Iridology Warnings

Sites for sore eyes:

• A Skeptics dictionary - Iridology was the invention of Ignatz Von Peczely, a 19th-century Hungarian physician. The story is that he got the idea for this novel diagnostic tool when he saw a similarity between the eyes of a man he was treating for a broken leg and the eyes of an owl whose leg Peczely had broken years earlier. The striking similarity consisted of a dark streak. The hunt was on. Peczely then went on to document similarities in eye markings and illnesses in his patients. Other wise men finished off the map of the eye.
• Beware of holistic Quackery - What a University of Waterloo student thinks about iridology and other quacks who set up at her university. On p. 280 of A Consumer's Guide to Alternative Medicine, Kurt Butler states, "It is time for feminists to realize that quackery is a women's issue because women are its main victims. The same is probably true of. . .all the New-Age humbug so popular these days. . .Clearly, a major goal of both the feminist and antiquackery movements should be to greatly increase the scientific literacy of girls and women." This health fair was supposed to be empowering to UW women and the cause at large; yet it actually may have been victimizing women.
• Iridology: A Christian Perspective - By Janice Lyons, RN, MAEd - Iridologists have failed to produce objective, verifiable evidence to support either their theories or applications of iridology. Iridology has been examined in studies using controls at UC-San Diego (1979), University of Melbourne (1981), and University of Limburg-The Netherlands (1988). In not one of these studies were the claims of iridology found to be valid. In a 1993 CNN interview Dr. Worrall, who has continued to evaluate iridology, equated it with palm reading. According to Dr. Worrall, in a review of chiropractor Dr. Bernard Jensen's newest text (1982) "contains countless misinterpretations of established anatomical and physiological knowledge and includes references to many pseudosciences, such as Kirlian photography and personology"
• Iridology's Blind Side - By George Nava True II - Looking for a non-invasive way of examining your body? Tired of all those expensive medical tests? Afraid of going under the knife or being exposed to x-rays? Practitioners of iridology claim they can help you just by looking at the iris, the colored portion of the eye. This system of iris analysis can supposedly detect subconscious tensions, hereditary weaknesses, and states of health and disease. Although they can't really say what's wrong with you, iridologists claim their unique method can alert you to "imbalances" which can be treated with vitamins, minerals or herbs.
• Healthcare Reality Check - Quackwatch - Dr. Stephen Barrett - Some multilevel distributors are using iridology as a basis recommending dietary supplements and/or herbs. Anyone who does this and is not a licensed health professional would be guilty of practicing medicine without a license, which is a violation of state law. If you encounter anyone practicing iridology, please report this to your state attorney general. One of the leading proponents of iridology have been chiropractors such as Bernard Jensen.
• National Committee Against Health Fraud (NCAHF) - guidelines for the practice of chiropractic are accepted by the U.S. based National Association for Chiropractic Medicine. A scientific chiropractor will not:
• Use their status as a health professional to sell or profit from the sale of products to patients.
• Publish or publicly exhibit any circular extolling non-scientific chiropractic treatment or preventive care.
• Present themselves as specialists in pediatrics or claim the ability to treat childrens diseases.
• Utilize unproven, disproven, or questionable methods, devices, and products such as adjusting machines, applied kinesiology, chelation therapy, colonic irrigation, computerized nutrition deficiency tests, cranial osteopathy, cytotoxic food allergy testing, DMSO, gerovital, glandular therapy, hair analysis, herbal crystallization analyses, homeopathy, internal managements, iridology, laser beam acupuncture, laetrile, magnetic therapy, Moire contourographic analysis, Neurothermography, orthomolecular therapy, pendulum divination, pyramid power, Reams test, reflexology, scleraglyphics, Spinal column stressology, Thermography Thermoscribe, Toffness device, and so forth.
• Is it time to look for another Dentist? - by Drs. Marvin J. Schissel and John E. Dodes - The main euphemism for dental quackery is "holistic dentistry." So-called holistic dentists may: allegedly adjust jaw joints, claiming that their misalignment causes numerous disorders; remove sound silver fillings, purportedly to resolve medical problems; provide dubious nutrition counseling and sell overpriced, unnecessary, and possibly harmful dietary supplements; and use unscientific methods (see sidebar on page XX) such as acupuncture, aromatherapy, auriculotherapy, CranioSacral Therapy, homeopathy, iridology, "muscle testing," and reflexology.

