Germanic New Medicine - Psiram Germanic New Medicine From Psiram Jump to navigation Jump to search Inventor R. G. Hamer Germanic New Medicine® (GNM) (formerly called New Medicine and often called New German[ic] Medicine) is a pseudoscientific, alternative medicine which appeared in Germany in 1981. It is also a registered trade mark since 2003. Many hopeful cancer patients treated by this method have died, at least 140 (see details below). Germanic New Medicine was invented by barred German physician Ryke Geerd Hamer, who has been prosecuted in several European countries for practicing medicine illegally. Hamer is currently living in Sandefjord, in the south of Norway. His address is the same as his publishing company GERMANISCHE NEUE MEDIZIN FORLAG DR. HAMER Sandkollveien 11, N-3229 Sandefjord/Norway. In two interviews in September 2007, Hamer stated that he fled from Spain to Norway to escape an arrest warrant from Germany. The warrant was issued on grounds of incitement of hatred (article 130 of German criminal law), because of Hamer's many public anti-semitic statements in open letters and on web pages, accusing an alleged international Jewish conspiracy (in particular the New York B'nai B'rith) of having killed two billion people by hiding the truth about New Medicine, which Hamer claims can heal 98% of all cancer cases. Since its principles are incompatible with the findings of modern evidence-based medicine, GNM has never been accepted and is widely ignored by the scientific and academic medical community. Hamer spreads his ideas in his books, published by his own publishing company Amici di Dirk, via many different private web pages on the internet and through publications by a number of followers and associations supporting his doctrines. According to Hamer, every disease of either man, animal or plant was the result of an earlier - not well-defined - biological conflict, obeying to no more than five so-called biological laws of nature which he claims to have discovered, but which no scientist has been able to confirm as of yet. In addition to this, Hamer states that only the effects of radiation and injuries were not the result of a biological conflict. GNM is a mainly diagnostic construction and may be seen as a primitive reinvention of some obsolete concepts of psychosomatic medicine, mixed with pseudoscientific, unvalidated tests of Hamer's own invention and a grotesquely erroneous interpretation of CT brain scans. Some of his ideas have already been proposed before (e.g. Christian Science and anthroposophic medicine etc.). What is usually called disease or symptom, Hamer considers a sensible biological program (in German: sinnvolles biologisches Sonderprogramm), being the reaction of a healthy organism to alleged biological conflicts. According to Hamer's theory, all severe diseases, such as cancer, can be healed in 95% of all cases by performing a so-called conflictolysis according to GNM. Failures of his method or the death of patients are consistently attributed to interventions of scholastic medicine, the use of morphine, or the patient's not being totally committed to GNM. Hamer does not present any literature supporting his ideas; some of his assertions, however, remind of concepts to be found in anthroposophical medicine and other concepts developed earlier than 1981. No prospective and scientifically controlled clinical test has been made so far to prove a possible efficacy, and no peer-reviewed articles in serious medical journals exist. Contents 1 Germanic 2 No published reports about healed cancer patients so far 3 Notable cases of failure 4 Sceptical view of GNM 5 External and Internal Contradictions and Obvious Errors 6 Role of morphine in New Medicine 7 Role of Pain 8 Handedness 9 Hamer and Radiology 10 Invention of the New Medicine in 1981 11 See also 12 Versions of this article in other languages 13 References 14 Links Germanic Germanic is a term which first appeared in Roman times about 200 years before Christ and was used by Romans (for instance Pliny the elder) to designate different peoples living east of the Rhine river or north of the Alps. These different peoples never called themselves Germanic. This term was an invention of some of the enemies of the different Germanic peoples and tribes. When, in 2004, Hamer was asked why he wanted his hypotheses to be called Germanic, he answered: [...] weil ich stolz bin ein Deutscher zu sein [...] (because I'm proud to be a German).