First of all, I want to thank Dr. Herrmann (the Chairman), and the Board of Directors of the “International Physicians Society for Biocybernetic Medicine”, for the great privilege of addressing this esteemed audience. I would also like to sincerely thank Mr. Rasche and the entire staff of the Med-Tronik firm for the excellent support they have given me and Occidental Institute affiliated practitioners, over the past fifteen and a half years.
I apologize for not speaking in German. Even though my name is German, I was born in Canada to parents from Sudetenland, and German was only spoken at home until I went to kindergarten.
Besides — for the first time ever — we have simultaneous translation at this annual event, for which I again thank the International Physicians Society and the Med-Tronik firm. So far, the German-English translators are doing an excellent job.
The full title of my presentation as originally submitted, read: “MORA-Therapy in North America — history, legalities and future”. Unfortunately, somehow the word “legalities” was left out in the Symposium program description. However, any discussion of MORA-Therapy in North America would be totally meaningless without addressing the very aspect of legalities. Rest assured, European practitioners will find that aspect particularly interesting.
The HISTORY
The history of MORA-Therapy in North America is unquestionably tied to the history of the organization known as “Occidental Institute”, which my wife and I started just two months short of twenty-five years ago. Therefore, it is necessary that I weave the theme of my presentation into an overview of the illustrious history of that organization.
Occidental Institute began as an acupuncture school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on July second of 1972. That was around the time that President Nixon of the United States “discovered” China, and one could not look at a newspaper, magazine or television without hearing more and more about China, including Traditional Chinese Medicine.
As one of the first Caucasian practitioners in Canada, the increasing demands on me from doctors and medical personnel wanting to learn acupuncture on an individual basis was simply overwhelming. The only way out for me was to either start teaching it on a larger scale as a livelihood, or stop taking students entirely in order to concentrate on patients.
The word “Occidental” in the name Occidental Institute, means, relating to the Occident — or in other words, Western as opposed to Eastern or Oriental cultures. We specifically chose to call that school “Occidental Institute of Chinese Studies”, since we approached acupuncture from the more Western medical standpoint in which I was trained, rather than from its obscure Oriental philosophy.
Within months, the acupuncture school had enrolled hundreds of students, studying a written course syllabus based essentially on translations of the German works from which I had learned (such as, Bachmann, Bischko, and Stiefvater); as well as the French “energetic school of thought” (Darras, Mussat, Van Nghi, and so on); to all of whom we are most grateful.
Since no other Western oriented acupuncture schools had yet been established, within two years we had almost one thousand students. Because of the continuing publicity, acupuncture clinics were starting to mushroom throughout North America, not so much based on our graduates, but mainly from Oriental doctors now opening up practices outside of the Chinatown areas where they had previously operated, to meet the demand.
By that time we were already introducing our acupuncture students to the then “modern” technology, such as inexpensive electronic instruments to locate the acupuncture points, as well as electronic devices to tonify and sedate the acupuncture points with negative and positive galvanic treatment currents.
Likely seeing an increasing threat, and needing to stop it at the teaching level, our Institute in Toronto, was eventually branded by the authorities as an “illegal medical school” (even though acupuncture itself had not been defined as the practice of medicine). As a result the school was effectively closed down permanently in that province, although we probably could have won in the courts given sufficient time and financial resources.
So, we moved the Institute to Montreal, in the neighboring Province of Quebec, Canada, where acupuncture was “legal”, and already defined as being outside the scope of medical practice. After three years in Montreal, the Occidental Institute of Chinese Studies (now known internationally by its initials, O.I.C.S.), had an enrollment of some two thousand students throughout the English speaking world, via our unique Extension Training Program.
Unfortunately, changes in language legislation in that predominantly French speaking province came into effect, that left us with a choice of translating all our materials into French, closing the school, or moving away.
So, the Occidental Institute of Chinese Studies, along with its staff relocated to the much warmer climate of Miami, Florida, U.S.A., where we established the O.I.C.S. Alumni Association. The Alumni Association was essentially the graduate arm of that Canadian Institute. Its major function was to coordinate the activities of its graduates on a world-wide basis, and serve as the back-up organization to the general membership of some nine hundred graduates.
