“Medical Device” Mistaken for Pipe Bomb Prompts Evacuations

According to The San Diego Union Tribune, a suspicious looking device prompted the evacuation of a pre-school and nearby apartment building Thursday morning. Certain “medical devices” have been known to create complications in airport security when accidentally turned on inside luggage, but this is not one of those devices.

A preschool and an apartment complex were briefly evacuated Thursday morning after a school employee found what looked like a pipe bomb but turned out to be a controversial medical device, authorities said.
The director of the pre-school found it on her desk upon arriving for work, said city spokeswoman Monica Zech. The device was described as two metal pipes with electrical tape and wires on it, connected to a 9 volt battery.
The device was taken away by sheriff’s bomb-arson investigators, DeMarco said. The preschool, with about 75 students and a half-dozen staff, was evacuated, as was a 20-unit apartment next door. Washington Avenue was also closed to traffic between Dorothy Street and Jamacha Road.
Police said it proved to be a Zap-It or zapper, a harmless – although controversial – device its proponents claim will eliminate parasites and toxins from the human body with a mild electric current.

A quick search led to awesome modern-day snake oil regarding the magical healing effects of 9V of electricity applied to the skin. From the website selling the item pictured above (which appears to consist of 2 pennies, a $2.99 project box, a switch and an LED), we find some incredible opening words:

All parasites and diseased tissues are positively charged. The zapper introduces negative ions through the skin and into the body’s living tissue, killing the parasites by reversing their polarity and also helping to heal the diseased tissue. Healthy tissue is negatively charged.

Since this is Medgadget.com and not wespendalldaydebunkingcrapscience.com, the above statements will be labelled as “unverified” and we will move on.
By the way, the pictured item is called the “Terminator 2” and sells for $115.
Link to another site which actually contains a circuit diagram for the device. Theirs actually looks like it would detonate – it has a big red thumb button and a blinking red LED.