Aluminum: Satan's Metal
and Killer of Millions?
The Watchtower's Incredible
Crusade Against Aluminum
Jerry Bergman, Ph.D.
The Golden Age, Sept. 23, 1936, p. 803.
Introduction
The Watchtower history is replete with examples of not only
erroneous theological positions such as wrongly predicting the time
of the end, but also advocating numerous quack medical nostrums. Part
of the reason for their involvement in quack scams was due to the
tendency of certain high level Watchtower officials to reject
anything that was orthodox--orthodox religion, orthodox science, and
orthodox medicine. Unfortunately, the Watchtower is still today stuck
in a quagmire of foolish beliefs which they have not yet been unable
to transcend. Their almost half-century crusade against aluminum is
an excellent example of their involvement in supporting a conclusion
which was almost universally regarded as fringe even during the
height of their crusade. They taught that aluminum cooking utensils
caused scores of diseases, and were "a curse to humanity and their
manufacture and use should be forbidden by law" (Force 1932 p. 35).
Today their former stand is seen as extremely foolish even by the
Watchtower themselves.
A great deal of harm to the individual can result when generally
uninformed persons uncritically accept naive conclusions. But when
these same people head an organization with hundreds of thousands of
followers, most of whom accept what the organization says as the word
of God (or at least quasi-inspired) a travesty can result. Few people
probably died because of the Watchtower aluminum teaching, but
multi-thousands have lost their lives because of the Watchtower
teaching on blood, vaccinations and their advocating scores of pseudo
medical cures (Reed 1996).
The history of the Watchtower opposition to aluminum, though,
eloquently demonstrates much about the Watchtower organization as
well as the need to be constrained by the limits of one's knowledge.
These are the same constraints that all of us possess unless we are
inspired by God.
The Problem of Expertise
A key to success is knowing what one can speak authoritatively
about and knowing where one's limits of knowledge and expertise are.
All of us have opinions which lie outside of our area of expertise.
Most intelligent people are cognizant of this fact and therefore
usually avoid pontificating on areas they know little about. Lack of
knowledge about one's limitations is especially dangerous when
editors of a religious magazine which is regarded by its followers as
the publishing arm of God's organization express irresponsible views
as fact, and excommunicate those individuals who do not accept and
live by its pronouncements. Reading about the Watchtower teaching on
aluminum today forces one to question the credibility and even the
rationality of the editors and writers of The Golden Age
magazine. Account after account was printed about people who used
aluminum pots and pans and soon thereafter developed all kinds of
maladies and even died. When these people stopped using aluminum and
instead used enamel cookware, they claimed their health miraculously
improved and they never felt better in their lives. It is appropriate
to teach that, although no clear evidence condemns aluminum's use,
this does not prove it is fully safe, and it may be prudent to avoid
products that contain it.
This is quite different then claiming that cooking in aluminum
cookware produces numerous dangerous drugs that will cause
irreversible harm as the Watchtower did. The Watchtower even inferred
that aluminum cookware can influence some persons to become addicted
to drugs including narcotics. The writings of Toledo dentist Charles
Betts (1879-1959) who self-published his first booklet on the topic
in 1926[1] was the basis of the tragic story of the Watchtower's over
three decades long crusade against aluminum. The topic was no small
concern: the Watchtower Society published a whopping over 130
articles about aluminum from 1925 to 1969. Betts started practicing
dentistry at the turn of the century and evidently was grandfathered
in the profession (I could find no evidence of his attending dental
school or even college). And according to Dr. George D. Beal of the
University of Pittsburgh, Betts was carrying on a lone crusade:
Aluminum is at the present time the most widely
used constructional material for cooking utensils. During the time
that it has been in use, it seems to us that the harmful nature of
this metal would have become increasingly apparent to food and
medical specialists. Strange to say, the only two who have found any
existence of such a condition are a dentist in Toledo and an
advertising physician in Chicago who has been connected with many
so-called 'health institutes.' (quoted in Hopkins 1929 p. 247)
The Golden Age said after Dr. Betts made his great life
saving discovery that The Golden Age was the first magazine to
give "wide publicity to this matter" (Sept. 12 1934 p. 771). Betts
was a member of an organization that the Watchtower teaches is a
false religion, the First Presbyterian Church in Maumee, OH.
(Toledo Blade, Dec. 21, 1969 p.14)
Typical Case Histories
A typical case is a Golden Age article that quoted a
Cleveland Plain Dealer story about a three and a seven year
old who died from a "mysterious poisoning," and a third child also
became ill. The Golden Age then wrote to the father and
learned that this happened shortly after they ate beef and cabbage
boiled in an aluminum kettle. The Watchtower then made the totally
unwarranted conclusion that the cause of the poisoning was the
aluminum cookery, asking "how many fathers and mothers [will be] made
ill; how many babies slain before the government takes a hand in this
thing and prevent this unnecessary slaughter" (Woodworth 1929: 275).
The official cause of death was not given and the actual cause
could be due to any number of things from botulism to rancid
food--the family was extremely poor, and quite possibly the cause was
unsafe food. Concluding that an aluminum kettle was the problem was
wholly unwarranted--if the family became ill the first time it was
used, one might be more inclined to suspect aluminum cookware.
Conversely, they had probably been using this cookware for years and
it evidently never caused them any problems before. From the
information given, aluminum was likely not the cause, yet the
Watchtower irresponsibly titled this article "two more aluminum
sacrifices."
Another example was provided by Whibley (1928:145) who
congratulated the Golden Age on the splendid work it was doing
to help "educate the public upon the dangers to health of aluminum"
on a subject that was too vital to be ignored. He claimed that he was
severely poisoned with "almost fatal results and is now a complete
physical wreck" because of using aluminum cookware. No indication is
given as to how he knew that his malady was caused by aluminum
cookware nor how the aluminum caused the illness he claimed it did.
Hanson (1928) relates he used aluminum cookware for many
years--then he read a Golden Age article on this topic. He had
suffered from "bilious attacks" and would "almost go blind" because a
"ice-like film would form before my eyes...three or four times a
day." The author then claims "seven days after I got new
[non-aluminum] cooking pots the blindness gradually disappeared and
in a month it was gone" and he has felt great since. Hansen's illness
sounds like a migraine headache, although it could have been an
allergy--possibly even to aluminum. Allergies to a wide variety of
common house-hold chemicals are not uncommon, but the article says
little about what is harmful to the general public.
The Watchtower claimed that scores of symptoms and illnesses were
caused by aluminum, including head pain, gas, heart and lung cancer,
brown spots, stomach trouble, ulcers, cerebrospinal meningitis,
anaphylactic shock, vomiting, dizziness, headache, heart attacks
(even by children) blindness, kidney trouble, sores, tumors,
tonsillitis, carbuncles, boils, paralysis, fainting spells,
exhaustion, skin eruptions, asthma, hay fever, insanity, anemia, and
"all manner of unhealth" (White 1931 p. 374; Woodworth 1935 p. 143;
Maereker 1931 p. 243; Bowers 1931 p. 558; Woodworth 1932 p. 537;
Archer 1932 p. 126-127; Woodworth 1934 p. 771-779, 803-811, and 1936
p. 304).
