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Health, medicine and the mind
For roughly a decade The Golden Age campaigned against aluminium cooking utensils, promoted a diagnostic device that had already been discredited, and attacked organised medicine. This page sets out what it printed, whose voice each item was in, and what the organisation publishes on these subjects today.
Last reviewed 20 September 2026
Whose voice, and why it matters.The Golden Age was a general-interest magazine. Much of its health material came from named outside contributors, and this page puts the by-line on the face of every item, because a contributor’s article and an unsigned editorial saying “we” are different things. The distinction matters here more than anywhere: it is the error this site has itself made and publicly corrected. See the corrections log.
In September 1925 The Golden Age told readers that 'Heavy cast aluminum cooking utensils are the best', in a dietary article signed by C. E. Stewart and carrying the note '[Broadcast from WBBR by the writer.]' — WBBR being the Watch Tower Society's own radio station. Source: The Golden Age, 9 September 1925
9 September 1925 · pp.781-785 · C. E. Stewart · Woodworth, Hudgings & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“Heavy cast aluminum cooking utensils are the best. The ordinary sheet or pressed-out aluminum is not the best.”
A five-page dietary article signed 'By C. E. Stewart' and carrying, beneath the title on page 781, the note '[Broadcast from WBBR by the writer.]' — that is, from the Watch Tower Society's own radio station. It also advises skipping breakfast ('At breakfast is no time to break a fast'), warns that 'Beef eaters lay the foundation for tuberculosis, and pork eaters are inviting the dread disease of cancer', and lists foods to use and avoid.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, The Right Foods
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan of the 1925 bound volumes on 19 September 2026. The article opens on the leaf mapped to printed page 781, which carries its title and the bracketed note '[Broadcast from WBBR by the writer.]', and the aluminium sentence falls on the leaf mapped to printed page 784; the running head on the neighbouring leaf reads 'SEPTEMBER 9, 1925'. Hyphenation introduced by the scanner's line breaks has been closed up in the quotation; no words have been changed.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'magazines-the-golden-age-1925', which holds both bound volumes of 1925 — volume VI (to September) and volume VII (from October). The cover of this issue reads 'Vol. VI ... September 9, 1925'. Page numbers taken from the item's _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json and cross-checked against the printed running heads.
Notes. This is the same magazine that from at least 1929 to 1935 campaigned against aluminium cooking utensils. The 1925 article was broadcast from WBBR, the Society's own station, which places it closer to the organisation's voice than a reprint would be.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1925-0909-right-foods
Within four years the same magazine was carrying the opposite advice: from at least February 1929 The Golden Age campaigned against aluminium cooking utensils, giving its lead article of 20 February 1929 to Dr C. T. Betts, who wrote that aluminium 'produces poisoning to the soil, poisoning to the vegetation, poisoning to the animals eating such vegetation, and poisoning to human beings consuming the drug'. Source: The Golden Age, 20 February 1929Source: The Golden Age, 9 September 1925
20 February 1929 · pp.323-326 · Dr. C. T. Betts · Woodworth, Knorr & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“It is apparent from the above various quotations and statements that aluminum, in either the organic or the inorganic form, produces poisoning to the soil, poisoning to the vegetation, poisoning to the animals eating such vegetation, and poisoning to human beings consuming the drug.”
The lead article of the issue, carried under the masthead 'Volume X ... Wednesday, February 20, 1929 ... Number 246' and headed by the text of Genesis 3:17. Its author was Charles T. Betts, a Toledo dentist who sold a book called Aluminum Poisoning; he was not a Bible Student officer. The article closes by linking aluminium to cancer, and is immediately followed by a reader's letter thanking the magazine for an earlier article, 'Aluminum Poison by Way of the Kitchen'.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Aluminum in Soil, Vegetation, Animals, Humans
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026; the passage is on the leaf mapped to printed page 326, whose running head reads '326', in the issue whose masthead reads 'Volume X ... Wednesday, February 20, 1929 ... Number 246'. Scanner hyphenation closed up. The scan's OCR renders 'organic' as 'organie' and this has been restored; no other word has been altered. The OCR renders the author's initials as both 'Q. T. Betts' and 'C. T. Betts'; elsewhere in the same volume he is 'Dr. Chas. T. Betts'.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'golden-age-1929' (bound volumes X and XI, 1929), uploaded by [email protected] to the 'opensource' collection. Page numbers taken from the item's _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json and cross-checked against the printed running heads and issue mastheads.
Notes. The reader's letter on the same page ('Interior Aluminum Plating Not So Good', by I. M. Moll) refers to an earlier Golden Age article, 'Aluminum Poison by Way of the Kitchen'. The 1926-1928 volumes of The Golden Age are not on archive.org, so the first article of the campaign could not be dated.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1929-0220-betts-aluminum-soil
9 September 1925 · pp.781-785 · C. E. Stewart · Woodworth, Hudgings & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“Heavy cast aluminum cooking utensils are the best. The ordinary sheet or pressed-out aluminum is not the best.”
A five-page dietary article signed 'By C. E. Stewart' and carrying, beneath the title on page 781, the note '[Broadcast from WBBR by the writer.]' — that is, from the Watch Tower Society's own radio station. It also advises skipping breakfast ('At breakfast is no time to break a fast'), warns that 'Beef eaters lay the foundation for tuberculosis, and pork eaters are inviting the dread disease of cancer', and lists foods to use and avoid.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, The Right Foods
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan of the 1925 bound volumes on 19 September 2026. The article opens on the leaf mapped to printed page 781, which carries its title and the bracketed note '[Broadcast from WBBR by the writer.]', and the aluminium sentence falls on the leaf mapped to printed page 784; the running head on the neighbouring leaf reads 'SEPTEMBER 9, 1925'. Hyphenation introduced by the scanner's line breaks has been closed up in the quotation; no words have been changed.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'magazines-the-golden-age-1925', which holds both bound volumes of 1925 — volume VI (to September) and volume VII (from October). The cover of this issue reads 'Vol. VI ... September 9, 1925'. Page numbers taken from the item's _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json and cross-checked against the printed running heads.
Notes. This is the same magazine that from at least 1929 to 1935 campaigned against aluminium cooking utensils. The 1925 article was broadcast from WBBR, the Society's own station, which places it closer to the organisation's voice than a reprint would be.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1925-0909-right-foods
The magazine gave the whole of its lead article of 17 April 1929 — ten pages — to dietetic rules compiled by a naturopathic dietician, W. E. Reynolds of the Rocine School, which told readers that 'If you boil vegetables in aluminum ware you always produce a poison' and that food left in aluminium and reheated could produce a poison 'often strong enough to cause serious illness and sometimes death'. Source: The Golden Age, 17 April 1929
17 April 1929 · pp.451-460 · compiled by W. E. Reynolds, N.D. · Woodworth, Knorr & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“If you boil vegetables in aluminum ware you always produce a poison, in the opinion of the scientists and doctors just quoted, the name of the poison being determined by the kind of food you cook.”
The lead article of the issue, running from the masthead page to page 460. Its title carries an asterisk, and the footnote at the foot of the first column of page 451 reads: “*Applicable to all of the nineteen chemical types of mankind. Compiled by W. E. Reynolds, N.D., Dietician, Rocine School, 3007 Water Street, Corpus Christi, Texas.” Its opening paragraphs credit the teachings of V. G. Rocine and of Dr Ralph Shadduck. It lists more than twenty chemists and physicians said to be 'a unit upon the opinion that aluminum compounds when taken internally by man are poisonous', and states that food left standing in aluminium and reheated can produce a poison 'often strong enough to cause serious illness and sometimes death'.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Good Health Dietetic Rules
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026; the quoted sentence is on the leaf mapped to printed page 458. Page 451 carries the issue masthead 'Volume X … Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, April 17, 1929 … Number 250', the article title with its asterisk, and the attributing footnote, which was read on that leaf and sits at the foot of its first column. Scanner hyphenation closed up; no words changed.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'golden-age-1929'; page numbers from the _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead 'Volume X ... April 17, 1929 ... Number 250'.
Notes. The article carries no by-line at its head; the attribution to W. E. Reynolds is printed as an asterisked footnote on page 451. It is therefore a compiled contribution from a naturopathic dietician, not an unsigned article in the magazine's own voice. An earlier version of this record described it as unsigned and as the magazine's own voice; that was wrong and was corrected on 19 September 2026.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1929-0417-dietetic-rules
3 April 1929 · pp.436-437 · Dr. G. Schmidt · Woodworth, Knorr & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“In a recent retest of over a hundred cases of cancer, in various parts of the body, I found this aluminum poison at the point of cancer in every case.”
A signed contribution describing the testing of patients by the 'White B D C Vagal Reflex method' and reporting that 'from eighty to ninety percent of all my patients, both in acute and in chronic cases, show aluminum poisoning'. The same issue carried 'A Cook's Experience with Aluminum' and 'Results of a De-aluminized Diet'.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Some Unusual Sources and Results of Aluminum Poisoning
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaves mapped to printed pages 436-437; the issue contents page (printed page 418) lists both article titles. Scanner hyphenation closed up.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'golden-age-1929'; page numbers from the _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead 'Volume X ... April 3, 1929 ... Number 249'.
Notes. The contents page of this issue lists, under 'Home and Health', 'A Common Cold', 'How Diphtheria Antitoxin Is Made', 'A Cook's Experience with Aluminum', 'The Ehret System of Elimination', 'Some Unusual Sources and Results of Aluminum Poisoning' and 'Results of a De-aluminized Diet'.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1929-0403-schmidt-aluminum
2 April 1930 · pp.434-437 · M. Q. · Golden Age Publishing Company, Brooklyn, New York
“If the irritation of a “chemical ferment” (such as a compound of aluminum) can, by any possibility, be considered a cause of cancer, eliminate all aluminum utensils from your kitchen.”
An article signed only with initials which recounts three cases of breast and internal cancer said to have been cured by living on grape juice with a daily warm-water enema, and endorses Dr. Betts's theory that aluminium cookware is 'a prolific cause of cancer'.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, A Cure for Cancer
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaves mapped to printed pages 434-437. Scanner hyphenation closed up; no words changed.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item '1930-1934TheGoldenAgeMagazine'; page numbers from the _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead of 2 April 1930.
Notes. The article also states that the author had 'never seen a hint regarding the grape juice or fruit juice cure' in medical journals, and attributes this to 'the mental invulnerability of the medical fraternity'.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1930-0402-cure-for-cancer
17 April 1929 · pp.451-460 · compiled by W. E. Reynolds, N.D. · Woodworth, Knorr & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“If you boil vegetables in aluminum ware you always produce a poison, in the opinion of the scientists and doctors just quoted, the name of the poison being determined by the kind of food you cook.”
The lead article of the issue, running from the masthead page to page 460. Its title carries an asterisk, and the footnote at the foot of the first column of page 451 reads: “*Applicable to all of the nineteen chemical types of mankind. Compiled by W. E. Reynolds, N.D., Dietician, Rocine School, 3007 Water Street, Corpus Christi, Texas.” Its opening paragraphs credit the teachings of V. G. Rocine and of Dr Ralph Shadduck. It lists more than twenty chemists and physicians said to be 'a unit upon the opinion that aluminum compounds when taken internally by man are poisonous', and states that food left standing in aluminium and reheated can produce a poison 'often strong enough to cause serious illness and sometimes death'.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Good Health Dietetic Rules
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026; the quoted sentence is on the leaf mapped to printed page 458. Page 451 carries the issue masthead 'Volume X … Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, April 17, 1929 … Number 250', the article title with its asterisk, and the attributing footnote, which was read on that leaf and sits at the foot of its first column. Scanner hyphenation closed up; no words changed.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'golden-age-1929'; page numbers from the _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead 'Volume X ... April 17, 1929 ... Number 250'.
