Introduction
A quarter century of intense
research in the field of medicine has convinced me of the importance of
electrodermal screening. I believe that it can and should be used to help
recognize a patient's organ dysfunctions even before physiological
symptoms manifest themselves. It can identify pathogens and toxins that
are making the patient sick, and ascertain what medicines, supplements and
other remedies are helpful-or harmful-to the patient. It can even
determine the dosages that should be administered for maximum effect. It
does all this quickly, inexpensively and non invasively.
First developed 50 years ago in
Germany, electrodermal screening (EDS) has been continually improved and
refined, and is now estimated to be used by more than 100,000 medical
doctors and health care practitioners around the world. There is still
considerable resistance to EDS in mainstream medicine in the United States
because it is based on principles of quantum physics and traditions of
energy medicine, neither of which is understood or taught in our medical
schools.
I first became aware of EDS soon
after I began studying alternative medicine. It sounded like hocus-pocus
to me, and I said so to a doctor acquaintance I respected, Joseph
McGovern, M.D. "Don't laugh at it," he said, "it cured one
of my failures."
Dr. McGovern related how he had
a farmer in the hospital, dying, and no one could figure out why. A doctor
there used EDS to determine that the farmer was ill from the effects of
exposure to a particular pesticide, and was also able to identify what
remedies would neutralize the toxin and expel it from the body. The farmer
made a full recovery.
I was later able to witness the
efficacy of EDS firsthand. Harold Whitcomb, M.D., my family's primary care
physician in Aspen, Colorado, was suffering from a number of severe
allergies. Finally, he spent two weeks and $3,000 to go through
painstaking allergy skin testing. Shortly thereafter we visited the clinic
of Fuller Royal, M.D., in Las Vegas, Nevada, where Leonard Haines, M.D.,
tested Dr. Whitcomb using EDS. In 20 minutes Dr. Haines came up with
exactly the same results that had taken two weeks to determine using
traditional means.
Years later I took my son,
Blake, to Dr. Whitcomb for testing before his first vaccination. Now a
convert, and well trained in using EDS, the doctor determined that the
first shot was safe but would cause a mild negative reaction. Further, he
used EDS to identify homeopathic remedies we could use to counter these
side effects. Sure enough, 24 hours after we gave Blake his vaccination he
began to act uncharacteristically cranky. We administered the remedies and
he soon returned to his usual cheerful self.
When it came time for Blake's
DPT shot, Dr. Whitcomb tested Blake again and saw that a full-strength
shot would cause a severe adverse reaction, but that a half-strength shot
would be tolerated. We went ahead and gave Blake the reduced dose with no
ill effects, and afterward used a homeopathic remedy to pull out the
vaccination residue.
I have witnessed hundreds of
successful diagnoses and treatments with physicians using EDS. It has
revealed undetected gum infections causing chronic fatigue; mercury
toxicity causing paralysis; parasites underlying immune disorders; and the
hidden causes of many other health conditions that had eluded conventional
physicians.
I am an instrument-rated pilot,
and to use the vernacular, I consider any physician not using EDS as
"flying blind." Anyone who is taking supplements, especially
individuals with health problems, should have their vitamins, minerals,
herbs, etc. tested to make sure that they are actually necessary and doing
good. If someone needs to undergo surgery, then the type of anesthesia to
be used should be tested. The list goes on and on.
In this article, our
editor-in-chief, Tom Klaber, interviews Scott Moyer, an internationally
acknowledged expert in the field, discussing the development, use and
scientific basis for EDS. It is my hope that this will help take the
mystery out of EDS for doctors and patients alike, and that physicians
will become adept in and utilize this marvelous modality as commonly as
they now use their stethoscopes. -Burton Goldberg
Tom Klaber: First of all, Scott,
just what is electrodermal screening?
Scott Moyer: Electrodermal
screening is an overall term for instrument-based methods that provide
information about the health of the body via electrical measurements of
the skin at various points on the hands and feet.
TK: Is this a new technique?
SM: Not at all. Electrodermal
screening, or EDS, unites 20th century technology with the ancient healing
arts of homeopathy and acupuncture. It was first developed around 50 years
ago in Germany. It has been continually improved since then. The technique
was originally and still is sometimes called "ElectroAcupuncture
according to Voll," or EAV
TK: Voll was a person?
