Your Friday Dose of Woo: The Iron Rule of German New Medicine

No, I'm not talking about "Iron Justice," a guy who regularly posts to misc.health.alternative and seems obsessed with iron metabolism as the be-all and end-all of health and disease, with a particular affinity for iron overload as the cause of seemingly all disease, although he might make an amusing target at some point in the future. This time, it's something different. This week, as every week since inaugurating Your Friday Dose of Woo, I was sitting back, contemplating what flavor of woo I should have a little fun with. As is often the case, it was hard. No, it wasn't hard because of lack of ideas; it was hard because there are just too many potential targets out there. Even though YFDoW has been in existence since June, there's still plenty of woo out there to deal with, probably an unending supply such that I don't see retiring YFDoW due to repetition for a long time.

In any case, it quickly became apparent that, given my recent piece about how easy nonmedical exemptions lead to decreased vaccination rates and increased rates of pertussis, there was really only one topic that I could take on this week. I realized this after I had read a bit more about the woo embodied in an offhand comment I made about an altie concept that diseases aren't dangerous in and of themselves but that rather they are the manifestation of some sort of "imbalance" or conflict that must be resolved. In fact, what else could be the topic this week but German New Medicine in general and the Iron Rule of Cancer in particular?

The first thought that occurs to me (and, I'm sure, others) is: What the heck is it with Germans and "iron"? I mean, we have "iron will" and, as a military decoration, the Iron Cross. Now we have the "iron rule" of cancer from the "German New Medicine." I tell you, if I wouldn't be accused of having been a victim of a certain undead Führer, you know what kind of jokes I'd be making about all this. It's even more difficult given the well-known support for naturopathy and alternative medicine (i.e., "volkish" medicine) shown by the Nazi regime, a topic I've been meaning to write about for a long time, mainly because it's an interesting historical oddity. (Stay tuned; I'll get around to it someday.) And, yes, I know I managed to slip a little Nazi analogy in there while denying that's what I did. But, hey, given something like "German New Medicine" and "iron rules," it's damned hard to resist; so I hope you'll forgive me.

So what is this German New Medicine? Well, it appears to be a Theory of Everything Medical:

THE GERMAN NEW MEDICINE provides us with illuminating explanations about the origin, development and healing of both physical and mental disorders. In 1981, Dr. Hamer discovered that every DISEASE is caused by a shock experience that catches us completely off guard. He found that this shock not only occurs in the psyche but simultaneously in the brain and on the organ level. At the moment the unexpected trauma takes place the shock impacts a specific area in the brain causing a lesion that is clearly visible on a brain scan as a set of sharp concentric rings. With the impact the affected brain cells communicate the disturbance to the corresponding organ. Whether the organ responds with a tumor growth (cancer), with tissue degeneration, or with functional loss, is determined by the exact type of conflict shock. Based on the analysis of over 40,000 case studies Dr. Hamer is the first to provide scientific proof that cancer is not caused by a malfunctioning organism producing deadly cancer cells but is rather the result of an innate meaningful survival program that has been successfully practiced for millions of years. Since HEALING can only occur after the conflict has been resolved, the GNM-therapy focuses on identifying and resolving the original conflict. By understanding healing symptoms such as painful swelling, infections, fever, or inflammation in their psychological, biological and evolutionary context, we are able to liberate ourselves from the fear and panic that often come with the onset of an illness. Dr. Hamer's findings offer a completely new understanding of so-called diseases. His scientific discoveries revolutionize entirely our view of medical conditions and their causes.

Oooh, boy. So much woo in such a concentrated form. But, believe it or not, there's more:

The German New Medicine presents a comprehensive system that allows us to understand what type of conflict causes the onset of a particular disease, how the disease manifests itself in the conflict active phase, what can be expected in the healing phase, and how all the developments are connected to the brain, verifiable with a brain scan.

The German New Medicine is a natural science, based on FIVE empirically disovered BIOLOGICAL LAWS that apply, in a strong scientific sense, to each and every case of disease of man and mammal.

Why five BIOLOGICAL LAWS? (And in all capital letters, yet?) Why not four? Or six? It reminds me of the scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail about the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, with a little change:

... And the Lord spake, saying, "First shalt thou take out the Unholy Conventional Medicine. Then, shalt thou come up with five laws. No more, no less. Five shall be the number of laws thou shalt find, and the number of the laws shall be five. Six shalt thou not find, neither find thou four, excepting that thou then proceed to Five. Seven is right out. Once the number Five, being the fifth number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy BIOLOGICAL LAWS towards cancer thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it." Amen.