Notes. The article carries no by-line at its head; the attribution to W. E. Reynolds is printed as an asterisked footnote on page 451. It is therefore a compiled contribution from a naturopathic dietician, not an unsigned article in the magazine's own voice. An earlier version of this record described it as unsigned and as the magazine's own voice; that was wrong and was corrected on 19 September 2026.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1929-0417-dietetic-rules
The campaign was not confined to contributors' articles. On 2 April 1930 an unsigned editorial item written in the magazine's own voice said 'we are absolutely right in our stand on the use of aluminum cooking utensils', and in April 1935 an unsigned item under the standing head 'Poisoning Department' said that The Golden Age 'will not cease to warn those who are interested in their health that aluminum is injurious to the health in numerous and various ways'. Source: The Golden Age, 2 April 1930Source: The Golden Age, 10 April 1935
2 April 1930 · p.438 · Golden Age Publishing Company, Brooklyn, New York
“By this time every regular reader of The Golden Age knows that we are absolutely right in our stand on the use of aluminum cooking utensils and that The Scientific American, The Literary Digest, and most of the M.D.'s are dead wrong, and as immune to facts or to reason as the D.D.'s are on the “hell” question.”
An unsigned editorial item reproducing two United Press despatches from the Oregon Journal of January 1930 about food poisoning at The Dalles, Oregon, and mocking the state board of health officer who concluded that an aluminium roaster was not to blame.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, The Only Explanation
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaf mapped to printed page 438, within the issue whose masthead reads 2 April 1930. Scanner hyphenation closed up; the OCR of the opening words is partly damaged and reads '»i i Y THIS time', which the surrounding sense and the printed column show to be 'By this time'.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item '1930-1934TheGoldenAgeMagazine' (a compilation of selected issues, 1930-1934), uploaded by [email protected] to the 'faithmagazines' collection and marked public domain. Page numbers from the item's _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead 'Volume XI ... Wednesday, April 2, 1930 ... Number 275'.
Notes. Written in the magazine's own voice ('we'), not a contributor's. The preceding page, 437, carries a companion item, 'Sacramento's Poisoning Bee'.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1930-0402-only-explanation
10 April 1935 · p.440 · Golden Age Publishing Company, Brooklyn, New York
“The Golden Age does not care what kind of cooking utensils you use. It isn't even concerned if you insist upon using aluminum of any kind. That is your privilege and responsibility. But it will not cease to warn those who are interested in their health that aluminum is injurious to the health in numerous and various ways. There is no question about this whatever.”
An unsigned item under the standing head 'Poisoning Department'. It was written in answer to a notice in Scientific American that the United States Federal Trade Commission had obtained a stipulation from a cookware seller to stop claiming that aluminium utensils cause cancer; the Golden Age reproduces that notice and rejects it.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Not Selling Cooking Utensils
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaf mapped to printed page 440. Scanner hyphenation closed up; no words changed.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item '1935TheGoldenAgeMagazine', uploaded by [email protected] to the 'faithmagazines' collection and marked public domain. Page number from the item's _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead 'Volume XVI ... Wednesday, April 10, 1935 ... Number 406' and the running heads on neighbouring leaves.
Notes. The facing page (439) carries reader items headed 'How About It?' and 'Thumbs Down on Aluminum at Fresno'. The same 1935 volume carries further aluminium items on pages 341-343 (27 February 1935) and an article by Betts on diphtheria immunisation on pages 793-795 (11 September 1935).
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1935-0410-not-selling-utensils
On 2 April 1930 an unsigned editorial item declared that 'every regular reader of The Golden Age knows that we are absolutely right in our stand on the use of aluminum cooking utensils and that The Scientific American, The Literary Digest, and most of the M.D.'s are dead wrong'. Source: The Golden Age, 2 April 1930
2 April 1930 · p.438 · Golden Age Publishing Company, Brooklyn, New York
“By this time every regular reader of The Golden Age knows that we are absolutely right in our stand on the use of aluminum cooking utensils and that The Scientific American, The Literary Digest, and most of the M.D.'s are dead wrong, and as immune to facts or to reason as the D.D.'s are on the “hell” question.”
An unsigned editorial item reproducing two United Press despatches from the Oregon Journal of January 1930 about food poisoning at The Dalles, Oregon, and mocking the state board of health officer who concluded that an aluminium roaster was not to blame.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, The Only Explanation
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaf mapped to printed page 438, within the issue whose masthead reads 2 April 1930. Scanner hyphenation closed up; the OCR of the opening words is partly damaged and reads '»i i Y THIS time', which the surrounding sense and the printed column show to be 'By this time'.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item '1930-1934TheGoldenAgeMagazine' (a compilation of selected issues, 1930-1934), uploaded by [email protected] to the 'faithmagazines' collection and marked public domain. Page numbers from the item's _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead 'Volume XI ... Wednesday, April 2, 1930 ... Number 275'.
Notes. Written in the magazine's own voice ('we'), not a contributor's. The preceding page, 437, carries a companion item, 'Sacramento's Poisoning Bee'.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1930-0402-only-explanation
The campaign was still running in April 1935, when the magazine answered a notice that a cookware seller had undertaken, under a United States Federal Trade Commission stipulation, to stop claiming that aluminium utensils cause cancer, by saying that it 'will not cease to warn those who are interested in their health that aluminum is injurious to the health in numerous and various ways. There is no question about this whatever.' Source: The Golden Age, 10 April 1935
10 April 1935 · p.440 · Golden Age Publishing Company, Brooklyn, New York
“The Golden Age does not care what kind of cooking utensils you use. It isn't even concerned if you insist upon using aluminum of any kind. That is your privilege and responsibility. But it will not cease to warn those who are interested in their health that aluminum is injurious to the health in numerous and various ways. There is no question about this whatever.”
An unsigned item under the standing head 'Poisoning Department'. It was written in answer to a notice in Scientific American that the United States Federal Trade Commission had obtained a stipulation from a cookware seller to stop claiming that aluminium utensils cause cancer; the Golden Age reproduces that notice and rejects it.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Not Selling Cooking Utensils
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaf mapped to printed page 440. Scanner hyphenation closed up; no words changed.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item '1935TheGoldenAgeMagazine', uploaded by [email protected] to the 'faithmagazines' collection and marked public domain. Page number from the item's _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead 'Volume XVI ... Wednesday, April 10, 1935 ... Number 406' and the running heads on neighbouring leaves.
Notes. The facing page (439) carries reader items headed 'How About It?' and 'Thumbs Down on Aluminum at Fresno'. The same 1935 volume carries further aluminium items on pages 341-343 (27 February 1935) and an article by Betts on diphtheria immunisation on pages 793-795 (11 September 1935).
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1935-0410-not-selling-utensils
20 February 1929 · pp.323-326 · Dr. C. T. Betts · Woodworth, Knorr & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“It is apparent from the above various quotations and statements that aluminum, in either the organic or the inorganic form, produces poisoning to the soil, poisoning to the vegetation, poisoning to the animals eating such vegetation, and poisoning to human beings consuming the drug.”
The lead article of the issue, carried under the masthead 'Volume X ... Wednesday, February 20, 1929 ... Number 246' and headed by the text of Genesis 3:17. Its author was Charles T. Betts, a Toledo dentist who sold a book called Aluminum Poisoning; he was not a Bible Student officer. The article closes by linking aluminium to cancer, and is immediately followed by a reader's letter thanking the magazine for an earlier article, 'Aluminum Poison by Way of the Kitchen'.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Aluminum in Soil, Vegetation, Animals, Humans
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026; the passage is on the leaf mapped to printed page 326, whose running head reads '326', in the issue whose masthead reads 'Volume X ... Wednesday, February 20, 1929 ... Number 246'. Scanner hyphenation closed up. The scan's OCR renders 'organic' as 'organie' and this has been restored; no other word has been altered. The OCR renders the author's initials as both 'Q. T. Betts' and 'C. T. Betts'; elsewhere in the same volume he is 'Dr. Chas. T. Betts'.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'golden-age-1929' (bound volumes X and XI, 1929), uploaded by [email protected] to the 'opensource' collection. Page numbers taken from the item's _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json and cross-checked against the printed running heads and issue mastheads.
Notes. The reader's letter on the same page ('Interior Aluminum Plating Not So Good', by I. M. Moll) refers to an earlier Golden Age article, 'Aluminum Poison by Way of the Kitchen'. The 1926-1928 volumes of The Golden Age are not on archive.org, so the first article of the campaign could not be dated.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1929-0220-betts-aluminum-soil
3 April 1929 · pp.436-437 · Dr. G. Schmidt · Woodworth, Knorr & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“In a recent retest of over a hundred cases of cancer, in various parts of the body, I found this aluminum poison at the point of cancer in every case.”
A signed contribution describing the testing of patients by the 'White B D C Vagal Reflex method' and reporting that 'from eighty to ninety percent of all my patients, both in acute and in chronic cases, show aluminum poisoning'. The same issue carried 'A Cook's Experience with Aluminum' and 'Results of a De-aluminized Diet'.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Some Unusual Sources and Results of Aluminum Poisoning
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaves mapped to printed pages 436-437; the issue contents page (printed page 418) lists both article titles. Scanner hyphenation closed up.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'golden-age-1929'; page numbers from the _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead 'Volume X ... April 3, 1929 ... Number 249'.
Notes. The contents page of this issue lists, under 'Home and Health', 'A Common Cold', 'How Diphtheria Antitoxin Is Made', 'A Cook's Experience with Aluminum', 'The Ehret System of Elimination', 'Some Unusual Sources and Results of Aluminum Poisoning' and 'Results of a De-aluminized Diet'.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1929-0403-schmidt-aluminum
17 April 1929 · pp.451-460 · compiled by W. E. Reynolds, N.D. · Woodworth, Knorr & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“If you boil vegetables in aluminum ware you always produce a poison, in the opinion of the scientists and doctors just quoted, the name of the poison being determined by the kind of food you cook.”
The lead article of the issue, running from the masthead page to page 460. Its title carries an asterisk, and the footnote at the foot of the first column of page 451 reads: “*Applicable to all of the nineteen chemical types of mankind. Compiled by W. E. Reynolds, N.D., Dietician, Rocine School, 3007 Water Street, Corpus Christi, Texas.” Its opening paragraphs credit the teachings of V. G. Rocine and of Dr Ralph Shadduck. It lists more than twenty chemists and physicians said to be 'a unit upon the opinion that aluminum compounds when taken internally by man are poisonous', and states that food left standing in aluminium and reheated can produce a poison 'often strong enough to cause serious illness and sometimes death'.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Good Health Dietetic Rules
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026; the quoted sentence is on the leaf mapped to printed page 458. Page 451 carries the issue masthead 'Volume X … Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, April 17, 1929 … Number 250', the article title with its asterisk, and the attributing footnote, which was read on that leaf and sits at the foot of its first column. Scanner hyphenation closed up; no words changed.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'golden-age-1929'; page numbers from the _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead 'Volume X ... April 17, 1929 ... Number 250'.
