"Water energizer" market ban in Germany

[Haenk]

https://www.heise.de/news/Funkstoerung-Regulierer-zieht-Wasservitalisierer-aus-dem-Verkehr-5795445.html

Available in German only, sorry.

Fun facts:
- priced at 8000 EUR, it sold 2400 times in Germany
- buyers are allowed to keep it, but are prohibited from using it
- contrary to its "hexagonal water rearrangement" function, it just creates lots of RF noise

[SiliconWizard]

Just a note. Your topic may suggest Germany has "banned" "water energizers" in general. To make things clear, regulation autorities have made this one product illegal because it didn't comply with current regulations regarding its RF emissions, and this was apparently noticed by radio amateurs.

Regardless of the purpose of a product, this would have happened exactly the same for any other product not complying with regulations.

However voodooish and bullshitty those water energizer gizmos are, I would have been concerned if some country had actually "banned" a whole range of products merely based on the fact that they are bullshit and too expensive for what they are. That may look reasonable, but would open a whole can of worms.

But that's not what happened. It was banned because it just wasn't compliant with current regulations, and was sold with a false declaration of conformity.
The fact buyers are allowed to keep the product - but of course not use it - if they bought it before the ban is the usual procedure in such a case. As long as a given product is harmless when not in use, regulation bodies can't seize people's belongings.

Now that most of those new-agy products are sold with false declarations of conformity would not surprise me one bit. Actually, that's probably the case for a significant fraction of all products on the market when their category allows self-declarations of conformity.

[JohnnyMalaria]

https://www.heise.de/news/Funkstoerung-Regulierer-zieht-Wasservitalisierer-aus-dem-Verkehr-5795445.html

Available in German only, sorry.

If you use MS Edge (Chromium), highlight text, right-click, translate



I particularly like the last sentence...

[vikisonline]

Haha The marketing graphics are kinda similar to these:

Sadly their marketing is correct. They do provide ions. They contain Thorium.
I bought some myself to verify and they are radioactive.

I feel for the chaps that buy these, end up ingesting the thorium flakes as they wear off the surface aaaaand.... cancer
I cant imagine the horrors the people making these go through without even knowing what they are exposed to.

I don't know why regulators have not yet shut these down.

[james_s]

I expect the thorium is a small pellet embedded deep within the plastic, so probably not really an issue.

[vikisonline]

That would make sense, but there is a massager pen that just has loose thorium powder in it... These products are no joke.
https://hackaday.com/2020/02/26/be-wary-of-radioactive-bracelets-and-similar/#more-400627

But yea, just the fact that you can measure the alpha particles almost proves that the thorium is on the surface. One guy checked them with an electron microscope.
In mine I can see the grey flecks on the surface. I bought it to test my geiger counter....

[ConKbot]

I expect the thorium is a small pellet embedded deep within the plastic, so probably not really an issue.

Nope, take thorium powder, put it in the injection molder with the rest of the melt.

https://youtu.be/C7TwBUxxIC0

Plenty of small particles to shed and inhale or contaminate food or drink.

[Gregg]

I feel for the poor workers that build these radioactive devices.  I doubt they have a clue about what they are dealing with and I'm sure there are no safety regulations being enforced, if regulations such exist.