SM: Reinhard Voll was a German
medical doctor. In the late 1940s he was studying the Chinese acupuncture
meridian system when he had an interesting idea. He reasoned that if
acupuncture theory was correct and channels of energy did run throughout
the body--coming to the skin's surface at various "points" along
the way--there should be a way to measure this energy. So Dr. Voll
constructed a device to measure the electrical conductivity of acupuncture
points on the skin using a stylus-shaped electrode made of brass. It was
basically an ohmmeter.
TK: And he found he was able to
actually measure this energy?
SM: He didn't measure the energy
itself, but rather the body's ability to conduct this energy. And in so
doing he made two important discoveries.
First, Dr.
Voll compared the acupuncture point measurements of healthy patients to
those of patients who had conventionally diagnosed diseases. He found that
the electrical conductivity of healthy acupuncture points measured within
a given "normal" range, while readings outside of this range
revealed disturbances in the tissues and organs traditionally associated
with these points. In addition, he also noticed that major disturbances in
the body produced a downward drop, or steady decay, of the conductivity
indicator as the point was being measured. This became known as the
"indicator drop. Second, he discovered that medicines placed in the
proximity of the patient could change acupuncture point readings. He
discovered this by chance. Let me read to you how this happened, in his
own words: "I diagnosed one colleague as having chronic prostatitis
and advised him to take a homeopathic preparation called Echinaceae 4x. He
replied that he had this medication in his office and went to get it. When
he returned with the bottle of Echinaceae in his hand, I tested the
prostate measurement point again and made the discovery that the point
reading, which was up to 90, had decreased to 64, an enormous improvement
of the prostate value. I had the colleague put the bottle aside and the
previous measurement value returned. After holding the medication in his
hand the measurement value went down to 64 again, and this pattern
repeated itself as often as desired." This became known as the
"medication test."
TK: So, it sounds like EDS can
help pinpoint both health problems and possible remedies.
SM: Yes. EAV started a
revolution in medicine. Doctors now had a noninvasive method that allowed
them to evaluate their patients at the core energetic level. EAV also
helped practitioners prescribe the best medicines for each patient by
testing them first "in circuit" to confirm their effectiveness.
TK: Has the correlation between
"normal" and "abnormal" readings of acupuncture points
been confirmed by researchers outside of this field?
SM: Oh yes. Remember that using
electrical measurements for evaluation purposes is not unique to EDS.
Conventional medical devices that use electrical current for patient
evaluation include the commonly used electrocardiograph (ECG), to measure
heart rhythms, and electroencephalograph (EEG). The biofeedback
instruments commonly used by contemporary psychologists are based on
galvanic skin response (GSR) circuitry-that is a change in the electrical
resistance of the skin in response to a change of emotional state. From a
technical viewpoint, EDS machines are essentially biofeedback instruments,
since both use a GSR circuit with visual and/or auditory displays to
signal a change in the patient's state.
TK: What about research
specifically using EDS?
SM: There have been many
studies. For instance, in 1985, S.G. Sullivan and her colleagues at the
UCLA School of Medicine reported in the American Journal of Acupuncture
that patients with lung disease-confirmed by chest X-rays-had 30% lower
electrical conductivity readings at lung points. I also have research
papers on studies performed in the late '90s that supply the cellular
basis for this finding. [See list of resources at end of this article.]
Acute diseases such as viral and bacterial infections, as well as chronic
diseases such as cancer, affect the electrical charge and water content of
the cell and the pH of extracellular fluids, thereby influencing cell
membrane potentials and tissue conductivity. Also, Julia J. Tsuei, M.D.,
Fred K. Lam, M.D., and their colleagues at the University of Hawaii must
have two dozen papers published establishing the correspondence of EAV
readings with physiological disturbances.
For example, a study of theirs
published in 1990 in the American Journal of Acupuncture looked
specifically at the treatment of diabetes. It showed how the bioenergetic
measurement of acupuncture points was a beneficial adjunct to the
physician in determining the proper dosages of medicines to the patient.
It helped determine the correct dosages of both allopathic medicines such
as glybunde and insulin as well as homeopathic remedies and nosodes.
Continued
on page 2 (click here)