Notes. The article carries no by-line at its head; the attribution to W. E. Reynolds is printed as an asterisked footnote on page 451. It is therefore a compiled contribution from a naturopathic dietician, not an unsigned article in the magazine's own voice. An earlier version of this record described it as unsigned and as the magazine's own voice; that was wrong and was corrected on 19 September 2026.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1929-0417-dietetic-rules
21 August 1929 · pp.754-756 · Dr. C. T. Betts · Woodworth, Knorr & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“The American Medical Association at Chicago, Ill., was next mentioned. Then the United States Public Health Service was included in this investigation. The London Lancet also issued statements giving aluminum a clean bill of health.”
A rebuttal of an article by Albert A. Hopkins in Scientific American of March 1929 which had found aluminium cookware harmless. Betts lists the bodies Hopkins relied on — the manufacturer's works at New Kensington, the American Medical Association, the United States Public Health Service, The Lancet and the Mellon Institute — and argues that they should have been ignored in favour of his own book.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Do Aluminum Kitchen Utensils Have “A Clean Bill of Health”?
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaves mapped to printed pages 754-755; the issue's cover page (printed page 737) lists 'ALUMINUM POISONING' among the contents. Scanner hyphenation closed up.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'golden-age-1929'; page numbers from the _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead 'Volume X ... August 21, 1929 ... Number 259'.
Notes. This article is direct evidence that the magazine knew the position of the AMA, the United States Public Health Service and The Lancet on aluminium cookware in 1929 and printed a rejection of it. It also reproduces a refusal letter from the editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association dated 19 June 1928.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1929-0821-betts-clean-bill
2 April 1930 · p.438 · Golden Age Publishing Company, Brooklyn, New York
“By this time every regular reader of The Golden Age knows that we are absolutely right in our stand on the use of aluminum cooking utensils and that The Scientific American, The Literary Digest, and most of the M.D.'s are dead wrong, and as immune to facts or to reason as the D.D.'s are on the “hell” question.”
An unsigned editorial item reproducing two United Press despatches from the Oregon Journal of January 1930 about food poisoning at The Dalles, Oregon, and mocking the state board of health officer who concluded that an aluminium roaster was not to blame.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, The Only Explanation
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaf mapped to printed page 438, within the issue whose masthead reads 2 April 1930. Scanner hyphenation closed up; the OCR of the opening words is partly damaged and reads '»i i Y THIS time', which the surrounding sense and the printed column show to be 'By this time'.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item '1930-1934TheGoldenAgeMagazine' (a compilation of selected issues, 1930-1934), uploaded by [email protected] to the 'faithmagazines' collection and marked public domain. Page numbers from the item's _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead 'Volume XI ... Wednesday, April 2, 1930 ... Number 275'.
Notes. Written in the magazine's own voice ('we'), not a contributor's. The preceding page, 437, carries a companion item, 'Sacramento's Poisoning Bee'.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1930-0402-only-explanation
13 April 1932 · p.442 · Dr. Chas. T. Betts · Golden Age Publishing Company, Brooklyn, New York
“Manufacturers of aluminum kitchenware continue to advertise that those opposed to the manufacture of aluminum cooking utensils are wrong, in spite of the fact that the reports show that such ware is used previous to 99 percent of all group poisoning cases.”
Betts recounts writing to a family in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, whose New Year's Day illness had been reported in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and printing their reply, which mentions soup carried in an aluminium pail.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Truth Sometimes Comes to the Surface Quickly
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaf mapped to printed page 442, in the issue whose masthead reads 13 April 1932. Scanner hyphenation closed up.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item '1930-1934TheGoldenAgeMagazine'; page number from the _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead 'Volume XIII ... Wednesday, April 13, 1932 ... Number 323'.
Notes. Establishes that Betts was still writing for the magazine on this subject in 1932, six and a half years after the magazine's December 1925 undertaking to restrict what it published.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1932-0413-betts-truth-surface
10 April 1935 · p.440 · Golden Age Publishing Company, Brooklyn, New York
“The Golden Age does not care what kind of cooking utensils you use. It isn't even concerned if you insist upon using aluminum of any kind. That is your privilege and responsibility. But it will not cease to warn those who are interested in their health that aluminum is injurious to the health in numerous and various ways. There is no question about this whatever.”
An unsigned item under the standing head 'Poisoning Department'. It was written in answer to a notice in Scientific American that the United States Federal Trade Commission had obtained a stipulation from a cookware seller to stop claiming that aluminium utensils cause cancer; the Golden Age reproduces that notice and rejects it.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Not Selling Cooking Utensils
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaf mapped to printed page 440. Scanner hyphenation closed up; no words changed.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item '1935TheGoldenAgeMagazine', uploaded by [email protected] to the 'faithmagazines' collection and marked public domain. Page number from the item's _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead 'Volume XVI ... Wednesday, April 10, 1935 ... Number 406' and the running heads on neighbouring leaves.
Notes. The facing page (439) carries reader items headed 'How About It?' and 'Thumbs Down on Aluminum at Fresno'. The same 1935 volume carries further aluminium items on pages 341-343 (27 February 1935) and an article by Betts on diphtheria immunisation on pages 793-795 (11 September 1935).
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1935-0410-not-selling-utensils
15 January 1936 · pp.227-228 · Golden Age Publishing Company, Brooklyn, New York
“In the past it has published numerous health articles from various sources where the writers seemed to know what they were talking about. These articles have not always been consistent with one another; which is not to be wondered at, because no two health experts agree.”
The magazine's own summing-up of its health content, opening the issue. It goes on: 'This is about all The Golden Age knows on the subject of health. It has no ambition to be known as a health magazine ... The Golden Age claims no monopoly of wisdom on the subject.' It also says 'Surgery is sometimes essential, but before submitting to the knife try the prescriptions above given', repeats that Jesus's fish 'certainly was not fried in an aluminum frying pan', and calls it 'nonsense to say that mankind must have 1,200 kinds of poison scratched into his arm to keep him well'.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Some Ideas on Health
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaves mapped to printed pages 226-228; the contents page (printed page 226) lists 'Some Ideas on Health ... 227', the leaf mapped to page 228 carries the running head '228 The Golden Age Brooklyn, N.Y.' and the leaves mapped to pages 229 and 231 carry running heads reading 'January 15, 1936'. The two-column OCR on page 227 is badly interleaved. The quoted sentence, and the phrases 'no ambition to be known as a health magazine', 'claims no monopoly of wisdom on the subject' and 'Surgery is sometimes essential, but before submitting to the knife try the prescriptions above given', were each read as an unbroken run of text. The sentence about 1,200 kinds of poison was not: it survives only as two overlapping partial renderings of the same interleaved column, which agree with each other, and is recorded on that basis.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item '1936-1937TheGoldenAgeMagazine', uploaded by [email protected] to the 'faithmagazines' collection and marked public domain. Page numbers from the item's _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the running heads reading 'January 15, 1936' on the following leaves.
Notes. The nearest thing found to a retrospective statement on the magazine's health content. It withdraws no specific claim, names no error and does not mention the aluminium campaign; it says only that the articles came from various sources and were not always consistent.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1936-0115-some-ideas-health
The magazine was aware of the contrary medical consensus and rejected it: in August 1929 it printed a rebuttal noting that the American Medical Association, the United States Public Health Service and The Lancet had given aluminium cookware 'a clean bill of health'. Source: The Golden Age, 21 August 1929
21 August 1929 · pp.754-756 · Dr. C. T. Betts · Woodworth, Knorr & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“The American Medical Association at Chicago, Ill., was next mentioned. Then the United States Public Health Service was included in this investigation. The London Lancet also issued statements giving aluminum a clean bill of health.”
A rebuttal of an article by Albert A. Hopkins in Scientific American of March 1929 which had found aluminium cookware harmless. Betts lists the bodies Hopkins relied on — the manufacturer's works at New Kensington, the American Medical Association, the United States Public Health Service, The Lancet and the Mellon Institute — and argues that they should have been ignored in favour of his own book.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Do Aluminum Kitchen Utensils Have “A Clean Bill of Health”?
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaves mapped to printed pages 754-755; the issue's cover page (printed page 737) lists 'ALUMINUM POISONING' among the contents. Scanner hyphenation closed up.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'golden-age-1929'; page numbers from the _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead 'Volume X ... August 21, 1929 ... Number 259'.
Notes. This article is direct evidence that the magazine knew the position of the AMA, the United States Public Health Service and The Lancet on aluminium cookware in 1929 and printed a rejection of it. It also reproduces a refusal letter from the editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association dated 19 June 1928.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1929-0821-betts-clean-bill
No retraction of the aluminium campaign has been found. The nearest statement located is a summing-up of 15 January 1936 in which the magazine said only that it had published health articles 'from various sources' that 'have not always been consistent with one another', that it had 'no ambition to be known as a health magazine' and that it claimed 'no monopoly of wisdom on the subject'. Source: The Golden Age, 15 January 1936
The organisation’s position or later explanation: The 1936 article withdrew nothing specific. In the same piece the magazine repeated that Jesus's fish 'certainly was not fried in an aluminum frying pan' and that it was 'nonsense to say that mankind must have 1,200 kinds of poison scratched into his arm to keep him well'.
15 January 1936 · pp.227-228 · Golden Age Publishing Company, Brooklyn, New York
“In the past it has published numerous health articles from various sources where the writers seemed to know what they were talking about. These articles have not always been consistent with one another; which is not to be wondered at, because no two health experts agree.”
The magazine's own summing-up of its health content, opening the issue. It goes on: 'This is about all The Golden Age knows on the subject of health. It has no ambition to be known as a health magazine ... The Golden Age claims no monopoly of wisdom on the subject.' It also says 'Surgery is sometimes essential, but before submitting to the knife try the prescriptions above given', repeats that Jesus's fish 'certainly was not fried in an aluminum frying pan', and calls it 'nonsense to say that mankind must have 1,200 kinds of poison scratched into his arm to keep him well'.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Some Ideas on Health
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaves mapped to printed pages 226-228; the contents page (printed page 226) lists 'Some Ideas on Health ... 227', the leaf mapped to page 228 carries the running head '228 The Golden Age Brooklyn, N.Y.' and the leaves mapped to pages 229 and 231 carry running heads reading 'January 15, 1936'. The two-column OCR on page 227 is badly interleaved. The quoted sentence, and the phrases 'no ambition to be known as a health magazine', 'claims no monopoly of wisdom on the subject' and 'Surgery is sometimes essential, but before submitting to the knife try the prescriptions above given', were each read as an unbroken run of text. The sentence about 1,200 kinds of poison was not: it survives only as two overlapping partial renderings of the same interleaved column, which agree with each other, and is recorded on that basis.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item '1936-1937TheGoldenAgeMagazine', uploaded by [email protected] to the 'faithmagazines' collection and marked public domain. Page numbers from the item's _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the running heads reading 'January 15, 1936' on the following leaves.
