supplied to our offices, it is clear that no valid scientific evidence exists that supports the notion that magnets can decrease, reduce treat or eliminate pain, swelling, soreness, stiffness, swollen joints, strains or aches," said Napa Deputy District Attorney Daryl Roberts. "At best, it appears that magnets may have a placebo effect, but nothing more."