Yes, I can see it now, except with German accents.

So what are these "laws"? Well, let's look at the Iron Rule of Cancer. Naturally, it's subdivided into three criteria:

  1. Every cancer or cancer-equivalent disease originates from a DHS (Dirk Hamer Syndrome), which is a serious, highly acute, dramatic and isolating shock that catches an individual completely off guard. The conflict shock occurs simultaneously in the psyche, the brain and the corresponding organ.
  2. At the moment of the DHS, the content(s) of the conflict determine the location of the Hamer Focus in the brain and the location of the cancer or cancer-equivalent disease in the organ.
  3. The development of the conflict determines the exact development of the Hamer Focus in the brain as well as the exact development of the cancer or cancer-equivalent disease in the organ.

In case you're curious, the creator of this woo, Dr. Ryke Geerd Hamer, named the DHS after his son, Dirk. You see, Dr. Hamer's son was tragically shot in his sleep by Vittorio Emanuel, the last crown prince of Italy. After a prolonged course requiring multiple operations, his son unfotunately succumbed to his wounds. Three years later, Hamer developed testicular cancer. So, in a perfect case of post hoc ergo propter hoc reasoning, Hamer decided that it must have been the psychic shock of his son's death that caused his cancer. Forget about all that molecular biology. Forget about oncogenes and tumor suppressors. Forget about increased mutation rates. Forget about all that. Dr. Hamer is here to tell you that it's "Hamer-time." (Sorry, couldn't resist.) In actuality, he's here to tell you that all that we think we know about the pathogenesis of cancer is wrong. Cancer is really due to a "psychic shock," not genetic alterations in cells that lead to uncontrolled proliferation. What about cancer patients who have lived happy lives devoid of "highly acute, dramatic, and isolating shocks"? There's no such person. If you search back far enough, you could probably find such a shock, and if that fails you could alway postulate some sort of birth trauma. I don't mean to minimize the tragedy that Dr. Hamer must have suffered because of the shooting of his son and the fact that the killer got off with a slap on the wrist because of his title and wealth , nor am I claiming that mental stress doesn't contribute to disease, but Hamer took his tragic personal experience and generalized it to a ridiculous extreme, even to the point of basing rather arrogantly-named "biological laws" on it.

Of course, if you don't believe this, Hamer conveniently claims that you can even see evidence of this "psychic conflict" on head CTs:

At the very moment of the DHS the conflict shock strikes a specific area in the brain causing a lesion that is clearly visible on a brain computer tomography (CT) as a set of sharp concentric rings. Such a ringed lesion is called a Hamer Focus (German: Hamerscher Herd; the term was actually coined by Dr. Hamers opponents who mockingly named the ring formations "the dubious Hamer Foci").

Before Dr. Hamer identified these ringed lesions in the brain, radiologists considered them as artifacts created by a glitch in the machine. But Siemens, a manufacturer of computer tomography equipment, certified that these target lesions can not be artifacts because even when the tomography is repeated and taken from different angles, the same ring formation always appears in the same location.

I'm not a radiologist, and the image shown is a bit small to make any definite statements, but it looks a lot to me like your basic CT artifact. One also has to wonder: If this were real, why has no other physician or investigator reported finding similar lesions in cancer patients? Is Hamer so much more brilliant than everyone else?

Of course, no good piece of cancer woo would be complete without its creator telling us "conventional" types that we have it all wrong about some key aspect of cancer. Not content to tell us that we have no idea what we're talking about regarding the pathogenesis of cancer, he tells us that we also have no clue about the real reason for cancer metastasis:

The standard metastasis theory suggests that cancer cells of a primary tumor travel via the blood stream or the lymph system to other parts of the body where they cause a cancerous growth at a new site (theoretically, this assumption would imply a potential risk of contracting cancer through a blood transfusion). The New Medicine does not dispute the fact of secondary and third cancers. However, according to the Five Biological Laws, second and third cancers are not the result of migrating cancer cells but of a second or third DHS, often triggered by a diagnosis or prognosis shock that puts the individual into total panic, causing a new conflict or even several new conflicts leading to additional cancers. For example, a cancer diagnosis shock can trigger a "death fright conflict" leading to the development of lung cancer.

Well, I guess that means you smokers out there don't need to worry about quitting. According to this, smoking doesn't cause cancer; your psychic traumas do. You know, by that rationale, you could argue that the psychic trauma of trying to quit and failing might be the real cause of the lung cancer you get, nto cigarettes. So smoke 'em if you got 'em!

