Scientology : the purification rundown is a treatment dangerous

Store selling Scientology vitamin regimen raises concerns

Some physicians and a former Scientologist say the treatment, called a purification rundown, is dangerous and ineffective. (St. Petersburg Times, published March 28, 1999)

Niacin can be toxic when used to 'beat' drug test (www.cnn.com - April 9, 2007)


RPF - Scientology's Rehabilitation Project Force in practice

RPF : Rehabilitation Project Force, the Church of scientology internal gulag where bad people are sent for punishment or "rehabilitation"; a brain washing and penal organization. It is said to be voluntary, however, if one does not go, he is expelled and has to pay a freeloader bill, which is a lot of money.

Source : http://www.whyaretheydead.net/childabuse/index.html

What is the RPF ?
Is the RPF a voluntary punishment program ?
How many people participate in the RPF program ?
What are the rules of Scientology's RPF regime ?
How long does completing the RPF program take ?
Scientology's Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF) in practice

USA : " Scientologists are encouraged not to treat sick children with conventional medication, not to comfort and nurture children, and to cut or restrict ties with grandparents if they are not Scientologists. (Teresa Summers, New york Post - February 2001)

Store selling Scientology vitamin regimen raises concerns
Some physicians and a former Scientologist say the treatment, called a purification rundown, is dangerous and ineffective.
Some physicians and a former Scientologist say the treatment, called a purification rundown, is dangerous and ineffective.

By GEOFF DOUGHERTY
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 28, 1999

NEW PORT RICHEY -- Two members of the state physician's board are questioning whether a health-food store with ties to Scientology is practicing medicine illegally by offering a church-sanctioned vitamin regimen.
The treatment, called "purification rundown," is one of the first steps Scientologists take upon joining the church. Church members tout the rundown as a purifying routine that enables people to kick drug abuse and "think more clearly and have more energy." Some physicians, and a former Scientologist interviewed by the Times, call it dangerous and ineffective.

At a recent informational session, the owners of Pure Health on W Main Street told visitors that the rundown could avert the need for cardiac bypass surgery, treat kidney failure and alleviate eye problems.

One of the owners -- who acknowledged having no traditional medical training -- said she sometimes "weaned" clients from their prescription medication in preparation for the program.


To Dr. Emilio Echevarria, a member of the state Board of Medicine, those statements raise concerns about whether Pure Health broke the law.

"There may be a violation," he said. "The state might say, in essence, "You're practicing medicine.' I certainly would look at that very closely."

Franchise of the church

The Board of Medicine regulates medical practice in the state. Echevarria was interviewed by the Times Wednesday night as the newspaper prepared to publish a report on Pure Health's vitamin program and ties to the Church of Scientology

Although Pure Health does not advertise any connection with the church, the purification rundown is a trademarked service of Scientology that can only be offered with the consent of the church.
Pure Health, which store owner Ron Howarth described as a franchise, pays 10 percent of its earnings from purification to an arm of the church.

The purification rundown -- sometimes used as a recruiting tool by the church -- has been questioned by doctors.

One of them is Ronald Gots, a Maryland toxicologist who reviewed the procedure at the request of city officials in Shreveport, La. Firefighters there underwent the treatment at city expense after they were exposed to carcinogens.

"I just found that it was useless," Gots said in a telephone interview. "Useless and fraudulent, considering the claims that were made. And very expensive."

The program also calls for administration of up to 5 grams a day of niacin -- a dose that Gots said is dangerous.

"That is a very large dose. It is potentially a toxic dose. Two grams a day causes serious complications."
Howarth and co-owner Brenda Dyer said their program has been proven safe and effective. Moreover, they said, clients are never told that purification can cure illness.

"I am not practicing medicine," said Dyer.

Patients at risk

Echevarria is not the first person to question whether church members have overstepped their bounds in offering health care. Last year the Pasco-Pinellas State Attorney's Office charged the church with the unlicensed practice of medicine in the case of Lisa McPherson, a Clearwater woman who died after a lengthy stay at the Fort Harrison Hotel

That case is awaiting trial.

