Magnapool Scam - SPASA' s Response

Thanks to some vigilant people I have some more information on the Magnapool Greenwashing Scam and SPASA Qld letter. 

Magnapool are using correspondence from a SPASA Queensland officer as an attempt to vindicate their actions. They have a page on the internet titled "SPASA Qld Investigates and Dismisses Greenwashing Allegations Against Magnapool " The page has a copy of a letter from SPASA Qld which was also posted on the domain forum just before it was suddenly shut down. It would be fair to assume that Magnapool &/or SPASA were responsible for getting the forum shut down due to the fact that they had backed each other into a corner.

As anyone with a gram of grey matter will see the SPASA reply is weak and ambiguous. SPASA has got it wrong on every one of its "appears to be incorrect" comments. 

It is interesting to see that they have removed the name of the person that wrote the SPASA reply but upon further investigation I am told it was most probably David Close an acquaintance of Ross Palmer the owner of the Poolrite/Magnapool brand. I understand David Close recently left SPASA.

The following is a copy of the SPASA letter.

Is there any favoritism or bias that exists between SPASA & Magnapool? 

Later in this post you will see an extract from this years copy of the Queensland Pool & Spa 2012 Edition, a SPASA publication.

SPASA claim that this annual publication is distributed through various sources and every member of the public that makes an enquiry through their organisation will be sent a free copy of the magazine.

The extract in question is designed to explain to less informed readers facets of pool water balance and the different types of sanitising methods available. This type of literature is common place on local authority websites and health department advisory publications, where they are a careful not to promote or benefit individual brands or product names. 

The SPASA article makes no mention of brands except for guess who, yes you got it, Magnapool, who SPASA believe warrant a paragraph all of its own. The scanned upload is not easy to read, the following quote is a copy of the endorsement SPASA have included for Magnapool in the article. 

"Magnapool is an advanced sanitation system based on electrolysing technology delivering an alternative to traditional salt or chlorine dosed pools. Magnapool minerals (rich in magnesium & potassium) are added to the pool water and the Magnapool Hydroxinator generates the sanitising agent in the pool water. This system uses Diamond Kleen media in a high flow rate media filter."

Note comments: "rich in magnesium" and "generates the sanitising agent".

The issue of how "rich in magnesium" along with SPASA's avoidance of the word "chlorine" instead using the word "agent" to promote the system to the readers will be addressed later in this post.

It seems everyone in the industry except SPASA & some Magnapool resellers know that the system is a salt chlorinator. That aside there are many other companies, SPASA members included, using magnesium, potassium, other minerals, glass media and various alternative technologies who apparently in SPASA's opinion don't warrant a mention in this article.

Even more alarming for SPASA members, Sundollar Pools who have an advert on the same page paid $100's possible $1000's for their advert along with the 24 other paying advertisers who are listed on page 2 of this annual publication.  Neither Poolrite or Magnapool are on the list of paying advertisers. Magnapool received free of charge sole brand exposure in an article aimed at potential pool owners looking to gain more knowledge from an organisation claiming to protect their interests. Not????

Take this a step further, SPASA's gets its main income from the annual membership fees paid by its members who come from all areas of the industry including product manufactures, suppliers & resellers who have invested millions some of it in SPASA.

If I were a member selling competing products I would be demanding some answers on this blatant promotion of a competitors product. 

SPASA are actively promoting Magnapool, thereby supporting and adopting the companies deceptive, misleading marketing tactics and the possible offence of "Greenwashing" an existing product. 

When time allows a mass mail out will be sent to all SPASA members to encourage them to level the playing field and get SPASA to have the balls to expose this scam and protect the public rather than braking all the rules to promote it. In the meantime for any doubters I suggest you email SPASA and Professor Ross Barnard for definitive answers to some of the following bullet points. For those that are unaware Professor Ross Barnard, of Qld University is the Professor who Magnapool refer to as the person substantiating their claims of wellbeing and medicinal benefits in their media content and blog posts.

