Agent Orange victims in Vietnam get Scientology detox treatment

The Vietnamese government is treating some victims of Agent Orange by using a detoxification method developed by the founder of the Church of Scientology, according to doctors involved. Nguyen Ba Vuong, a doctor at the Vietnam Military Medical University, Hanoi, said his facility had received ''training and methods'' from the Association for Better Living and Education, an organisation financed by Scientologists and the Church of Scientology.

The program involves taking vitamins and minerals, doing strenuous exercise and sweating in a sauna, among other activities. The aim of the program is to purge the body of dioxin, a toxic contaminant of Agent Orange, the defoliant used by US forces during the Vietnam War.



A spokeswoman for the Association for Better Living and Education confirmed the program. The detoxification program, which the actor Tom Cruise and other prominent Scientologists have promoted, is known as the Purification Rundown, or the Hubbard method, named after L. Ron Hubbard, the American science fiction writer and founder of Scientology.

But some doctors and researchers questioned whether such a treatment would work. A spokeswoman for the Church of Scientology said the program had been used ''for more than three decades'' to handle environmental toxins, exposure to pesticides and drug rehabilitation.