Purification Rundown
Question answered by honorarykid in Scientology
Michael_Crichton asked this question on 9/2/2000:
How exactly is the Purification Rundown supposed to work?
Has there been any scientific validation for it? If it has, in
fact, been "Scietifically proven to work", then why has it been
reported that those undergoing it have to sign a waiver first?
honorarykid gave this response on 9/4/2000:
The Purification Rundown is nothing more than a ritualistic
placebo. But it's a dangerous, quackery-filled one.
The regimen of the PR (or "Purif" as it's known to
Scientologists) consists of taking toxic doses of the B
vitamin Niacin (5 grams/day, the toxic dose is > 1
gram/day) while fasting, exercising and sitting in the sauna
for many hours at a time.
The scam of the PR comes when Scientology falsely claims
that the reddish skin flush that most people notice when
they injest a lot of Niacin, is really the release of the body's
lifetime of stored radiation, which has been sitting in fat
cells. Hubbard made up this little bit of ludicrous BS to
explain the very common Niacin flush. Hubbard made up a
lot of whoppers that he tried to pass off as science. He
also said radiation was water soluable, and goofy stuff like
that.
At any rate, an individual's PR program can go on for
weeks, posing a severe risk of liver damage, dehydration,
and the exhausting the "patient." Diabetics have gone blind
from doing the PR, a few people have suffered horrible
deaths and others have had serious illnesses from doing it.
Here's another interesting tidbit about the PR. Several
years ago, it was reported that pop singer Michael Jackson
was undergoing the Purification Rundown when he collapsed
and nearly died in New York City (this would have been in
1996, if I recall correctly).
It was advertised and well-known within Scientology circles
that Scientology was trying to recruit Jackson following the
lurid spectacle of the civil lawsuit brought against him by
the parents of a young boy, who had alleged that Jackson
was a homosexual pedaphile.
Scientology apparently offered Jackson a quid-pro-quo
arranged marriage to Lisa Marie Presley, gaining access and
credibility in the effort to recruit his many prepubescent
fans. And in exchange, Jackson would receive an improved
reputation as a married, adult heterosexual.
In this deal, Jackson apparently agreed to try becoming a
Scientologist. So Lisa Marie divorced her husband and
married him, and Jackson started on the "Purif," the first
step toward becoming a Scientologist for many people.
Then he collapsed and almost died.
After Jackson pulled through, he apparently told
Scientology that he would not be joining Scientology after
all. His arranged marriage to Presley ended within days.
So in this answer, you get a two-for-one deal; the
explanation not only of the Purification Rundown, but also
of the true nature of the bizarre and surreal marriage
between Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley, and the
role that the Purification Rundown played in ending that
marriage.
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