New York Times, October 4, 2004, Page 1

Scientologist's Treatments Lure Firefighters By
MICHELLE O'DONNELL

or the past year, more than 140 New York City firefighters, some ailing from their work in the ruins of the World Trade Center, have walked into a seventh-floor medical clinic just two blocks from the former disaster site. Once inside, some have abandoned the medical care and emotional counseling provided to them by their own department's doctors, and all have taken up a treatment regimen devised by L. Ron Hubbard, the former science fiction writer and founder of the Church of Scientology.

The firefighters take saunas, engage in physical workouts and swallow pills --- all of which together constitute what for years has been known, amid considerable dispute, as Mr. Hubbard's detoxification program, one meant to wash the body of poisons or toxins. The firefighters are not charged for their trips to the clinic, called Downtown Medical.

Of the more than 140 firefighters who have undergone the program, some have told colleagues of its virtues. Others have said they were simply following the regimen in order to enjoy free saunas.

But one retired firefighter is a paid member of the clinic's advisory board, and the city's main fire union has pledged its "full support" to the clinic as it seeks government grants and other forms of financing.

"The statements I have heard from firefighters who have completed the program are truly remarkable," Stephen J. Cassidy, the president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, wrote in a letter that is posted on the clinic's Web site. The letter adds, "The work you are doing in this regard is unique in the city, and is very welcome."

But the existence of the clinic has upset city Fire Department officials, who, among other concerns, are alarmed that the medical treatment prescribed by its doctors is being discarded by some firefighters who enroll at Downtown Medical. They say the clinic's detoxification program requires firefighters to stop using inhalers meant to help with their breathing and any medications they may be taking, like antidepressants or blood pressure pills.

The department officials, including its physicians, said they had no way of vouching for the program's practices. The exact makeup of the pills taken as part of the program, for instance, is not widely known, although they are believed to contain niacin. One clinic board member wrote a report published in a firefighting magazine that firefighters produced blue beads of sweat during the program. One city firefighter said that the man next to him in the sauna once appeared to sweat a quarter-size black substance --- evidence, he said, that toxins were being drained out of his body.

"While we are aware some members of the department have availed themselves of the program, we in no way endorse it," said Deputy Commissioner Francis X. Gribbon. Dr. David Prezant, deputy chief medical officer for the department, added, "It's risky for anybody to stop any type of medication without guidance and a plan from their own treating physician."

Officials with the clinic, while acknowledging some of them are Scientologists, said the clinic is not formally affiliated with the Church of Scientology. An official at the church's office in Los Angeles said they were aware of the clinic, but described it as as a "secular" enterprise employing Mr. Hubbard's methods.

The official in Los Angeles, Linda Simmons Hight, said many Scientologists had donated to the clinic, but "as far as it being part of the church, it isn't." Joseph Higgins, a retired firefighter who is now a paid member of the clinic's advisory board, said Tom Cruise, the actor, had paid for "quite a bit" of the treatments for rescue workers, estimated by Mr. Higgins at $5,000 to $6,000 apiece.

People inside and outside the department said they regarded the use of the clinic to be yet more evidence of the degree of the distress experienced by members of the force, which lost 343 men on Sept. 11.

"People are desperate to feel better," said one lieutenant in the department. "As far as I can tell, they'll try anything, even off the beaten track." Another officer, who said he planned to sign up for the regimen in hopes of clearing up lung congestion, said: "Right now, I'm at the point I would try a voodoo doctor."

Clinic officials, after briefly addressing issues involving the clinic, said they would not comment further about the program. But Mr. Higgins, the former firefighter, said, "It's actually a pretty awesome program."

The use of the New York clinic is not the first instance of firefighters' being persuaded to use Mr. Hubbard's methods.

In 1987, after a fire in a transformer room at the Louisiana State University School of Medicine, in Shreveport, dozens of firefighters became alarmed that they had been exposed to high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCB's.

After repeated complaints of headaches, dizziness and rashes, the city of Shreveport contracted with a private outfit that advocated Mr. Hubbard's detoxification methods. But after the city's insurance carriers questioned the legitimacy of the treatments and their escalating cost, the city hired an independent medical doctor to investigate the regimen.