We also know from the science of histology that cancer cells can not mutate into another cell type; they can never cross the germ layer threshold or change their histological structure. Cancer cells that grow in the colon and belong to the endoderm (directed from the brain stem) can, under no circumstances, transform into bone cells that originate from the new brain mesoderm (directed from the cerebral medulla). In other words: colon cancer can never "spread" to the bones.

Gee, tell that to colon and breast cancer patients who are unfortunate enough to develop bone metastases, which, particularly in breast cancer patients, can be the cause of untold misery before advanced disease ends their lives. Hamer is so full of bovine feces here that I find it hard not to start to drop the lighthearted tone that you expect from YFDoW. But it gets worse:

However, a cancer patient who feels suddenly devalued because of being ill ("I am not worth anything", "I am useless"), can suffer a self-devaluation conflict resulting in bone cancer. If the self-devaluation is less severe, the lymph nodes will most likely be affected. Thus, a woman who experiences a breast cancer diagnosis shock or suffers a loss of self-worth after a breast amputation often develops lymphoma close to the site where she has the tumor. Thanks to the New Medicine, we now begin to understand why statistically woman with breast cancer frequently get this type of second cancer.

No, we understand no such thing. Although women can get secondary malignancies (among which are lymphomas) after breast cancer treatment, usually as a consequence of the radiation and chemotherapy, that's a fairly uncommon occurence and usually takes decades after treatment. In any case, it's usually the other way around: Women getting breast cancer after radiation therapy for lymphoma in the chest as a child or young woman, a somewhat more common complication.

By the way, I forgot to mention that the above is part of the Third Biological Law. Obviously, the intensity of Hamer's woo has led me to get ahead of things. Let's go back to the Second Biological Law, which states: "Every disease runs in two phases provided there is a resolution of the conflict." The consequence is:

The therapeutic focus of the New Medicine is to identify the original DHS and to find a solution to the conflict that is as real and as practical as possible. For example, a man who lost his business and suffers a territorial loss must find a new occupation; the shock from an unexpected early retirement could be resolved by establishing a new "domain", such as by joining a club or taking up a neglected hobby. As soon as the conflict is resolved, healing runs its natural course.

Is this guy really saying that, for example, if a new retiree was forced out of his job and then later develops colon cancer, his colon cancer could be cured just by finding him a hobby or other productive way to spend his time? How nice. I guess that would put us surgeons out of business, given that most colon cancer is cured by surgery. More likely, if you tried to use that concept to treat GI malignancies it would give us more of the business that we really don't like: malignant bowel obstructions that require urgent, rather than elective, surgery, with a resultant decrease in cure rates and increase in complications.

I can't take it anymore; so let's move on to the Fourth Biological Law, which supposedly addresses the role of microbes in disease and evolution, but for the life of me I can't figure out exactly what the heck Dr. Hamer is saying about disease. Let's whittle it down to two sections:

When our organs developed over the course of evolution, very specific types of microbes developed with them. The biological purpose of the billions of micro-organisms that inhabit our body is to maintain all the different tissues and keep them in a healthy state. Given the purposeful co-existence of man and microbes, the New Medicine identifies fungi, bacteria or viruses as loyal helpers that are indispensable for our survival.

It is the discovery of the New Medicine that microbes become without exception only active in the healing phase. In the phase of Normotonia as well as in the conflict active phase they are dormant and do not cause any infection. But at the moment of the conflict resolution, they receive a signal from the brain to start the work that was assigned to them. Pathogenic (active) microbes are totally harmless to all other organs.

And:

It is true that microbes are present in infectious diseases, but it is not the microbes that cause the disease. On the contrary, our organism uses the microbes to optimize the healing process. It is also true that microbes can be transmitted, but they stay inactive as long as we are not in the healing phase of the appropriate conflict.

Ah, so all of those pathogenic bacteria? Don't worry about them. They only work for your good. So, if you have a big abscess, a gangrenous foot, pneumonia, AIDS, or hepatitis C, it's just your body using bacteria or viruses to "optimize the healing process." You don't need antibiotics or antiviral drugs. If you die in the process, it just means that you weren't able "resolve your inner conflict."

