Vietnamese pin hopes on Scientology ‘detox’ program
THAI BINH, Vietnam — North Vietnamese army veteran Nguyen Anh Quoc grimaces as he forces down the last of the 35 vitamins he takes each morning. After decades of suffering from illnesses he believes were caused by exposure to Agent Orange, he is putting his faith in a regimen advocated by the Church of Scientology.
“I have to take them,” the 62-year-old said at a treatment center established with the help of a Scientology-funded group. “They will clean up my body.”
The center, a converted mushroom farm in northern Vietnam, owes as much to Scientology’s desire to expand around the world, away from scandal in the United States, as it does to pressure in Vietnam to try to help aging veterans still suffering from the effects of war.
Many medical experts regard the treatment — a 25-day vitamin and sauna regimen — as junk medicine or even dangerous. But for now at least, it has found fertile ground here.
The Vietnamese advocacy group overseeing the program in Thai Binh province wants to offer it to all 20,000 people suffering from ailments blamed on dioxins in Agent Orange. U.S. airplanes sprayed up to 12 million gallons of the defoliant over the country during the Vietnam War to strip away vegetation used as cover by Vietnamese soldiers. The advocacy group, which has the implicit support of the government, has almost completed a two-story accommodation block for patients and is raising funds for a much larger complex, with15 more saunas than the five it currently has.
“I don’t know what the scientists say about its effectiveness, but the patients say it improves their health,” said Nguyen Duc Hanh, the head of local branch of the Vietnam Association of Agent Orange Victims in Thai Binh. “They should be able to experience it before they die.”
Scientologists believe the regimen, which includes massive consumption of vitamins, four-hour sauna sessions and morning runs, can “sweat out” toxins stored in body fat. There are no peer-reviewed studies to back this claim.
The center was established in 2010 by five foreign members of a Scientologyfunded sister organization, The Association of Better Living and Education. They gave local staff two months of training. The church is not mentioned at the center, but having its “Purification Rundown” treatment accepted by authorities here adds legitimacy to it, and gives the church a foothold from which to grow.
Program expands
NA SON NGUYEN/AP
Church legal battles
Since its emergence in the 1950s, Scientology has battled accusations, legal challenges and government scrutiny around the world over accusations it is a secretive cult that preys on vulnerable people. Its leaders deny those accusations.
Scientologists market the “rundown” treatment simultaneously as a spiritual treatment for followers and as a secular one for those needing “detox,” either from drug addiction or chemical exposure. Two affiliated Scientology groups use the treatment in drug rehabilitation centers that have drawn wrongful-death lawsuits and investigations.
In 1991, Scientology offered “rundown” treatments in Russia to people suffering symptoms related to radiation exposure following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. The church still refers to the mission in its online literature, claiming numerous successes, but in 1996 Russia banned it from performing medical treatment in the country.
Last year, a French court upheld fraud charges and fined the church $791,000 for its efforts to persuade people to take the “rundown.”
The Thai Binh province group said it selects patients based on the severity of their symptoms. About 600 people have gone through the course.
Fourteen days into the program, Quoc, who suffers from diabetes, nervous system complaints and memory loss, said he was sleeping better, has a better appetite and felt better overall. A reporter questioned four other patients, all of whom made similar statements.
All patients get daily care and attention from nurses, as well as pulse and blood pressure checks by doctors. Those who live outside of town also receive food and board during the course.