Therapeutic Products Bill, M3GAN and Bad science, Ānanda Mārga cult

16^th January 2023

Hi there

This is my first newsletter for the year. I had an enjoyable Christmas and New Year and had some nice time off from work.

Mark started off the newsletter last week with a Happy New Year to all, with a bunch of great content from several contributors. We would love to have more people write content for the newsletter, so if you’ve got something in mind or on your mind, please let us know - email news@skeptics.nz

We also resumed our podcast recording this week, and it was an interesting episode to record. We covered several topics, but spent a lot of time exploring the new AI sensation ChatGPT. The discussion was lively - (you can listen here). I think the technology is fascinating, and potentially very useful. It’s fascinating to watch AI creep into our lives, and it makes me wonder what life will be like in the next decade and how it will affect lives (and jobs!)

And, speaking of AI, I watched the recently released movie: M3GAN, which I give a brief review of.

You may not be aware, but the Therapeutic Products Bill, a replacement for the dated Medicines Act and Dietary Supplements Regulations from last century, is making its way through the select committee process, with submissions due by the middle of February. I spend a bit of time on this below, with assistance from new committee member Katrina.

Our regular contributor, Alexander Maxwell wrote an interesting item about contrasting perspectives of people defending their religion, to skeptics coming to the defence of science. I’ve got an item below from another previous contributor - Al Blenny - responding to that item.

Finally, regular contributor Bronwyn Rideout has another item from NZ’s skeptical history, talking about the Ānanda Mārga group.

Enjoy!

Craig Shearer

Therapeutic Products Bill

Craig Shearer - 16 January 2023

There's a new bill being introduced to parliament that is intended to replace our Medicines Act 1981 and the Dietary Supplements Regulations 1985. The bill is the Therapeutic Products Bill (TPB) and it's currently at Select Committee stage, meaning that the public is able to provide submissions on it (currently 30 days left as this is published). This presents a rare opportunity to provide input on legislation directly linked to our interests as a society, and we are unlikely to be involved in a legislative change of this magnitude encompassing therapeutic products again for quite some time.

M3GAN

Craig Shearer - 16 January 2023

Today I satisfied one of my pleasures - watching horror movies - and viewed M3GAN (obviously pronounced Megan) which opened late last week. I'd categorise the movie as science-fiction horror with a lot of camp and comedy (mostly intentional, but some unintentional), and social commentary thrown in.

Bad science or not science?

Al Blenney - 16 January 2023

“Jock's a Scotsman, and he doesna' like whusky.”

Ānanda Mārga: The sect New Zealand forgot

Bronwyn Rideout - 16 January 2023

As Mark and I continue to chip away at the NZ Skeptical Calendar project, my search for fringe groups in the Papers Past database introduced me to Ānanda Mārga (The Path of Bliss or officially,Ānanda Mārga Pracāraka Saṃgha). The groups had an absolutely wild time in New Zealand and Australia throughout the 1970s before they disappeared from the archives, resurfacing intermittently when their humanitarian efforts were being promoted. Ānanda Mārga came to New Zealand in 1974 and soon there were groups in each major New Zealand city; they even operated a health food shop in Nelson.