Notes. The nearest thing found to a retrospective statement on the magazine's health content. It withdraws no specific claim, names no error and does not mention the aluminium campaign; it says only that the articles came from various sources and were not always consistent.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1936-0115-some-ideas-health
For completeness, and because the site does not overstate: aluminium cookware does contribute a share of dietary aluminium. That is not what the magazine claimed, and the claim below sets out the difference.
Aluminium cookware does contribute a share of dietary aluminium — the European Food Safety Authority lists 'food contact materials such as pots, pans and foil' among the sources, alongside natural occurrence and food additives — and names cereals and cereal products, vegetables and beverages, not cookware, as the main dietary contributors. Nothing located in this research supports the magazine's claims that cooking in aluminium causes cancer or acute poisoning. Source: European Food Safety Authority, 15 July 2008Source: The Golden Age, 10 April 1935
“Aluminium in foods originates from its natural occurrence, from the use of food additives containing aluminium and from the presence of aluminium in food contact materials such as pots, pans and foil.”
EFSA's announcement of a tolerable weekly intake of 1 milligram of aluminium per kilogram of body weight. It identifies cereals and cereal products, vegetables and beverages as the main dietary contributors, and says intake may exceed the tolerable weekly intake in a significant part of the European population.
Provenance and verification note for European Food Safety Authority, EFSA advises on the safety of aluminium in food
Confidence note. Page opened on 19 September 2026 and the quoted sentence, the tolerable weekly intake figure and the publication date confirmed.
Notes. Included for proportion, not as a rebuttal in kind. EFSA addresses total dietary aluminium and does not attribute cancer, 'trembles' or food poisoning to cooking utensils, which were the Golden Age's claims.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-efsa-2008-aluminium
10 April 1935 · p.440 · Golden Age Publishing Company, Brooklyn, New York
“The Golden Age does not care what kind of cooking utensils you use. It isn't even concerned if you insist upon using aluminum of any kind. That is your privilege and responsibility. But it will not cease to warn those who are interested in their health that aluminum is injurious to the health in numerous and various ways. There is no question about this whatever.”
An unsigned item under the standing head 'Poisoning Department'. It was written in answer to a notice in Scientific American that the United States Federal Trade Commission had obtained a stipulation from a cookware seller to stop claiming that aluminium utensils cause cancer; the Golden Age reproduces that notice and rejects it.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Not Selling Cooking Utensils
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaf mapped to printed page 440. Scanner hyphenation closed up; no words changed.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item '1935TheGoldenAgeMagazine', uploaded by [email protected] to the 'faithmagazines' collection and marked public domain. Page number from the item's _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead 'Volume XVI ... Wednesday, April 10, 1935 ... Number 406' and the running heads on neighbouring leaves.
Notes. The facing page (439) carries reader items headed 'How About It?' and 'Thumbs Down on Aluminum at Fresno'. The same 1935 volume carries further aluminium items on pages 341-343 (27 February 1935) and an article by Betts on diphtheria immunisation on pages 793-795 (11 September 1935).
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1935-0410-not-selling-utensils
In April 1925 The Golden Age gave its lead article to a device called the Electronic Radio Biola, said to diagnose and treat disease automatically by radio vibration with a diagnosis that 'is 100 percent correct', and printed above it an editor's note saying the magazine 'has fullest confidence in any representations that may be made by Doctor Gamble'. Source: The Golden Age, 22 April 1925
22 April 1925 · pp.451-455 · Dr. R. A. Gamble, Dean of the Norfolk Electronic Institute · Woodworth, Hudgings & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“[The Golden Age has fullest confidence in any representations that may be made by Doctor Gamble. He is well known to many of our readers and we are sure they will read this important article with great interest.—Editor.]”
The editor's bracketed note at the head of the issue's lead article, printed above a by-line reading 'By Dr. R. A. Gamble, Dean of the Norfolk Electronic Institute.' The article promotes the 'Electronic Radio Biola', a device the author says he invented: 'The Biola automatically diagnoses and treats diseases by the use of the electronic vibrations. The diagnosis is 100 percent correct'. The author praises the “famous Abrams' Electronic system” on which the device is built, and calls it a discovery 'which I am exclusively announcing in The Golden Age prior to its general publication elsewhere'.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Automatic Electronic Diagnosis
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaves mapped to printed pages 451-455; the masthead is on the same leaf as the article's opening. Scanner hyphenation closed up; no words changed.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'magazines-the-golden-age-1925'; page numbers from the _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead 'Volume VI ... Wednesday, April 22, 1925 ... Number 146'.
Notes. The article's own text says of the Biola that 'its price brings it within the reach of every family, even those in the poorest circumstances'. The article is a signed contribution; the bracketed endorsement printed above it is the magazine's own.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1925-0422-electronic-diagnosis
September 1924 · p.158 · Austin C. Lescarboura · Munn & Co.
“The Electronic Reactions of Abrams and Electronic Medicine in General Found Utterly Worthless”
The concluding article of Scientific American's investigation of the Electronic Reactions of Abrams, published in volume 131, number 3 (September 1924). The words quoted are the article's own subtitle, quoted in full; the body of the article was not read.
Provenance and verification note for Scientific American, Our Abrams Verdict
Confidence note. The article's landing page on scientificamerican.com was opened on 19 September 2026 and confirms the title, the author, the issue (vol. 131 no. 3, September 1924), the page (158) and the subtitle quoted here in full. The full text is behind the publisher's archive paywall and was not read, so the verdict is recorded from the subtitle and from the Quackwatch account rather than from the body of the article. An earlier version of this record quoted only the words 'Found Utterly Worthless', which is a fragment of the middle of that subtitle.
1 February 2002 · William T. Jarvis, PhD · National Council Against Health Fraud / Quackwatch
“Analyzed in the cold light of scientific knowledge, the entire Abrams matter is the height of absurdity.”
Jarvis's account of the joint Scientific American and American Medical Association investigation of 1923-24, which he says ran about ten months and cost some $30,000. The words quoted are the first sentence of the investigating panel's verdict as he reproduces it; the verdict continues: 'The so-called Electronic Reactions of Abrams do not exist—at least objectively … At best it is all an illusion. At worst, it is a colossal fraud.' He also describes Abrams's 'Oscilloclast' as the prototype of 'black box quackery'.
Provenance and verification note for Quackwatch, Radionics and Albert Abrams, M.D.
Confidence note. Page opened on 19 September 2026 and the quoted sentence and the surrounding account read. Jarvis is quoting the 1924 panel; the underlying Scientific American text was not opened, so the sentence is recorded as reported by Quackwatch.
22 April 1925 · pp.451-455 · Dr. R. A. Gamble, Dean of the Norfolk Electronic Institute · Woodworth, Hudgings & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“[The Golden Age has fullest confidence in any representations that may be made by Doctor Gamble. He is well known to many of our readers and we are sure they will read this important article with great interest.—Editor.]”
The editor's bracketed note at the head of the issue's lead article, printed above a by-line reading 'By Dr. R. A. Gamble, Dean of the Norfolk Electronic Institute.' The article promotes the 'Electronic Radio Biola', a device the author says he invented: 'The Biola automatically diagnoses and treats diseases by the use of the electronic vibrations. The diagnosis is 100 percent correct'. The author praises the “famous Abrams' Electronic system” on which the device is built, and calls it a discovery 'which I am exclusively announcing in The Golden Age prior to its general publication elsewhere'.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Automatic Electronic Diagnosis
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaves mapped to printed pages 451-455; the masthead is on the same leaf as the article's opening. Scanner hyphenation closed up; no words changed.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'magazines-the-golden-age-1925'; page numbers from the _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead 'Volume VI ... Wednesday, April 22, 1925 ... Number 146'.
Notes. The article's own text says of the Biola that 'its price brings it within the reach of every family, even those in the poorest circumstances'. The article is a signed contribution; the bracketed endorsement printed above it is the magazine's own.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1925-0422-electronic-diagnosis
Organisation's explanation · 2 December 1925Verified
In December 1925 the magazine acknowledged that some of its announcements had been 'inadvisable or premature', said 'We make no claim to infallibility... If we make mistakes forgive us', and undertook to publish no further articles that 'might seem to be hints to purchase'. Source: The Golden Age, 2 December 1925
2 December 1925 · pp.139-141 · Woodworth, Hudgings & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“We make no claim to infallibility, but do try to be honest, fearless, sincere and helpful. If we make mistakes forgive us. We repent “seventy times seven”. ... Hereafter we shall publish no advertisements or articles other than the books of the International Bible Students Association, nor any writeups of articles which, however valuable they may be, might seem to be hints to purchase.”
An unsigned editorial reprinting the magazine's 1919 salutatory and adding an admission that some earlier announcements had been 'inadvisable or premature'. In the same item the magazine defends the April 1925 Biola article 'as a vindication of our judgment in publishing the original article' and prints eleven readers' testimonials for the device, omitting only their post offices.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, The Mission of the Golden Age
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaves mapped to printed pages 139-141. The running head OCR reads 'DrcemErR 2, 1923' and 'DeEceMBED 2, 1923' — a misreading of 1925; the issue masthead on the leaf mapped to printed page 131 reads 'Wednesday, December 2, 1925'. Scanner hyphenation closed up; the ellipsis marks an omission of about 150 words.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'magazines-the-golden-age-1925'; page numbers from the _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead 'Volume VII ... Wednesday, December 2, 1925 ... Number 168'.
Notes. This is the nearest thing to a retraction the magazine printed on the Biola, and it is not one: the device is defended in the same breath. The undertaking to stop printing what 'might seem to be hints to purchase' was not kept: articles by Dr Betts, who sold a book on aluminium poisoning, continued to appear at least until 1935.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1925-1202-mission-golden-age
2 December 1925 · pp.139-141 · Woodworth, Hudgings & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“We make no claim to infallibility, but do try to be honest, fearless, sincere and helpful. If we make mistakes forgive us. We repent “seventy times seven”. ... Hereafter we shall publish no advertisements or articles other than the books of the International Bible Students Association, nor any writeups of articles which, however valuable they may be, might seem to be hints to purchase.”
An unsigned editorial reprinting the magazine's 1919 salutatory and adding an admission that some earlier announcements had been 'inadvisable or premature'. In the same item the magazine defends the April 1925 Biola article 'as a vindication of our judgment in publishing the original article' and prints eleven readers' testimonials for the device, omitting only their post offices.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, The Mission of the Golden Age
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaves mapped to printed pages 139-141. The running head OCR reads 'DrcemErR 2, 1923' and 'DeEceMBED 2, 1923' — a misreading of 1925; the issue masthead on the leaf mapped to printed page 131 reads 'Wednesday, December 2, 1925'. Scanner hyphenation closed up; the ellipsis marks an omission of about 150 words.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'magazines-the-golden-age-1925'; page numbers from the _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead 'Volume VII ... Wednesday, December 2, 1925 ... Number 168'.
Notes. This is the nearest thing to a retraction the magazine printed on the Biola, and it is not one: the device is defended in the same breath. The undertaking to stop printing what 'might seem to be hints to purchase' was not kept: articles by Dr Betts, who sold a book on aluminium poisoning, continued to appear at least until 1935.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1925-1202-mission-golden-age
21 August 1929 · pp.754-756 · Dr. C. T. Betts · Woodworth, Knorr & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“The American Medical Association at Chicago, Ill., was next mentioned. Then the United States Public Health Service was included in this investigation. The London Lancet also issued statements giving aluminum a clean bill of health.”