An excellent example of the wild claims that were made on this
topic was an item under the subheading "Aluminum Poisoning in Texas"
which claimed that beans cooked in aluminum cookware were left to
stand in the aluminum vessel "until thoroughly poisoned." As a
result, aluminum poisoning caused the death "of a Crowell, Texas
father, his five-year-old daughter, and the serious illness of five
others. The only one in the family not poisoned was a two-year old
baby that went to bed supperless." The author concludes "If you want
to die, keep on eating food cooked in aluminum" (Woodworth 1928 p.
40).
Evidently the fulminations against aluminum by The Golden
Age were not enough to scare some people. Higgins (1928: 115)
writes that she and her husband had bowel and stomach pains which
were rapidly growing worse. Everything she tried failed until finally
one day she gave her dog milk that stood in an aluminum kettle over
night--and the smart dog refused to drink it. She then stated, "That
settled it, and I transferred my lot of aluminum...to the junk pile."
(1928: 115) Now that they don't use aluminum cookware, their food
soon began to digest, their pains left and they "both have very good
health."
Norderum (1928: 81) stated that after reading The Golden
Age articles about aluminum, she discarded their aluminum
cookware "with very marked improvement in health. Whereas distress
was [formerly] present after every meal, now it is only rarely felt
and then generally after a meal away from home where aluminum is used
for cooking purposes." (p.81) She then relates the case of a neighbor
who discarded his cookware and is now "improving in health right
along." A third case she relates involves a neighbor lady who
discarded her aluminum pots and pans, and within a few weeks her
severe pain has "left and has not returned."
Winder (1929:437) claimed that as soon as she quit using aluminum
cookware and aluminum baking powder her health soon improved
enormously. Before this she claims she suffered from cancer, frequent
gall bladder trouble, indigestion, and bad colds. All of these
problems have miraculously cleared up and she concludes, "I firmly
believe that aluminum poison was the cause of the cancer as well as
of the other diseases mentioned." This article was printed
immediately before an article which lambasted the medical claims made
for vaccinations.
In another case a person who suffered from stomach ulcers
abstained from anything that touched aluminum--and soon got better
(Stuart 1929: 564). Betts argued that "from extensive reports and
observations made by the writer, ulcers of the stomach" are caused by
aluminum compounds from cooking and other sources (Betts 1930 p.
527-528). We now know that most stomach ulcers are caused by a
bacteria, Helicobacter pylori. One case even related that when a
Golden Age reader's kittens were given milk in aluminum
containers--after humorously stating "that will kill them for sure"--
sure enough, they soon became sick and died. This author had the
humility to admit "I wish I were chemist enough to have told just
what did kill them." Nonetheless, she concludes that the aluminum was
the culprit (Stuart 1929: 564). Foote relates he fed 100 baby chicks
from food made in aluminum containers and in only a few days 96 died
(1930 p. 650).
Peterson claims that aluminum is systematically poisoning humanity
but, fortunately, The Golden Age, "the best little magazine in
the world today" is exposing "this terrible crime against the health
of the world" (Peterson 1930 p. 542). Another account by Scott (1929:
503) and S.R. Love (1930 p. 14) provides numerous more examples of
the many people who have discarded aluminum cooking ware after
reading The Golden Age and the health of one and all improved
miraculously. If all this was true, it would seem that half of the
population would soon be dead or sick because "aluminum ware is used
in a great majority of American homes." (Betts 1928 p. 359). Why
everyone doesn't get sick is explained by arguing that those "most
susceptible to aluminum poisoning" regularly use cathartics
(laxatives) (Betts 1928 p. 360). The solution would seem to be to
stop using medical laxatives--the advise common today, and often the
source of trouble. Bethel staffer Mr. Barber argued that even
"persons possessing a strong digestive apparatus and great power of
resistance to poisons...sooner or later" become ill from ingesting
aluminum (1935 p. 341).
Yet another account by an L.C. Ross (1929: 431) tells about a cook
who for years knew that "there was something radically wrong with
aluminum cooking ware." As a result of using aluminum cooking ware,
he claims that he suffered from "acute aluminum poisoning" and the
"best doctors in San Francisco with all the latest inventions and
X-rays, test meals, dark rooms, and every test known to the medical
profession, could not tell me what was the matter with my stomach and
bowels." The doctors diagnosed his problem, he says, as a "possible
ulcer and some other possible things I could not understand." Ross
concludes that even though he couldn't understand the diagnosis, he
knew the problem--being fed "from a kitchen filled with aluminum
ware."
One wonders how he knows he was recovering from acute aluminum
poisoning--a diagnosis not given by his doctor. He also adds
parenthetically that he also had cancer and concludes "aluminum is a
direct cause of three-fourths of the stomach trouble in the world
today, and probably all of the cancer trouble" (1929: 431). From our
vantage point today, one wonders why an editor could publish such
appalling foolishness which is firmly in the irresponsible category.
The reason may be because the writer, who admits "I am not very smart
in the lore of writing," has "sense enough to understand that God has
a remnant now on the earth." Presumably Ross is one of these 144,000
remnant who is now in heaven judging modern Jehovah's Witnesses. No
doubt he would not judge them too favorably if his comments above are
any indication of his thinking process.
An Assessment of these Case Histories
Since the Watchtower based their conclusions primarily on the case
histories The Golden Age regularly featured for several
decades an evaluation of them is critical. An example of the many
cases of alleged aluminum poisoning includes an article by Sherwood
(1928: 397). She relates when her current issue of Golden Age
arrived, she was in bed with "intestinal poisoning." In this new
issue was an article about aluminum which she showed to her doctor
who she claimed advised her to "abandon all aluminum for the
present." Nothing is said as to if this cured her, but the next
story, Aluminum Poisoning at Punxsutawney, (a city in Pennsylvania)
reviewed a case of "ptomaine (pronounced to main) poisoning" that
occurred at a chicken supper at the local Baptist church. Every one
of the 200 people who ate their supper there became ill.
This was a result, The Golden Age writer claimed, of
leaving gravy in an aluminum container too long before bringing it to
the church. The source of The Golden Age's information was a
newspaper account about which The Golden Age comments was
"without a doubt, a perfectly accurate statement of what occurred."
How The Golden Age knew the accuracy of the story is not
stated. This article then reviewed part of the long list of the
Watchtower's litany of alleged evils in society including big
business. Later newspaper accounts about the poisoning event no
longer blamed aluminum, and the Watchtower writer argued without
evidence that the article was rewritten due to pressure from "dealers
in aluminum ware" or "owners of aluminum stock." In the rewrite, the
word aluminum was changed to "metal," adding "the sickness was not
due to metal poisoning, but rather from a chicken that had been dead
too long and had gotten mixed with the good ones presented to the
Baptist ladies for their supper." The Watchtower then claimed
the word "aluminum" had been whitewashed into the
word "metal" and those grand and useful custodians of public health,
"three responsible physicians," always to be had in a case like this,
"after an investigation" had come forth in the "unanimous opinion"
that each of the two hundred victims had, in some mysterious manner,
managed to get hold of a piece of the same chicken, so dead that it
was rotten, that in some other mysterious manner had found its way
among the good ones.