Bullshit. (Sorry. There's just no other way to describe this woo.) Especially this part about microbes:

Fungi and myco-bacteria (yellow group) are the oldest microbes. They exclusively work on organs and tissues that originate from the endoderm and are directed from the brain stem. Fungi like Candida or myco-bacteria like tubercular bacteria are the "destruction crew". They decompose tumors such as colon tumors, lung tumors, kidney tumors, or liver tumor. During the healing phase they break down the extra cells that are no longer needed. Usually, this decomposing process is accompanied with fever and night sweats. What makes myco-bacteria remarkable is that they start to multiply immediately at the moment of the conflict shock. They multiply at a rate which parallels the growing tumor. The moment the conflict is resolved, the exact amount of tubercular bacteria is available that is necessary to decompose the tumor cells. If the microbes are absent because, for example, they were eradicated through vaccination, the tumor will be encapsulated in scar tissue and stays in place with no further cell augmentation. In this case the tumor will be viewed as "benign".

Bacteria (orange group) inhabited the organs and tissues that derive from the mesoderm directed from the cerebellum (old brain mesoderm) or the cerebral medulla (new brain mesoderm). Bacteria are the "cleanup-workers. In old brain mesodermal tissue they decompose tumors such as glandular breast tumors or melanoma, and assist by clearing away the remnants. Bacteria also help to restore the tissue by forming abscesses that will be filled with scar tissue. In new brain mesodermal tissue, bacteria such as staphylococcus bacteria fill the gaps in the bone that were caused by the meltdown of callus cells and reconstruct the bone with granulating callus forming tissue. During the healing phase, bacteria also rebuild the cell loss (necrosis) of ovarian or testicular tissue.

Viruses (red group) are the youngest microbes. They exclusively work on tissue that derives from the ectoderm and is controlled from the cerebral cortex, e.g. the epidermis, the cervix, the intra-hepatic bile ducts, the mucous membrane of the stomach, the bronchia or the nose. Viruses are the "reconstruction workers". They replenish the tissue that was lost during the preceding ulceration process. While old brain directed myco-bacteria start to multiply immediately with the onset of the conflict active phase, viruses start to divide and to become active only upon the resolution of the conflict. With viruses involved the healing phase is more dramatic, often accompanied with fever and inflammation. Examples for viruses at work are: pneumonia, hepatitis, herpes, or the "flu. If the necessary viruses are absent, healing still occurs but not to a biologically optimum degree.

Like tumor cells, microbes never cross the germ layer threshold (diagram). For example: pneumonia viruses only work on bronchial tissue which originates from the ectoderm and is controlled from the cerebral cortex, while tubercular bacteria are specialized to operate exclusively on lung alveoli tissue that originates from the endoderm and is directed from the brain stem. That is why we will never find tuberculosis in the bronchia.

Uh, no. Just one example: Tuberculosis can infect many organs and sites and not just ectodermally derived tissues, including lungs, kidneys, the meninges (lining of the brain), and bones and joints (which, happen to be derived from mesoderm, by the way). It is also not true that you don't find tuberculosis in the bronchi.

But the bottom line for Hamer is the Fifth Biological Law, and, if you've been paying attention to altie concepts, you will realize that this "Law" echoes so much altie woo that you have to wonder if Dr. Hamer thought of it himself or simply synthesized many varieties of woo into a single concise statement that seems to sum up huge swaths of alternative medicine:

The Quintessence

Every so-called disease has to be understood as a Meaningful Special Biological Program of Nature created to solve an unexpected biological conflict.

Every "so-called disease"? Yes, indeed. Listen to Dr. Hamer:

All so-called diseases have a special biological meaning ... While we used to regard Mother Nature as fallible and had the audacity to believe that she constantly made mistakes and caused breakdowns (malignant, senseless, degenerative cancerous growths, etc.) we can now see, as the scales fall from our eyes, that it was our ignorance and pride that were and are the only foolishness in our cosmos. We could not understand such a 'sewn up' totality, and so brought upon ourselves this senseless, soulless and brutal medicine. Full of wonder, we can now understand for the first time that nature is orderly (we already knew that), and every occurrence in nature is meaningful, even in the framework of the whole, and that the events we called 'diseases' are not senseless disturbances to be repaired by sorcerers' apprentices. We can see that nothing is meaningless, malignant or diseased.