In a blistering 1988 report, Dr. Ronald E. Gots, a toxicology expert from Bethesda, Md., called the regimen "quackery," and noted that "no recognized body of toxicologists, no department of occupational medicine, nor any governmental agencies endorse or recommend such treatment." The report ended Shreveprt's dealings with the program.

In an interview yesterday, Dr. Gots said of the program, "It's an unproven, scientifically bereft notion."

Keith Miller, a Downtown Medical board member, said yesterday in regard to Dr. Gots's 1988 Shreveport report that Dr. Gots was not a reputable source.

In the days after the Sept. 11 attack, Scientologists were among the representatives of many religions and religious groups moving among the rescue workers and the traumatized residents. They were even allowed to remain along with the American Red Cross after many other groups had been ordered to leave.

The Church of Scientology was founded in the 1950's by Mr. Hubbard, a science fiction writer who died in 1986. Its adherents, who number in the millions and include many Hollywood celebrities, believe that Scientology's self-help techniques and counseling sessions, known as auditing, can help people live more productive and satisfying lives. But the cost of the auditing sessions, which can run into thousands of dollars an hour, have drawn criticism, as have the church's aggressive tactics toward its critics.

The Internal Revenue Service granted the church tax-exempt status in 1993.

Officials at the Manhattan clinic said that shortly after the terrorist attack, an official with the firefighters' union contacted the Foundation for Advancements in Science and Education, a group that promotes the detoxification program developed by Mr. Hubbard, to request the regimen for New York firefighters.

In September 2002, the Downtown Medical clinic opened on the seventh floor of 139 Fulton Street, in a building full of homeopathic clinics. The building's lobby directory, however, does not list a clinic in that name.

In addition to Mr. Higgins, a well-known fire academy drill instructor who estimates he has trained over half the city's firefighters, another department figure, Israel Miranda, the president of the union that represents emergency medical workers, is also on the clinic's board. Mr. Miranda is also an instructor at the emergency medical workers' academy.

From: Rod Keller <rkeller@unix01.voicenet.com>
Subject: MSNBC: Tim Robbins
Message-ID: <1065434170.370646@newshost01.voicenet.com>
Date: 6 Oct 2003 06:09:35 -0400

Robbins should do his research
MSNBC
October 6, 2003
By Jeannette Walls with Ashley Pearson
http://www.msnbc.com/news/970588.asp?cp1=1

Did Tim Robbins know he helped raise money for a group linked to Scientology? Robbins's Actors' Gang recently performed a run of "The Guys" in Vail, Colorado to benefit the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Fund. The group has drawn fire from certain quarters because it uses "purification" techniques developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

"TIM ROBBINS should have done a little Web surfing," says Rick Ross of CultNews.com.

"He and Susan Sarandon may mean well - they're both been very active supporters of New York's firefighters - but Tim was being used as a pawn. If he had gone to this group's Web site, he would have read that Tom Cruise is the co-founder, and that might have set off a few bells. And he would have read that their methods of 'detoxifying' firefighters are the ones outlined by L. Ron Hubbard."

"The theater contracted with the Actors' Gang to do this play," Robbins's spokeswoman told The Scoop. "Tim has no knowledge that it was a fundraiser for anyone."

From: janeebeslis@hotmail.com (Praxis)
Subject: L. Ron at Ground Zero
Date: 7 Oct 2003 07:57:37 -0700
Message-ID: <3e471c14.0310070657.2128c379@posting.google.com>

From http://www.crookedtimber.org/archives/000628.html

October 04, 2003
L. Ron at Ground Zero
Posted by Kieran

The New York Times reports that a number of firefighters have been receiving treatment for stress at a clinic located near the site of the World Trade Center and run along lines prescribed by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology. The "detoxification program" has the Firefighters "take saunas, engage in physical workouts and swallow pills." The precise composition of the pills is unclear. Tom Cruise has paid for many of the treatments.

Ah, Scientology. Was there ever a more entertaining belief system embedded in a more ruthless organization? (Apart from the obvious one, I mean.) And then there is L. Ron Hubbard himself --- a man whose abilities and achievements were quite literally incredible. But don't take my word for it.

