Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia, Inc. - 23 February 1996.
Nelson Graves
Nearly 600 delegates from 17 nations gathered in the capital of the western Indian state of Goa for the first World Conference on Auto-Urine Therapy.
The three-day meeting, organized by the Indian chapter of the Water of Life Foundation, brought together leading proponents of a 5,000-year-old therapy considered taboo in much of the world because it involves drinking one's own urine.
"I once thought it was a strange practice," said retired Adm. L. Ramdas, former chief of India's navy. "But it gives me and my wife tremendous energy and stamina."
Delegates came from Austria, Australia, Britain, China, Dubai, France, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Switzerland and the United States. More than 70 came from outside of India.
The conference's poster depicted a young boy urinating into a glass.
Participants paid tribute to former Indian Prime Minister Morarji Desai, who stunned the world when he revealed that he drank a glass of his own urine every day. He died last year at the age of 99.
Actress Sarah Miles swears it improves her health.
Doctors and therapists who recommend the treatment say urine contains hormones, enzymes, vitamins and minerals that can cure diseases from heart disease to cancer.
But many mainstream doctors debunk the claims, saying small doses of urine are not harmful but surely no magic medicine.
Wilfred d'Souza, health minister of Goa state and a surgeon, said the number of participants in the meeting proved urine therapy's wide following, but doubts needed to be put to rest. "Now you have to find the scientific answers," he said.
Urine therapy was advocated in ancient Hindu scriptures. Modern proponents, many of them eager on holistic medicine, argue it is drug-free, costs nothing and is always available.
Briton J.W. Armstrong wrote a book in 1944 called "The Water of Life" in which he claimed to have cured himself of tuberculosis within six weeks. He said he subsequently treated patients for gangrene, cancer, leukemia and heart disease.
The most widely recommended treatment combines one or more glasses of fresh urine a day, regular body massages using stale urine at least four days old and a strict diet barring alcohol, tobacco, tea, coffee and meat.
Dr G.K. Thakkar, president of India's Water of Life Foundation, said urine therapy cured him of amoebic dysentery and eczema, while transforming him into a "bold orator." He said urine is especially well-suited for tooth and eye problems.
"Most diseases ranging from the common cold to cancer and arthritis to AIDS are curable by urine therapy," Thakkar said.
Other doctors said urine therapy had relieved many patients of painful AIDS symptoms but there was no proof it could cure Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
Tara Aust, a German-born devotee living in Australia, told the conference that she was diagnosed with cancer of the lymph nodes, intestine and liver in 1988. She passed up chemotherapy for urine therapy and survived.
"This is part of loving yourself," she said. "What is wrong with your body functions? It is part of yourself."
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