State Attorney Bernie McCabe declined to offer an opinion on whether Pure Health had broken the same law. He said his office would probably take guidance from the Board of Medicine.

Echevarria said it's hard to tell whether Pure Health's program violates the law. But the statements made at the store's informational meeting, Echevarria said, warrant a close look. Of particular concern, he said, are promises about treatment results that are not substantiated by scientific research.

Further, Echevarria said non-doctors who tinker with a patient's prescription doses can produce tragic results.

"You're putting the patient at risk," Echevarria said. "What knowledge does she (Dyer) have to take someone off medications that have been prescribed by a licensed practitioner ?"

Jogging and saunas

The purification rundown was first detailed in a book by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. In the book, Hubbard claims that ultra-high doses of niacin, coupled with a weeks-long routine of jogging and saunas, can rid the body of dangerous toxins

The program is based on the idea that those toxins are stored in fat and can be sweated out of the body in a sauna.

Others question the science behind the program and say it can lead to health problems.

Robert E. Geary, an Ohio dentist and former Scientologist, underwent the treatment with his wife.

"She was in okay shape, but she wasn't an athlete. She was losing sleep and having hallucinations, and they were saying, "Oh, that's good,' " Geary said in a telephone interview.

Geary said his wife eventually suffered a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized.

When an organization linked to Scientology sought approval from Oklahoma regulators to offer a drug-treatment program that relied heavily on purification rundown, Geary wrote to state officials.

"As a health care practitioner that has participated in their so-called purification rundown ... I would say it is bunk," Geary wrote. "I consider their treatment unscientific and dangerous."

In 1991, the Oklahoma Board of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services refused to approve the treatment program, calling it "unsafe and ineffective," according to a report in the Tulsa Tribune.

Several lawsuits have been filed against Scientology by families who blame purification programs for the death of a relative. In Portland, Ore., the parents of Christopher Arbuckle, 25, filed suit after he took a purification rundown course.

Arbuckle died after his liver failed. His parents settled out of court for an undisclosed amount and agreed not to discuss the case.

Ronald Gots, who works for the International Center for Toxicology and Medicine in Rockville, Md., said he was contracted by the city of Shreveport, La. Firefighters there thought they had been exposed to PCBs on the job and persuaded the city to pay for the purification rundown.

Gots reviewed their cases at the request of the insurer and found that PCB levels in the firefighters' bodies had actually gone up during the purification rundown.

"I think it's scientifically fallacious to say that you can remove toxic substances from the body this way," Gots said. "Materials stored in fat are not going to be removed in the sweat. It makes no sense."

Despite that, Dyer aggressively defends the validity of purification. She provided the Times with a sheaf of studies on the program's effectiveness.

She agreed that the amount of niacin administered during purification can be dangerous.

But the purification's sauna-and-jogging component allows clients to sweat out excess amounts of the vitamin, thereby preventing liver damage, Dyer said.

The small group that attended the meeting at the New Port Richey store was also not told about the controversy surrounding purification rundown. One woman asked Dyer: "Have you ever had any failures?"
"No," Dyer replied.

'Toxic overload'

At that meeting, visitors heard testimonials about the rundown's purifying effects
Howarth said he completed the program four years ago after finding that he had high concentrations of heavy metals in his hair.
The rundown removed those concentrations, he said.
Howarth said the program can also have value for heart patients.

"If you do this, you can avoid bypass surgery," he said.

Dyer said a wide variety of health problems can be attributed to the kind of impurities that the program purges.

"Cancer and AIDS are the final stages of toxic overload," Dyer said.
Addressing an elderly visitor who said she had recently experienced kidney failure, Dyer suggested the woman try the program.

"You need to do something about your toxins," Dyer said.

Dyer said she has years of experience in the alternative medicine community and has advised clients preparing for the rundown to discontinue the use of drugs prescribed by doctors.