Instead, read and ponder "L. Ron Hubbard: A Chronicle", an official summary of Hubbard's life and legacy. My favorite section of this biography is the period between 1970 and 1973, when L. Ron turned his gargantuan intellect to topics in sociology and philosophy:

Having developed a successful and standardized pattern of organizational form and function, Ron turns to resolving the problems of how to manage an international network of organizations. Ron streamlines organizational management technology – laying out highly workable principles of personnel, organization and financial management and handling which are found today in the Management Series volumes.

This work forms the cornerstone of graduate-level reading in the sociology of organizations. Whenever I teach Orgs, L. Ron gets the first six weeks to himself. Then maybe we move on to Weber or Herb Simon or one of those guys.

His breakthroughs at this time include the first significant advances on the subject of logic since ancient Greece.

Consult your local copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica or any work on the history of the field for further information. Bandwidth constraints mean I can only make passing mention of Hubbard's Begriffsschrift, his Calculus of Logic, the Hubbard-Lowenheim-Skolem theorem, Principia Lronica, his subsequent "On Formally Outrageous Propositions of Principia Lronica and Related Systems" and finally Hubbard's Completeness Theorem for Modal Logic which proves Scientology correct in all possible worlds.

Ron conducts a comprehensive study of all existing public relations theories and practices and also releases his discoveries in the field of public relations, providing an entirely analytical and ethical approach to the subject.

L. Ron's ethical approach public relations is exemplified by this very Chronicle, and throughout all of Scientology's websites.

In 1972 L. Ron Hubbard carries out a sociological study in and around New York City. Through the remainder of the year and into 1973, he researches vitamins and nutrition which will later become significant in his breakthroughs in the handling of the residual effects of drugs.

L. Ron's attentions shift to the Arts in 1974. If you've done six impossible things before breakfast then it's time to shake your booty:

In February 1974, while aboard the Apollo [his ship, and --- surprisingly --- not the spacecraft --- KH], Ron forms a music and dance troupe to provide entertainment and goodwill at Spanish and Portuguese ports of call. He personally instructs the musicians and dancers in artistic presentation, music, composition, sound, arranging and recording.

But back to the serious stuff, and our Firefighters:

Ron discovers that drugs remain in the body even years after usage has ceased. Consequently, he develops the Purification Program to rid the body of harmful residual substances. ... These techniques [are] used by churches of Scientology and drug rehabilitation organizations around the world...

The many success stories just cry out for publicity. Incidentally,

It is also in 1979 that Ron isolates and solves the problem of increasing illiteracy.

Just in case you thought he was slacking off with the Iberian Cabaret.

Posted on October 4, 2003 12:21 PM UTC

Posted by Ophelia Benson · October 4, 2003 02:18 PM Hubbard, behind the gasoline fired 'brilliance' of his speeding ticket 'occult faust' was an empty nothing in the end, but left a legacy that others have to hope to clean up (perhaps impossible given the thuggisness of his membership). The PR about fireman is too good to screw up and will prove harmless, but a lot of people get hurt in such never to be desired 'orgs'.

Posted by Zizka · October 4, 2003 05:50 PM L. Ron is so brilliant. No wonder only he could discover that our bodies are filled with the souls of dead aliens killed by H-bombs on orders of the emperor Xenu 75 million years ago.

Posted by Neel Krishnaswami · October 5, 2003 08:15 PM My favorite book on Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard is Jon Atack's exhaustive A Piece of Blue Sky. (Scientologists have been checking it out of libraries and failing to return it for years.) ---Best pre-cult Hubbard anecdote (aside from being the only Naval commander to fire on Mexican soil during WWII): Hubbard fell in with Jack Parsons, founding member of JPL and head of a Californian branch of the OTO, and proposed a venture to buy motorboats in Florida that left Parsons shy of several thousand dollars and his girlfriend. Apparently, Aleister Crowley himself tried to warn Parsons that Hubbard was little more than a mountebank...

Posted by KevinNYC · October 6, 2003 07:24 PM A politician I know is constantly getting (discreetly labelled) Co$ literature, in which Isaac Hayes and other celebs tout the efficacy of the Church's various drug treatment programs. Especially popular are programs for the ultimate captive audience- prison inmates and recent releases.

Watch for the Co$ to hit the ground running when/if the faith-based insanity starts in the US. And watch the prompt backlash from your more 'respectable' religions.

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