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Royal Raymond Rife (May 16, 1888 – August 5, 1971) was an American who claimed to have used a special optical microscope to observe very small viruses. Rife causally linked them to two forms of malignancy (cancer): carcinoma, and sarcoma. The limitations of optical microscopes, and the size of viruses is such that most viruses cannot be seen under an optical microscope. Furthermore, the scientific understanding is that the estimated 15% of human cancers that are caused by viruses are caused by a number of different types. Rife's virus claims were therefore incorrect.

Rife also claimed to have rendered such viruses and many others inert in the living patient by means of a "beam ray" device, which he claimed devitalized pathogens by inducing resonances in their constituent chemicals. The scientific community has concluded that Royal Rife's theory was flawed and his devices of no practical use, and newspaper articles have reported cases where cancer patients, some with potentially curable disease, have died while using Rife-type devices as alternatives to standard medical treatments.

Biography

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Rife was of Scottish ancestry, born on May 16, 1888, in Elkhorn, Nebraska. While still at university, he began working part time for Carl Zeiss at their New York offices. Rife said that after a while he moved to Germany and worked part time for Carl Zeiss at their Heidelberg offices. It has been asserted he attended the University of Heidelberg but the university does not confirm that.

Rife married Mamie Ah Quinn in 1912 and she passed away in 1957. In 1960, Rife married Amelia Aragon. Rife died on August 5, 1971 in Grossmont Hospital, El Cajon, California, from a combination of valium and alcohol, at the age of 83.

Rife's microscopes

Rife built a number of microscopes. At least one was cannibalized for parts to build one or more of the others. The Rife #5 has never been reported to have worked since its original owner, Dr. Bertram Gonin in England, "was unable to obtain useful results with either No 4 or No 5." Rife patented a high-intensity UV lamp for microscope use in 1929 (Patent #1727618).

On November 20, 1931, forty-four doctors attended a dinner advertised as "The End To All Diseases" at the Pasadena estate of Dr. Milbank Johnson. This dinner was honoring Dr. Arthur I. Kendall, professor at Northwestern Medical School, and developer of the "Kendall Medium" or "K-Medium," and Dr. Royal Rife, the developer of the "Rife microscope." Moving microorganisms from prepared, diseased human tissue were supposedly seen in Berkefeld-000 filtered form, still-photographed and motion pictured.

August, 1932, Science published a report by Dr. Edward C. Rosenow, M.D. (1875–1966). It said that, in addition to other viruses viewable with the standard lab microscope, small bodies were seen in the filtrate.

Cancer and disease treatment claims

Rife said that he could find a Mortal Oscillatory Rate (M.O.R.) for various pathogenic organisms, and directed his research accordingly, culturing and testing various pathogens with his Universal #3 microscope and his directed radio frequency energy 'beam ray' tube machine. Rife claimed to have documented the precise frequencies which destroyed specific organisms, and claimed that many, if not all, contagious diseases could be cured using this radiation treatment, using frequencies that were typically in the 10 kHz-100 MHz range (HF to mid-VHF). Rife claims that a clinic was set up by a Dr. Milbank Johnson M.D. which conducted tests using Rife's machine on the growth of typhoid in medium, which he claimed demonstrated no motility of typhoid rods which were exposed to Rife's machine. There is no independent verification of any of these claims.

Modern revival of Rife's work

Rife's work was revived in the 1980s. An interest in Rife himself was revived by author Barry Lynes, who wrote a book about Rife entitled The Cancer Cure That Worked. The American Cancer Society described Lynes' claims as implausible, noting that the book is written "in a style typical of conspiratorial theorists."