"Sometimes I wean someone off of their medication," she said.

When the Times asked Echevarria and fellow Board of Medicine member Dr. John W. Glotfelty to review those statements, the physicians both suggested an investigation would be in order.

"It sounds to me like they are diagnosing," said Glotfelty. "My concern is that they're practicing medicine without a license."

Allen Grossman, the assistant attorney general who handles legal matters for the board, agreed.
"I think the board would be very concerned with any non-physician interfering with treatment prescribed by a licensed physician," he said.

Grossman added that some of Pure Health's claims about the results obtained by purification clients could merit investigation.

"Those would be more of a consumer-fraud issue," he said.

Spiritual benefits

In an interview last week, Dyer and Howarth said only one client has completed the purification rundown at the New Port Richey store. And they strongly denied practicing medicine without a license

While they reeled off a list of medical conditions that can be helped by purification rundown -- kidney disease, liver disease, obesity -- they said clients are always told the main benefits of the program are spiritual.

When Dyer's clients express an interest in reducing the amount of prescription drugs they take, Dyer said she usually tells them to see a physician. But Dyer acknowledged that in at least one instance, she had "weaned" someone off medication without the help of a doctor. In that case, Dyer said, her advice came from the pages of the Physician's Desk Reference, a manual on prescription drugs.

"One time I took someone off of thyroid medication. She wanted to go off it. She didn't want to go back to her doctor," Dyer said. "I pulled out the book . . . and I said, "This is what you would have to do.' "

The patient followed that advice and later received approval from her physician, Dyer said.

While acknowledging that she prefers that clients see a doctor to make medication changes, Dyer said she is willing to help patients who have decided not to return to their doctor.

"If people want to come to me, and they want to do it on their own, that's up to them," Dyer said. "They have to know the seriousness of getting off something on their own, and if there's any side effects. Certain drugs, you can have problems."

When it comes to recommending purification for specific health problems, Dyer and Howarth draw two distinctions between their statements and the offering of medical advice. They never promise patients that purification rundown will cure an illness.

And, Howarth said, they are merely advocating the use of vitamins and foods -- not prescription drugs.
While offering those cautions, Dyer defended the practice of telling clients that medical problems can improve after purification.

"This is not a medical treatment. . . ." Dyer said. "I'm not prescribing drugs. It's just common-sense thing. It's like friendly advice, because I'm so familiar with toxins."

But that advice, Howarth said, can come at a price. Although he and Dyer sometimes offer the purification rundown free to cash-strapped clients, Howarth said the bill for others can reach $3,500.

'There are licenses required'

The law barring non-doctors from practicing medicine is a broad one

It defines the practice of medicine as "the diagnosis, treatment, operation or prescription for any human disease, pain injury, deformity or other physical or mental condition."

People who engage in those activities as part of a religious activity, or those who are administering family remedies or acting in an emergency are exempted from the law. But otherwise, non-doctors who diagnose or treat disease can be charged with a felony.

The state Supreme Court has ruled that even treatments that involve non-prescription drugs, vitamins or foods constitute unlicensed practice if they're offered by a person who lacks a doctor's license or state approval to work as a homeopathic physician or nutritionist.

"The overarching concern is there are licenses required in this state for being involved in nutrition and dietitian practices as well as medicine," said Grossman, the assistant attorney general.
"Some of what you describe may well be something that falls under those statutes."

Tom Cruise and Kirstie Alley

Howarth and Dyer said they came to New Port Richey from Hawaii, seeking a place where they could open a business cheaply while living close to the church's Clearwater headquarters

The couple took a dilapidated home and turned it into a freshly painted store, Howarth said. The purification rundown, rather than prompting scrutiny, should be recognized as an important service that the store is offering to the public.

"We are here trying to help people and do some good for the community," Howarth said.
Both Howarth and Dyer lashed out against the Times, calling the newspaper's coverage of Scientology "smut."

Because of that coverage, Howarth said, the public -- and the store's prospective clients -- have formed false and negative opinions of Scientology.