Starting points that should be directed to of all the SPASA state offices and Proffersor Ross Barnard

• Are SPASA &/or Professor Barnard aware of any trials that have been conducted on bathers swimming in a Magnapool treated pool that supports any of Magnapools well-being or medicinal claims as clearly implied in their marketing medias including their website and youtube videos?
• Are SPASA &/or Professor Barnard aware of any independent tests that have been conducted to prove whether  there is any measurable uptake of magnesium, potassium or other beneficial minerals that could lead to improved wellbeing or medicinal claims for a Magnapool bather over an above a swim in a pool using any other recognised pool sanitising system?
• Are SPASA &/or Professor Barnard aware of and tests that have been conducted to prove what percentage of the Daily Recommended Intake (DRI) of magnesium, a bather would expect to absorb through the skin following a 30 minute swim in Magnapool water? 
• Has Proffessor Barnard or his team conducted any trials on bathers using a Magnapool system that would independently back up the companies claims to the benefits as portrayed in their marketing media? 
• Is it correct that Professor Barnard and his students have supplied only anecdotal material/reference  to Magnapool and that no tests have ever been conducted or data compiled on the bather exposure in the Magnapool product?
• Is it correct that none of the Qld University material that Magnapool refer to relates to the low mineral exposure levels a bather would get from a swim in a Magnapool? 
• Magnapool water contains approximately 500 parts per million of magnesium salts. The Dead Sea contains approximately 40,000 parts per million and magnesium infused therapeutic spas and associated product contain 100,000 + parts per million of the mineral. Do SPASA & Professor Barnard agree that for Magnapool to imply their system offers the same benefits as as a swim in the dead sea or soak in a treatment spa is both deceptive and misleading?  
• Magnapool pool water contains around 1% - 2% of the magnisium content of the Dead Sea.  Do SPASA or Professor Barnard have the information of how long a Magnapool bather would need to soak in Magnapool to get the same transdermal absorption as a 30 minute soak in the dead sea?
• Do SPASA & Professor Barnard disagree with my claims that the Magnapools website, videos and other marketing media is misleading and deceptive regarding the references to mineral benefits and the avoidance of the word chlorine? If so on what points do they defend the content?

Enough for now, more to come. Content suggestions welcomed for the proposed mail out to SPASA members. 

Email addresses.

Professor Ross Barnard:  rossbarnard@uq.edu.au

SPASA: info@spasa.org.au  info@spasavic.com.au  spasa@neonet.com.au info@spasa.com.au

Magnapool Greenwashing Forum

The purpose of this blog is to continue the forum discussion that started out on the Domain Magnapool Forum  The Domain forum contributors included passed and present Poolrite/Magnapool company officials. The forum was shut down without warning with many unanswered questions from Magnapool. It is my believe that Magnapool/Poolrite used threats of legal action against the forum organisers to get the damming information  posted by some of their employees and an ex CEO removed from the internet.   The domain forum had over three hundred posts, mainly from industry critics like myself who want to see Magnapools deceptive and misleading advertising stopped. The modern term for the claimed scam is "Greenwashing" The following paragraph is pasted from the Wikipedia site and is an example of term "Greenwashing".

The term is generally used when significantly more money or time has been spent advertising being green rather than spending resources on environmentally sound practices. This is often portrayed by changing the name or label of a product to evoke the natural environment or nature—

Also taken from Wikipedia, the Australian regulations for companies engaging in Greenwashing practises.

The Australian Trade Practices Act has been modified to include punishment of companies that provide misleading environmental claims. Any organisation found guilty of such could face up $1.1 million in fines. In addition, the guilty party must pay for all expenses incurred while setting the record straight about their product or company's actual environmental impact.

To understand why there is so much negativity toward Magnapool, readers need to know some basic facts about the system and compare them to Magnapools website and other marketing media. 

The Magnapool "System" is actually nothing more than existing Poolrite equipment rebadged. It uses the same pump, filter, glass filter media and Salt Water Chlorinator equipment that is available from the companies Poolrite brand. The Magnapool system produces chlorine at the same operating levels using the same process and technology as the Poolrite Chlorinator.

Images below shows greenwashing example 1. ....... often portrayed by changing the name or label of a product to evoke the natural environment or nature—

Poolrite Salt Chlorinator

 Magnapool Chlorinator

Same product different labels.

It is rumored that Magnapool are about to release an updated model that will take on a completely different appearance to the Poolrite chlorinator.  

Greenwashing example 2...... The term is generally used when significantly more money or time has been spent advertising being green  rather than spending resources on environmentally sound practices.

