The conclusions reached in the three studies:
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1. “...the likelihood of correct detection (of kidney disease in this study) was statistically no better than chance” (UC-San Diego) (10:1385).
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2. “...there were no detectable iris changes of the type indicated in the commonly used iris diagnosis charts” (University of Melbourne) (2:157).
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3. “This study showed that iridology is not a useful diagnostic aid” (University of Limburg) (7:1578). The point was made that the iridologists didn’t even agree with each other.
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Dr. Russell Worrall, a professor at UC-Berkeley School of Optometry, wrote in 1984:
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“After 104 years, the facts of iridology have yet to be established. . . . To my knowledge there are no well-conceived, documented and published studies which support the validity of the clinical information presented on the iris charts or which demonstrate the underlying anatomical and physiological processes. (Scientific studies in English and extensive critical German citations) demonstrate that there is no statistical correlation between a diagnosis based on iris signs and actual medical conditions (13:737).”
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In a 1993 CNN interview Dr. Worrall, who has continued to evaluate iridology, equated it with palm reading.
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Iridology cannot and does not work the way iridologists claim it does. Christians who use documented misrepresentations of eye physiology to explain how it “works” are compromising themselves and their faith. Explanations which deal in “vibrational energy” or “energy” are by-passing the physical, material order of creation for the explanations of an occult based anatomy, physiology, and world view.
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Spiritual Issues
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Bernard Jensen, D.C., is the most visible proponent of iridology. His materials and texts form the standard for this teaching in U.S. His world view (i.e. philosophy of life, way of interpreting the physical and spiritual) is New Age/Eastern/Occult. The dedication in A New Lifestyle for Health and Happiness and a page in Iridology: Science and Practice in the Healing Arts Vol II read like a who’s who in the international occult: Eastern cults, New Age, New Thought, psychics, channels, and spiritualistic healers. Representative are Shafica Karagulla (New Age psychic M.D.), Sai Baba (Indian cult figure), Ernest Holmes (founder of Religious Science [New Thought movement]), Manly P. Hall (occult leader and metaphysician), Corinne Heline (occult color healer and originator of the term “new age”), A Course in Miracles (“Jesus” being channeled), Mme. Helena Blavatsky (the founder of Theosophy), The Aquarian Conspiracy by New Age spokesperson Marilyn Ferguson, Harry Edwards (a spiritualist healer), and a Mr. Chapman, who heals psychically when he is taken over by a “Dr. Lang” (4:Dedication). Jensen refers to the Rosicrucians as his “spiritual abode” and advocates astrologic diagnosis (9:170).
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