Those knowledgeable about public health recognize how common food
poisoning from chicken is--even the kitchen counter where raw chicken
is cut must be carefully wiped clean to prevent bacteria from being
spread to other food. Chicken is actually the major cause of food
poisoning even today, and eggs are the second most common cause.
Ptomaine is a basic substance derived from putrefying tissues, and
therefore the problem could not have been caused by aluminum but
could only be caused by rotting food such as chicken. Actually
ptomaine itself is not injurious to the digestive system because the
body normally converts the poison into harmless substances.
The problem is high levels of bacteria which accumulate on food as
it ages, and these bacteria produce the poisons which cause illness.
For a case of 60 persons "poisoned" see Golden Age Oct. 29,
1930 p. 87 and for a case involving 75 persons poisoned by some new
aluminum utensils at a Presbyterian Church dinner see I.E.W., 1928
p.302. The Golden Age author tried to have the local paper
print a story about this "mass poisoning" but the editors allegedly
refused. The Golden Age concluded this refusal was because the
"rich aluminum industry" may take offense.
Conclusions and assumptions are often uncritically thrown about in
articles such as those quoted above, and no data or scientific
studies or even responsible informed discussions were ever cited on
the issue. We now know that colds are caused by a virus and anemia in
women is usually brought on by iron deficiency. Many Golden
Age writers claimed they were cured by trashing aluminum cooking
ware but how they were cured and the evidence do not merit much
discussion. The focus is on aluminum as the cause of virtually every
ailment that can afflict humans: when readers dumped their aluminum
kitchen utensils, thanks to the advise of the "valuable paper" The
Golden Age, their problems, one and all, were soon gone. Most of
the cases of poisoning involved letting the food sit unrefrigerated
for long periods of time, and often involve, chicken, eggs in potato
salad and other foods which spoil easily. The aluminum had nothing to
do with most which seemed to be simple food poisoning.
If the use of aluminum cookware caused all the dire problems that
the Watchtower claimed, it would be easy to determine if this was the
case. All that is necessary is to select a random sample of 100
persons, then randomly divide the sample in half and for half cook
all their meals in porcelain cookware and the other half in aluminum.
Monitoring their health progress for several weeks or months can
determine if illness levels in the two groups are significantly
different. Neither the subjects or the doctors who examine them can
know which group each person is in. Since the groups were originally
randomly divided to assure that positive and negative health factors
were equal in both groups, any differences would likely be due to
aluminum poisoning. Fraser (1929 p.52) claims he tried this
experiment with animals and all of those fed from aluminum containers
soon died, but those fed from granite dishes just fine.
The Golden Age, Sept. 23, 1936, p.806.
Watchtower writer Schmidt claims the symptoms are clear and
unequivocal:
This poison must be excreted from the body by
bowels or kidneys; and thus, in cleaning up the body, you find it
last in anus and urethra and sometimes in prostate. If the bowels act
fully and completely and from two to three times a day, as they
should, then this poison can pass through the body without much of
bad effects. But if the bowels are sluggish, then you get a loading
up and damming back, until every organ in the body is poisoned and it
finally breaks out though ulcers, etc. An ulcer is nothing but the
effort of the body to throw off chronic excess poison at that point.
That same thing is true in cancer. Here you always find, according to
these tests, natrium muriate and aluminum nitrate being excreted, and
potassium nitrate present. (1929 p.436)
Almost every statement in this article is wrong, including the
cause of ulcers. Some may argue that these articles, some printed
from fifty to seventy years ago, should not be used to discredit the
Watchtower today. A study of this time period is an excellent method
to assess the Watchtower because we have the benefit of the proof of
history which has eloquently shown the Watchtower to be unequivocally
wrong. Many of the same criticisms could be leveled today against the
Watchtower--especially their tragic stand on blood transfusions.
Their arguments were effective only for those who did not understand
the medical issues involved and were under the Watchtower yolk.
The Watchtower no doubt will in the future be embarrassed by their
current blood transfusion stand and will regard their blood law as
foolish as was their former position on aluminum. The aluminum issue
is especially useful because even the Watchtower fully agrees with
the conclusion that their crusade against aluminum was ignorant,
although they excuse it today as a teaching promulgated at a time
when the "light was less bright." The light, though, on this topic
was bright for most everybody else, why was it so dim for the
Watchtower?
These articles and case histories were obviously written by people
who were extremely naive and had little or no training in medicine
and science. Some were barely literate, and most made wild,
unsubstantiated claims of serious diseases cured in which the
diagnosis was likely wrong. One can feel sorry for these people who
were misled by The Golden Age, and hardly blame these likely
sincere persons who were only endeavoring to live a satisfactory
life. On the other hand, one can and should blame The Golden
Age for publishing such foolishness and lending authority to
these irresponsible claims. This is not to say that avoidance of
aluminum may not be beneficial, but that aluminum became the super
bad guy and many other clear proven health problems were ignored or
barely mentioned.
Aluminum as the Super Bad Guy
The Golden Age printed scores of articles that made
appalling claims such as:
from eighty to ninety percent of all my patients,
both in acute and chronic cases, show aluminum poisoning in one or
more places in the body. Thus, after syphilis ... [aluminum] is the
most common source of toxemia (Schmidt 1929 p. 436 emphasis
mine).
Not only aluminum pots and pans, but many aluminum products were
condemned. Even use of alucol (aluminum hydroxide) which was then
used as a filler for some medicines, was condemned (Woodworth 1928:
16; Valiente 1930 p. 50). Betts even claims "organic aluminum" is not
only a poison but has a paralytic effect, and he then gives a case
history in which two children died from aluminum phosphate (1929 p.
720). This article eloquently shows Bett's and the Watchtower's
ignorance--aluminum phosphate (AlPO4) is not an organic but an
inorganic compound! Use of Aluminum sulfate to purify water was also
condemned. Betts (1928: 16) suggest that to test if aluminum
purifiers were used, a person could fill a clean drinking glass with
city water, let it evaporate, and repeat several times. If a film
accumulates on the glass, the writer concludes that this indicates
the presence of enough poisonous aluminum sulfate "to be a real
menace to the human body." It could also indicate hard water, a
possibility Betts ignores.
The writer not only condemns the use of aluminum sulfate to purify
water, but also chlorine, concluding "this may be a good thing for
the manufactures of these products, but what about the effects upon
human health?" No discussion is included as to how one should purify
water or even if one should. Presumably, the author believes that the
common purification process is more dangerous to health than the
pathogenic bacteria in the water. In 1953 Betts produced another
self-published book warning of the dangers of Fluoridation of
water--an interesting position for a dentist given the clear evidence
of the major role Fluoridation plays in preventing cavities! Of
course, well water is ideal, but few cities are blessed with
sufficient amounts.
