Editing Royal Raymond Rife (section)

== Revival of the device, and health fraud ==
Interest in Rife's claims was revived in some [[alternative medicine|alternative medical]] circles by the 1987 book by Barry Lynes, ''The Cancer Cure That Worked'', which claimed that Rife had succeeded in curing cancer, but that his work was suppressed by a powerful conspiracy headed by the [[American Medical Association]].<ref name="acs">{{cite journal |title=Questionable methods of cancer management: electronic devices |journal=CA Cancer J Clin |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=115–27 |year=1994 |pmid=8124604 |doi=10.3322/canjclin.44.2.115|s2cid=31481316 |doi-access=free }}</ref> 
The [[American Cancer Society]] (ACS) describes Lynes' claims as implausible, noting that the book was written "in a style typical of conspiratorial theorists", and that Lynes "... cites names, dates, events and places, giving the appearance of authenticity to a mixture of historical documents and speculations selectively spun into a web far too complex to permit verification by any thing short of an army of investigators with unlimited resources."<ref name="acs"/> 

After this book's publication, a variety of devices bearing Rife's name were marketed as cures for diverse diseases such as cancer and [[AIDS]].  Some used radio waves as in the original experiments, some used other methods such as a pulsed electric current or pulsed electromagnetic fields at the correct frequencies, or what the manufacturers believed to be the correct frequencies.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Rife Machine Report, Chapter 14 |url=https://rifevideos.com/chapter_14_life_labs_1950s_pad_instrument_without_ray_tube.html |website=rifevideos.com |access-date=13 July 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Rife Machine Report, Chapter 24 |url=https://rifevideos.com/chapter_24_dr_rifes_rf_method_or_the_emf_method.html |website=rifevideos.com |access-date=13 July 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Ringas |first1=Jason |title=Rife and R.I.F.E. machines defined |url=https://www.rife.de/rife-and-r.i.f.e.-machines-defined.html |website=Rife Research, Europe |access-date=13 July 2024}}</ref>  An analysis by ''[[Electronics Australia]]'' found that one typical 'Rife device' cost AU$105 for a rudimentary circuit that simply produced a tiny pulsed electrical current (at a single fixed frequency of about 40kHz).  It consisted of a [[PP3 battery|nine-volt battery]], wiring, a switch, a standard [[555 timer IC|555 timer chip]] and two short lengths of copper tubing meant to act as handheld electrodes, delivering a current which the author estimated at 1 milliamp at most.  Its design was, in fact, almost identical to the "zapper" device promoted by [[Hulda Clark]], rather than having much in common with Rife's original devices.  He described this as "the tip of an enormous iceberg", with a wide range of more elaborate devices also on sale from different suppliers, varying widely in design and ranging in price from AU$1,500 to AU$34,000.<ref name="EA">{{cite news | title = Forum | first = Jim | last = Rowe | newspaper=[[Electronics Australia]] |date=January 1998 |url=https://archive.org/details/EA1998/EA%201998-01%20January/page/n23/mode/2up }}</ref>  

Such 'Rife devices' have figured prominently in several cases of [[health fraud]] in the U.S., typically centered around the uselessness of the devices and the grandiose claims with which they are marketed. In a 1996 case, the marketers of a 'Rife device' claiming to cure numerous diseases including cancer and AIDS were convicted of felony health fraud.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1370/is_n7_v30/ai_18656599/ |title = Investigators' Reports | work = [[FDA Consumer]] | publisher = [[U.S. Food and Drug Administration]] | date = September 1996 | access-date = 2009-08-07 | first=Dixie | last=Farley|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160910194617/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-18656599.html|archive-date=September 10, 2016}}</ref> The sentencing judge described them as "target[ing] the most vulnerable people, including those suffering from terminal disease" and providing false hope.<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.fda.gov/fdac/departs/796_irs.html  |title = Investigators' Reports | work =  [[FDA Consumer]] | publisher = [[U.S. Food and Drug Administration]] | date = September 1996 | access-date = 2009-01-09 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071214170405/https://www.fda.gov/fdac/departs/796_irs.html |archive-date = 2007-12-14}}</ref> In some cases cancer patients who ceased chemotherapy and instead used these devices have died.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.quackwatch.org/04ConsumerEducation/News/rife.html|author=Stephen Barrett|author-link=Stephen Barrett|title=Rife Machine Operator Sued|access-date=2007-02-12|publisher=[[Quackwatch]]}}</ref> A Washington State couple Donald and Sharon Brandt, who operated a clandestine health-care clinic from their home in [[Mount Vernon]]<ref name="stimes">{{cite news | url = https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/20071221/indictment21m/pair-indicted-on-fraud-charges-in-medical-device-probe | title = Pair indicted on fraud charges in medical-device probe | first = Christine | last = Willmsen | author2 = Michael J. Berens | newspaper = [[Seattle Times]] | date = 2007-12-21 | access-date = 2008-04-24}}</ref> based on Rife's inventions were convicted for a short imprisonment period.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mddionline.com/news/makers-unapproved-device-sentenced |title=Makers of Unapproved Device Sentenced |last= |first= |date= |website= |publisher= |access-date= |quote=}}</ref> Rife devices are currently classified as a subset of radionics devices, which are generally viewed as [[Quackery| pseudomedicine]] by mainstream experts.<ref name="acs"/> In Australia, the use of Rife machines has been blamed for the deaths of cancer patients who might have been cured with conventional therapy.<ref name="SMH">{{cite news | title = Cheating Death | first = Ben | last = Hills | newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=30 December 2000 |url=http://www.healthwatcher.net/quackerywatch/Cancer/Cancer-news/smh001230rife-aus.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630035906/http://www.healthwatcher.net/quackerywatch/Cancer/Cancer-news/smh001230rife-aus.html |archive-date=30 June 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref>  In 2002 John Bryon Krueger, who operated the Royal Rife Research Society, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his role in a murder and also received a concurrent 30-month sentence for illegally selling Rife devices. In 2009 a U.S. court convicted James Folsom of 26 felony counts for sale of the Rife devices sold as 'NatureTronics', 'AstroPulse', 'BioSolutions', 'Energy Wellness', and 'Global Wellness'.<ref name=DW>{{cite web|url=http://www.devicewatch.org/reports/rife/folsom.shtml|author=Stephen Barrett|author-link=Stephen Barrett|title=Rife Device Marketers Convicted|access-date=2009-08-07|publisher=[[Quackwatch]]}}</ref>