At our 4,400 square foot [über 400 Quadratmeter] facility in Miami we conducted hands-on classes during the summer and winter months, for former O.I.C.S. traditional acupuncture students and graduates. As an option, they were also introduced to the modern concepts of “German Electro-Acupuncture”. We used that term to clearly distinguish between the electrical stimulation of inserted acupuncture needles for therapeutic purposes, and the German electronic treatment, diagnosis and medication testing techniques using acupuncture points, as associated with Bioelectronic Functions Diagnosis and the work of Dr. Reinhold Voll (E.A.V.).
Although Dr. Voll himself was giving large annual seminars in the United States, many attendees complained about half of the time being wasted in translation, and that Dr. Voll started out his seminars assuming everyone already knew the German language core literature. To get around those problems we invited Dr. Hartwig Schuldt, an E.A.V. practitioner from Hamburg, Germany (who being fluent in English was also the official translator of Dr. Voll’s books), to give us a one week hands-on introduction to “Electro-Acupuncture according to Voll”. That was in January of 1980. Dr. Schuldt came back to Florida that summer and took us to the intermediate level in E.A.V.
After more than three very productive years in Miami, the Board of Directors decided to relocate the Alumni Association to California, because of a more favorable climate for German Electro-acupuncture, and state licensing of acupuncture schools.
In the San Francisco area of California, the O.I.C.S. Alumni Association was involved with such aspects as continuing education for its members; translation, research and publication of advanced acupuncture materials; legislative matters; newsletters; and, of course, a continuing series of acupuncture seminars and workshops.
Gradually due to demand from members and personal interest by the staff, our research and emphasis shifted completely away from traditional acupuncture toward the more modern German techniques.
Dr. Hartwig Schuldt introduced MORA-Therapy to North America during the summer of 1981 in California. Early the next year I purchased my first MORA unit, a model two. I am forever indebted to him, since it has become the most powerful tool in my therapeutic armamentarium, and I have not used an acupuncture needle in practice since (other than for emergency purposes).
Special one week “German Electro-Acupuncture Tours” to Germany were initiated starting in October of 1981, for delegations of interested Alumni Association members. On tour number one we first met Dr. Morell and Mr. Rasche, as well as actually visited the small original premises of the Med-Tronik firm, not too far away from their beautiful large present site in Friesenheim.
In fact, the delegation of Occidental Institute affiliates attending this very Symposium represents our twenty-second such weeklong Germany tour.
Dr. Morell gave his first North American seminar on MORA-Therapy in July of 1982, at the O.I.C.S. Alumni Association’s “German Electro-Acupuncture” Week in California. He also introduced us to the “Bio-Electronics of Vincent”, a method for objectively evaluating the patient’s terrain or internal milieu.
As you know, newer MORA-Therapy units and smaller Med-Tronik test instruments like the “RM 10 S” have a “Test Point Regulator” adjustment, which by switching to silver electrodes, enables use of Dr. Schimmel’s rapid “yes or no” substance testing method. We first brought Dr. Helmut Schimmel, founder of the VEGATEST-Method to North America in July of 1983, to teach us that simplified diagnostic and medication testing approach, and he returns every few years to keep us updated.
Those of you utilizing the VEGATEST-type method in practice may have heard the rumor that Dr. Schimmel is no longer associated with the Medical Division of the VEGA Grieshaber company. I can confirm that fact, in that he has renounced all of his activities [Tätigkeit] with that firm and the Grieshaber Academy. A blatant unfounded defamation of character led to this personal decision! [Translate into German exactly as follows: “Eine offensichtlich haltlose Diffamierung war der Anlaß zu diesem eigenen Entschluß!”]
Dr. Morell returned to the United States in February of 1984, along with Mr. Rasche, for an actual training course on the “Bio-Electronics of Vincent”. Dr. Wood from Canada, who was there, will speak about that method tomorrow in relation to monitoring MORA-Therapy effectiveness.
In July of 1984 (after seven years in the U.S.A.), the Institute relocated back to Canada, and the Occidental Institute Research Foundation became a legally constituted entity. You are probably wondering: “Why back to Canada?” There are three major reasons. First of all, my wife (Carolyn Winsor) and myself, the two who have put the most time and effort into the ever changing entity known as “Occidental Institute”, are Canadians.
Secondly, over the years our own personal interests (like the majority of our affiliates!) have progressed from traditional acupuncture to an almost exclusive interest in the field then termed “German Electro-Acupuncture”. Sadly, the techniques and instrumentation of that field are still not approved or even recognized in the United States, meaning we had to operate on a very low profile basis.