It's for that reason, the couple said, that they didn't tell visitors at the store's recent open house about their ties to the church.

"It's not a question of withholding information," Howarth said. "It just wasn't the topic of discussion."
Those who attended heard a testimonial about purification from famous church member and actor Kirstie Alley.
And Dyer recommended a book about nutrition that included contributions from Scientologists John Travolta and Tom Cruise.

When one of the prospective clients noted that all three were church members, Howarth smiled.
"Well," he said, "There must be something to it, then."
-- Staff writer Thomas Tobin and news researcher Kitty Bennett contributed to this report, which also contains information from Times files

Children and teens and Scientology's Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF)

Source : http://www.whyaretheydead.net/childabuse/index.html
Part of Tax-exempt Child Abuse and Neglect by Mike Gormez. Visit the message board.



What is the RPF ?

According to Scientology "Any law which applies to the behavior of men and women applies to children" and "A child is a man or a woman who has not attained full growth." On the basis of these direct quotes of the founder of Scientology and Dianetics, L. Ron Hubbard, it is no surprise that the harsh forced labour and self-confessions on the RPF program with its social isolation and a maximum of 6 hours of sleep per night, is also applied to children. A primer on this human rights abuse is the following study:
Brainwashing in Scientology's Rehabilitative Project Force (RPF) by Dr. Stephen A. Kent -- Abstract

This study examines the confinement programs and camps that Scientology operates as supposedly rehabilitative facilities for "deviant" members of its "elite" Sea Organization. These programs, known collectively as the Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF), put coerced participants through regimes of harsh physical punishment, forced self-confessions, social isolation, hard labour, and intense doctrinal study, all as part of leadership-designed efforts to regain members' ideological commitment. The confinement that participants experience, combined with forms of physical maltreatment, intensive ideological study, and forced confessions, allows social scientists to speak of the RPF as a "brainwashing" program.


Brainwashing in Scientology's Rehabilitation Force (RPF) - Part 3 Children and Teens on the RPF

Numerous indicators point to the probability that teenagers and pre-teens are subject to the RPF program. These indicators include: accounts from several former adult members; an internal Scientology document that refers to a children's RPF program; a reporter's account in a newspaper article; and television footage that apparently shows teenagers on the RPF program in Los Angeles unloading from a bus.

Is the RPF a voluntary punishment program?

Clearly not, as internal Scientology documents reveal. CMO ED 411 [Commodore's Messenger Organization Executive Directive] of 28 Aug 1979 says in part :

"Make it known to the children that any act of vandalism, theft or out-ethics or any crime comitted by a child will be imediately followed by placing that child in the RPF under severe restrictions" (Consultant)


PAC MEMO: Kids on RPF

In addition to the Cadet Org itself getting established there are SO [Sea Org members sign billion year contracts] kids not in the SO who need to do the Children's RPF to get them back on purpose as SO members. Currently [name removed] is an enturbulative source who has been on the lines of the EPF, SNR HCO PAC, SECURITY, CADET ORG. He needs to be moved off everyone's lines and put into the Children's RPF. [name removed] recently took a razor blade and cut X's in his skin up and down both his arms. He is psychotic in PT and needs close supervision.

How many people participate in the RPF program ?

A Contemporary Ordered Religious Community: The Sea Organization A paper presented at The 2001 Conference by J. Gordon Melton

The new RPFer then generally moves quickly to one of the RPF centers that are located in the Sea Org complexes in Los Angeles, Clearwater, London, or Copenhagen. The largest number are in the LA RPF. (In 2000, when this study was done, more than half of the approximately 350 currently participating in the program were in LA. Slightly less were in the Clearwater RPF, and by comparison, the RPF at Copenhagen had less than 20.)

What are the rules of Scientology's RPF regime ?

Declaration of Anne Rosenblum

No walking. You had to run all the time.

You were not allowed to speak to anyone outside the RPF.

