In Europhysics News (Vol. 37/2), "The origin of the Earth's magnetic field", I present a figure showing the rapid decay of the Earth's dipole moment. This graph largely relies on the GUFM field model, which is based on historical measurement of field intensity and direction over the 1600-1990 period. This plot is often used to support the possibility of an approaching polarity reversal. In fact, as Dr. Frank Lowes kindly pointed to me, no direct intensity measurements were available prior to C.F. Gauss's invention of a method for determining intensity in 1832. As a result, while directional observations over the period 1600-1832 can constrain field morphology, the intensity is left unknown. Following Barraclough (1974), the GUFM model was therefore scaled in time assuming a linear decrease of the axial dipole strength. It results that there is absolutely no evidence in the GUFM model for, or against, a decrease in the dipole moment prior to 1832.The decrease in dipole moment, as shown in figure 1 of the article, is only supported by observations after 1832 (see figure,with historical measurements after Fraser-Smith, 1987). This fact only appears to weaken the clues for an approaching reversal. For completeness, we should however note that indirect intensity measurements from archaeological sources appear to confirm field decay over the last 3000 years.