Miracle water at $80 a dose

The Daily Telegraph - Australia/July 17, 2001
By Rachel Morris

It costs $80 a bottle and boasts it is a miracle cure for drug abuse, cancer, heart disease, migraine and many other ailments.

Thousands of "magic" bottles have been sold by a cult based in Byron Bay, yet its contents look like springwater and its marketers openly admit that that is what it is.

The apparent magical powers of Infinity Forms of Yellow Remember mean they can be refilled with tap water up to three times before having to shell out for a new bottle.

But the NSW Department of Fair Trading yesterday disagreed and warned the sick and desperate to steer clear of "The Waters."

More than 270 different bottles of water are being marketed by the cult bearing names like Heart Spider, Puff the Magic Dragon, and Pharmaceutical Elixir.

Authorities say the cult has sold thousands of bottles, the mystical properties of which are enlivened when a "wand" is waved over the water. The cult's advertisements claim: "To imbibe these waters is to touch the omnipresent attribute of the Divine, which bestows the healing design upon the recipients."

The Infinity organisation also markets wands, body products, pendants and literature.

Fair Trading yesterday says the cult is a company whose directors are Gerald Attrill (aka Jessa O' My Heart), Drew Porter and Paula Mary Rutherford, of Tyalgum.

The cult has a shopfront in Gladesville and outlets in Queensland, Byron Bay and overseas. It also sells its wares and philosophies through its own website.

Fair Trading Minister John Watkins said: "This is a very old rip-off - the old sideshow spruiker selling the cure-all elixir."

Mr Watkins said Infinity was being further investigated by his department over the marketing of the elixirs and if found guilty of false and misleading advertising could face fines of between $22,000 and $110,000.

June Prasad, 77, a devotee of Infinity, one of the largest and fastest growing cults in Australia, has been using "The Waters" since 1998.

"They keep me away from the doctor," said the pensioner who uses various types of water for general health and arthritis treatment.

"I've not been sick since . . . I buy it when I can afford to. "I'll pay anything for it because it's so good."

Phone calls to the offices of the Infinity cult in Byron Bay were not returned yesterday.