[1] Hamer also justified the term in his book Vermächtnis einer neuen Medizin[2], asserting that the term Germanic allegedly carried no concept of evil or good as this allegedly only appeared in Judaic and Christian tradition. Hamer also expressed his conviction that medicine had been invented in Germany, the country of poets, musicians, inventors and discoverers, and that Germany was the mother of all European languages, which is nonsense. No published reports about healed cancer patients so far No report about healed cancer patients who survived a GNM therapy and who were not treated by academic medicine has been published so far, only some anecdotal stories are available. For instance a German person asserts that he survived leukemia eleven times thanks to Hamer's method,[3] another person asserts to have been healed miraculously from an atheroma (this is not cancer), and someone thinks that his torticollis was in fact a non-Hodgkin lymphoma[4]. Admirers and followers of GNM believe that thousands of cancer patients have been healed by GNM. A neutral observer must wonder why they do not show up to support this method. Notable cases of failure Many former GNM patients suffering from cancer died. More than 140 persons were known as of 2008. This is documented in different court files and sentences, newspaper articles, reports of relatives, and in the list presented by Aribert Deckers.[5] Many of them had a good chance to survive as they had a cancer responding well to modern therapies (e.g. testicular cancer, Hodgkin-lymphoma). A detailed presentation of notable cases can be seen here: Victims of New Medicine. Ryke Geerd Hamer developed testicular cancer himself in 1978 (or at the beginning of 1979), but seeked professional help and underwent surgery in a clinic in Tübingen. He survived this miraculously, according to his own opinion he should have had a survival chance of only 2%.[6] His tumor appeared only two months after the death of his son Dirk (which was in December 1978), and Hamer was convinced of this event being the cause of his cancer.[7]. But cancer needs years to develop, and not two months. His wife died from breast cancer in 1985, a GNM therapy by Hamer was not successful. Hamer said this at the end of 1985 and declared his wife to be his first patient after discovering the iron rules of cancer. Sceptical view of GNM Hamer never published his hypotheses in a scientific paper (his doctoral thesis has nothing to do with it), and apart from an article by Danish holistic physician (now barred) Sören Ventegodt which appeared in a rather unimportant journal[8], no scientific paper analysing his method can be found in databases. The author Ventegodt also lost his medical licence in the meantime and has been criticized for working in a pseudoscientific way; furthermore the journal apparently accepts papers after receiving a payment.[9] This makes it more difficult to evaluate his ideas. Hamer does not present scientific proof in favour of his method, and does not present controlled and placebo-controlled prospective studies supporting it. Instead, he shows retrospectively filtered reports and letters of anecdotal value, often written by himself or laypersons. Hamer does never recognise any limit of his medical knowledge (he could not work as physician after 1986) and behaves as an expert in every branch of medicine, exactly as described by the Dunning-Kruger effect[10][11], becoming a danger to his patients. External and Internal Contradictions and Obvious Errors Cancer survival in Germany Mortality in Sweden between 1964 and 1996 ALL in Sweden Acta Oncol 2003;42 Hodgkin in Sweden Acta Oncol 2003;42 Many of Hamer's different public statements regarding his doctrines are in conflict with each other and in a clear contrast and conflict to the actual knowledge in scientific medicine. Cancer: Hamer states that he was able to cure cancer patients in 98% of all cases but is unable to present a single cured patient. At the same time, it is well known (see his trials, the Aribert-Decker-List[12] and Victims of New Medicine / Testimonies of former associates of Hamer) that many cancer patients following his method died. Some of his statements seem to indicate that the therapeutic principle in new medicine is the so far unknown induction of a spontaneous remission of cancer after a psychotherapeutical intervention by the patient himself, and assisted by a GNM therapist. The probability of any spontaneous remission, however, is known to be very low, occuring only in about 1:50,000 to 1:140,000 of all cancer cases. These remissions are not only very rare, but at the same time no cure is known today to induce them. Every spontaneous remission is also subject to possible relapses and patients must wait at least five (or more) years until they know that recovery seems to be definitive. At least two different groups of experts are performing research on spontaneous remissions in Germany (one for instance in Nuremberg). At the same time, Hamer declared many times, and still continues to repeat, that scientific medicine offered only about a 2% survival chance for a cancer patient.[13] Hamer sometimes refers to Ulrich Abel, a German expert who never made any statement like this. In reality, modern medicine (evidenced-based medicine and good clinical practice) today offers a survival rate of about 55% (all cases) in Germany[14], and in other countries, like the USA or Australia, even over 60%[15]. National Cancer Institute (USA) indicates a cancer survival of only 20% in 1920. And cancer incidence started to decrease about ten years ago in Germany.