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Conversation with Dr. Abram Hoffer
The following is a transcript from a conversation with Dr. Abram Hoffer, one of the founding fathers of Ortho Molecular Science.
The discussion touches on the obstacles to making Ortho Molecular more widely known. It also reveals Dr. Hoffer's intentions to help as many people as possible, by making the information more readily available.
The people involved in the conversation:
- Dr. Abram Hoffer, MD
- Frances Fuller
- Lisa Oriente, PeterLeeds.com
- Peter Leeds, PeterLeeds.com
This discussion took place in spring of 2007. The following are excerpts from a longer conversation, much of which is not included here.
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Peter: Lisa, I was talking to Abram and Francis about that lunch meeting we had the last time when we saw Dr Hoffer. About how grateful we were to learn about the science of it all. And how we thought it would be a perfect compliment with our business experience and their knowledge.
Lisa: After being there we started to realize how many people we know, and I personally have lost a sibling to cancer and how many people we know who have been ill and who are ill and who have no idea about what you're doing at all. And how they can benefit from it, and that's how it came to pass. We were sitting there talking about how fortunate we felt to learn about you. It just hit us all at once that this is a story that needs to be told. This is something that needs to be brought to people so that they can help themselves. To have the opportunity to feel better, be better in a different way.
Dr. Hoffer: That's been my orientation for many years. When we first published in 1957 we realized that the basic reaction was negative. Everyone thought that I was a nut, and since then I've been proposing this and I am absolutely convinced that we have a very sick population, and you have to read the newspapers because all we hear about is the about is the cost of this and the cost of that, no matter what they try, they tinker with the system but they haven't done the right thing. That is to treat people adequately since they don't have to be treated any more. That's what we have to do.
L: I can't even express to you how we feel about it although we are taking it from a business perspective it is not about business as much as it is about how our two expertise can come together to spread the word, to help people to bring it out. I know so many people off the top of my head that would benefit so much from what you teach and I want to learn more from you how it all works, how it all comes together.
H: The potential is absolutely immense.
P: Lisa, I know that you know that I have a lot of details about how we could promote Ortho Molecular, what possible ways. Let's hear from Abram and Frances what their vision is for getting this message out and who they want to get the message out to. It is very important. So we want to hear from you guys how you want this to...
H: My goal is massive public education which we can't achieve yet, but which we can achieve on a personal level. When we reconstructed our little business here it was to make it possible for people from this area and to come from other areas, from England, Europe and the United States. To come here to get the information and they could look up themselves, in the literature. But it might take them two or three years to master what they need. Whereas they can come to our place and we can pass it on to them within an hour or two. So we need massive education. It's obvious that we've been failing and I've been doing this 40, 50 years and therefore we need a different way of getting this information out. And we can't depend upon the medical profession because they are going to be negative entirely.
L: Right
H: So we need the psychiatric professions, and you market to them. You have no idea how people would benefit. There is a lot of evidence that there is a world-wide deficiency in vitamins and minerals, and it's going to get worse in the populations. No one knows this and someone has to be around to educate them properly. And Frances, who has been with me for thirty years, has seen some of the sickness people in Canada come to our office; patients who have been with the Canadian Psychiatric Association for a while. Another one is a Harvard graduate. Now he has a large pediatric clinic in Boston ... one of them was treated when he was 16. I saw him only a couple of times. He's a professor at one of the universities.
We would like every sick person, whether physiological or psychiatric or physical, to receive the benefit of Ortho Molecular. And also with cancer.
F: As would I. I have talked to so many people who come to us with cancer, and two months later telephone to say I wish I hadn't waited until I was so sick to feel so good. After a whole long period of feeling not well, and they did not know how not well they were until they started feeling good. And it's a point of getting people to feel good so they know how sick they were. Most people don't know how sick they are.. They take the state of fatigue and apathy and just malaise as normal. It's a normal part of aging. It's becoming a normal part of childhood. And that's what really scares me. It's the number of these children, it's the kids who have no energy to play. It's the kids who just want to sit in front of the TV or in front of the computer because that's all they think they have energy for. Healthy kids want to go outside and play.
H: A portion of our population are being made sick by drugs. There is a story in the New York Times a few days ago about children at the age of 14 given 4 different adult drugs. Imagine with they would be like in ten, twenty years. They would be totally helpless, hopeless and chronically sick people. So we need a centre where information would be made available. We need the internet to make it so we can bypass the official agency, for example. The Medline, which is the standard journal for abstracting everything published scientifically, won't cover our journal. They don't like our message.
Barnes and Nobles declined us. We were trying to get one of our books at Barnes and Nobles in New York City. They say we don't carry those books because they are not popular.
P: With my financial newsletter I bypass brokers, I bypass the conventional people working on Bay Street and Wall Street. Everyone said, "you can't do that. You can't go and do that." I just went and did it. I went directly to the people. I gave them the message and the language, not of the industry, a language that they understood. And it's one of the most popular financial newsletters in existence. And we're going to do the same thing with Ortho Molecular Science.
H: You remember the statement that Harold Foster had made, a motto on his door, if you don't think it can be done, get out of the way of people who are doing it.
L: For me personally, right for the beginning my one question for both of you is, do you feel that the information that you have about all the various illnesses and the vitamin regiment that people can take - is that information that can be easily taught, can it be all put together in a way that people can understand it, it can be transmitted easily?
H: Yes. I think it can.
L: OK.
H: It's based upon my own experience, and about 10,000 patients I have seen since... it's based on an immense number of publications and literature. There is so much there in the practice. It's a handicap. People don't know what to read. They don't know what is important and what isn't important. Whereas these centres can crystallize - we wouldn't teach everything in a short time, but in your case, you have a certain problem, you're OK - this is the treatment which is recommended - this is all the literature and all the evidence. So we can do that. We'll answer the question, "What can I do to get well?"
P: So you're talking about educating the people, or educating the people who will be running clinics?
H: Both
=== end of tape
Since the time of this meeting, some great progress has been made by the Ortho Molecular Science cause. Among other achievements, there was:
- the launch of PetersPromise.com
- Abram being awarded the Dr. Rogers prize for Excellence in Complementray and Alternative Medicine
- the upcoming release of a new information portal at OrthomolecularHealth.com, along with a sizeable public relations campaign
- more upcoming successes, to be documented here at Peter's Promise.
Ortho Molecular Science is growing in popularity every day.