You were not allowed to originate any communication, written or otherwise, to anyone outside the RPF, unless there was an emergency situation, or unless you cleared it with your RPF's seniors first.

You were not allowed to go anywhere by yourself, unless authorized to do so. Even when going to the bathroom, someone had to go with you. You would also get in trouble if you saw anyone start to go off by themselves and didn't go with them, then report it.

You had to call all RPF seniors "Sir." If there was some reason you had to talk to someone outside the RPF (and got permission for it), you had to call them "Sir" when speaking with them.

All letters you wrote had to be put in a stamped, unsealed envelope, then dropped in a box in RPF room. The RPF MAA then read all out-going mail. You are not allowed to send anything directly out of the RPF, including and especially, personal letters.

You are allowed only in "RPF designated areas," which, for me, was the Fort Harrison garage (it is a spiral 4 story garage), and the RPF course room, right off the second floor garage. You were not allowed to go anywhere else, the only exception being during morning cleaning stations when you cleaned the rest of the Fort Harrison.

Had to wear dark blue boiler-suits or dark blue shirts and pants.

Were not allowed "luxuries" (their word for it) such as music, seeing T. V., (at one point half dozen people were sent to the RPF's RPF for having seen some T. V. in a room they were in when they were sick) playing cards, perfume, etc.--anything like that.

There is an F.O. 3434 series called "Rocks and Shoals." There are penalties one gets for anything they do wrong such as non-compliance to an order, not calling a senior "Sir," walking instead of running, missing a spot on a mirror you were cleaning, etc. The penalties consist of doing so many laps, sit-ups or push-ups. The laps are running up and down the garage ramp.

How long does completing the RPF program take?

The Church of Scientology’s Rehabilitation Project Force
A Study by Juha Pentikäinen (Chair of the Department of the Study of Religions, University of Helsinki, Finland), Jurgen F.K. Redhardt, and Michael York (Bath Spa University College)

A completion period of between one year and one year and a half was recommended as ideal by the director and the participants. The programme director feels that even more ideally people ought to be able to complete in a six-month period.

Scientology's Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF) in practice

Robert Vaughn Young describes his experience on the RPF’s RPF
24 Sep 1997

I was on the RPF for 16 months and while there were no children while I was there (the youngest was, I believe, about 16), I had spoken with others who had served with children and I even met one youngster (about 12) who had been on the children's RPF on the ship. As to the RPF's RPF, there is one and I was assigned to it. It is where one goes when one first goes to the RPF.

Affidavit of Tonja C. Burden
25 January 1980

In August 1977 I refused to perform a certain order and was sent to the galley, where I performed menial labor until I emotionally broke apart and was sent to the Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF) on the direct orders of Hubbard. In the RPF you were labeled 'treasonous' and force to work 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, and oftentimes received only 'rice and beans' and water. During this time I personally observed a person chained to pipes in the boiler room in the Fort Harrison building for a period of weeks. In the RPF I saw people screaming and crying during the constant 'auditing' on the E-meter. The E-meter is a lie detector used during auditing. RPF prisoners were forced to undergo 'auditing' in order to 'audit out' their evil purposes against Hubbard and Scientology. I cried virtually the whole time I was in the RPF.

KOTV August, 1989

Unique footage of RPF children

A fifteen second clip from a KOTV cameraman who caught a busload of Scientology kids on the Children's Rehabilitation Project Force (re-education gulag) running in LA.

Children may not talk freely with their parents according to Scientology document

FLAG ORDER 3434RB Re-Revised 30 May 1977

Some contact with a spouse or child is permitted during the RPFer's meal time or securing time once daily if the RPFer is upstat. All the above is providing no discussion of case or condition occurs and providing there is NO enturbulation whatsoever from or between either. In the case of a pre-school child contact is allowed more than-once daily during mealtimes and the schedule is to be worked out with the RPF MAA [Master At Arms - an Ethics Officer].

Note that the rules have been made more stricter. The new rules don't allow any contact with family or children for the duration of the RPF program.

