From Otawa Skeptics: Canadian Blood Service promotes blood-type pseudoscience

[salvorhardin]

Imagine visiting NASA's website and finding a webpage devoted to astrology. I expect that critical viewers would find it surprising and disappointing. Happily, NASA is not likely to besmirch their own credibility in that way. Canadian Blood Services, on the other hand, does not seem to be afraid to discredit themselves. They are currently hosting a similar type of webpage called "What's Your Type? Find out what your blood type says about you", which promotes the superstition of blood-group personality typing.

The website material offered by Canadian Blood Services is based on the Japanese cultural belief system of ketsueki-gata, which claims that a person's blood group determines or predicts their personality type. The similarities between astrology and ketsueki-gata are striking. Both populist belief systems act as social lubricants and as reassuring oracles for uncritical followers, and both systems are utterly void of credible scientific evidence or even scientific plausibility. So one wonders why Canadian Blood Services would sully their own credibility by flirting with pseudoscience.
More: http://www.ottawaskeptics.org/topics/alternative-medicine/268-canadian-blood-services-promotes-pseudoscience

Herre's the link to the blood-type personality page referenced in the article: http://www.bloodservices.ca/CentreApps/Internet/UW_V502_MainEngine.nsf/page/WYT_E?OpenDocument

[trotsky]

1. How disappointing.

What's next, pushing the blood types diet?

On edit: Oh crap, I should have checked it out first. They DO add in the diet nonsense.

[TZ]

2. Its PR junk.

Unfortunately blood banks seem to have a lot of unfortunate woo associated with them. Including the fact that despite all scientific evidence to the contrary both the US and Canada STILL refuse to allow gay people to donate...:banghead:

[lizerdbits]

7. Gay men donating

I don't get it either. I could have 10 random male partners a week, unprotected, and as long as they don't give me money I'm "safe" to donate. They don't ask a sexual history of number of partners, only if it involves gay man sex. I think lesbians are OK, as of donating last month all the sex questions were still relating to gay men only.

[charlie]

3. And what *informative* nonsense

The recommendation for my blood type is that I "may benefit from a wholesome well-balanced diet".

Consider me empowered with new knowledge. I'm uneasy about the "may" qualifier, though. What if it turns out a wholesome well-balanced diet will kill me?

[salvorhardin]

4. Hey, look on the bright side

I'd take that to read, "You may benefit from a completely trashy, monolithic diet of pizza and take-out Chinese."

[charlie]

6. Thanks! I will

Not that I need encouragement, but with the authority of Canadian Blood Services behind me, I can garbage-binge myself into radiant health. Thank you, CBS!

[salvorhardin]

5. That page causes my browser to crash

But I'm pretty sure I saw the blood-types diet as one of the references on that page.

[SidDithers]

8. Just sent my e-mail...

"What's your type?" has no more scientific basis than astrology and shouldn't appear on the Canadian Blood Services web site. While it may be "fun", in reality it detracts from the credibility CBS.

In areas of medicine, please stick with science, and don't promote pseudoscience.

Best Regards,

<Sid Dithers>
Oakville, ON

Sid

[woo me with science]

9. I did, too. nt