A rebuttal of an article by Albert A. Hopkins in Scientific American of March 1929 which had found aluminium cookware harmless. Betts lists the bodies Hopkins relied on — the manufacturer's works at New Kensington, the American Medical Association, the United States Public Health Service, The Lancet and the Mellon Institute — and argues that they should have been ignored in favour of his own book.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Do Aluminum Kitchen Utensils Have “A Clean Bill of Health”?
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaves mapped to printed pages 754-755; the issue's cover page (printed page 737) lists 'ALUMINUM POISONING' among the contents. Scanner hyphenation closed up.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'golden-age-1929'; page numbers from the _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead 'Volume X ... August 21, 1929 ... Number 259'.
Notes. This article is direct evidence that the magazine knew the position of the AMA, the United States Public Health Service and The Lancet on aluminium cookware in 1929 and printed a rejection of it. It also reproduces a refusal letter from the editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association dated 19 June 1928.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1929-0821-betts-clean-bill
13 April 1932 · p.442 · Dr. Chas. T. Betts · Golden Age Publishing Company, Brooklyn, New York
“Manufacturers of aluminum kitchenware continue to advertise that those opposed to the manufacture of aluminum cooking utensils are wrong, in spite of the fact that the reports show that such ware is used previous to 99 percent of all group poisoning cases.”
Betts recounts writing to a family in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, whose New Year's Day illness had been reported in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and printing their reply, which mentions soup carried in an aluminium pail.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Truth Sometimes Comes to the Surface Quickly
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaf mapped to printed page 442, in the issue whose masthead reads 13 April 1932. Scanner hyphenation closed up.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item '1930-1934TheGoldenAgeMagazine'; page number from the _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead 'Volume XIII ... Wednesday, April 13, 1932 ... Number 323'.
Notes. Establishes that Betts was still writing for the magazine on this subject in 1932, six and a half years after the magazine's December 1925 undertaking to restrict what it published.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1932-0413-betts-truth-surface
10 April 1935 · p.440 · Golden Age Publishing Company, Brooklyn, New York
“The Golden Age does not care what kind of cooking utensils you use. It isn't even concerned if you insist upon using aluminum of any kind. That is your privilege and responsibility. But it will not cease to warn those who are interested in their health that aluminum is injurious to the health in numerous and various ways. There is no question about this whatever.”
An unsigned item under the standing head 'Poisoning Department'. It was written in answer to a notice in Scientific American that the United States Federal Trade Commission had obtained a stipulation from a cookware seller to stop claiming that aluminium utensils cause cancer; the Golden Age reproduces that notice and rejects it.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Not Selling Cooking Utensils
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaf mapped to printed page 440. Scanner hyphenation closed up; no words changed.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item '1935TheGoldenAgeMagazine', uploaded by [email protected] to the 'faithmagazines' collection and marked public domain. Page number from the item's _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead 'Volume XVI ... Wednesday, April 10, 1935 ... Number 406' and the running heads on neighbouring leaves.
Notes. The facing page (439) carries reader items headed 'How About It?' and 'Thumbs Down on Aluminum at Fresno'. The same 1935 volume carries further aluminium items on pages 341-343 (27 February 1935) and an article by Betts on diphtheria immunisation on pages 793-795 (11 September 1935).
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1935-0410-not-selling-utensils
In April 1930 the magazine printed an article recounting three cases of cancer said to have been cured by a regime of grape or other fruit juice with a daily warm-water enema; of the first two cases the article says the treatment lasted 'between thirty-five and forty days'. Source: The Golden Age, 2 April 1930
2 April 1930 · pp.434-437 · M. Q. · Golden Age Publishing Company, Brooklyn, New York
“If the irritation of a “chemical ferment” (such as a compound of aluminum) can, by any possibility, be considered a cause of cancer, eliminate all aluminum utensils from your kitchen.”
An article signed only with initials which recounts three cases of breast and internal cancer said to have been cured by living on grape juice with a daily warm-water enema, and endorses Dr. Betts's theory that aluminium cookware is 'a prolific cause of cancer'.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, A Cure for Cancer
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaves mapped to printed pages 434-437. Scanner hyphenation closed up; no words changed.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item '1930-1934TheGoldenAgeMagazine'; page numbers from the _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead of 2 April 1930.
Notes. The article also states that the author had 'never seen a hint regarding the grape juice or fruit juice cure' in medical journals, and attributes this to 'the mental invulnerability of the medical fraternity'.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1930-0402-cure-for-cancer
In 1929 The Golden Age printed, in an unsigned item, that the way to health was 'not by the route of drugs and serums' and that 'Just now the M.D.'s are drunk with power'. Source: The Golden Age, 6 February 1929
6 February 1929 · p.301 · Woodworth, Knorr & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“If the people ever wake up and come to the conclusion that the true way to health is by route of proper food, fresh air, pure water, healthful exercise, honest occupation, correct thinking and, above all, a knowledge and reverence of Jehovah, and not by the route of drugs and serums, it is surely going to bring some needed lessons to many persons now in the medical business.”
An unsigned item printed under the magazine's 'Home and Health' heading, defending a New Hampshire father jailed for refusing to have his son vaccinated. It ends: 'Just now the M.D.'s are drunk with power, drunk and swaying.'
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, If the People Ever Wake Up
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaf mapped to printed page 301; the issue contents page (printed page 290) lists 'IF THE PEOPLE EVER WAKE UP ... 301' under 'HOME AND HEALTH'. The page is set in two columns and the OCR interleaves them; the quoted sentences were each read as an unbroken run. Scanner hyphenation closed up.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'golden-age-1929'; page number from the _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead 'Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, February 6, 1929 ... Number 245' and the running heads reading 'FEBRUARY 6, 1929' on the neighbouring leaves.
Notes. The issue names Clayton J. Woodworth as editor and Woodworth, Knorr & Martin as copartners and proprietors.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1929-0206-if-people-wake-up
The magazine's strongest attacks on medicine as a profession were signed pieces by outside writers: a natural-hygiene campaigner wrote that 'the practice of medicine in all its branches is the biggest cause of disease, degeneracy and death in modern life', and the editor of an American drugless-healing magazine wrote that medicine 'is not founded on science. It is founded on superstition.' Source: The Golden Age, 17 April 1929Source: The Golden Age, 10 July 1929
17 April 1929 · pp.467-468 · Herbert M. Shelton · Woodworth, Knorr & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“I am fully convinced that the practice of medicine in all its branches is the biggest cause of disease, degeneracy and death in modern life.”
A signed article by Herbert M. Shelton, an American natural hygienist and prolific anti-vaccination writer who was not a Bible Student. It opens with a newspaper report of a ten-year-old girl who died after a scarlet fever inoculation and argues that antitoxin 'is a mere hypothesis' that 'can not be demonstrated to actually exist'.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Death by the Serum Route
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaves mapped to printed pages 467-468. Scanner hyphenation closed up.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'golden-age-1929'; page numbers from the _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead of 17 April 1929.
Notes. A signed article by an outside writer, printed without editorial qualification, in the issue whose unsigned lead article made the same case about aluminium.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1929-0417-shelton-serum-route
10 July 1929 · pp.658-660 · Dr. G. R. Clements, editor of How To Live Magazine · Woodworth, Knorr & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“The practice of medicine is not founded on science. It is founded on superstition. It had its birth in the times of mental darkness ... Its remedies are poisons and knives, and its patrons and supporters of today are those who are deceived by its false propaganda.”
A signed contribution by the editor of an American drugless-healing magazine, reproduced with the by-line in square brackets. It argues that organised medicine is placing physicians on health boards and editorial staffs in order to suppress unfavourable information.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, A Dying Institution
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaves mapped to printed pages 658-660. The issue date is derived from the masthead pages either side, not from a running head on the page itself; the fortnightly 32-page issue pattern of volume X was checked across the whole volume. Scanner hyphenation closed up; the ellipsis marks an omission of about 30 words.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'golden-age-1929'; page numbers from the _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json. The issue masthead for Number 256 (10 July 1929) is on the leaf mapped to printed page 643, and the next masthead, for 24 July 1929, is at printed page 675, so page 658 falls in the issue of 10 July 1929.
Notes. The by-line is printed in square brackets at the head of the article: '[By Dr. G. R. Clements, Editor of How To Live Magazine]'. Several widely circulated versions of this quotation present it as a Watch Tower Society statement.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1929-0710-dying-institution
The picture is not one-sided, and the page would be wrong if it suggested otherwise. The magazine printed disagreement with its own line, and did not teach that medical treatment was forbidden.
The magazine also printed dissent from its own health line. In December 1929 it published an article objecting that 'the general impression conveyed through your columns has been highly derogatory to the medical profession', defending the removal of diseased tonsils and arguing that doctors were no less honest than anyone else. Source: The Golden Age, 11 December 1929
11 December 1929 · pp.179-180 · Woodworth, Knorr & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“In fact the general impression conveyed through your columns has been highly derogatory to the medical profession, and many, as novices, are unintentionally led to believe that our M.D.'s are “all wet”.”
A contributed article taking issue with the magazine's own coverage. It reviews the aluminium, dietetics, vivisection and tonsillectomy material, defends the removal of diseased tonsils, and concludes that doctors 'individually ... are no less capable of honesty and mercy than any other individual'. The issue contents page lists the article under 'Home and Health'.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Let Us Be Fair to the M.D.'s
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaves mapped to printed pages 179-180; the contents page (printed page 178) lists 'Let Us Be Fair to the M.D.'s'. No by-line was legible in the scan; a reader's letter in the issue of 2 April 1930 (page 438) refers to 'an article written by Harold L. Dawson' in 'your December 11 (1929) issue', which is the likeliest attribution.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'golden-age-1929'; page numbers from the _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead 'Volume XI ... Wednesday, December 11, 1929 ... Number 267' and the running head 'DECEMBER 11, 1929'.
Notes. The magazine printed this dissent from its own health coverage in its 'Home and Health' section. A reader's letter in the issue of 2 April 1930, page 438, from E. J. Stanvalt, refers to 'your December 11 (1929) issue of The Golden Age ... an article written by Harold L. Dawson'.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1929-1211-fair-to-mds
Despite the hostility to organised medicine, the magazine did not teach that medicine was forbidden: in January 1936 it stated that 'There is nothing in the scriptures of God's Word that forbids the taking of medicine that is known to be curative', and rejected faith healing. Source: The Golden Age, 15 January 1936
15 January 1936 · pp.230-231 · Golden Age Publishing Company, Brooklyn, New York
“There is nothing in the scriptures of God's Word that forbids the taking of medicine that is known to be curative and not really injurious to the bodily health of Christians whose lives and bodies are truly devoted to Jehovah God and His service.”
An article answering readers who asked whether Christians should take medicine at all. It cites 1 Timothy 5:23, argues that the first-century gifts of healing were not meant to continue, and rejects faith healing.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Is Taking Medicine Unscriptural?
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaf mapped to printed page 230. Scanner hyphenation closed up.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item '1936-1937TheGoldenAgeMagazine'; page numbers from the _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the running head 'January 15, 1936'.
Notes. Printed four pages from the anti-serum material in the same issue.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1936-0115-taking-medicine
This is a subject on which the published position has moved a long way, and the later material is the more important of the two for anyone reading now.