Iridology Quackery Sites

• Iridology and the other Eyology Sciences - Grand Medicine products Come one -- come all - to the greatest side show of all. Now we not only have Iridology, but we get Eyology and Sclerology to boot. What next, will they be teaching tear ductology at the Canadian Naturopathic College?

• The Eye: more than the Window to Your Soul - by Peter Riddering - Great review of this quack pseudoscience with flowing words by a master of gibberish.

• The Preventorium Insitute - Montreal, Quebec - Dr. Juergen Buche, is Canada's master iridologist and naturopathic doctor. Follow his links to Cancer treatment. If you're thirsty for knowledge on other metaphysical quackery, then follow this webmaster to his site dedicated to Rene Quinton, father of "marine plasma" therapy. If Buche is really licensed to practice naturopathic medicine in Quebec, thank God he's not here in Ontario. Plus, he's out of the country somewhere on his yacht.
• Randi Scott, RNC, Natural Health Counseling - Brantford, Ontario - "Remember, doctors deal with pathology and disease, not nutrition and vitality. By optimizing your health you may avoid disease and add many healthy years to your life."
• It's those damn Babylonians, eh? No wonder Shadraky, Meshaky, and Abednawhooy laughed in the fire. By the time you fill out Randi's 600 question form, your car has been towed away and impounded by his buddies and you have to pay him $125 to get it back, even if you don't buy that suitcase full of pills and potions that will set you back on the road to recovery.
• Iridology's Blind Side - By George Nava True II -Although they can’t really say what’s wrong with you, iridologists claim their unique method can alert you to "imbalances" which can be treated with vitamins, minerals or herbs. Strangely, the "science" of iris analysis is not taught in medical schools nor is it practiced by competent doctors.
• "It is in the eye that the nervous system comes to the surface. And the iris reflects all parts of the body, and even the mind and the spirit. The lines, flecks, and pigments guide the iridologist not only to what is wrong at the moment of examination but also to what may have been wrong in the past or may go wrong in the future. It should be said, however, that it does not show up specific illnesses; rather it indicates the things a patient may be prone to: congestion of the digestive system, circulation problems, stomach acidity, tendency to a weak heart, these are the kind of things that show up, and they may develop into problems or they may not. At least the pin-pointing of the danger spots and signals can alert the patient so that he can take preventive measures."
• Canada - Canadian Neuro-Optic Research Institute - Frequently asked questions - Who are these guys anyway? They say that there have been only 2 studies that have debunked their work. (Where did Bryan K. Marcia, Ph.D. get his doctorate? Did he go to Hungary to study with the great masters, or did he delve into the work of the early Chaldeans and obtain his PhD from a mailbox in California?)
• U.K. - International Yoga School - The history of iridology: The beginnings of Iridology have been cited from many areas of the world dating back to the time of the early Chaldeans. The first documented reference to iris analysis can be credited to the physician Philippus Meyens, who wrote a book called Chiromatica Medica, published in 1670, described the reflexive features of the iris.
• Gary Ozarko's Wonderful Wierd World of irises - Iridology shows every part of the body that has nerve sensitivity. So it will not give an indication of the contents of a hollow organ (viz.: stones in gall bladder, kidney, or urinary bladder), unless the contents of a hollow organ are irritating or affecting the walls/membranes of the organ. Thus, if a patient has gall stones the iridologist would have an indication if the gall bladder was in an irritated/inflammed state, but the iridologist would not be certain from iridology alone if the problem was from stones. Hence the need to combine other diagnostic methods with iridology for certain conditions. (Yeah right, Gary, what next are you going to do sexual counseling? Is a uterus or testes hollow or solid? Like how much misinformation can you put on a web site?)

Iridology pseudo-science web links - no comments on accuracy of this information is implied

• Natural and Alternative Medicine links to iridology - some of these are dead, as is their science
• British Society of Iridologists - remember these people are not health professionals and don't have a license to practice any form of healing arts. The same goes for chiropractors in the U.K. or France. The Russian links are here, if you dig far enough.
• This is what these idiots say about us: We are boringly self opinionated, intellectually sterile and locked into a medical model, as practised by Western physicians. (I'm story, but intellectually sterile I'm not, perhaps they need Viagra for the mind to help them get the point that palm reading, Hale Bop watching, and iridology are all related to the rise and fall of the Canadian dollar, and the Chaldean revolution in Hungary.)

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