Sea-Bands – are they any good?

September 25, 2009 D. H. McKee

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I was thinking about getting a pair of these for travel sickness, but figured they sounded a little bogus. So I checked online, and while there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence, there wasn’t any proof in proper clinical trials. The best information came from a New Zealand skeptics page.
You know those sea-sickness bands:

At this point you look at the accompanying photograph and see what looks like a cotton wristband with an inset plastic button the size of an asprin. You look closer and examine the picture in careful detail to see what a Sea Band really is. It turns out to be a cotton wristband with an inset plastic button the size of an asprin.

Ok, they look a little silly, but what about putting them through a serious scientific test:

This may sound pretty innocuous, but in fact it’s a fairly severe test. It will bring on the first symptoms of vomiting within 15 to 20 minutes on average. Each subject was tested on the motion challenge on four separate occasions, with at least a week between each. The results? The hycosine had an effect. But Sea Bands? No better than the dummy remedies. In fact, it emerges that the US Naval Aerospace people had tested Sea Bands back in 1982. The results then? No benefit.

Huh, ok, I’ll keep looking.
New Zealand Skeptics Online: View Article

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As a guy who occasionally curates art shows and wrangles artists together, I often have to edit and post artist bios, profile pictures, and artwork images. This can be a problem, since many artists and writers aren’t used to selling themselves. Artists rarely know how to present their art for display in a brochure, and writers aren’t used to writing about themselves.

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