The organisation's current published position is supportive of professional treatment: The Watchtower No. 1 of 2023, an issue devoted to mental health, states that 'The Bible acknowledges that we may need to seek medical treatment' and that 'Many have found relief by learning what they can about their mental illness from reliable sources and by getting qualified professional help'. Source: The Watchtower (Public Edition), 2023Source: The Watchtower (Public Edition), 2023
2023 · pp.12-13 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The Bible acknowledges that we may need to seek medical treatment. Many have found relief by learning what they can about their mental illness from reliable sources and by getting qualified professional help.”
Part of The Watchtower No. 1 2023, an issue devoted to mental health. The section is built on Matthew 9:12 and recommends exercise, sleep, diet, accepting help from others and reading encouraging Bible passages alongside professional treatment. Named case studies describe bipolar disorder, depression, an eating disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower (Public Edition), 4 | The Bible Offers Practical Advice
Confidence note. Full article read on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; page markers in the page's own HTML place the quoted paragraph on page 12. The issue is numbered rather than dated, so only the year is given.
2023 · pp.14-15 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Because of his illness, your friend may say or do things that hurt you. He may cancel plans with you or become irritable. Be patient and understanding as you offer the support he needs.”
The companion article in the same issue, advising friends and relatives to listen, to speak consolingly, to offer practical help and to be patient. It quotes people whose spouses or friends live with clinical depression, anxiety disorder and eating disorders.
Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower (Public Edition), How to Help Those With Mental Health Challenges
Confidence note. Full article read on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; page markers in the page's own HTML place the quoted paragraph on page 15.
In January 1963 The Watchtower told readers that 'Just how scientific psychoanalysis really is no one is certain', that 'At best it leaves much to be desired', and named Freud with Darwin, Marx and the higher critics as having 'played a sinister role in destroying the guiding influence of the Bible for many'. Source: The Watchtower, 15 January 1963
15 January 1963 · pp.37-39 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Just how scientific psychoanalysis really is no one is certain. At best it leaves much to be desired. Its aim to help people achieve a normal capacity for living is not wrong, but some of its methods are.”
An article surveying sources of advice — newspaper columns, marriage counsellors, psychoanalysis — and directing readers instead to the Bible and to the congregation. It names Wellhausen's school of higher critics, Darwin, Freud and Marx together as having 'played a sinister role in destroying the guiding influence of the Bible for many'.
Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower, Where to Turn for Counsel
Confidence note. Full article text read on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; page markers in the page's own HTML place the quoted paragraph on page 38.
Notes. The earliest clearly stated reservation about psychoanalysis that could be located in the library, which holds The Watchtower from 1950.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-w-1963-0115-where-to-turn
A Questions From Readers ruling of 15 April 1975 said that consulting a psychiatrist 'is a matter for personal decision', but asked of psychiatrists' beliefs 'Would you want to mold your life according to the thinking of men who view matters in this manner?', advised that 'if a Witness does consult such he should carefully scrutinize any treatment recommended', and directed readers with 'feelings of hostility or despondency' to the congregation elders under James 5:13-16. Source: The Watchtower, 15 April 1975
The organisation’s position or later explanation: The same ruling said Jehovah's Witnesses 'do not categorically rule out the possibility of treatment by doctors specializing in emotional or mental problems' and that 'the final decision is his own'.
15 April 1975 · pp.255-256 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Whether a Christian will consult a psychiatrist, or any other doctor, is a matter for personal decision. ... So, while Jehovah's witnesses do not categorically rule out the possibility of treatment by doctors specializing in emotional or mental problems, if a Witness does consult such he should carefully scrutinize any treatment recommended.”
A ruling answering the question 'Do Jehovah's witnesses feel that it is proper to consult a psychiatrist?' It notes that many analysts are atheists or agnostics, cites a study in which over half agreed with Freud that belief in God was 'infantile', and asks: 'Would you want to mold your life according to the thinking of men who view matters in this manner?' It directs readers with 'feelings of hostility or despondency' to the congregation elders under James 5:13-16, and suggests that uncertainty about a therapy 'may' be discussed with elders, 'although the final decision is his own'.
Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower, Questions From Readers
Confidence note. Full item read on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; the page markers in the page's own HTML place it on pages 255-256. The ellipsis marks an omission of about 700 words between the opening sentence and the closing summary.
Notes. A Questions From Readers item rather than a feature article. It does not forbid psychiatric care.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-w-1975-0415-qfr-psychiatrist
By September 1986 Awake! was treating mental illness as a disease of brain chemistry, describing antipsychotic medication as effective treatment and asking 'Why, then, look upon patients who use these medications as weak-minded or as drug addicts?' Source: Awake!, 8 September 1986
8 September 1986 · pp.6-10 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Why, then, look upon patients who use these medications as weak-minded or as drug addicts? Antipsychotic drugs are not addictive, do not make patients high, and are not taken for pleasure.”
Part of an issue-length treatment headed 'Taking the Mystery out of Mental Illness'. It follows a woman through electroshock therapy, hospitalisation and antipsychotic medication, quotes NIMH researchers, treats schizophrenia as a disease of brain chemistry, and cautions against 'sensational claims' for alternative treatments including orthomolecular psychiatry.
Provenance and verification note for Awake!, Mental Illness—Is There a Cure?
Confidence note. Full article read on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; page markers in the page's own HTML place the quoted paragraph on page 7.
Notes. Eleven years earlier the same publisher had told readers to scrutinise any treatment a psychiatrist recommended (Questions From Readers, 15 April 1975).
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-g-1986-0908-mental-illness-cure
In May 2003 The Watchtower answered 'No' to the question whether a Christian who hears voices is necessarily under demon attack, noted that schizophrenia is 'a disease often treatable with medication', and said that 'while an individual who reports hearing voices or who has other disturbing sensations may not want to discount demon harassment, he should definitely be encouraged to consider investigating whether there is a physical explanation'. Source: The Watchtower, 1 May 2003
1 May 2003 · p.31 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“It is reported that some who suffer from schizophrenia, a disease often treatable with medication, hear voices or experience other symptoms that could appear to be something uncanny. ... while an individual who reports hearing voices or who has other disturbing sensations may not want to discount demon harassment, he should definitely be encouraged to consider investigating whether there is a physical explanation for what he is experiencing.”
A ruling answering 'If a Christian hears voices, does that necessarily mean that he is under demon attack?' The answer begins 'No.' A footnote refers readers to the 8 September 1986 Awake!
Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower, Questions From Readers
Confidence note. Full item read on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; the page marker in the page's own HTML places it on page 31. The ellipsis marks an omission of about 20 words. An earlier version of this record cut the quotation at 'something uncanny.' and resumed at 'he should definitely be encouraged', which removed the concessive clause that governs that sentence; the clause has been restored.
Notes. The answer still leaves demon harassment open: the reader 'may not want to discount demon harassment', while being urged to investigate a physical explanation.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-w-2003-0501-qfr-hearing-voices
The organisation’s position or later explanation: The 1978 brochure Unseen Spirits gives the same counsel while arguing from Jeremiah 10:2-5 and Isaiah 44:14-20 that such objects have no power in themselves and should not be feared: 'just as a scarecrow cannot talk or walk or help or hurt anyone, the same is true of the images that men make and call sacred'.
1995 · pp.114-115 · par. 14 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Even if you have not practiced spiritism, get rid of anything having spiritistic uses or overtones. This includes books, magazines, videos, posters, musical recordings, and objects used for spiritistic purposes. Also included are idols, amulets and other items worn for protection, and gifts received from practicers of spiritism.”
A study book used for Bible studies with new adherents. The paragraph applies the example of the Ephesians of Acts 19:19 and is followed by an experience from Thailand in which a couple 'got rid of objects associated with spiritism' and were relieved of demon harassment.
Provenance and verification note for Knowledge That Leads to Everlasting Life, Chapter 12: Resist Wicked Spirit Forces
Confidence note. Chapter read on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; the page marker in the page's own HTML falls inside the second quoted sentence, after 'This includes books, magazines,', so that sentence runs from page 114 on to page 115.
Notes. This formulation extends beyond a person's own former practices to gifts received from spiritists. It does not mention second-hand goods, house contents or purchases generally.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-kl-1995-ch12-get-rid
15 April 2006 · p.31 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“It is imperative for such ones to get rid of all objects related to spiritism. This includes books, magazines, movies, material from electronic sources, music recordings that have spiritistic overtones, as well as amulets or other items worn for “protection” or linked to spiritistic practices.”
A ruling answering 'If a person is being harassed by the demons, what can he do to get relief?' The answer combines prayer, Bible study and the disposal of spiritism-related objects, citing Acts 19:19 and Deuteronomy 7:25, 26.
Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower, Questions From Readers
Confidence note. Full item read on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; the page marker in the page's own HTML places it on page 31. Located through the 2006 annual index entry 'Relief from demon harassment, 4/15'.
1978 · pp.41-42 · pars. 81-82 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“If we want Jehovah's friendship and protection we must break all connections and associations with spiritism in its many forms. That includes disposing of any objects that relate to spiritism. ... And God's Word shows that, just as a scarecrow cannot talk or walk or help or hurt anyone, the same is true of the images that men make and call sacred.”
The brochure urges readers to destroy objects connected with spiritism, citing the burning of the magical books at Ephesus in Acts 19:19, and at the same time argues from Jeremiah 10:2-5 and Isaiah 44:14-20 that such objects have no power of their own and should not be feared. The two quoted sentences are in paragraphs 81 and 82; the section runs on to page 47.
Provenance and verification note for Unseen Spirits—Do They Help Us? Or Do They Harm Us? (brochure), With Full Faith Take Action Now
Confidence note. Full section read on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; the page markers in the page's own HTML place the first quoted sentence on page 41 (par. 81) and the second on page 42 (par. 82) — no page-43 marker intervenes. The ellipsis marks an omission of about 180 words. An earlier version of this record gave the second page as 44; that was wrong.
1995 · pp.114-115 · par. 14 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Even if you have not practiced spiritism, get rid of anything having spiritistic uses or overtones. This includes books, magazines, videos, posters, musical recordings, and objects used for spiritistic purposes. Also included are idols, amulets and other items worn for protection, and gifts received from practicers of spiritism.”
A study book used for Bible studies with new adherents. The paragraph applies the example of the Ephesians of Acts 19:19 and is followed by an experience from Thailand in which a couple 'got rid of objects associated with spiritism' and were relieved of demon harassment.
Provenance and verification note for Knowledge That Leads to Everlasting Life, Chapter 12: Resist Wicked Spirit Forces
Confidence note. Chapter read on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; the page marker in the page's own HTML falls inside the second quoted sentence, after 'This includes books, magazines,', so that sentence runs from page 114 on to page 115.
Notes. This formulation extends beyond a person's own former practices to gifts received from spiritists. It does not mention second-hand goods, house contents or purchases generally.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-kl-1995-ch12-get-rid
15 April 2006 · p.31 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“It is imperative for such ones to get rid of all objects related to spiritism. This includes books, magazines, movies, material from electronic sources, music recordings that have spiritistic overtones, as well as amulets or other items worn for “protection” or linked to spiritistic practices.”
A ruling answering 'If a person is being harassed by the demons, what can he do to get relief?' The answer combines prayer, Bible study and the disposal of spiritism-related objects, citing Acts 19:19 and Deuteronomy 7:25, 26.
