Downtown Medical , also known as the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project , was founded in New York City in 2003 with the purpose of treating rescue workers for toxins inhaled from the smoke of the September 11 attacks. It has two clinics, one on Fulton Street, two blocks from the site of the World Trade Center and another at Williston Park, Long Island. The project's co-founder and top fundraiser is the actor and Scientologist Tom Cruise. It uses the Purification Rundown, a "detoxification" program invented by L. Ron Hubbard as part of Scientology's Bridge to Total Freedom. This rundown has been criticized by many doctors as pseudoscientific and medically dangerous, although it has produced positive testimonials from some recipients. It was reported in October 2007 that 838 people had completed the program.
The project has been supported by some public officials, and received some public funding, but received criticism for its financial ties to the Church of Scientology, for exposing rescue workers to the potential dangers of Purification, and for discouraging their use of orthodox medicine. Sources in the fire department told a reporter that several participants had joined Scientology, even disconnecting from their families.
Background
Scientologists criticise EPA
Tom Cruise explained his motivation for setting up the project in a Scientology promotional video that leaked onto the internet in January 2008. The Environmental Protection Agency had stated after the World Trade Center attack that the air was safe to breathe. The video narration contradicted this, saying "The devastation had spread an unprecedented combination of toxins through the air - and it was lethal." Cruise is seen dismissing the EPA's all-clear:
Of course, as a Scientologist you go, that's a lie. Outright lie. Liar. Fine. Finally you say, dammit, just go there and do it. Put it there, let's go, here's the money, let's go. Let's just get one person treated. I can't sleep another night.In an appearance on CNN's Larry King Live , Cruise said that he founded the project out of concern that 9/11 survivors would suffer leukemia, parkinsonism, multiple sclerosis or cancer as a result of toxins in their fatty tissue. He advocated Hubbard's "research" as the only way to deal with these problems because, "Doctors do not know how to diagnose chemical exposures You go to a doctor and now he's going to put you on more and more drugs, steroids and things that are ineffective".
"Detoxification" in Scientology
Main article: Purification RundownThe "detoxification" program was created by L. Ron Hubbard as part of the teachings of Scientology, and is explained in his book Clear Body, Clear Mind. It is promoted through various groups affiliated with the Church of Scientology. It claims to flush poisons from the body's fat stores using exercise, saunas, and high doses of vitamins, particularly niacin. Many medical experts have judged it to be unproven, ineffective and potentially dangerous. A report for the Department of Health in California described the mega-doses of vitamins as "hazardous" and "in some cases lethal". Scientology's own literature reports dehydration, electrolyte disturbances including hyponatremia (low sodium level) and hypokalemia (low potassium level), and heat-related illnesses as being frequent side-effects of the program. Testimonials from participants credit it with improvements in physical and mental health, but several families blame the Rundown for the death of a relative.
Finances and organization
From 2003 to 2007, Downtown Medical received $900,000 in public funding, including $630,000 from the City of New York The project also received private funding, the biggest supporter being Tom Cruise. Other celebrity donors included Paul Newman, Paul McCartney, Adam Sandler, Leah Remini, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. By late 2004, these donations amounted to $2.3 million. The detoxification program has been offered for free to rescue workers, and also offered to other New York City residents, some of whom paid $5,000.
According to tax filings, the project pays on some of its money to two bodies, related to the Church of Scientology, that promote the Purification Rundown. These are the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE), which receives 5% of all contributions, and the Foundation for Advancements in Science and Education (FASE). The Executive Director of the Church of Scientology was involved in creating the Foundation and later described it as a "front group". In one year, $173,300 of Downtown Medical's income went to Dr. Steven Lager, a Scientologist.
As of 2003, the director of Downtown Medical was Jim Woodworth, a former drug addict who credits his recovery to the Purification Rundown. Before Downtown Medical, he was the executive director of HealthMed in Sacramento, California.
Endorsements and criticism
Public officials
- Margarita López, a former member of New York City Council, endorsed the programme and helped it to win public funding. Subsequently she received nearly $115,000 in campaign contributions from Scientologists.
- Another supporter was Hiram Monserrate of the New York City Council. Monserrate went through the program himself, and drafted official proclamations honoring both Tom Cruise and L. Ron Hubbard. Describing himself as a Christian, he distanced himself from Scientology, but said he believes in the Purification Rundown.
- Another councillor, Joseph Patrick Addabbo also supported the project, telling reporters, "The project seems to work. I've seen it firsthand."
- Mayor Michael Bloomberg spoke out against Addabbo and López for their connections with the program, saying that Scientology is "not science, and we should only fund those programs that reputable scientists believe will stand the light of day."
- Council speaker Christine C. Quinn denounced the program as meritless.
- Downtown Medical's publicity included favourable quotations from Senator Charles Schumer and from Michael Balboni (New York's deputy secretary for Public Security), though Schumer later withdrew his support and Balboni denied ever having made the statement.
- Another councillor (and chair of the Public Safety Committee) Peter Vallone, Jr., vocally criticized Downtown Medical and argued that public money should not be spent on it. He accused Monserrate of crossing the line between "cult and state".
- U.S. Representative Carolyn B. Maloney wrote a letter supporting the project.
- Deputy Fire Commissioner Frank Gribbon of the NYFD spoke out against the project's attempts to discourage orthodox medical treatment.
- Dr. Bob Hoffman of the New York City Poison Control Center warned that the Purification Rundown is potentially dangerous, calling it "hocus pocus".
- Mayor Doreen Ehrbar of Williston Park took part in the opening ceremony for the Long Island clinic.
Other
- Neither the police nor the fire department officially supported Downtown Medical. The Uniformed Firefighters Association initially supported the project but withdrew when the connection to the Church of Scientology was revealed.
- Firefighter union president Patrick Bahnken said his members' lives had benefited from the program and that it had involved no religious rhetoric.
- Actress and radio show host Janeane Garofalo drew criticism by allowing Scientologist Leah Remini to promote Downtown Medical on her Air America Radio show.
- Lawyer and activist Howard Teich visited Downtown Medical and was persuaded of the benefits of the program.
Scientific reaction
An investigation by the New York Press asked a number of independent doctors about the evidence for the Purification Rundown. None of them endorsed the program's effectiveness and some explicitly described it as dangerous. Several said that no peer-reviewed research on the rundown had been published in any medical journal. Some apparently supportive studies have been published, but these lack control groups and have other scientific failings.
According to Deputy Commissioner Frank Gribbon, doctors investigating the program on behalf of the Fire Department concluded that it was not detoxifying. University of Georgia bioterrorism expert Cham Dallas also denied that the procedure could detoxify, saying "It sounds great and they mean well, but it just doesn't work."
In 2007, James Dahlgren and colleagues published a small-sample pilot study assessing the project. Dahlgren is a doctor who promotes the Purification Rundown as a method of detoxification. The study claimed to find evidence both of elevated levels of toxins in the rescue workers and improvement during the regime. Two scientists from Cambridge Environmental, Inc. published a thorough critique of the study. They questioned the premise that WTC rescue workers needed detoxification, citing studies that had found that their blood concentration of toxins was no greater than normal.
ith few exceptions, people’s body burdens of PCBs and other “dioxin-like compounds” are determined almost exclusively by the food we eat, not by the air we breathe. Firefighters may occasionally receive on-the-job exposures to PCBs and PCDFs, but these would be from having fought PCB-containing electrical transformer fires, not from 9/11.The paper argues that the project never properly tested its outcomes and concludes that application of the potentially dangerous Purif
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