This feeds in to what I've always thought. Altie beliefs seem to demand some sort of "meaning." The cancer patient, when faced with the horror of his or her disease, will rail against the unfairness of it all. And indeed it isn't fair. It isn't fair at all. Cancer sucks. Regardless of the type of cancer, it's a horrible, nasty disease, and some varieties are particularly deadly. But life itself isn't fair. Sadly, bad things (like cancer or other life-threatening diseases) happen to good people. Personally, I don't see much difference between the woo above, in which all diseases are postulated to have a "special biological meaning" where the symptoms are the result of an inner mental conflict and the beliefs expressed by many religious people that bad things (like being afflicted with a horrible disease like cancer, whatever type) must be the result of a "higher purpose," that they must serve a "greater good." The only difference is that Hamer has replaced the appeal to an unknown and unknowable "meaning" dictated by God with an appeal to a greater "meaning" dictated by Nature.

The hope that one's suffering is all in the service of a greater good may well help many people deal with cancer or other life-threatening or debilitating diseases, but it's not such a good idea as the basis of medicine, whether "New German" or otherwise.

More like this

The Monty Python bit I was reminded of was of course "NO ONE expects the shock experience that catches us completely off guard!"

Oh, and by the way - Dr. Hamer's "psychic" shock manifested itself in his *balls*?

Wow, New Medicine in Old Europe.

By Mustafa Mond, FCD (not verified) on 27 Oct 2006 #permalink

Germ disease denialists were discussed in the nearby Aetiology Scienceblog, where a New Medecine faithful explains us we don't know jack about microbes, viruses and other critters too small to see. Only clear thinking can explain disease properly.

See: http://scienceblogs.com/aetiology/2006/10/friday_kooky_komment.php
and http://scienceblogs.com/aetiology/2006/10/people_out_there_never_cease_…

Unsympathetic Reader posted this useful link about CT scan artifacts:
http://radiographics.rsnajnls.org/cgi/content/full/24/6/1679#SEC5
pointing out that perfectly concentric brain lesions that always lie at the center axis of the scan are best explained as artefacts rather than heretofor-unknown lesion.

"I'm not a radiologist, and the image shown is a bit small to make any definite statements, but it looks a lot to me like your basic CT artifact. One also has to wonder: If this were real, why has no other physician or investigator reported finding similar lesions in cancer patients? Is Hamer so much more brilliant than everyone else?"

There's a Simpsons episode where an X-Ray reveals that Homer has had a crayon stuck up his nose into his brain since childhood (making him stoopid). Asked to explain why he had never spotted it before, Dr Hibbert claims it's because whenever he held any X-Rays of Homer's head up to the light his thumb always covered the exact spot where the crayon was showing. Even Hibbert had to admit this was lame.

By Paul Power (not verified) on 27 Oct 2006 #permalink

On a first sight the story may appear quite funny. But this Hamer bloke is a real danger. Indeed he has been convicted several times (Citation taken from Hamer's wikipedia biography):

In 1981, he had to resign from his position at a cancer hospital in view of the conflicts that arose with the development of his medical views. As he continued to treat patients, Hamer was under investigation several times on allegations of malpractice, leading to the death of patients; from September 2004 to February 2006, after being in jail in Germany from 1997 to 1998, he served a prison term in Prison Fleury Merogis / France on counts of fraud and illegal practicing.

Unfortunately, he has followers that are obviously as mad he is. See for example the description of the Pilar case on wikipedia:

Hamer became known mainly through his association with the Olivia Pilhar cancer case in 1995. Her parents, convinced supporters of Hamer and his pretensions, withheld conventional medical therapy from their child Olivia. The Austrian authorities finally removed their rights of care and control, and the parents then fled from Austria to Spain with the child. There, Hamer unsuccessfully treated the child using his method, the tumor continued to grow. After negotiations, the parents were convinced to return. By now, Olivia's tumor weighed several kilograms. The child was finally given emergency medical treatment after court order, against the parents' wishes and is still alive and healthy in 2006. Her parents received an eight month suspended jail sentence in Austria. The parents remain followers of Hamer

(the german wikipedia contains more details)

Inspite of warnings of the Cancer Information Service of the German Cancer Research Center he seemingly still has followers or rather victims.

sparc:

Your point is well taken, and I was aware of this case.

However, I would respond that you could say the same thing about several of the targets of Your Friday Dose of Woo. The dangerousness or lack of efficacy of these therapies doesn't necessarily decrease the amusement at the ridiculousness of it all. For example, people fall for homeopathy, even though it doesn't work. Lots of people go for enemas and liver cleanses, even though they don't "cleanse" anything, don't treat cancer, and can cause nasty complications, as well. Let's not forget chelation therapy for autism, either, which has resulted in the death of a five year old boy. And, it has been pointed out, there have been deaths from starvation when people try to follow Breatharianism. Yet, people still fall for this stuff. The list goes on.