Cancer Cures
Betts concludes aluminum is a problem because the human body tends
to retain or "aggregate" these inorganic "poisons and irritants."
Consequently, their accumulations "if unabated...produce a fine soil
for the development of cancer" and that "the striking increase on the
incidence of calculi (gall stones, kidney stones, gravel, etc.) as
well as of cancer, doubtless bears close relation to this causation"
(1928 p.16). Again, no scientific evidence is presented for these
irresponsible claims. Even the "irritation" theory of cancer
causation referred to by Betts has now been thoroughly refuted.
The Watchtower writers have historically touted numerous quack
cancer cures, including avoiding all aluminum. A typical case history
is about a man afflicted with cancer
for several years...[and] X-ray treatments seemed
only to aggravate the [cancer]. . .Two of them proved pretty serious
and called for operations, causing scars and much suffering. . .
Meantime I had been reading in The Golden Age of the wonderful
cures through the discarding of aluminum cooking utensils. As my
husband is a great coffee drinker, among the first to go was the
percolator. About two months later, one evening as he sat reading, he
happened to brush his ear with his hand and off dropped the cancer on
the floor. Can you imagine that? It left the ear as smooth as ever,
and no sign of any since; and I am sure it is not imagination that we
are all better in every way. . . No more aluminum in this house, and
we say, Hurrah for The Golden Age and its good news! and give
it a boost whenever we can.
Betts, in an article (1928 p. 115) claims that cancer is caused by
chemical poisons and not by "what is known as virus." This conclusion
was, the Watchtower claims, supported by a Dr. Murphy "the most
prominent medical authority in the world, in his address before the
Cancer Congress." The Golden Age then made the wild claim that
this pronouncement by Dr. Murphy "has caused the greatest furor in
the medical world ever known to man." Betts (1928 p.115) also
concludes that "the greatest medical men in the country are beginning
to see the light, but they do not all get to it at the same time, and
hence we will occasionally find in the papers a dispatch like
[one]... from Sacramento, which is chiefly valuable as displaying the
unprogressive mind of those disposed to linger in the protecting
shadows of things that were instead of forging ahead to better days."
The fact is, Murphy is wrong. It is now known that viruses can
cause cancer, and good evidence exists as to the specific mechanism
that viruses use. Most interesting is Betts jump of logic--from the
statement that cancer is caused by chemical poisons (which is well
documented, and these chemicals are called carcinogens) to
specifically concluding that it is caused by aluminum, a conclusion
which has never been empirically supported. Betts even quotes but
ignores in this article a chemistry professor who concludes that
aluminum doesn't cause cancer and housewives need have no fear of
using aluminum cooking utensils. The Golden Age further
concluded that:
As a result of the publication of wholesome truth
on the subject, there are fewer people now purchasing aluminum
cooking utensils than heretofore. There is also a pronounced drop in
the cancer death rate. Much aluminum used: many cancers. Less
aluminum used: fewer cancers (1930 p. 65; see also Anderson 1933
p. 368).
One wonders where Betts obtained the wisdom to conclude almost the
entire medical world was wrong and he alone was correct about so many
things. He never once reviewed in The Golden Age any credible
research or studies and amazingly admits that "there is no scientific
data from laboratory work to warrant" the conclusion that Aluminum
causes cancer, gastric or other diseases (Betts 1928 p.XV). The
closest which I have been able to find related to empirical evidence
for the Watchtower's position was a study done by Gephart who
analyzed six samples of blood taken from humans, all of which
ingested aluminum from baking powder (Woodworth 1928 p.145).
The researcher found 1 to 4 parts per million aluminum in 5 out of
the 6 of the blood samples. The Watchtower then incorrectly inferred
from this finding that the aluminum level found causes a problem--but
ironically The Golden Age had to reprint a retraction from Dr.
Gephart, namely that he actually found, contrary to The Golden Age
assertion, that aluminum at this concentration is not poisonous
(Woodworth 1928: 145 see also Betts 1928 p. 710-711).
In response to this, The Golden Age argues that Dr.
Gephart's "retraction" is wrong because it could not be true "that
aluminum is one of the foreign substances that can float around in a
man's blood without doing him any harm...[and] could thus be carried
to heart and brain and everywhere else over the body without making
it necessary to ring up the undertaker." They then infer that Dr.
Gephart is "being frightened by the aluminum trust" (p. 145). Of
course, all of the food, vitamins and minerals that one ingests are
"foreign substances"--and many foreign substances flow in the blood
stream without problems. Further, 1 to 4 parts per million is a
minute amount for a harmless substance--and may not even cause a
problem for some dangerous substances.
In a candid article as to why the Watchtower Society took up the
aluminum crusade, The Golden Age editor C. J Woodworth stated:
As to why we published the articles by Dr. Betts
...a vast amount of money has been spent in this country in recent
years in the advertising of aluminum cooking utensils. Like everybody
else, the editor...believed these advertisements; purchased aluminum
ware, and used it exclusively in his home for years. Conceding that
if it is good to cook in it would also be good to use as a table-top,
he purchased for his kitchen table a sheet of beautiful new aluminum,
bent it to fit the table-top and rather proudly invited his wife to
use it... She did so, and when she had rolled out the crust for a pie
( the editor admits that nobody should eat pie, but most Americans
do,) ... that pie crust was as gray as your hat, and was thrown out
because we would not eat it...This is an experiment that you can try
yourself with very little difficulty and not much expense; and
obviously, if a sheet of pure aluminum is not a fit thing to use as a
mixing board, it is not a fit thing to cook food in...Since we
published the article by Dr. Betts and Dr. Held we have begun to
receive letters from our subscribers which would make us wonder how
this matter could have remained covered so long. The only possible
explanation we can give is the love of money and the fear of
offending those who have it and who want more of it (Quoted in
Betts 1928 p.188-189)
This response shows an appalling level of naivete for a man that
claims to be the mouth peice of God's organization. No other reason
than discoloration of pie crust is given: Woodworth did not even
claim that the aluminum cooking utensils his family evidently used
for some time made them sick.
What Did the Scientific Research Say?
The conclusions of the scientific research on aluminum as
summarized by Hopkins are as follows:
...there is no foundation for the belief that the
use of aluminum cooking utensils is injurious [or]...for the absurd
statement that aluminum or any other kind of cooking utensil has
anything to do with the causation of cancer. The American Medical
Association, the United States Public Health Service the London
Lancet have all issued statements, or published articles which give
aluminum a clear bill of health. So once and for all let us put away
this bogey which should never have been discussed at all by
intelligent people. Whatever or whoever may be back of the
propaganda, the facts remain that aluminum has stood the test of time
and today is in more universal use in hospitals and institutions than
any other metal...the leading British medical journal, made
experiments on the subject and stated editorially that this metal
does not appear to be more susceptible to the action of water and
foods in the process of cooking than does iron, which has been used
from time immemorial as the material of cooking pans...iron rusts
very readily in the presence of water and air, while also it is
attacked by organic acids [and]...iron salts in large quantities are
injurious to the human organism, as are also large quantities of
aluminum salts, but there is no evidence...that in the ordinary
cooking operations of every-day life either iron or aluminum is so
strongly attacked as to produce an objectionable amount of soluble
salts. All that can be found even when organic acids and mineral
salts are present in the cooking pan, are the merest traces of metal
in its soluble state. The alumina precipitated by ammonia in the
tests was in practically all cases an unweighable quantity.
