Prince Charles — Snake Oil Salesman, Global Warming Soothsayer

Monday, March 23rd, 2009 10:20 am by Neal

(Hat tip: Andrew Stuttaford)

The coronation of Prince Charles as global warming soothsayer should thrill the climate chicken littles. Perhaps the good and wise Prince should be nominated for a Nobel prize. That he is getting rich peddling snake oil tinctures is a fitting tribute to the scientific knowledge of his supporters. We recommend Prince Charles and Al Gore consult Bernie Madoff on setting up a carbon credits investment scheme. They’ll “clean up.”

Global warming has reached a ‘defining moment,’ Prince Charles warns:

Prince Charles told 200 business leaders in Rio de Janeiro that the world has “less than 100 months” to save the planet.

“As the world’s economy heads further into recession, it would be easy to lose sight of the bigger picture; to commit the sin, as we say in England and if you will pardon the terrible pun, of ‘not seeing the wood for the trees’. For we are, I fear, at a defining moment in the world’s history.

“We are facing a series of challenges so immense that we can, perhaps, be forgiven for feeling they are all too forbidding to confront.”

In his speech, Prince Charles quoted Chico Mendes, the great Brazilian environmentalist, who said we are all “fighting for humanity.”

Prince Charles’ Duchy Originals ordered to remove ‘misleading’ herbal remedy claims:

Prince Charles’ Duchy Originals brand has been ordered to remove claims about the effectiveness of its herbal remedies from its website, after regulators ruled they were “misleading”.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has upheld a complaint over the online advertising of two remedies, Duchy Herbals Echina-Relief Tincture and Duchy Herbals Hyperi-Lift Tincture, which are sold for £10 for 50ml in selected Boots and Waitrose stores. Although the MHRA has given the company a license to sell the remedies it does not allow them to make any claims about their effects, merely to stress their “traditional use”.

Since the ruling, made at the end of January but only made public, Duchy Originals has since amended its website and agreed not to make similar claims in any future advertising. The remedies have been available in stores and through the company’s website since the end of January and the MHRA made its ruling after a complaint from a member of the public.

The move comes just a week after a leading scientist accused the Prince of “exploiting the gullible” with the Duchy Originals’ tinctures…

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