The Introduction to "Clear Body, Clear Mind"

This web page reproduces (without permission, but within the parameters of "fair use") the Introduction to this book, in order to examine the outlandish claims made therein. For a more systematic examination of Scientology's fraudulent claims about the Purif, see Chris Owen's essay Hubbard's Junk Science, part of the Narconon-Exposed.org web site.

The Introduction was written by Dr. David Root, MD, MPH, and James Barnes, both of whom are members of Narconon's advisory board. Both have ties to FASE, the Foundation for Advancements in Science and Education, another group that is alleged to have conducted an "independent" study of Narconon's effectiveness. (They can't possibly be independent, as they are a known Scientology front group.)

Clear Body, Clear Mind

by L. Ron Hubbard

INTRODUCTION

[DELETION: Snipped a long, uninspired rant about the entire planet going to hell due to pesticides, pollution, drug abuse, and radiation.]

In the face of such an overwhelming barrage of toxins and drugs encountered on a daily basis, what can be done to free oneself from the devastating effects?

The answer came from the breakthrough discoveries of L. Ron Hubbard. In 1977, while researching the harmful effects of drugs on a person's spiritual advancement, he discovered that the drug LSD left residual deposits in the user's fatty tissue. He found that these residuals could continue to cause adverse reactions in these individuals months and even years after the original "trip" was over. He later extended his discoveries to other drugs and toxic compounds. He then developed and released a purification (detoxification) procedure that could safely reduce or eliminate the toxic chemicals accumulated in fatty tissues.

L. Ron Hubbard's formal schooling ended when he flunked out of George Washington University in 1932, his sophomore year, after earning D's and F's in calculus, chemistry, and physics. He later purchased a Ph.D. from Sequoia University, a mail-order diploma mill. Hubbard was never involved in any kind of legitimate scientific research, and never worked in a physiology laboratory, much less operated one of his own. How would he know what was lurking in someone's fatty tissue? Besides, he had other things on his mind in 1977. On July 8 of that year, the FBI raided the Washington and Los Angeles offices of the Church of Scientology and carted off dozens of boxes of evidence documenting the Church's involvment in criminal activities. Hubbard spent the next few years hiding out from US law enforcement while his wife Mary Sue and several other high-ranking Scientologists went to prison. He was not conducting medical research.

Research in subsequent years was validated by Mr. Hubbard's theory, and has demonstrated the value of the program for a variety of toxic exposures. This work has shown beyond question that the Purification program described in this book, when followed exactly, can be remarkably effective. In fact, thousands upon thousands across the planet have freed themselves from the biochemical devastation caused by drugs and toxic substances.

Research is not "validated" by a theory. Rather, theory is validated by experiment. No peer-reviewed experiments have ever shown the effectiveness of Hubbard's theory. In fact, no proper scientific study by a neutral party has ever been done. One such study was proposed by Dr. Joseph Miceli (see The Miceli Proposal), to be conducted at Central Michigan University, but it was rejected by the human subject review committee as "unfit for human experimentation".

His claim that drugs are stored in fat cells and can be excreted years later in sweat and urine is a purely medical claim. If he claimed no medical results, it's because he didn't want the FDA to come after him; he already had enough problems with the FBI. (And the FDA had already come after Scientology in 1965 for making illegal medical claims about its E-meter device.)

Ah, so now they DO want to claim medical results. Guess Hubbard changed his mind. So where is the peer-reviewed research to back up these claims? A quarter century after Hubbard's momentous "discovery", there is still nothing in any peer-reviewed journal to support his unorthodox (i.e., nutty) ideas.

Studies done over the decades provide repeated evidence of the program's effectiveness in eliminating toxins from the body. For example, consider the following:

• While monitoring the rehabilitation of cocaine and Valium addicts using the Purification program, a medical doctor and a molecular biologist found that previously undetectable drugs appeared both in the urine and sweat of former drug users. In other words, these residual drugs were dislodged as a result of the program and eliminated, freeing each individual from the harmful effects of these drugs.

  The only people making these claims are those affiliated with Scientology or its front group, Narconon. No respectable independent investigator has ever confirmed any of Hubbard's nonsense about excreting stored toxins.