[16] Another big error: Hamer claims that 1,500 German non-Jewish cancer patients were killed every day by scientific medicine and this can be seen or heard in a video interview dated 2006[17] and he continues to assert this claim on different web pages in open letters.[18] These data, however, contradict published German cancer statistics of 2002: 420,000 people were newly diagnosed with cancer in that year in Germany, and at the same time 210,000 died because of cancer in 2002. 210000/365=575, Hamer's numbers cannot be correct and 1,500 x 365 = 547,500. This means the number of dead patients would exceed the number of newly diagnosed patients by 120,000. This is of course impossible. Chemotherapy and cancer: According to Hamer, chemotherapy in cancer treatment would have a fatal effect on every patient and caused the death of many people in the past. However, chemotherapy is mostly used as a coadjuvant therapy combined with surgery or a radiation therapy. Some (not all) cancers are sensitive to particular drugs used. Cancer of this type for instance is Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in children, Hodgkin-disease or testicular cancer.[19]. Overall (additional = contribution for chemotherapy for cancer survival is estimated at between 5-10%. Tumors in transplanted organs: Tumors may also come up in transplanted organs, they were already present in these organs before transplantation (too small to be detected), but it is also known that a tumor can build up after transplantation. After a transplantation, no nerve links this organ to the brain, and therefore the GNM theory of cancer origin fails.[20][21][22][23][24][25][26] Inherited cancer: In some cancer types it is known for sure that these are inherited and therefore transmitted genetically. One example is familial adenomatous polyposis[27] or Xeroderma pigmentosum[28]. Other cases are Louis-Bar syndrome, Gardner syndrome, Turcot syndrome and familiar form of retinoblastoma. In these cases a biological conflict as an origin can be excluded. Cancer caused by virus: About 15% of all cancer are caused by viruses (oncovirus), the presence of a viral infection increases incidence. This is the case in high-risk HPV, Burkitt lymphoma and HIV. No chemical carcinogens in new medicine: The Hamer doctrine allows no chemical carcinogens to exist, they have simply no effect on tumour formation and smoking does not cause cancer, for instance. Cancer may occur because people were in panic after hearing that carcinogens like asbestos were harmful. No metastasis in GNM: According to the same doctrine metastases do not exist and allegedly were never proved by scientific medicine. Tumours appearing after a first tumour were due to the panic of the patient who, suffering, was producing new tumours. Also, isolate tumor cells would not be detectable in blood, especially not in arterial blood.[29] Many scientific articles tell us the opposite. Since 1869 (more than 130 years ago), it is known that tumors emit single cancer cells or groups of them into the blood, and every day a tumor may emit millions of cells even if only a minority may survive (perhaps 0,01%) and be the source of a distant metastasis[30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41]. Often the PCT-technique is used known from the genetic fingerprints. A newer work (december 2007) by Mehmet Toner about an automat registering single cancer cells: [42]. Hamer instead believes that there were no studies showing these cancer cells in arterial blood, but this is false and irrelevant because the presence of isolated cancer cells in venous blood of the controlateral side of the tumors can't be explained either. Some articles (out of many) showing cancer cells in arterial blood are: [43], Yamaguchi [44] and Georgakoudi [45]. See also: [46]. Isolated cancer cells were also found in sputus, urine, sperma and stool [47]). Arterial-venous shunts did not influence metastasis formation: [48], and cancer cells can move from the blood into tissue: [49], [50] and the number of circulating cancells is correlated positively with the probability of metastasis formation. In some particular cancer the metastasis formation is well known and obvious (Krukenberg cancer). No brain tumors in New Nedicine: brain tumors simply do not exist in New Medicine, the theory eliminates them by definition. It was argued that nervous cells were not able to divide. Nobel price for Rita Levy-Montalcini (nerve growth factor) proves the opposite and so do scientific studies [51][52][53]. Many different brain tumor develop also out of glial cells or other cells in the brain that are not neurons. The existence of brain tumors would disturb the iron rule in new medicine, that a conflict creates a so-calles DHS and determines a tumor in a brain-depending and handedness-depending organ. Transmissible cancer in animals: in