...Aluminum... is a suitable material for cooking vessels and that
any suspicion that it may communicate poisonous qualities to food in
the process of cooking may be safely dismissed in view of the results
of the practical experiments which have been recorded, showing that
the metal is not appreciably acted upon in cooking operations.
Aluminum is also an excellent heat conductor, so that cooking in
aluminum vessels is therefore rapid, and fuel is economized in
consequence. The Journal of the American Medical Association
states that investigations made in Great Britain under the auspices
of the Medical Research Council, indicate that cooking, even of acid
fruits and vegetables for long periods of time, in aluminum ware,
showed so little aluminum in the juices after cooking that it
required the most delicate chemical tests to indicate its presence.
Indeed, not only the fruits but the actual acids themselves were
boiled in aluminum ware without accumulating more than slight traces
of aluminum (1929 p.247).
Fishbein assessed The Golden Age's claim in 1927--and his
assessment is as accurate today as it was then. In his words,
research has shown that
the cooking even of acid fruits and vegetables for
long periods of time resulted only in the slightest traits of
aluminum in the juice when the process was completed. It is known
that alkaline substances, such as sodium carbonate or bicarbonate
will eat away aluminum, but these substances do not enter into
cooking processes. The theory of the Toledo dentist is pernicious in
that it is used to disseminate false advice concerning cancer and to
attack the use of a well established household utility [aluminum
cookware]. (1927:26-27)
The Golden Age, Sept. 8, 1937, p. 771.
After Scientific American published this criticism of Dr.
Betts and The Golden Age, the Watchtower Society responded by
printing numerous articles lambasting Scientific American. The
most they could do was to call Scientific American a "windbag"
that never learns "anything about anything of real value" and to
personally attack Dr. Fishbein and his honesty and integrity (Betts
1928 p. 814-816; Woodworth 1933 p. 784). In short, Betts argued that
Fishbein's and Scientific American's motive to attack The
Golden Age was pure greed and money from the big aluminum
companies. A reason Betts was wrong was because of his research
methodology.
Unlike Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, Dr. A. S. Cushman, and
other. . . apologists for the aluminum trust, they do not stop at
mere chemical or electronic analysis and draw conclusions therefrom,
but they establish a convincing connection between this method of
taking particles of aluminum or compounds thereof into the human
system and the definite effect on the person thus partaking. Dr.
Wiley and Dr. Cushman merely analyzed food for aluminum, and, because
they found only small quantities or mere traces of aluminum in
suspected food, concluding that persons partaking of such food could
not possibly become poisoned thereby; while Dr. Love and Dr. Betts
each found poisoned persons and then traced the poison by means of
scientific tests back to the aluminum and the aluminum-poisoned food
(Temple 1931 p. 54).
Of course, Betts' method is faulty because it does not prove a
cause and effect relationship, only experiment can do this. Betts
even makes the astounding undocumented claim that aluminumware is
"used previous to 99 percent of all group poisoning cases" (Betts
1932 p. 442).
The Watchtower's Response to their Critics
The Watchtower's response to their critics was often openly
mocking, and not uncommonly deceitful, void of any credible
scientific evidence or logic. A good example is an article printed
under the title "No Need To Get Excited" in The Golden Age:
On page 43 of the magazine Correct Eating is
a nice full-column advertisement of aluminum ware, backed up by a
nine-page attack on the Golden Age and Doctor Betts for daring
to publish an article whether aluminum as a plating for one's insides
is all that it ought to be. Doctor Alsaker, writer of the article,
gets quite excited, so much so, in fact, that he uses the personal
pronoun 'I' a total of eighty-five times in the one article, but
there is no need for all this distress of mind. The Golden Age
has no thought of trying to get any of this advertising away from
Correct Eating. Maybe after a while, we may let Doctor Betts
reply to him. We shall see. Meantime, it is best to be calm. One
thing is sure, however, and that is that the aluminum people ought to
be pretty well pleased with Doctor Alsaker's efforts, and if they do
not come across with several full-page advertisements it will show
that they are most ungrateful. Quite a number of other journals have
taken up the hue and cry, no doubt with hope of some similar reward.
'Verily they have their reward.' (Ap. 1928 p. 427).
Instead of addressing the arguments, they attacked the person and
focused on mockery. Their main point in the above article is that
profits only drive the Doctors and aluminum industry whom have no
regard for the lives of people. This grossly overgeneralized sinister
assessment hardly reflects much knowledge about either Doctors or
corporations. Another example of their mocking attitude is as
follows:
Several subscribers for The Golden Age make
their living selling aluminum ware, or at any rate they were
subscribers, but they have intimated that since we have said
something about their business we are no longer any good, and never
were any good, and they are surprised at us, because they have at
hand the necessary opinions of "three responsible physicians" who
know it all, and even if millions are made sick and die lingering
deaths, we must not say a word on the subject. All of which scares us
very much, and we promise not to publish anything more on this
question until we get the next chance. (Woodworth 1928 p. 398)
Another account relates to the Watchtower's view of the reasons
for the allegedly almost universal suppression of the information on
the dangers of aluminum poisoning--namely "the invisible enemies of
the public health, who are determined to keep aluminum on the market
for financial reasons" (Woodworth 1929: 243). The writer adds that
"business seems to have no conscience, and to insure trade and
profits, not one of them will pay the least attention to the Golden
Rule. And furthermore, if they knew that death would result to large
numbers who buy and use their poisonous metal, they would still make
and sell it until prohibited from doing so by statute laws." (1929 p.
243)
The Watchtower concludes that the reason the government does not
ban aluminum cookware is because "the principle officers and
stockholders in the aluminum trusts are such an important part of the
government itself and have such power to control its activities."
(Woodworth 1929: 275) Woodworth adds the cynical conclusion that
"nobody...that is interested in the manufacture of aluminum utensils
has any interest whatever in humanity" (1930 p. 560-561).
Interestingly, an "unconfirmed" report printed in The Golden Age
claims that the German government did prohibit aluminum ware for
cooking purposes in 1928. Instead of reporting what a subscriber
claimed, an event that would have been easy to confirm, the
Watchtower chose not to (1928: 684). Another article claimed that the
Perfection Aluminum Co. of Cleveland stopped making aluminum ware
because, they infer, the company was owned by Mr. Rockefeller who
also owns a research institute which "announced to the world that
cancer is caused by chemical ferments" (1929 p. 405). What chemical
ferments are is not stated, but they are probably not related to
aluminum.