• A young woman had spent six months on a job that required her to hose off the filters of an oil burning generator. She had developed a variety of physical symptoms, accompanied by a general hopelessness about life. She was enrolled in a supervised Purification program. On the fourth day of the program, a blackish greasy material began to ooze out of the pores of her skin. This continued for several days and eventually ceased. When she completed the program, her physical complaints were gone. An even greater relief she expressed was the return of the mental and physical energy and alertness that we associate with good health.

• The deadly chemical dioxin found in the military defoliant "Agent Orange" and used during the Vietnam War, poisoned thousands that were exposed to it, including the American servicemen. Years later a cardiologist conducted tests on a person who had been exposed to this chemical but subsequently completed the Purification program. He found that the patient's level of dioxin had reduced by 29 percent immediately after the program and an astounding 97 percent eight months later. And all previous symptoms attributed to this poisoning had disappeared.

  If the Purif could really cure the effects of exposure to Agent Orange, it would be in use at dozens of military hopitals throughout the United States. But it's not. All we have is one glowing story from an unnamed doctor. Why didn't he treat all his other patients with the Purif and become a hero?

• A number if military veterans who served in the Gulf War returned with various debilitating conditions. These individuals lived and fought in the presence of a long list of toxins, ranging from pesticides, the byproducts of oil well fires, radioactive shells and, possibly, chemical warfare agents. Several veterans suffering from this "Gulf War Syndrome" have completed this program. All have reported remarkable improvements.

  So the Purif cures Gulf War Syndrome too? And yet, it's not in use in any US military healthcare facility. How do they explain this? They don't even try. But the REALLY nutty stuff is yet to come: L. Ron Hubbard on radiation.

The Chernobyl disaster is considered one of the worst nuclear accidents ever to have occurred. Workers and residents were exposed to a wide range of radiation doses, along with great stress and anxiety. Many of these people are now suffering from a number of illnesses related to the event. While the specific relation of these illnesses to radiation is still the subject of scientific studies, an approach that would return these men, women and children to a state of good mental and physical health was needed.

Mr. Hubbard's program was applied to several Chernobyl-affected groups. In Kazakhstan, a group of men who worked on the repair and recovery from the Chernobyl disaster (known as liquidators") had been suffering from these illnesses for several years, and had not responded to standard medical treatments. The men were placed on the Purification program, and all reported marked improvement from the debilitating conditions from which they had suffered. In another group who lived in one of the most radioactively contaminated regions of the Russian Federation, similar results were reported - including clinical evidence that the men's immune systems had been revitalized by the program.

Wow! The Purif can cure radiation-related illnesses, and yet no one has bothered to publish a single medical study confirming this. And no reputable hospital or government agency endorses this miracle treatment. You can only get it from your local Church of Scientology, or from a few quack healthcare providers who just happen to be Scientologists. Why is that?

This is misleading. None of these groups has ever endorsed the Purif. They have held conferences to which Scientologists (such as Megan Shields) submitted papers claiming that the Purif works. Conference papers are informal means of sharing ideas; they are not subject to the kind of rigorous peer review used by top-tier medical and scientific journals. And the organizations that sponsor these conferences do not automatically endorse everything written in every paper presented there. To suggest that the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences or the United Stated Environmental Protection Agency thinks that the Purif is anything other than worthless quackery is pure deception.

These meetings were sponsored by Scientology's own front groups, and the only presentations supporting the Purif were given by persons affiliated with Scientology and/or Narconon.

L. Ron Hubbard's Purification program remains the only proven and safe method for reducing or eliminating chemical residues from the body. It has been used to alleviate the symptoms and concerns of people exposed to radiation. With each year, the importance of this discovery to every man, woman and child on this planet becomes more evident.

The method is neither proven nor safe; it poses significant medical risks, especially of liver damage due to the high doses of niacin.

Or it could lead you into the arms of a dangerous religious cult that will leave you broken, penniless, and possibly dead.

James Barnes
Certified Health Physicist,
Specialist in radioactivity and
radiation safety