Provenance and verification note for The Watchtower, Questions From Readers
Confidence note. Full item read on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; the page marker in the page's own HTML places it on page 31. Located through the 2006 annual index entry 'Relief from demon harassment, 4/15'.
1978 · pp.41-42 · pars. 81-82 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“If we want Jehovah's friendship and protection we must break all connections and associations with spiritism in its many forms. That includes disposing of any objects that relate to spiritism. ... And God's Word shows that, just as a scarecrow cannot talk or walk or help or hurt anyone, the same is true of the images that men make and call sacred.”
The brochure urges readers to destroy objects connected with spiritism, citing the burning of the magical books at Ephesus in Acts 19:19, and at the same time argues from Jeremiah 10:2-5 and Isaiah 44:14-20 that such objects have no power of their own and should not be feared. The two quoted sentences are in paragraphs 81 and 82; the section runs on to page 47.
Provenance and verification note for Unseen Spirits—Do They Help Us? Or Do They Harm Us? (brochure), With Full Faith Take Action Now
Confidence note. Full section read on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; the page markers in the page's own HTML place the first quoted sentence on page 41 (par. 81) and the second on page 42 (par. 82) — no page-43 marker intervenes. The ellipsis marks an omission of about 180 words. An earlier version of this record gave the second page as 44; that was wrong.
1986 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“objects bringing demon harassment: hp 130 / destroying objects related to: us 41-42, 44-47”
Two consecutive lines under the index heading 'Demonism' — the second is a sub-entry indented under the first, and nothing stands between them. The heading also carries sub-entries for fetishism, Ouija boards, hypnotism, meditation, the film The Exorcist, the game Dungeons and Dragons, and dozens of published 'modern-day' experiences.
Provenance and verification note for Watch Tower Publications Index 1930-1985, Demonism
Confidence note. The index heading was read in full on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026, and the two lines quoted are consecutive; the oblique stroke marks the line break, not an omission. 'us' was confirmed on the library as the symbol for the 1978 brochure Unseen Spirits. The symbol 'hp' was not confirmed: no publication under that symbol is in the library's English holdings, so page 130 of it could not be read and no claim on this site rests on it.
The organisation's present published account of the magazine that carried this material makes no mention of its health content: Our Kingdom Ministry of March 2005 says the first issue of The Golden Age 'proved to be a most valuable tool in the preaching work', and says of the magazine in its present form, Awake!, that 'From its beginning, this magazine has contributed mightily to the great witness that has been given since 1919'. Source: Our Kingdom Ministry, March 2005Source: Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, 1993
The organisation’s position or later explanation: The organisation's own history, Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom (1993), records Clayton J. Woodworth as editor of The Golden Age and Consolation and says he 'remained firm in faith and loyal to Jehovah's organization' until his death in 1951; its index lists four sub-entries for him, none of them about the magazine's health content.
March 2005 · p.1 · pars. 1-3 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“On October 1, 1919, the first issue of the magazine The Golden Age was published. It proved to be a most valuable tool in the preaching work. ... From its beginning, this magazine has contributed mightily to the great witness that has been given since 1919.”
The announcement that Awake! would change its content from January 2006. Paragraph 1 is about The Golden Age; paragraph 2 traces the magazine's descent from The Golden Age (1919) through Consolation (1937) to Awake! (1946) and says 'a number of adjustments were made to The Golden Age to meet the changing needs of the times'; the second quoted sentence is from paragraph 3, whose subject is the magazine in its present form, traced back to 1919.
Provenance and verification note for Our Kingdom Ministry, More Emphasis on the Bible!
Confidence note. Full item read on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; the page marker in the page's own HTML places it on page 1. The ellipsis marks an omission of about 130 words, spanning paragraph 2 — the paragraph in which the magazine changes its name. The two quoted sentences therefore do not have the same grammatical subject, and the record says so.
1993 · p.634 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Later he served as editor of the magazines “The Golden Age” and “Consolation.” He remained firm in faith and loyal to Jehovah's organization right down till his death in 1951, at 81 years of age.”
A boxed biographical note in the organisation's own history of itself. The book's index lists Clayton J. Woodworth under four sub-entries only: his arrest and sentencing, his editorship of the two magazines, The Finished Mystery, and his reaction to disappointed expectations.
Provenance and verification note for Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, Chapter 28: Testings and Siftings From Within (box, 'C. J. Woodworth')
Confidence note. Chapter and index read on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026; page markers in the page's own HTML place the box on page 634 and the index entry on pages 726-749. A search of chapters 28 and 29 for 'Golden Age' within 900 characters of any of the words health, medicine, diet, aluminium, vaccination or remedy returned nothing.
Notes. What the official history says about the editor under whom the health material appeared. Nothing addressing that material was found in the chapters or in the index entry.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-jv-1993-woodworth
Three frequently repeated citations in this subject area are inexact. The passage 'Avoid serum inoculations and vaccinations, as they pollute the blood stream with their filthy pus' is on page 107 of The Golden Age of 13 November 1929, not 12 November; the running head on that page reads 'NOVEMBER 13, 1929'. It is also not an editorial statement: it is one line in a list of health rules inside a signed article, 'The Way to Better Health', by H. W. Newcomb, which begins on page 106. And the statement that medicine 'is not founded on science' is from a signed article by the editor of an outside health magazine, not from the Watch Tower Society's own writers. Source: The Golden Age, 13 November 1929Source: The Golden Age, 10 July 1929Source: JWfacts.com, March 2026 (unverified)
13 November 1929 · pp.106-107 (the sentence on p. 107) · H. W. Newcomb · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society (Golden Age Publishing)
“Avoid serum inoculations and vaccinations, as they pollute the blood stream with their filthy pus.”
A signed contribution by H. W. Newcomb, beginning on page 106 and listed in the issue contents under “Science and Invention”. The Golden Age was a general-interest magazine that carried signed articles by outside contributors alongside its own editorial matter, so this sentence is the contributor’s, not a statement of the organisation’s position. Four lines above it in the same contents list is an item advising readers to avoid aluminium cooking utensils.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Health
Confidence note. Scan opened; the sentence is on printed page 107, whose own running head reads "NOVEMBER 13, 1929 - THE GOLDEN AGE - 107". The by-line was confirmed from the article heading on page 106 and the issue contents list.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'golden-age-1929' (OCR text searched).
Notes. Two common miscitations: the sentence is often given as The Golden Age of 1 May 1929 p. 502, which is the wrong issue; and it is usually quoted without "and vaccinations", which is in the printed text. It is also commonly presented as the magazine's own voice when it carries a by-line.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-g-1929-1113-vaccination-filthy-pus
10 July 1929 · pp.658-660 · Dr. G. R. Clements, editor of How To Live Magazine · Woodworth, Knorr & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“The practice of medicine is not founded on science. It is founded on superstition. It had its birth in the times of mental darkness ... Its remedies are poisons and knives, and its patrons and supporters of today are those who are deceived by its false propaganda.”
A signed contribution by the editor of an American drugless-healing magazine, reproduced with the by-line in square brackets. It argues that organised medicine is placing physicians on health boards and editorial staffs in order to suppress unfavourable information.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, A Dying Institution
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaves mapped to printed pages 658-660. The issue date is derived from the masthead pages either side, not from a running head on the page itself; the fortnightly 32-page issue pattern of volume X was checked across the whole volume. Scanner hyphenation closed up; the ellipsis marks an omission of about 30 words.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'golden-age-1929'; page numbers from the _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json. The issue masthead for Number 256 (10 July 1929) is on the leaf mapped to printed page 643, and the next masthead, for 24 July 1929, is at printed page 675, so page 658 falls in the issue of 10 July 1929.
Notes. The by-line is printed in square brackets at the head of the article: '[By Dr. G. R. Clements, Editor of How To Live Magazine]'. Several widely circulated versions of this quotation present it as a Watch Tower Society statement.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1929-0710-dying-institution
A page collecting Watch Tower medical material, recorded here only as a locator. It attributes two strongly worded statements about aluminium cooking utensils to The Golden Age of 26 October 1932, page 35, and of 28 May 1930, page 650, and cites issues of 1933, 1936 and 1937 for readers' testimonials. The wording of those attributed statements is deliberately not reproduced in this ledger, because none of it could be checked against an original.
Provenance and verification note for JWfacts.com, Dangerous Medical Advice and Changes
Confidence note. Used as a locator only. The bound volumes of The Golden Age for 1926-1928, the complete volumes for 1930-1934, and the volumes for 1936-1937 are not on archive.org; the only 1930-1934 item available is a compilation of seven issues and the only 1936-1937 item a compilation of six. None of the quotations this page attributes to those issues could therefore be checked against an original, and none of them is reproduced or used as evidence anywhere on this site. The page also dates the 'filthy pus' passage to 12 November 1929; on the scan of the bound volume that passage is on page 107 of the issue of 13 November 1929, whose printed running head reads 'NOVEMBER 13, 1929'.
Notes. Recorded so that a reader can see which widely repeated quotations this site has not used, and why.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-jwfacts-medical
The health material in The Golden Age overlaps three subjects this site already documents: vaccination, blood, and organ transplants. The two campaigns ran in the same issues and sometimes in the same list of instructions: page 107 of the issue of 13 November 1929, in a signed article headed 'The Way to Better Health By H. W. Newcomb', tells readers to 'Avoid the use of aluminum cooking utensils and alum baking powders' and, four lines further down the column, to 'Avoid serum inoculations and vaccinations'. Source: The Golden Age, 13 November 1929Source: The Golden Age, 17 April 1929Source: The Golden Age, 6 February 1929Source: The Golden Age, 15 January 1936
13 November 1929 · pp.106-107 (the sentence on p. 107) · H. W. Newcomb · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society (Golden Age Publishing)
“Avoid serum inoculations and vaccinations, as they pollute the blood stream with their filthy pus.”
A signed contribution by H. W. Newcomb, beginning on page 106 and listed in the issue contents under “Science and Invention”. The Golden Age was a general-interest magazine that carried signed articles by outside contributors alongside its own editorial matter, so this sentence is the contributor’s, not a statement of the organisation’s position. Four lines above it in the same contents list is an item advising readers to avoid aluminium cooking utensils.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Health
Confidence note. Scan opened; the sentence is on printed page 107, whose own running head reads "NOVEMBER 13, 1929 - THE GOLDEN AGE - 107". The by-line was confirmed from the article heading on page 106 and the issue contents list.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'golden-age-1929' (OCR text searched).
Notes. Two common miscitations: the sentence is often given as The Golden Age of 1 May 1929 p. 502, which is the wrong issue; and it is usually quoted without "and vaccinations", which is in the printed text. It is also commonly presented as the magazine's own voice when it carries a by-line.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-g-1929-1113-vaccination-filthy-pus
17 April 1929 · pp.467-468 · Herbert M. Shelton · Woodworth, Knorr & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“I am fully convinced that the practice of medicine in all its branches is the biggest cause of disease, degeneracy and death in modern life.”
A signed article by Herbert M. Shelton, an American natural hygienist and prolific anti-vaccination writer who was not a Bible Student. It opens with a newspaper report of a ten-year-old girl who died after a scarlet fever inoculation and argues that antitoxin 'is a mere hypothesis' that 'can not be demonstrated to actually exist'.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Death by the Serum Route
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaves mapped to printed pages 467-468. Scanner hyphenation closed up.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'golden-age-1929'; page numbers from the _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead of 17 April 1929.