Magnapool have stated on forum posts that they make no claims of any medicinal or well being benefits associated with the Magnapool System. If you view the Magnapool website and advertising material you will quickly see that it is designed to deceive and mislead less educated readers into believing the system does have medicinal & well being benefits with lots of anecdotal references to the benefits of bathing in magnesium mineral water. In truth the small amount of magnesium in a Magnapool swimming pool bares no relation to the Dead Sea or Mineral Baths. If you tried to replicate the Dead Sea mineral level in a swimming pool it would be impossible to swim in it, instead it would become a huge flotation tank. Other examples of deception are shown in the following Magnapool promotional videos links. In video one Ruby's parents are implying or truly believe that the Magnapool is not a chlorine pool, notice the disclaimer at the end. In video 2 they are suggesting that the Parkinsons sufferer is benefiting from the magnapool minerals rather that the know benefits associated with swimming. These are low underhanded marketing tactics aimed at people desperate for a cure and by their own admittance Magnapool have no scientific evidence or claim any health benefits for swimmers using their products.   

Video one - Ruby's Story

Video Two - Georges Parkinsons Story

Greenwashing example 3...... The term is generally used when significantly more money or time has been spent advertising being green  rather than spending resources on environmentally sound practices.

Magnapool are advertising environmental benefits for pool owners  using the process of diluting the backwash water which will allows them to use the water on gardens and plants without any resulting salt damage. There is nothing unique in diluting salt water for recycling, it can be done with any type of pool water. More importantly there is nothing "green" about using a five to one ratio of valuable freshwater to magnapool water to allow it to be used on gardens.

So what are the differences between the Magnapool system and other salt water chlorinator systems?  The simple answer is that the "salt" is the only difference. Instead of using sodium chloride to produce chlorine Magnapool have a blend of sodium chloride, magnesium chloride and potassium chloride to produce chlorine. There are several companies selling these blended salts for use with salt water chlorinators.

The con is that Magnapool are using elaborate, deceptive and misleading marketing methods using anecdotal references to the possible transdermal benefits of magnesium absorption that in reality relate to mineral baths containing 30 times the concentration of the magnapool minerals.

Great effort and expense has gone into designing media content that convinces the less informed pool owner that they require the expensive "Magnapool equipment" to get a healthier pool system. 

Magnapool say they have thousands of happy customers with few complaints. These customers have purchased a salt water chlorinator, the design and technology has been perfected over the last 30 years so they are unlikely to have any issues with sanitation or reason to complain. If they read and believed the Magnapool marketing hype I am sure many customers will have that "feels healthy" moment every time they enter the pool. Their feelings might change when they learn the truth, that they could have the same result for $1000's less. 

Can there be a better definition of "Greenwashing" than this. I think not, but it is unsustainable in practise. In the sort term Magnapool have got away from the possible problem of pool owners buying Magnapool salt from a pool shop to discover it works just as well with their existing less expensive salt chlorinator. They have done this by limiting supply channels through selected resellers who are hooked into the con by the attractive margins and convincing media campaigns. This is a win win for manufacture and reseller but short lived in terms of sustainability and sure to alienate the honest industry peers and anger consumers when the truth gets out. 

This link will take you to a earlier forum that was eventually stopped by the moderator. The Magnapool inventor was caught trying to deceive a forum member into believing the Magnapool system did not producing chlorine. This was just the start as more evidence of the companies underhanded and deceiving ways came through along with some alarming information about the dangers of Magnesium chloride damaging concrete and pool surrounds. 

The Magnapool website has links to research, universities and Prof. Ross Barnard. It gives the impression that some serious testing has been conducted on Magnapool water,  but if you dig deeper you find it is the work of students useing anecdotal evidence on the benefits of soaking in far higher levels of minerals than would not be safe or feasible economically in a swimming pool.

Why are Magnapool getting away with this scam? Simple,they have a large wallet and presence in the Australian market place. The have gambled on people not questioning the ethics of their companies product claims. 

If Magnapool can produce irrefutable independent research that contradicts the claims here or get a ruling from the office responsible for the Trade Practices Act in Australia that they are not using misleading and deceptive marketing practices I will be happy to delete this blog. Until then I will do everything possible to warn people of the truth behind this product.