In the late 1980s, Life Energy Resources mass-produced the REM SuperPro Generator. Three of the company's top distributors, Pat Ballistrea, Michael Ricotta, and Brian Strandberg, claimed it was based on Rife's devices and cured many diseases, including cancer and AIDS. They served prison time for selling unapproved medical devices and drugs as a result of their trials in 1993, 1994, and 1995. According to the Buffalo News, Judge Arcara told Ricotta: "Your sales strategy targeted the most vulnerable people, including those suffering from terminal disease ... It is especially cruel because, in many instances, it proved false hope to people who had no hope." Similarly, the American Cancer Society reported in 1994 that Rife machines were being sold in a "pyramid-like, multilevel marketing scheme" with the claim that the device was being suppressed by an establishment conspiracy against cancer "cures".

In Australia, the use of Rife's machine has been blamed for causing the deaths of cancer patients who could have been cured with conventional therapy.

The Attorneys General of Wisconsin and Minnesota sued Shelvie Rettmann, a proponent of Rife's "frequency generator" for deceptive trade practices and consumer fraud. The Court found that Rettmann had violated the law and that, as a result of her actions, a cancer patient had ceased chemotherapy and died four months later.

Although Rife devices are not registered by the U.S Food and Drug Administration and have been linked to deaths among cancer sufferers, the Seattle Times reported that over 300 people attended the 2006 Rife International Health Conference in Seattle, where dozens of unregistered devices were sold.

See also

• Alternative Medicine
• Bioelectromagnetism
• Electromagnetic therapy
• Energy medicine
• John Bedini

References

1. Bowditch, Peter (2003). "Limited only by the laws of physics". Australian Doctor. Retrieved 2007-12-12. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
2. RifeBook.htm
3. Jones, Newell (1938-05-06). "Cancer Blow Seen After 18-year Toil by Rife". San Diego Evening Tribune - Search for "5/6/38" near "Evening Tribune San Diego, Calif, Cancer Blown Seen". Retrieved 2007-08-22. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
4. ^ "Questionable methods of cancer management: electronic devices" (PDF). CA Cancer J Clin. 44 (2): 115–27. 1994. doi:10.3322/canjclin.44.2.115. PMID 8124604.
5. ^ Pair indicted on fraud charges in medical-device probe, by Christine Willmsen and Michael J. Berens. Published in the Seattle Times on December 21 2007; accessed April 24 2008.
6. ^ Cheating death - Australia's battle with Rife machine quackery
7. The Science Museum's Synopsis on Rife
8. "Patent 1727618". US Patent Office / Google Patent Search. 1927. Retrieved 2007-12-03. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
9. Kendall, Arthur Isaac, MD., PhD. (1931 December No. 6). "Observations on ..." (PDF / Adobe Acrobat 1.2 MB). Retrieved 2007-07-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
10. Rosenow, Edward C., M.D. (1932-08-26). "Observations with the Rife..." (Adobe/PDF). Science Magazine (Column 2 first page, last paragraph, fourth line, "herpes"). Retrieved 2007-09-26. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
11. www.rife.org
12. www.rife.org
13. http://www.rife.org/john%20marsh/rifeinstrumenthistory.pdf See page 15 (approx.)
14. http://rife.org/miscellaneous/no4test-1.jpg
15. http://rife.org/miscellaneous/no4test-2.jpg
16. Investigators' Reports, FDA Consumer magazine, September 1996
17. Stephen Barrett, M.D. "Rife Machine Operator Sued". Quackwatch. Retrieved 2007-02-12.

External links

Promotional

• Rife.org Reviews the original documents concerning Rife

Mainstream

• Electromagnetic Therapy from the American Cancer Society
• Rife devices from the National Council Against Health Fraud
• FDA Link on the FDA website detailing the successful prosecution of a group selling Rife machines
• Radionics in the Skeptic's dictionary
• Rife's original published claim of his observation of the Typhoid bacillus, California and Western Medicine (December 1931), v. 35, no. 6

• 1888 births
• 1971 deaths
• American scientists
• People from Douglas County, Nebraska
• People in alternative medicine
• University of Heidelberg alumni
• Alternative cancer treatments
• Bioelectromagnetic-based therapies