Remember, the purpose of YFDoW is light-hearted ridicule of obviously ridiculous woo, in the hopes that people will see how ridiculous it is and won't fall for it. I write plenty of posts about the serious consequences of the credulous following woo the rest of the week, such as my posts about Starchild Abraham Cherrix, my recent post about the woman who refused surgery for an early stage breast cancer (she preferred woo instead and came back with a nasty, fungating, inoperable cancer), and The Orange Man (a guy who went for massive doses of carrot juice combined with coffee enemas to treat his rectal cancer, with tragic results).

Germ disease denialists were discussed in the nearby Aetiology Scienceblog, where a New Medecine faithful explains us we don't know jack about microbes, viruses and other critters too small to see. Only clear thinking can explain disease properly.

You wouldn't happen to mean this particular person, would you?

I fenced with this particular individual, Orac, but he's holding a turnip in place of a sword.
He is quite proud of the "180" cancer patients Mr. Hamer studied, or the "40,000" case studies he allegedly perused, while affirming that "New Medecine" has no truk with statistics, null hypothesis or double-blind studies, and he claims loudly that medecine has gone haywire since Louis Pasteur fooled with rotten meat and rabid wolves.

He like to play the Galileo Gambit, with Ryk G. Hamer standing in for Semmelweiss, of course. RG Hammer would tell women giving birth that it doesn matter how much crud their doctors have unto their hands, they'll survive puerperal fever if they can come to grip with some undetermined emotional trauma in their past. Oh, and I suppose, if those women survive parturition and the newborn dies, they're in for ovarian cancer or breast cancer, unless a RG Hammer disciple assuage their grief.

Sorry for the rant, Orac.

Wow. I enjoy reading the woo because I can always count on being more amazed and baffled *this* week by the things people will believe than I was the previous week. But I have to tell you, you are going to have to work pretty hard to top this. I thought coffee enemas were odd, but this stuff is CRAZY.

By ctenotrish, FCD, PhD (not verified) on 27 Oct 2006 #permalink

What this reminds me of is the old folk tales of psychic shocks to the mother affecting the baby at birth. An old cartoon gag was the three-headed man explaining that his mother was frightened by a pawnbroker's sign (3 gold balls; yeah, I have to google it too). Or people explaining that their birth-mark is in the shape of the food the mother craved during pregnancy.

I was mildly amused, but then the microbial stuff just made my jaw drop. Truly astounding: the implications for medical practice are mind-boggling....

"people explaining that their birth-mark is in the shape of the food the mother craved during pregnancy."

I suppose that might work, at least if the mother's cravings were for mashed potatoes ;)

But Siemens, a manufacturer of computer tomography equipment, certified that these target lesions can not be artifacts because even when the tomography is repeated and taken from different angles, the same ring formation always appears in the same location.

I work for Siemens Med and I seriously doubt that we would certify such a thing.

By SarahBeth (not verified) on 27 Oct 2006 #permalink

Thank god someone else out in la-la land has come across this quackery and tried to criticize its "doctrine". I've known of the "good" doctor for about a year now as a result of living in Montreal, being a cancer patient and hearing all sorts of people extoll his virtues. I think I considered his theories for about half a minute, then realized that I, a lowly, semi-educated individual, could find numerous flaws in his theories and in the way in which he propogates said theories.

I'll start with the scientific/medical aspect. First, a complete and total lack of evidence...period. It's all well and good to say that this theorem has a 95% cure rate, etc... but where is even one CONCRETE example of this theory working? Olivia Pilhar? The golden calf of this dogma? Wasn't she eventually treated by conventional means, at the behest of the government?

But I digress, I hate politics and epidemiology, so let me get down to the nitty gritty. First and foremost, the CT scans are a load of bullshit. Forget the artefacts, etc... Calling those edema is fallacious in and of itself. CT scans, MRIs, PETs, etc... are interpreted with the right side of the brain (or whatever organ) being on the left side of the image. This is a throwback to the technology of old radiographs; can't teach old radiologists new tricks-type of thing. And yet, on his many associated websites, his single "book" and other media, he consistently misinterprets CT scans. I mean, if you want me to believe that the cerebral center of leukemia is on the left side of the parietal lobe, at LEAST identify it correctly!!