In Canada, the instrumentation is legal, the techniques can be taught, and more readily applied in practice. This makes Canada an excellent place from which to advocate and promote these highly effective modern methods. At least we do not have to be constantly worried, and can function aboveboard.
Thirdly, the Foundation’s legal status in the province of British Columbia, as a nonprofit society for practitioners of Biological Medicine gives us unprecedented room to work in, and an almost completely autonomous structure governed internally by our Board of Directors.
With increased latitude and freedom of speech in Canada, two major MORA-Therapy training events took place during 1987 and 1992 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Both featured Mr. Rasche and the late Prof. Dr. Langreder from Germany, the originator of “Micro-Magnetic Medicine”.
Prof. Langreder’s revolutionary MORA-based therapeutic approach is of increasing importance to us in North America, for reasons you will shortly discover. It involves using the MORA device itself to produce ever successively higher potentiations [potenzierungen] of organ preparations, etc. For therapy, these remedy bottles are then briefly placed in contact with the patient’s skin rather than physically administered (or electronically transferred through the MORA unit). Use of these highly-potentiated [stark potenzierten] “contactors” alone, gave astounding therapy results that brought Prof. Langreder patients from all over the world.
The vast majority of current affiliates of the Occidental Institute Research Foundation are now only interested in such modern aspects as: “Needle-less” electronic treatment of acupuncture points; instrument assisted acupuncture point diagnosis; medication testing; sophisticated therapy in the biocybernetic realm; contemporary application of homeotherapeutics; plus, methods for their objectification (like the Bio-Electronics of Vincent). We now utilize the term “Biological Medicine” to encompass all of these, rather than “German Electro-Acupuncture”, for truly this is medicine and not simply electronic acupuncture.
The LEGALITIES
I have already briefly mentioned the situation in Canada, where approximately eighteen percent of our membership is located, with around fifty MORA practitioners. Although instrumentation like the MORA-Therapy unit is not officially approved for use in Canada, the regulations so far put a greater emphasis on practitioner responsibility in device usage. In other words, although not actually legal, the instruments themselves are not illegal; nor is it illegal to use such devices in the treatment of informed patients.
The United States however, where about seventy percent of Occidental Institute Research Foundation affiliates reside, is a completely different story. There, if the device is not registered and thus not approved for medical use, it is illegal for a practitioner to use such equipment in the diagnosis or treatment of disorders.
Use of any non-approved device, subjects it to seizure and confiscation without recourse. The offending practitioner could ultimately suffer loss of licensure or even a jail term.
Currently we have over two hundred practitioners using MORA-Therapy in the United States, all on essentially an underground basis. Some call it “bio-feedback” in hopes that terminology can help reduce exposure to their more conventional colleagues (and thus their peer review boards). Certainly one could consider MORA-Therapy to be the ultimate form of bio-feedback.
Most use it only on established patients rather than brand new patients, to minimize exposure. A few on the other hand, actively promote their use of such equipment, but those are mainly ones who do not have, or no longer have a license to lose.
Naturally, that means their MORA treatments are not covered by the normal womb to tomb socialized medical care and medical aid schemes. Patient’s have to pay for these treatments out of their own pockets. Doctors who try to bill MORA-Therapy under the payment code numbers for standard medical therapies or procedures, either to the government or third party insurance carriers, quickly get into big trouble for fraud.
Why then would any United States doctor risk having a MORA-Therapy unit in his practice? First of all, for the most part these are not average practitioners, but rather those who have opted out of the system realizing the severe shortcomings of using only orthodox medicine. Or, just plain “radicals” who care more about success with their patients than for their own well-being. To them, it is the results that count, and along the line of effective alternative therapies, we really have very little in North America.
I know the politically correct word is now “complementary” therapies, rather than alternative or holistic, but other than German approaches, we have very few real alternatives to orthodox medicine there. Sure, we have traditional acupuncture, classical homeopathy, modern phytotherapy, orthomolecular medicine, and so on. But, essentially in North America we have legal use of very few truly effective alternatives, especially when it comes to medications. That is why we have to look to Germany!
The majority of MORA practitioners use MORA-Therapy in a way quite similar to European practitioners, that is the “A” or “inverted A” circuit, separated harmonious and disharmonious patient information, excretions, secretions, and so on.