Betts' discussions often consist of long quotes, so long it is
difficult to discern his point in using the quote. He uses terms
without defining them, and implies that a health problem exists with
aluminum when it does not. For example, he notes that some forms of
aluminum are astringents and infers that this is harmful. An
astringent is simply a chemical that causes a constriction or arrests
or slow downs various discharges from mucus membranes in the throat
or the conjunctiva of the eye. Astringents are still commonly used
today, such as Witch hazel or shaving lotions which often used
aluminum acetate to reduce oiliness and excessive perspiration. Many
antiperspirants use astringents or aluminum compounds (aluminum
chlorohydrate is common) to help control perspiration problems.
The fact that aluminum is so widely used in common products today
such as anti-acids, antiperspirants and for purification as well as
other uses indicates how wrong the Watchtower's crusade against
aluminum was. Aluminum in sodium aluminum sulfate was also commonly
found in baking powders called potash alum or just alum. Alum is used
as a mordant for dyeing and in tanning and finishing leather goods.
Betts claimed that it is used in baking powders as a cheap substitute
for cream of tartar. If it was indeed a "powerful poison" as Betts
(1929 p. 623) claims, it would be universally banned by now. Yet, as
many Watchtower articles lamented, alum baking powder as well as
aluminum utensils are ubiquitous, and are found everywhere in
hospitals, food processing plants, restaurants and private homes.
Amazingly, the Watchtower published articles that concluded the
solution to aluminum poisoning is to ingest more aluminum!
According to medical scientific procedure and results, the acute
poisoning by a drug or plant in a non-lethal dose is counteracted and
corrected by the high potency of that same drug or plant given
internally...We all know about the aluminum baking powder; but we
often forget this in buying bakery cakes, etc., made with that same
baking powder. Colic of a breast-fed baby was directly traced to the
mother's eating one piece of this cake; and several doses of aluminum
nitrate 200x and higher being given, the mother quickly neutralized
the toxemia. (Schmidt 1929 p.436)
Betts labels aluminum a poison but never accurately defined the
term poison, although he does quote Baughan who states "A poison is a
substance of definite chemical composition, which by virtue of its
constitution is capable...of modifying the cellular activity of one
or more organs to such and extent as to impair health and possibly to
destroy life." (Betts 1928 p.27-28) Of course, virtually all known
substances fit this definition. All compounds are poisonous in a high
enough amount, and no compound is poisonous in a low enough amount.
The poison is the dose, not the substance. This important information
Betts never seems to note or even be aware of. Betts even claimed
aluminum was a "luminous" or a radioactive metal such as radium or
Polomum-210! (1938 p. 10).
Betts also often shows that he does not have an understanding of
even basic biochemistry. The digestive tract requires the proper
balance of slightly alkaline and acid digestive juices, and Betts
concludes that aluminum compounds are harmful because they adversely
interfere with the normal alkalinity balance. Interestingly, aluminum
compounds today are used to help reduce excess stomach acid so as to
achieve the normal healthy pH balance. Usually the oxide of a metal
produces a base, and an oxide of a non-metal produces an acid. Sodium
hydroxide (NaOH) a metal and non-metal, produces a base and sulfuric
acid (H2SO4), a non-metal oxide, produces an acid. One of Betts' main
arguments is that aluminum dissolves during cooking and combines with
various salts as sodium chloride to form aluminum chloride which he
claims is a poison (Betts 1930 p. 527). The only reference cited by
the Golden Age said aluminum is a astringent and a purgative and
possibly an antiseptic, not a poison (Force 1932 p. 35). It is still
today used as an astringent.
Misleading people as the Watchtower did to believe their diseases
were cured when they were not, or that people had diseases that they
did not is irresponsible. The most eminent medical authority then,
Dr. Morris Fishbein, the author of thousands of articles, books and
monographs, said it is "pernicious." This is one reason why people
who leave the Watchtower are often bitter, or at least very angry,
because of what they experienced. Witnesses just do not drop out
nonchalantly as often happens with those who leave most Protestant
denominations. Because of foolishness like the Watchtower's aluminum
debacle many ex-Witnesses become angry at all religion, God and
especially the Watchtower. This is why anti-Witness groups are
thriving today, and why they will continue to do so, likely at an
ever increasing rate as the foibles and the harm that the Watchtower
has caused are exposed.
Why the Aluminum Crusade
How Betts entered into his life-long anti-Aluminum crusade was
recounted by Quackenbush:
Among the first to discover the injurious effects
of aluminum upon the human organism was Dr. C.T. Betts, a dentist
with a talent for analysis. Doctors had given him up. He could not
live much longer, they said. But Dr. Betts went west for a final try,
at some mineral springs. One day, when filling an aluminum cup at one
of these springs he noted that the water was effervescent in the cup.
A lady filling a glass jar obtained no such results. The dentist's
busy brain went to work on the simple fact, and he began to associate
the phenomenon with the aluminum, and the aluminum with his illness.
Returning home he discontinued the use of aluminum in his kitchen for
a while to see. He did see. The aluminum disappeared from the kitchen
and the sickness disappeared from the doctor (1947 p. 23).
Betts conversion to the cause was important because he was the
major impetus behind the Watchtower's crusade against aluminum.
Another reason for the crusade was that aluminum was for most people
in the early 1900s a relatively unfamiliar metal. Although discovered
in 1828 by the German chemist Frederick Wohlar, only small amounts of
the purified metal could be obtained at a very high cost. Then the
Ohioan, Charles M. Hall, a recent Oberlin college graduate, accepted
the challenge of his chemistry professor and developed a method of
separating aluminum ore by an electrolytic process.
As a result of this and other processing improvements, the price
plummeted from 90 dollars per pound to as low as 27 cents per pound
in the 1920s. Consequently, numerous products appeared on the market
which contained aluminum. By the late 1920s aluminum became a huge
business. Betts claims more than 200 thousand tons were produced in
1926, and that aluminum cooking ware became popular because it is an
excellent heat and electrical conductor. Even Betts admits aluminum
is an ideal metal for many uses including cooking ware--except for
the fact that he believes it is highly poisonous. Other Golden
Age articles condemned copper and even chromium (as found in
stainless steel) cooking vessels as "far more" poisonous than
aluminum (Ap. 10, 1935 p. 630-632).
One reason that the Watchtower focused so heavily on the evils of
aluminum is that they thought its use was a sign of the last-days
before the millennium. Diseases common to humans could then all be
cured simply by the knowledge that aluminum causes many of them, and
this knowledge would give Witnesses
some of the benefits of the millennium before Arm- ageddon. In the
late 1920s they expected Armageddon any day--it was predicted for
1925 and then delayed for a few years (Gage 1929: 20-21). The
Golden Age also tried to convey the idea that only they had a
true interest in the "welfare of the people" and only they did not
cater to greed and "big business" (Gage 1929:21).
