Rick2004 posted one part of a thread from the EzBoard here dealing with a claim the holosync might be unsafe.
Here is the response from Bill Harris.
I read this post when it first came up and decided to email Bill at holosync to see what he had to say. They said they got a few people asking about this so Bill made an 'official' reply to
Mr Hutchinson's comment.
Here's the reply:
>I have seen the posting in which Michael Hutchinson's comments about
>Holosync were discussed. Here is my response.
>
>First of all, to my knowledge, Michael Hutchison has never used Holosync
>and has never studied it. To my knowledge, he has no personal or
>scientific knowledge about Holosync other than what is available to the
>rest of the general public. The fact that he would make disparaging
>comments, in which he implies that Holosync is harmful - without having
>any actual evidence - in itself says something about his credibility.
>
>
>He has NO evidence for any of the claims he is making. In actual fact,
>Holosync is not harmful, any more than are any of the dozens of other
>binaural beat products made by dozens of other companies. Binaural beat
>technology has been around for a long time and has been available in
>various forms for decades. To my knowledge, no harmful response to ANY
>binaural beat product has ever been demonstrated, other than intermittent
>emotional upheaval similar to that created by any kind of deep meditation.
>
>We would not have tens of thousands of people using Holosync, a huge
>percentage of whom continue through level after level over many years of
>daily use, if the program was not benefiting them or was harming them in
>some way. And, Ken Wilber, a noted expert in meditation, would not be
>recommending Holosync (which he has used extensively) to all the students
>in his Integral Institute seminars, if it was harmful. The same could be
>said for a huge list of other prominent endorsers.
>
>I don't believe the National College of Naturopathic Medicine would be in
>the process of creating a clinical trial to study Holosync if they thought
>it was harmful. I am also in communication with Andrew Newberg, M.D.
>(author of Why God Won't Go Away, about brain scans of Buddhist monks and
>Franciscan nuns, and a professor at the University of Pennsylvania)
>regarding creating a brain-scan study of Holosync users. I don't believe
>that such respected people would be involved with Holosync if it was harmful.
>
>Hutchison suggests three searches on Google to bolster his suggestion that
>Holosync is harmful. One was for beta brain waves head injury damage. I
>did such a search, and could find nothing in dozens of web pages listed
>that had any connection with Holosync or binaural beat technology. I
>invite you to do a similar search. If you do, you'll see that there is
>nothing to be found linking Holosync or any other brain wave entrainment
>protocol to anything harmful.
>
>It may be that certain brain injured patients create more low frequency
>brain waves, but that does not mean that low frequency brain waves are
>harmful. You make them all the time, and you make lots of them during sleep.
>
>And, the pictures I found on these web pages of brain scans of such
>patients are nothing like those of meditators. After all, these are people
>with brain injuries.
>
>No connection whatsoever is made in any of these web pages that would show
>anything about Holosync, or that it creates any harm. Certainly if I
>thought Holosync was in any way harmful, we would stop marketing it.
>
>A second suggested search is for hypersynchrony. Here is something from a
>page in which the term is defined
>(<http://core.ecu.edu/psyc/grahamr/DW_3311Site/LectureF/Lecture4.1/Lect4.1.html):"core.ecu.edu/psyc/grahamr...4.1.html):
>
>About 2 million people in the United States suffer from epilepsy, and none
>can be cured of it. Epilepsy is not a disease; it is a collection of
>different brain dysfunction symptoms all involving seizure activity. A
>seizure is a brain state involving the organization of massive numbers of
>neurons into patterns of abnormal activity. The abnormality of these
>patterns can be readily seen in an EEG record. The most outstanding
>feature of seizure activity is hypersynchrony, which shows up on the EEG
>as very large, slow waves.
>
>Hypersynchrony (hyper-, too much; -syn-, together; -chron, time) refers to
>a condition in which there is too much simultaneous facilitation. There
>are too many EPSPs occurring together at the same time. LP #31 shows the
>EEG evidence of the drastic reorganization occurring in the brain as an
>epileptic seizure begins. The high-amplitude waves in the seizure imply
>that literally millions of neurons are firing together in gigantic
>volleys. This activity resembles the sort one finds in some forms of coma.