Also, the CTs have no tertiary data included, such as resolution, date of imaging, etc... Perhaps this is to preserve anonimity? Who knows... If it's scientific and its credible --- and it works --- tell us more about where it comes from, how it was taken, etc... Peer-review my friend; that's the SCIENTFIC process. Convince me of your theories by showing me ALL the evidence you have, not just scant line drawings and scribbles from less than credible institutions and rural universities.

One Hamer supporter once told me that all he wants to do is to "help people," and she doesnt understand all this persecution. While Hamer outlines the theories of his "nobel-calibre" work, he does fuck-all to tell the common man or woman how to apply these ideas to heal onesself. Nope, for that, you have to buy his thesis booklet (100-200 pages; a theory of everything! eat your heart out, stephen hawking), or attend one of his expensive seminars (150-300 bucks CDN a shot). Now, whatever one's views on chemo or radiation therapy, if I want to go and find out myself about the effects of said treatments, I can mosey on down to a library and look up copius amounts of data on the subject... all for free.

Why is Hamer keeping his theory such a secret? Why must one pay money to him or his disciples to learn of this great truth? Why did he copyright the German New Medicine? Why, why, why why?? I know he says he's persecuted for his beliefs and that others (mainly the HASSIDIM, according to him) are taking his theories as their own. Do what most other scientists, writers, thinkers, etc... do. Publish your results, somewhere, anywhere, and let someone else reproduce them. Then, maybe then, I'll start to take you a little more seriously.

THis whole this is kinda disjointed, but i'm more or less rambling on a serious of things i noticed about his quackery. I can easily postualte and deconstruct many more of his theories and arguments...

This one really takes the cake, scones and slice of pie.

I can't even imagine why anyone would *want* to believe him. In other cases, I get the wishful thinking that can make someone think a mild current, or some happy labeled water will make them feel better.
But a person who tells you "It isn't damage to your body-- it's that your head is all fucked up," is the last person I would think most people would want to believe in. All I can guess is that he manages to sway some people who really *are* emotionally distraught in addition to their illness.
For me, one of the most intimidating things is worrying people will think I'm a hypochondriac, and not believe I have real illnesses that need real medical treatment.

By Samantha Vimes (not verified) on 29 Oct 2006 #permalink

I'd like to add a longer comment because I'm dealing with that special "medical sect" for quite some time now and working on a complete review of its contents, ideology and and pseudo-scientific background.

The english pages of the Hamer-followers are much more civilized than the german ones, Marcolin (she was involved in the Olivia-Pilhar-case) does a good job in presenting that stuff like just another quackery. But if you read Hamers books, letters and postings along with the writing of the more important persons in his organizations you'll discover strong connections to rightwing extremist-propaganda and of course antisemitism.

Hamer has a very special way of creating his own sources: he writes letters to people, telling them he heard they are responsible for the suppression of his work and afterwards uses this letters as evidence for that. He claims that "the Jews" (who else?) are responsible for Billions(!) of Deaths during the last 25 years because they knew since the 80ies that his system is correct and treat each other with that. Thats why all Jews survive cancer and clinics in Israel are only using the GNM. Probably because he studied theology he is using wellknown religionbased antisemitic arguments like misquotes from the talmud and similar to prove that Jews hate nonjews and are allowed to kill them. You can find those letters here (in German): xttp://unglaublichkeiten.com/unglaublichkeiten/htmlphp2/u2_1198HamerRabbi.html

His evidence consists of countless misinterpretations, misquotings and fakes, especially when it comes to all the lawsuits he is filing. They usually have no facts to build on other than his own version of reality. Since he regularly loses in court he "proves" to his followers how badly he is treated by the jewish-controlled politics, media and scientific establishment.

After all my studies so far I'm very sure though, that Hamer isn't really in it for the money. He shows clear signs of Schizophrenia and Paranoia and he is living in his own reality, and after trying for several months I can safely say that its totally useless to start any rational debate with his followers.

One more thing:

"But Siemens, a manufacturer of computer tomography equipment, certified that these target lesions can not be artifacts because even when the tomography is repeated and taken from different angles, the same ring formation always appears in the same location.

I work for Siemens Med and I seriously doubt that we would certify such a thing."