However, a greater emphasis is placed on using the MORA unit for transferring remedy information from acquired test sets and medication samples, due to the extreme problems of importing a continuing supply of treatment remedies from Germany. Naturally, the same situation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration applies to unregistered or non-approved remedies, even if they are homeopathic.
Thus, we have a large number of practitioners who extensively use their MORA instrument, or independently use a supplementary amplifier [Zusatzverstärker], specifically for electronically transferring remedy information directly into the patient or into patient take home bottles. Many transfer the desired information into a sealed and labelled commercially-made bottle of some locally available (and perhaps secondarily useful) homeopathic complex, for the patient to take home. Then, the legal definition of “administration” becomes extremely vague.
Naturally, we are also very excited about “Electronic Homeopathy” using true digitalized substance information, as Med-Tronik has available for diagnostic and therapeutic use with MORA units. Unfortunately, already in the United States a number of promoters are claiming to have thousands of such remedies on computer hard disk, but sadly what they actually have is just the stored name of the various remedies — in other words nothing more than pure radionics.
The FUTURE
Unfortunately, the future does not look very bright given the vast amount of time and money required to obtain official approval and registration of a new device (or drug) from the powers-that-be in the United States — namely, the “Food and Drug Administration”.
Also, due to the relatively small existing market for such biocybernetic devices, it is hardly likely that any German firm would be willing to put in the many years of effort and millions of dollars required, to even begin seeking such acceptance. And, if they did, in order not to jeopardize their application, that firm would have to cease all sales in the United States until at least the “pre-market approval” stage was reached.
Certainly it is understandable, that until the MORA-Therapy equipment itself has the coveted “F.D.A. stamp of approval”, licensed practitioners will not legitimately be able to bill the government or insurance companies for such treatments.
Furthermore, even if a patient is willing to pay for treatment out of their own pocket, there is no real “freedom of choice” when it comes to the patient’s selection of a health care provider outside of the medical or quasi-medical establishment.
As far as existing freedom of choice, they can not go to someone completely outside of the system, such as a witch doctor, faith healer and psychic surgeon, or even some unlicensed “quack” using unapproved modalities like MORA-Therapy — even if they pay for the treatment themselves. Those “outsiders” seem to be the first to be harassed by the bureaucrats, since they are not under the direct thumb of the establishment. Most patients seeking the really heavy-duty “unorthodox” approaches usually go to a clinic in Mexico or some other off-shore facility.
It is undoubtedly going to take a massive financial crisis in the United States health care system for patients to get that freedom of choice. It will have to come to a point where the government gladly lets everyone “willing and able” to pay for their own treatment, choose whomever they wish — and whatever therapy they want — simply because it saves the government money, which by then will be desperately needed for those who can not pay. Naturally, that also means a significant loss of control on the part of the medical establishment, so such a decision will surely be postponed until absolutely unavoidable.
Ladies and gentlemen, I can already feel it in my bones. So do most American practitioners, who have a gut feeling that something is drastically wrong; that their country is morally and financially bankrupt. The day of reckoning is coming in the United States, and coming soon, despite the rhetoric of President Clinton! Of course, what happens there will affect Canada, because when the United States catches a cold, Canada gets pneumonia.
However, as you know, when patient’s truly pay for treatment out of their own pockets they are really only interested in one thing, namely results (oddly enough they seem to get well quicker too).
That, dear colleagues, is when the two hundred and fifty or so Occidental Institute affiliates now using MORA-Therapy in North America on a sub rosa basis will have their turn. We already know the results MORA-Therapy can give us! We want the chance to use it — and other modalities — openly (with patients who have true freedom of choice in the selection of their health care provider), on a fair fee for service basis.
Thank you.
Closing Remark: Those of you who read English and are on the World Wide Web can obtain more information about the work of Occidental Institute Research Foundation from our www.oirf.com web site.
A Re-printed Lecture for OIRF Affiliates
From THE BRIDGE Newsletter of OIRF
Published April 1997
© Copyright 1997, Sturm/Occidental Institute, BC Canada
Lecture presented by Dr. Walter Sturm at the 8th International Symposium on Biocybernetic Medicine (MORA) sponsored by the “International Physicians Society for Biocybernetic Medicine” in Germany.
