Summary
Dave Asprey interviews Dr. Robert Rowen, known as the "father of medical freedom" for pioneering the first US law protecting alternative medicine. Rowen had just returned from Sierra Leone where he and Dr. Howard Robbins taught ozone therapy to local doctors during the 2014 Ebola outbreak, at the personal invitation of President Karoma. Rowen clarifies that he went to teach rather than directly treat patients, and describes how Robbins had pioneered a unique direct intravenous ozone delivery method particularly suited for Ebola treatment. The episode details the political challenges they faced in Sierra Leone. While the president and even the Ebola czar Paulo Conte supported their efforts, the Minister of Health and his staff deliberately avoided their lectures. After initially receiving clearance from the Ebola czar, who asked "How come this isn't being used already?", they encountered bureaucratic resistance that ultimately shut down their mission. Despite this, they trained scores of local physicians and even treated the president of the Sierra Leone Medical Dental Association, who arrived skeptical but left convinced. Dave shares his own extensive ozone therapy experience spanning nearly nine years, describing it as something he plans to use for life. He discusses using ozone to manage symptoms from toxic mold exposure, including upper back pain from neurotoxin exposure during documentary filming. The conversation covers the broader regulatory landscape of alternative medicine in the United States, with Rowen advocating for medical freedom and patient access to therapies like ozone that have decades of clinical use behind them.
Key Points
- Dr. Rowen is known as the "father of medical freedom" for pioneering the first US law protecting alternative medicine
- Rowen and Dr. Howard Robbins traveled to Sierra Leone during the 2014 Ebola outbreak at the invitation of President Karoma
- They taught ozone therapy to local doctors and treated the president himself, though the Minister of Health boycotted their lectures
- The Ebola czar Paulo Conte asked "How come this isn't being used already?" after hearing their presentation
- Dr. Robbins pioneered a direct intravenous gas ozone delivery method specifically suited for treating Ebola
- Dave Asprey has used ozone therapy for nearly nine years and plans to continue for life
- Asprey uses ozone to manage neurotoxin exposure symptoms from toxic mold, applying it before considering antibiotics
- The episode highlights the tension between clinical evidence for ozone therapy and regulatory resistance in the US
Key Moments
White blood cells naturally produce ozone for immune defense
Dr. Robert Rowen explains that ozone is nature's most powerful oxidizer and that Scripps Institute discovered in 2002 that our own white blood cells produce ozone as part of the immune defense system.
"it's natural. It's nature's most powerful oxidizer, it's a cleanser, it leaves no toxic residue, and believe it or not, your own white blood cells make it. Scripps Institute discovered that in the year 2002"
Ozone modulates the immune system bidirectionally
Dr. Rowen describes how ozone improves oxygen delivery, mitochondrial function, and modulates the immune system in both directions -- calming an overactive immune system and boosting an underactive one.
"Ozone modulates the immune system. So if you have an immune system that's overactive that's up here, ozone brings it down to eye level. And if your immune system is here and it's not working properly, it raises it."
Sierra Leone Ministry of Health blocks ozone for Ebola
Dr. Rowen recounts how after getting approval from Sierra Leone's Ebola czar and beginning to train staff, a call from the deputy minister of health threatened anyone who allowed ozone treatments, despite healthcare workers lining up for the therapy.
"a call comes in to the army guy, the major who's in charge of this treatment center, and it comes from the deputy minister of health. And I'm quoting, if you value your job, there will be no ozone treatments there."