The so called "Siemens-Protokoll" (http://www.pilhar.com/Hamer/NeuMed/Zertif/891222.htm) does nowhere contain any evidence FOR Hamer but actually AGAINST him. Theres no word about Hamer, Hamer Foci or German New Medicine in it. It's nothing more than a list of criteria to tell artifacts and non-artifacts apart in cases of doubt. The CTs Hamer is using fit into most of the criteria and are obviously artifacts like this one: xttp://www.pilhar.com/Hamer/NeuMed/Kurzeinf/Ausloser/HH.htm

Recently an article about Hamer has been published by supporters of "holistic medicine" who cleverly use the part of his laws that are impossible to disprove for their own theories while denouncing the rest (the following discussion is also interesting to read):

http://www.thescientificworld.com/SCIENTIFICWORLDJOURNAL/toc/TSWJ_Artic…

Recently someone explained to me that "Germanische Neue Medizin" doesn't translate into "German New Medicine" but into "Germanic New Medicine". This knowledge has made me feel a newborn man and some minutes ago I said to myself, let's Google to see if this translation is all over the web. It is! And I clicked on a link that brought me here. Good! The gathering of the brave, I see. Not one critical sound to be heard, everybody agrees on how stupid/silly/dangerous this man R.G. Hamer really is. I read:

One also has to wonder: If this were real, why has no other physician or investigator reported finding similar lesions in cancer patients? Is Hamer so much more brilliant than everyone else?

Yes, one may wonder, but one shouldn't. It's simple. Each and every serious investigator has found that Hamer is right. And thus, he keeps his mouth shut. Or, in case he would like to speak up, he will rapidly be convinced to shut up by his peers. Luckily not everybody is a coward or a moron and rumors are getting louder every day. Ever wondered why the University of Tübingen refuses to verify Hamer's postulates, and continues to do so even after having convicted by Court to have a close look at the Germanic New Medicine? They can't, they'd dig their own grave.
Hamer's Germanic New Medicine means the end of the monster that has grown out of Louis Pasteur's imposture and the end of the Kingdom of Modern mediâ¬ine.

But maybe it's not such a bad thing after all that Hamer's GNM is only accessibly to an intelligent minority. The World is said to be overcrowded, so why not let those who insist that Hamer is a murderer, have free access to chemo, radiation and, last but not least, the World Hype Organization fear mongering campaigns? In that case, natural selection will make this world a better place to live in, won't it? Either Hamer is wrong, and you will all soon be freed of his "treatment refusing followers", or he's right and... Well, you're big enough to end that phrase.

Anyway, why fight?

Theres no word about Hamer, Hamer Foci or German New Medicine in it. It's nothing more than a list of criteria to tell artifacts and non-artifacts apart in cases of doubt.

Ha, ha, ha! What a dummy you are, man! That's exactly what it is supposed to be, a list of criteria, set up to separate the true from the false. Once the list was ready, Hamer And Siemens invited radiologists from all over the globe but in the end nobody showed up. Here's a quote from a document that might interest you and which you can find following this link.

The "Hamer foci" are an important part of Hamer's "New Medicine" and indeed there are rumors that they are only artifacts. I will give you some valuable information on this part of Hamer's "New Medicine". Of course Hamer knows about the artifact theory and in the beginning he was not sure either about how those rings and spots on the CT should be interpreted. Together with SIEMENS a scientific test protocol has been elaborated and radiologists have been invited to assist to the experiment that should finally clear the sky. In the end nobody ever came. Because, said SIEMENS' engineer: "Dr. Hamer, SIEMENS does not want to continue since our clients seem to be very upset about the evidence we are going to show them."

@Jspreen

"Ever wondered why the University of Tübingen refuses to verify Hamer's postulates, and continues to do so even after having convicted by Court to have a close look at the Germanic New Medicine? They can't, they'd dig their own grave."

You dont have any idea what youre talking about because you just believe all claims Hamer makes from within his own fantasy world with selfdefined Science and law-system. There is no such court order, the only thing the University was sentenced to do was to repeat the habilitation of Hamer for technical reasons. During a change of the internal system they mixed up the panel that had to decide upon Hamers "work", so fpr a techniqual reason the court ordered them to repeat. The judge didnt say or write anything about the content or the "verification" of Hamers Habilitation.

"But maybe it's not such a bad thing after all that Hamer's GNM is only accessibly to an intelligent minority."

Killing myself by following a lunatic like Hamer ist everything but intelligent.

"Ha, ha, ha! What a dummy you are, man! That's exactly what it is supposed to be, a list of criteria, set up to separate the true from the false."

Hamer claims that the list shows that the so called artifacts are really his foci and it simply doesnt.

" Once the list was ready, Hamer And Siemens invited radiologists from all over the globe but in the end nobody showed up."

Just another lie he doesnt have any proof for. If you look up the dozens of court decisions you will find plenty of radiologist telling the courts that Hamer just makes this things up.