Declaration of Anne Rosenblum
The Rehabilitation Project Force

The one night out a week was canceled by LRH sometime in June or July of 1978. RPFers were not to have contact with their spouses except once a day at a meal. This was an F.O 3434 series written by LRH. If they had children, RPFers were allowed to see them during the meal time, plus one hour a week, if their stats were up.

Sadly the situation has worsened...

Children may have now no contact at all ! Jyllands-Posten 14 Jan 2001 (In English and Dutch)

The CoS has given Jyllands-Posten access to the newest set of rules of conduct for those going through the RPF program. Among the restrictions are: ... no contact whatsoever with their families. Previously, RPF members could see their spouses or children once a week under certain conditions, but now all contact is forbidden for the duration of the RPF program..



David Ray account of life in the Sea Org

City of Clearwater City Commission Hearings, 1982 (in Realvideo )

And the food that they served the RPFers was just rotten. They served all the leftovers after all of the staff on the whole base, all the buildings, ate, okay? Then, we ate alone, whatever was left over. And it wasn't very good. And it didn't give us the nourishment that we needed to keep our bodies going.


Stacy Brooks Young Affidavit

April 4, 1994

People are being held under guard; people are being interrogated on the E-Meter for the slightest infraction. or the slightest hint of disaffection, women are being coerced into aborting their unborn children; parents are being kept from their children for weeks and even months at a time.


Expert statement by Stephen A. Kent, 10 February 1999

British child visitation case

These are programs that elite Sea Organization members enter after internal 'trials' or high-ranking leaders find them guilty of crimes against Scientology. The RPF program is of particular interest to the parties involved in this case because credible evidence exists from a number of sources that Scientologists have placed children (as young as twelve years old) on this harsh and abusive program.


Scamizdette: Evidence of disturbing neglect of Scientology children ?

By Chris Owen June 1997

Currently Gavin Ashworth is an enturbulative source who has been on the lines of the RPF, SNR MCC PAC, SECURITY, CADET ORG. He needs to be moved off everyone's lines and put into the Children's RPF. Gavin recently took a razor blade and cut X's in his skin up and down both his arms. He is pychotic [sic] in PT [present time] and needs close supervision."


Link to a very nice german language page by Ilse Hruby

"Rehabilitationsprojekte" RPF für Kinder in Scientology

Im System Scientology ist kein Platz für Kindheit - daher gibt es für Kinder, die in dieser "Glaubensideologie" aufwachsen keine Kindheit in dem Sinne wie wir sie kennen. Kinder werden lt. Hubbard's Ideologie und "Gesetzen" grundsätzlich als Erwachsene betrachtet und und das ausgeklügelte Überwachungs- Straf- und Belohnungssystem der Scientology gilt ebenso wie für die Erwachsenen auch für Kinder.


Sister page Witnesses describe child lock-ups by Scientologist.

Well before January 1974, the date the RPF was established, scientologist children were already being locked-up when they had annoyed L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology. Age did not and does not matter in Scientology, everyone is basically an ageless soul (thetan). So it is no surprise that some of the kids were as young as 4 or 5 years old. The average duration of the lock-up was about 2 weeks according to former Scientology high-up David Mayo.



Why can't Scientology behave like a decent organization should, caring for its youth ?

Why does it have to violate the Universal Declaration of Human Right in pursuit of profit ?

The answer lies with their founder L. Ron Hubbard, who made his word into law for scientologists. Scientology can not change therefor, not by themselves, it would be against all that is sacred for them to abandon the twisted ideas of child abuse which emanated from Hubbard. If we want to see a change in the organization's attitude toward children then it can only come from outward pressure. Get active, write your US representative, politicians, media and inform your friends. Spread the word !

What does the Declaration has to say about these inhuman Scientology practices?

Article 3.
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 5.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 12.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.

Article 18.
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19.
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20.
(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 29.
(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

Article 30.

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.
Adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948.
Adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948.

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