In books and social media posts, Rife proponents say that all medical conditions have an electromagnetic frequency. They claim that the treatment he developed works by finding the frequency of the condition to then deactivate the cells.
But the posts are the latest ones that have not been proven treatments For Cancer — many of which can cause patients delay or forgo evidence-based careexperts warn.
“There is no evidence that the Rife machines can cure cancer,” he said Tim Rebeckcancer prevention professor at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (archived here), on May 22 e-mail.
The American Cancer Society names the Rife Frequency Generator on a list of “questionable cancer management methods” (archived here).
Who was Rife?
Rife was an American scientist who invented a high power microscope in the 1930s (archived here). He later he said could destroy bacteria visualized under the microscope by blasting them with electromagnetic waves oscillating at specific frequencies (archived here).
Some posts claim that this technique has cured patients with terminal cancer, but the AFP could not find any peer-reviewed studies that support it.
Rife died in 1971. His obituary published in The Daily Californian said the inventor “lived to see some of what he considered his most important work discredited by the medical community.”
However, he remains a hero in holistic healing communities, with many companies still marketing treatments and devices using his name.
Dozens Facebook groups — some with thousands of members — promote frequency healing. On a “buy/sell” group dedicated to Rife machines, people list items for thousands of dollars.
“The FDA has not approved, cleared or authorized a Rife machine,” press officer Audra Harrison said in an email on May 21, 2024. warning against products advertised on social media as “cures” for cancer.
The Rife machine provides electricity usually through your hands or feet. Low quality machines can cause electric shock or burnsand some appliance dealers were the theme of fraud cases (archived here).
Cancer treatment
Cancer deaths have fallen sharply in the United States in recent years amid improvements in diagnosis and treatment, and experts say survival rates for many forms of the disease continue to rise go up (archived here, here and here).
Some cancer treatments involve The use of different wavelengths. Radiotherapyfor example, it often targets X-rays at a specific point in the body to kill cancer cells (archived here).
But these treatments are not the same as using machines sold under the name Rife, which produce waves of low electromagnetic energy similar to radio waves, according to Cancer Research UK (archived here).
Publications in X report December 2023 survey by Texas State scientists who destroyed cancer cells in mice by activating nanoscopic molecules with a precise wavelength of near-infrared light (archive here).
One of the authors of the study, James Tour of Rice University (archived here), refuted claims that Rife’s work is a cure for cancer.
“There is no one-size-fits-all way to kill all cancers. And so this is a very dangerous position,” he said on May 21.
Tour said there are scientists studying how to use the waves in clinical treatments, but “radio waves just go through the body.” eator waves to be effective, he said they must have something to “interact with,” such as a small dye molecule.
Tour also warned patients not to take medical advice from those unwilling to produce data to back it up. He said researchers, public health officials and doctors are looking for treatments that have been tested in large groups of people double blind studies.
“You have to study the accuracy of the data, the quality of the data,” he said.
More of AFP’s reports on health misinformation are available here.