Further, the Watchtower argued that the attacks on The Golden
Age and Betts' position was solely because of "money, ignorance"
and not "any real concern in regard to the truth on the aluminum
question or the health interest of the people." (Sillaway 1929 p.22).
The Golden Age was not conveying their view as mere opinion,
but because, "the unhealthfulness of
aluminum has time and again been absolutely proved. Nor has its
harmful effects ever been in the least exaggerated by Dr. Betts or
anyone else." (Sillaway 1929:22) They also claimed "the half yet
remains to be told." The Golden Age also concluded that "the
results of its use, not mere scientific opinion, is the iron clad"
proof that aluminum is poison, not realizing that the scientific
method is a means of determining truth by trying to rule out
alternative explanations, such as psychosomatic or the placebo
effect. The Watchtower's proof as late as 1949 was still their
dubious case histories, such as a couple who did not use aluminum
cookware, but visited friends that did. Just one meal from aluminum
cookware gave both the man and his wife "symptoms of aluminum
poisoning" which they related in detail. Sillaway also suffered from
"an internal cancerous condition" (1929 p.22). One also may wonder
why a highly disproportionate a number of Golden Age readers
seem to have cancer, or at least had cancer before they dumped their
aluminum cookware.
Another reason the Watchtower pushed the aluminum scare was
because it was part of their anti-establishment health crusade. They
adopted a series of anti-establishment positions including the view
that vaccinations are evil and do more harm than good, and that food
grown by non-natural fertilizer and pesticides is harmful. As Young
notes "aluminum was a particular bugaboo, a scare doctrine at least a
half a century old. Hohensee [a famous medical quack] had propagated
this theory for years. He also denounced the hazard of peeling
vegetables with metal knifes. Like many other fringe operators, he
has his own 'safe' tenderizer and Leucite knives to sell." (Young
1967 p. 352). Hohensee was according to many a charlatan, in trouble
with the law much of his life. He barely started high school and was
evidently in the health food movement more to make money than help
people.
Many of those defending the Watchtower's stand, as Wm. F. Koch of
Detroit (see Betts 1925 p. 361) were notorious anti-establishment
medical quacks that caused much harm to millions of innocent victims
(Gardner 1957). Betts himself was a member of many quack
organizations and was not only opposed to water fluoridation, but
even believed that persons under the age of 15 should not brush their
teeth unless they "are ill or in need of medical attention" (Betts
1928 p. 211). He argued that since cats and dogs don't brush after
each meal, humans shouldn't either and concludes "brushing causes the
diseases of the mouth, now common to our children" (Betts 1929 p.
211). One wonders why he did not have his license revoked. Was this
advise designed to increase his dental business? He also condemned
aspirin, claiming that it caused numerous diseases and that the use
of aluminum was probably the cause of the problem that people took
aspirin for (Betts 1935 p. 343). Betts also concluded that "the
majority" of M.D.'s in America "practice pure quackery and are also
faddists and ignoramuses" (Betts 1938 p. 12). That the Watchtower
relied on this man as their chief authority for their aluminum
doctrine is nothing short of amazing.
Ironically, The Golden Age often referred to those who were
not aware of the Watchtower's wisdom regarding aluminum as
"uninitiated" and persons who published articles critical of the
wonderful health benefits of abstaining from aluminum were "rotten."
The Watchtower called those who critiqued their position on aluminum
"pseudo-scientists who would not be expected to favor the truth on
the subject...[because] the truth was not wanted [by them]."
(Sillaway 1929: 21).
The Watchtower also mocked those who criticized them with words
such as those quoted from an editorial reprinted from a Colorado
newspaper: "If they think aluminum poisoning is a good way to hasten
their footsteps out of this world, it is all well with us. But it is
a general human attribute to try to stay in this world as long as
possible" (Woodworth 1929: 407). This editorial added, "aluminum
poisoning is killing more people every day than the flu." Presumably
The Golden Age quoted these words because they agreed with
them. This article was taken from a letter written to a local paper
evidently by a Watchtower follower which was reprinted in The
Golden Age evidently to give some credibility to these ideas.
Even the federal government was concerned about Dr. Betts' and
The Golden Age misleading people. Betts reports "the Federal
Trade Commission's attorney dropped in here the other day, with
invested authority to examine all my accounts and correspondence...he
advised me that I had been charged with conspiracy and violation of
the Clayton Act..." (Betts 1929 p. 244). He adds that they
confiscated his two self-published books, An Opinion on Aluminum and
Aluminum Poisoning and "if they succeed in this action, as charged,
both books will be suppressed." Evidently the government was
concerned that he was dispensing misleading and erroneous medical
information which caused much harm to others. Betts then makes the
claim that someone who was enthusiastically selling his book was
"bumped off" by being pushed onto a train rail which crushed his
skull, caused him to become insane. Betts then recovered the books
from the man's daughter so she "will not meet the same fate as her
father" (p. 244).
An example of Betts irresponsible claims is found in an interview
of him printed in the Toledo Blade. The reporter described Betts as a
man whose persuasive arguments have prevented the fluoridation of
water supplies in many cities of the nation against the contentions
of such organizations as the American Dental Association, American
Medical Association, United States Public Health Service, National
Research Council, American Waterworks Association and many of the
country's leading dental and medical scientists and biochemists. Dr.
Betts is widely recognized as a significant leader in the fight
against fluoridation. 'What are some of your arguments against
fluoridation?' you ask. "Why are there a great many. In the first
place all the universities of the country are against it." "All the
universities?" "Yes, all of them." "I understand there are about 600
universities and colleges in the United States. Do they all oppose
fluoridation?" "Yes, every one of them". . .Does the University of
Michigan school of dentistry oppose it?" you ask, seeming to recall
that its faculty members are some of the leading proponents of
fluoridation (Bruner 1954 p.4).
In 1936 the Watchtower published a lead article entitled "Aluminum
Poisoning Achievements" which again repeated the numerous now
familiar "case histories" about the many people that contacted cancer
and other horrible diseases from aluminum cookware. This article was
one of their longest, most extreme irresponsible and bombastic
articles on aluminum (1936 p. 803-812). One quote illustrates this:
It was salts of aluminum that killed the children,
and is killing the whole country... Meantime "health experts" are
filling the papers and magazines with pictures and stories and lies
of how supremely healthful aluminum utensils are. It is astonishing
what a capacity the American people have for absorbing lies. And
don't the Big Business boys know it well?
Then under the headline "Aluminum Trust Guilty of Two More
Murders" they stated,
. . . to make food poisonous. . . let it stand long
enough in the aluminum vessel in which it is cooked. With this
preliminary information anybody except a hardware merchant, or a
publisher of advertisements, or a member of the A.M.A. will
understand [a]...dispatch [that] appeared in the Miami (Fla.)