Notes. A signed article by an outside writer, printed without editorial qualification, in the issue whose unsigned lead article made the same case about aluminium.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1929-0417-shelton-serum-route
6 February 1929 · p.301 · Woodworth, Knorr & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“If the people ever wake up and come to the conclusion that the true way to health is by route of proper food, fresh air, pure water, healthful exercise, honest occupation, correct thinking and, above all, a knowledge and reverence of Jehovah, and not by the route of drugs and serums, it is surely going to bring some needed lessons to many persons now in the medical business.”
An unsigned item printed under the magazine's 'Home and Health' heading, defending a New Hampshire father jailed for refusing to have his son vaccinated. It ends: 'Just now the M.D.'s are drunk with power, drunk and swaying.'
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, If the People Ever Wake Up
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaf mapped to printed page 301; the issue contents page (printed page 290) lists 'IF THE PEOPLE EVER WAKE UP ... 301' under 'HOME AND HEALTH'. The page is set in two columns and the OCR interleaves them; the quoted sentences were each read as an unbroken run. Scanner hyphenation closed up.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item 'golden-age-1929'; page number from the _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the issue masthead 'Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, February 6, 1929 ... Number 245' and the running heads reading 'FEBRUARY 6, 1929' on the neighbouring leaves.
Notes. The issue names Clayton J. Woodworth as editor and Woodworth, Knorr & Martin as copartners and proprietors.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1929-0206-if-people-wake-up
15 January 1936 · pp.227-228 · Golden Age Publishing Company, Brooklyn, New York
“In the past it has published numerous health articles from various sources where the writers seemed to know what they were talking about. These articles have not always been consistent with one another; which is not to be wondered at, because no two health experts agree.”
The magazine's own summing-up of its health content, opening the issue. It goes on: 'This is about all The Golden Age knows on the subject of health. It has no ambition to be known as a health magazine ... The Golden Age claims no monopoly of wisdom on the subject.' It also says 'Surgery is sometimes essential, but before submitting to the knife try the prescriptions above given', repeats that Jesus's fish 'certainly was not fried in an aluminum frying pan', and calls it 'nonsense to say that mankind must have 1,200 kinds of poison scratched into his arm to keep him well'.
Provenance and verification note for The Golden Age, Some Ideas on Health
Confidence note. Read in the OCR text layer of the archive.org scan on 19 September 2026 on the leaves mapped to printed pages 226-228; the contents page (printed page 226) lists 'Some Ideas on Health ... 227', the leaf mapped to page 228 carries the running head '228 The Golden Age Brooklyn, N.Y.' and the leaves mapped to pages 229 and 231 carry running heads reading 'January 15, 1936'. The two-column OCR on page 227 is badly interleaved. The quoted sentence, and the phrases 'no ambition to be known as a health magazine', 'claims no monopoly of wisdom on the subject' and 'Surgery is sometimes essential, but before submitting to the knife try the prescriptions above given', were each read as an unbroken run of text. The sentence about 1,200 kinds of poison was not: it survives only as two overlapping partial renderings of the same interleaved column, which agree with each other, and is recorded on that basis.
Scan provenance. Internet Archive item '1936-1937TheGoldenAgeMagazine', uploaded by [email protected] to the 'faithmagazines' collection and marked public domain. Page numbers from the item's _djvu.xml leaf mapping joined to _page_numbers.json, cross-checked against the running heads reading 'January 15, 1936' on the following leaves.
Notes. The nearest thing found to a retrospective statement on the magazine's health content. It withdraws no specific claim, names no error and does not mention the aluminium campaign; it says only that the articles came from various sources and were not always consistent.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID.src-hlth-ga-1936-0115-some-ideas-health
22 April 1925 · pp.451-455 · Dr. R. A. Gamble, Dean of the Norfolk Electronic Institute · Woodworth, Hudgings & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“[The Golden Age has fullest confidence in any representations that may be made by Doctor Gamble. He is well known to many of our readers and we are sure they will read this important article with great interest.—Editor.]”
2 December 1925 · pp.139-141 · Woodworth, Hudgings & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“We make no claim to infallibility, but do try to be honest, fearless, sincere and helpful. If we make mistakes forgive us. We repent “seventy times seven”. ... Hereafter we shall publish no advertisements or articles other than the books of the International Bible Students Association, nor any writeups of articles which, however valuable they may be, might seem to be hints to purchase.”
6 February 1929 · p.301 · Woodworth, Knorr & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“If the people ever wake up and come to the conclusion that the true way to health is by route of proper food, fresh air, pure water, healthful exercise, honest occupation, correct thinking and, above all, a knowledge and reverence of Jehovah, and not by the route of drugs and serums, it is surely going to bring some needed lessons to many persons now in the medical business.”
20 February 1929 · pp.323-326 · Dr. C. T. Betts · Woodworth, Knorr & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“It is apparent from the above various quotations and statements that aluminum, in either the organic or the inorganic form, produces poisoning to the soil, poisoning to the vegetation, poisoning to the animals eating such vegetation, and poisoning to human beings consuming the drug.”
3 April 1929 · pp.436-437 · Dr. G. Schmidt · Woodworth, Knorr & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“In a recent retest of over a hundred cases of cancer, in various parts of the body, I found this aluminum poison at the point of cancer in every case.”
17 April 1929 · pp.451-460 · compiled by W. E. Reynolds, N.D. · Woodworth, Knorr & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“If you boil vegetables in aluminum ware you always produce a poison, in the opinion of the scientists and doctors just quoted, the name of the poison being determined by the kind of food you cook.”
10 July 1929 · pp.658-660 · Dr. G. R. Clements, editor of How To Live Magazine · Woodworth, Knorr & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“The practice of medicine is not founded on science. It is founded on superstition. It had its birth in the times of mental darkness ... Its remedies are poisons and knives, and its patrons and supporters of today are those who are deceived by its false propaganda.”
21 August 1929 · pp.754-756 · Dr. C. T. Betts · Woodworth, Knorr & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“The American Medical Association at Chicago, Ill., was next mentioned. Then the United States Public Health Service was included in this investigation. The London Lancet also issued statements giving aluminum a clean bill of health.”
11 December 1929 · pp.179-180 · Woodworth, Knorr & Martin (The Golden Age), Brooklyn, New York
“In fact the general impression conveyed through your columns has been highly derogatory to the medical profession, and many, as novices, are unintentionally led to believe that our M.D.'s are “all wet”.”
2 April 1930 · p.438 · Golden Age Publishing Company, Brooklyn, New York
“By this time every regular reader of The Golden Age knows that we are absolutely right in our stand on the use of aluminum cooking utensils and that The Scientific American, The Literary Digest, and most of the M.D.'s are dead wrong, and as immune to facts or to reason as the D.D.'s are on the “hell” question.”
2 April 1930 · pp.434-437 · M. Q. · Golden Age Publishing Company, Brooklyn, New York
“If the irritation of a “chemical ferment” (such as a compound of aluminum) can, by any possibility, be considered a cause of cancer, eliminate all aluminum utensils from your kitchen.”
13 April 1932 · p.442 · Dr. Chas. T. Betts · Golden Age Publishing Company, Brooklyn, New York
“Manufacturers of aluminum kitchenware continue to advertise that those opposed to the manufacture of aluminum cooking utensils are wrong, in spite of the fact that the reports show that such ware is used previous to 99 percent of all group poisoning cases.”
10 April 1935 · p.440 · Golden Age Publishing Company, Brooklyn, New York
“The Golden Age does not care what kind of cooking utensils you use. It isn't even concerned if you insist upon using aluminum of any kind. That is your privilege and responsibility. But it will not cease to warn those who are interested in their health that aluminum is injurious to the health in numerous and various ways. There is no question about this whatever.”
15 January 1936 · pp.227-228 · Golden Age Publishing Company, Brooklyn, New York
“In the past it has published numerous health articles from various sources where the writers seemed to know what they were talking about. These articles have not always been consistent with one another; which is not to be wondered at, because no two health experts agree.”
15 January 1936 · pp.230-231 · Golden Age Publishing Company, Brooklyn, New York
“There is nothing in the scriptures of God's Word that forbids the taking of medicine that is known to be curative and not really injurious to the bodily health of Christians whose lives and bodies are truly devoted to Jehovah God and His service.”
15 January 1963 · pp.37-39 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Just how scientific psychoanalysis really is no one is certain. At best it leaves much to be desired. Its aim to help people achieve a normal capacity for living is not wrong, but some of its methods are.”
15 April 1975 · pp.255-256 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Whether a Christian will consult a psychiatrist, or any other doctor, is a matter for personal decision. ... So, while Jehovah's witnesses do not categorically rule out the possibility of treatment by doctors specializing in emotional or mental problems, if a Witness does consult such he should carefully scrutinize any treatment recommended.”
1978 · pp.41-42 · pars. 81-82 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“If we want Jehovah's friendship and protection we must break all connections and associations with spiritism in its many forms. That includes disposing of any objects that relate to spiritism. ... And God's Word shows that, just as a scarecrow cannot talk or walk or help or hurt anyone, the same is true of the images that men make and call sacred.”
8 September 1986 · pp.6-10 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Why, then, look upon patients who use these medications as weak-minded or as drug addicts? Antipsychotic drugs are not addictive, do not make patients high, and are not taken for pleasure.”
1993 · p.634 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Later he served as editor of the magazines “The Golden Age” and “Consolation.” He remained firm in faith and loyal to Jehovah's organization right down till his death in 1951, at 81 years of age.”
1995 · pp.114-115 · par. 14 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Even if you have not practiced spiritism, get rid of anything having spiritistic uses or overtones. This includes books, magazines, videos, posters, musical recordings, and objects used for spiritistic purposes. Also included are idols, amulets and other items worn for protection, and gifts received from practicers of spiritism.”
1 May 2003 · p.31 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“It is reported that some who suffer from schizophrenia, a disease often treatable with medication, hear voices or experience other symptoms that could appear to be something uncanny. ... while an individual who reports hearing voices or who has other disturbing sensations may not want to discount demon harassment, he should definitely be encouraged to consider investigating whether there is a physical explanation for what he is experiencing.”
March 2005 · p.1 · pars. 1-3 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“On October 1, 1919, the first issue of the magazine The Golden Age was published. It proved to be a most valuable tool in the preaching work. ... From its beginning, this magazine has contributed mightily to the great witness that has been given since 1919.”
15 April 2006 · p.31 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“It is imperative for such ones to get rid of all objects related to spiritism. This includes books, magazines, movies, material from electronic sources, music recordings that have spiritistic overtones, as well as amulets or other items worn for “protection” or linked to spiritistic practices.”
“Aluminium in foods originates from its natural occurrence, from the use of food additives containing aluminium and from the presence of aluminium in food contact materials such as pots, pans and foil.”
2023 · pp.12-13 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“The Bible acknowledges that we may need to seek medical treatment. Many have found relief by learning what they can about their mental illness from reliable sources and by getting qualified professional help.”
2023 · pp.14-15 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
“Because of his illness, your friend may say or do things that hurt you. He may cancel plans with you or become irritable. Be patient and understanding as you offer the support he needs.”