NZ Skeptics Articles

Nick D. Kim

Nick Kim is a Waikato chemist and cartoonist

Mostly Unremarkable

1 August 1997

The largely unremarkable hairless apes of Sol 3 really are largely unremarkable: the myth of the wandering womb.

Home Water Treatment and the Sceptical Consumer

1 May 1997

Home water treatment systems are often promoted on the basis of the purported health (rather than aesthetic) benefits of using them. This is particularly in relation to urban drinking water given the full treatment -- coagulation, sedimentation, filtration and disinfection -- where such claims usually constitute misleading advertising. In this review I will focus on a number of misconceptions about the health benefits of water treatment, examining each assertion in its wider context. The ensuing discussion applies less to rural water supplies, where valid reasons often exist for use of treatments -- eg removing nitrate or protecting against giardia.