Warning against the use of metals other than iron for the manufacture of orgonomic devices

Again and again orgone devices made of aluminum, steel wire mesh, copper, brass etc. are offered (on the internet and in alternative publications). This warning against other metals than iron (and galvanized iron) is based on researches of Wilhelm Reich and other orgonomists.

Only pure iron and galvanized iron are permitted as metal for orgone devices. Since pure iron rusts and rust is an organic coating that would significantly hinder an orgone charge, only galvanized iron sheet is used for the inner sheets. Only pure steel wool is used for the inner sheets. Only these metals are medically tested and any other metal would also have to undergo appropriate careful clinical tests before being used in orgone devices. Unfortunately, there are always authors who recommend other metals, e.g. tinplate, stainless steel, steel wire mesh or even copper and aluminum foil, whose toxic properties are now considered proven. Based on the known warnings, these "recommendations" can only be considered grossly negligent and ignorant of the health of those people who build orgone-energetic devices themselves and then risk damage to their health. Unfortunately, such incorrectly built devices are also offered for sale.

Wilhelm Reich has pointed out in his standard medical work "The Discovery of Orgone - The Cancer" that orgone accumulators must be built of iron. Also in his book"The Orgone Energy Accumulator - It's Scientific and Medical Use" he has written: "For medical purposes only iron may be used."

Please take this warning very seriously. For example, we have seen that people who have used ORACs with the wrong metals have developed extensive purulent eczema.

The materials approved by Reich are generally available and cover all possible applications. So there is no factual need at all to use other metals.

For the discussion of the question whether aluminum or copper should be considered dangerous for the construction of orgone accumulators, I would like to refer to some quotations of orgonomic scientists. Wilhelm Reich writes in the Orgone Energy Bulletin Vol. 1, No. 3, July 1949, page 133:

"We found that only iron or steel sheets should be used for living organisms. Experiments with other metals have produced negative results in living organisms. ... Both metal foil (made of aluminum and of copper) has been studied in animal experiments as has aluminum paint. The results of these experiments make it advisable to use only iron in experiments on living organisms."

From this quotation it is clear that Reich conducted biological experiments with aluminum and copper, among others, which prompted him to make these statements. Since no further written documents on this subject have been published to date, we have to make do with oral references from his former associates. For example, Dr. Walter Hoppe, who died in 1980, warned very strongly against aluminum as a material for orgone accumulators. Eva Reich, Reich's daughter, who worked for a long time as an orgonomic physician, also said that Reich identified aluminum as unsuitable.

Orgonomic naturalist Dr. James DeMeo has conducted orgon-biophysical experiments on different metals. In the"Journal of Orgonomy", Vol 9, No. 1, he writes in the article "The effects of fluorescent light and metal boxes on plant growth":

"Reich pointed out that certain metals impart a life-negative quality to orgone energy when used in an accumulator and that iron and steel are the only life-positive orgone-reflective metals. I have replicated this discovery in several experimental series, placing open culture trays of mung beans in opaque metal boxes (10" x 10" x 2") of galvanized iron, aluminum, copper and lead. Those made of iron promoted shoot growth considerably more than lead, aluminum and copper. ... Copper, lead, and aluminum boxes all had clearly life-negative effects on shoot growth, with none of them having significantly more negative effects."

In the "Orgone Accumulator Manual" DeMeo writes on p. 42:

"In orgone accumulators to be used for living organisms, especially if intended for human use, copper, aluminum, and other non-ferrous metals must be strictly avoided because they produce toxic effects."

Unfortunately, DeMeo also recommends tinplate cans (i.e., unapproved tinned iron) for experimental accumulators in this book. These devices should be used at most for plant experiments, but never on humans or animals.

Stainless steel, which is considerably more expensive than iron, and which is produced for very different industrial applications (and only in special, appropriately marked alloys for medical devices), has other substances mixed in to a considerable extent, especially chromium (some types of chromium are toxic or carcinogenic). Therefore, stainless sheet metal and stainless steel wool must also be avoided in ORACs and orgone blankets. According to the data sheet of a leading manufacturer of stainless steel wool, it consists of about 16-18% chromium, about 1% each of silicon, manganese and molybdenum, and smaller proportions of carbon, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, nickel, nitrogen and copper.

Higher durability in stainless steel sheets, stainless steel wool and steel wire mesh should therefore not tempt you to take uncalculated health risks. These metal alloys are manufactured for specific industrial applications (e.g., stainless steel wool is used as an abrasive and steel wire mesh is used for screen printing). Medical use is not intended for these materials.