some animals, transmissible cancer can be found. This is of course not compatible with New Medicine doctrine. Some example are: CTVT in dogs [54] [55][56], DFTD in Tasmania [57], and tumors riginating out of particular proteins of JSRV [58]. Work of Tanaka (1990) shows the experimental transmision of cancer from a mouse to another mouse: [59]. Role of morphine in New Medicine Morphine (derived from opium) was invented about 200 years ago in 1804 by Friedrich Wilhelm Sertürner, after opium had been used for thousands of years. Morphine allowed a more exact dosage in pain relieving treatment. Hamer and his followers are convinced that the use of morphine (and similar drugs) were the cause of many cancer deaths. Morphine, however, is one of the most powerful analgetic drugs we know today and has no ceiling effect. Morphine can be easely dosed by a patient adding only the necessary number of drops to a beverage. Its side effects must be known by each medical student and they are well known since the invention in 1804. In Denmark, morphine consumption in the 80ies was known to be ten times higher than in Germany, without influencing cancer mortality (75 kg/1 milion persons/year instead of 7,5 kg), and in 2002, morphine consumption increased to 22 chili in Germania, while cancer mortality was decreasing. In Italy, consumption was 70 kg, 92 Kg in Denmark, in Austria 152 kg, UK 353 Kg and Hungary 577 Kg/1 mil./year. Role of Pain Pain, Hamer believes, should not be treated (see: Testimonies of former associates of Hamer). According to protagonists of the method, no opiates or opiate derivates should be administered as far as possible if chances for a cure are not to be practically eliminated. This can cause patients to endure extreme cancer pain unnecessarily on the assumption this was necessary for a cure (see: Victims of New Medicine). Moreover, if the cancer progresses, patients could suffer feelings of failure or guilt, because the Hamer method of «New Medicine» presumes that the cure for cancer depends upon the patients’ resolving their personal conflicts. This could give rise to the erroneous assumption that the disease will progress if they do not make a large enough contribution towards the resolution of their conflicts, or if they do not follow the proper procedure. Handedness Applause-test for handedness according to Hamer In new medicine, handedness is important as it is believed to determine the location of an eventual disease like cancer. But in relation to handedness in humans, Hamer made many erroneous statements in obvious contrast to actual medical knowledge. Monozygotic twins and handness: Hamer is convinced that, in monozygotic twins, one was always left-handed while the other one was right-handed, but gives no exact reference for this opinion.[60][61] This opinion can easily be checked and there is scientific literature dealing with this issue. Incidence of left-handedness in singletons, monozygotic, and dizygotic twins is around 10%-15%, and there is no source stating that left-handedness was exactly 50% in monozygotic twins.[62] The autor Derom writes: [...] the belief that discordant handedness in monozygotic twins represents mirror-imaging is mythical [...].[63] Hamerian Applause Test and Prayer Test. Hamer uses his own and controversial test for handedness, the so-called Applause test and a so-called Bet-Test (prayer test). These simple tests have never been scientifically validated and are of pseudoscientific character. No information regarding these tests can be found in scientific databases. Using these tests, some New Medicine patients were attributed a conflicting handedness by different persons, creating some confusion. Handedness and body side to cradle babies. Hamer is convinced that women and men will always cradle their babies on the opposite side of their dominant hand. A left-handed woman thus was to hold the baby on the right side of her body. This is not true, and many scientific sources tell us something different. Men and women hold their baby mostly (80%) on their left side, regardless of handedness. This is also true for apes (primates). [64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75] [76][77]. Handedness was an object of research for a long time and is detected by particularly complex tests developed during the 1940ies, taking into account cultural influences [78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86] Hamer and Radiology CT ring artefact presented by Hamer as a Hamer focus See also: Hamer-Focus article Hamer bases his diagnoses on a particular interpretation of brain scans using exclusively computer tomography mixed with his obscure and never validated proprietary handedness tests. CT-diagnostics is crucial in New Medicine to detect so-called Hamer foci. His particular interpretation is not compatible with actual knowledge in radiology. The Swiss Study Group for Complementary and Alternative Methods in Can… truncated (71,223 more characters in archive)