Daily Tribune for June 27, under the headline "Bad Potatoes
Kill Two Boys." It is not surprising how quickly and efficiently the
[Aluminum] trust gets on the job to cover up the truth in every one
of these cases of aluminum poisoning? All that was necessary to
conceal the truth was to use the word "bacterial" instead of the word
"aluminum," and the trick is done as neatly as any hangman ever tied
a nose. But will those who arrange and support this diabolical
propaganda to suppress the truth be able to answer to Almighty God
for the suffering and misery of which they are the direct cause?
(Woodworth 1936 p. 809)
Then in 1948, the Watchtower published one of their most ill
informed articles yet:
If you have cooked your potatoes or any legume,
such as peas or beans, in your aluminum container, just take out the
vegetables and toss your silver into the water in which they were
cooked. While you are eating your vegetables, the broth in the
aluminum pot will be eating the tarnish off your silverware...The
purpose in publishing this news is not only to offer a practical
kitchen help to the housewife. A more important reason is to draw
attention to the role of aluminum cooking ware. When vegetable broth
contacts aluminum a chemical solution is created that is powerful
enough to eat the rust off silver. Would you care to eat this
solution? Don't you wonder whether it is also powerful enough to
affect the human system (Quackenbush 1948 p. 11).
This process does not "eat the rust off silver," but chemically
reacts with it so as to break the sulfur-silver bond. Silver reacts,
not primarily with oxygen as does iron, but with the sulfur in the
air to form a black sulfur compound called tarnish. One could also
without knowledge of the reactions involved, as was true of the
Watchtower, conclude that legumes should not be ingested because they
are "powerful enough to eat the rust off of silver." The Watchtower
clearly should have consulted a professional chemist before they
printed this article. This irresponsibility is typical of Watchtower
history and is a major reason why they have championed so many
foolish lost causes, most of which are today an enormous
embarrassment to them.
The End of the Watchtower's Crusade
The Watchtower backed out very slowly from their long love affair
with aluminum quackery, formally ending it only in 1962. A hint of
the beginning of this shift was the following amazing statement:
The editor of The Golden Age makes no
pretense of being a physician or of knowing much about the care of
the human body, but publishes such contributions on these subjects as
seem to be written in a readable manner and to have some basis in
reason, and makes such personal observations as he believes to be
correct. If you are benefited by them, he is glad. You would hardly
believe that any article that can be written about the care of the
human body is almost sure to stir somebody to anger and bitter words,
even threats; but such is the case. Try to pick out the health
articles what seems good and beneficial in them, but do not become
peeved or angry or exasperated when some good soul who really has
your welfare at heart suggests something not to your liking. He might
be right. Further: Do not allow yourself to get into the mental
attitude that what you see in The Golden Age is true because
you saw it there. Under no consideration would we willingly mislead
anybody on any subject, but as we feel our way toward the light on
all subjects we stumble sometimes (Woodworth, 1929: 756).
Nonetheless, The Golden Age continued publishing stridently
anti-aluminum articles until 1949. As a result, the Watchtower has
found a prominent place in Warner's classic text on medical quackery
(1930) and endorsed or condoned some of the most infamous medical
frauds and quacks of history (Gardner 1957 p. 213). In 1949 they
published the last article and repeated the usual litany of aluminum
evils, adding that:
The facts of the subject are an inside story, but
since your insides and those of millions of other people are
involved, Dr. C.T. Betts, of Toledo, Ohio, has brought out facts
which were being covered up. He found from personal experience,
experiment and observation how injurious aluminum can be. He has
issued an interesting pamphlet on "How Does the Government Suppress
the Truth About Aluminum?" The pamphlet includes a personal
narrative. In 1913 Dr. Betts was told by three physicians he had but
a few months to live. Dr. Betts is alive today. He cured himself by
discontinuing the use of aluminum cooking utensils. He had found that
aluminum in contact with mineral water produced gas. He noted how
aluminum or alum, mixed with soda and sulfuric acid, was sold as
baking powder, to make gas in the dough. The same chemical reaction
occurred in the stomach when aluminum that had come off into the food
contacted gastric juices (Quackenbush 1949 p. 16).
What this gas is or why it is harmful is never stated except
noting that it has an "astringent effect." In 1969 the Watchtower
called aluminum "one of the most versatile metals known to man for
which he should be grateful to the Grand Creator, who first locked it
in the crust of the earth" (Quackenbush 1969 p.20). Periodically the
topic is raised again, seemingly in an attempt to vindicate their
position. An 1982 Awake! article (June 8 p. 30) quoted a
pharmacologist who claimed aluminum may contribute to health
disorders including senility. Later reports concluded that this
concern was probably false. Their formal stand is now:
What about the aluminum cooking utensils?...At
present the great majority of authorities in medical and scientific
fields gave aluminum a rather clean bill of health. Perhaps the most
learned and extensive by the Kettering Laboratories [in a report
that] consists of ninety pages and was made by a group of scientists
who consulted 1,500 books, articles and reports on the subject. It
concludes with this statement: "There is no reason for
concern...about the hazards to human health derived from
well-established and extensive current uses of such products. Nor
need there be concern over the more extended uses which would seem to
be in the offing."...For Christian ministers, especially, it is well
to note that, apart from eating what they have found to be good for
them, there are other things of far greater importance than material
food. Rom. 14:17. (Quackenbush 1962 p. 8-10).
What of the Future?
It is this writer's conclusion that the Watchtower will someday
fully join in the medical mainstream and reflect the medical
conclusions of western society--whether right or wrong they will
probably become a firm part of the establishment they have condemned
for a hundred years. This will have positive effects; they will
likely totally drop their erroneous blood transfusion prohibition and
once again accept the view that they once taught, namely that giving
blood is an example of the kindness caused by "human goodness." They
once noted it was good to give blood to "a little lad needing a blood
transfusion to save his life" (The Golden Age 1927: 582-583).
This article relates a case of a child needing blood which resulted
in appeal for blood. Soon "fifteen hundred people had responded,
urging that they be given an opportunity to give some of their blood
to help the little fellow" stay alive. In 1961 this very act became a
disfellowshipping offense with tragic consequences. As the aluminum
condemnation now makes the Watchtower look foolish, so too will their
blood teaching.
Footnote:
1 Dr. Betts died on Dec. 19, 1959 at the age 80 in
the Perrysburg Nursing Home, Perrysburg, OH. He was born in
Bettsville, OH. and lived in Maumee Ohio (229 East Dudley St.), a
suburb of Toledo, and for 57 years he practiced Dentistry in both
Perrysburg and Toledo (Obituary Toledo
Blade Dec. 21, 1959 p. 14). One
Golden Age
article incorrectly called him a "physician," specifically an
"humanitarian physician" (Valiente 1930 p. 50). He joined the 1st
Presbyterian Church of Maumee on Dec. 7, 1924 and was "suspended" on
Ap. 1, 1941. Nonetheless his funeral services were conducted by Rev.
Weinberg of the 1st Presbyterian Church of Maumee.
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University Press. 1967.
Also used was the Toledo
Blade, for Nov. 30, 1930; June 20, 1949;
and May 26, 1954.