>Thus, it is not surprising that such waves are usually accompanied by
>total loss of consciousness. The small, high-frequency activity of the
>normal waking brain probably indicates the firing of relatively small
>assemblies of neurons (engrams), each of which represents a particular
>thought or perception. The huge waves of a seizure suggest that neurons
>that would normally participate in patterns of activity underlying
>thoughts or percepts are being forced to fire in giant groups that
>represent nothing at all, that convey no meaning because they are
>assembled by some defective internal process rather than by meaningful
>external or internal events. In other words, seizure waves contain no
>information; they are nonsense events and are therefore unable to produce
>a conscious state.
>
>
>
>First of all, I see no reference to Holosync or binaural beats, and did
>not see any such references in the other web pages that came up in the
>search. More specifically, I have never heard of a single case in which
>any kind of binaural beat technology has induced an epileptic event in any
>person, ever. The flickering lights of light and sound machines can and
>have created seizures in a few people, but no one has ever demonstrated
>that sound can induce seizures, and certainly no such effect has ever been
>linked to binaural beats or to Holosync. To link Holosync to epilepsy
>because Holosync creates synchronization and hypersynchrony occurs in
>epilepsy in the brain is faulty logic, as is the assumption that brain
>synchronization--which has been shown to be very beneficial--is the same
>as hypersynchrony. For Hutchison to make such accusations is at the very
>least mentally lazy. There is no evidence of any kind, anywhere,
>connecting Holosync to the phenomena Hutchison cites.
>
>A third search Hutchison suggests is for kindling effect. Here is a
>description of kindling effect from one of the web pages that came up in
>such a search.
>
> KINDLING EFFECT
>
> G.V. Goddard and his associates in 1969 reported a peculiar kindling
> effect generated by repeated, periodic, low-intensity stimulation of the
> limbic region of mammalian brains. A sustained periodic signal input to
> the brain and central nervous system eventually sets up a cumulative
> resonance which increases in magnitude until the entire organism is in
> sympathetic resonance.
>
> A laboratory rat at first continues to explore its environment in a
> normal manner when it is subjected to kindling. But after repeated
> stimulation at the same intensity, the rat will begin to rear up and its
> forelimbs will convulse. Eventually these bursts of electrical activity
> induce similar patterns in nearby brain regions, and the threshold
> becomes progressively lowered. Stimulation progresses to the amygdala,
> to the amygdala on the other side of the brain, to the hippocampus, to
> the occipital cortex, and finally to the frontal cortex. Kindling can
> start only in the limbic structures.
>
> While kindling was originally thought to be a model of epilepsy, John
> Gaito of York University has reported that a different mechanism is
> apparently involved since the amino acid, taurine, which suppresses
> epileptic seizures in laboratory animals, does not prevent phenomena
> caused by kindling. Also, kindling apparently causes permanent changes
> in the neural circuitry. Pulsed repetitions of telepathic senders have
> also been shown to increase the reception of telepathic messages. Thus
> the kindling effect apparently applies to the paranormal channel as well
> as to more orthodox transmission channels. (For further details, see
> "Kindling, once epilepsy model, may relate to kundalini," Brain/ Mind
> Bulletin, Vol. 2, No.7, February 21, 1977; pp. 1-2.)
>
> The kindling mechanism is a far more general mechanism than epilepsy
> researchers have realized. Coherent time collection of bioenergy in one
> bioframe "kindles" toward the threshold of the next bioframe, which has a
> fixed threshold. When sufficient kindling occurs to reach the threshold,
> automatic orthogonal rotation of the kindled bioenergy occurs into the
> next frame. There it simply constitutes the kindling or superposition of
> the imperceivable subquantum state into the perceivable quantum
> state. This is the mechanism whereby one kind of field can be turned
> into another. E.g., thought energy (third biofield) can be kindled into
> second biofield (flux), which can be kindled into first biofield
> (electromagnetic energy), which can be kindled into zeroth biofield (matter).
>
>Does this seem to be describing something harmful? And, does it mention
>Holosync, or brain wave synchrony created by binaural beats?
>
>Here is another article from the internet regarding kindling. Again you
>will see that it has nothing to do with Holosync or binaural beats.
>The "Kindling" Model in Bipolar Disorder
>from <by"bipolar.about.com/cs/brai...age.htm>by Marcia
>Purse
>
>If a bipolar person goes untreated for a period of years, could he or she
>begin to experience rapid cycling, or become treatment-resistant? If
>stressors initially set off episodes, in time could episodes appear
>without any such triggers? Research says the answer to all these questions
>is yes, and the reason may be a process that has been termed "kindling."
>
>The phenomenon of kindling in epilepsy was first discovered by accident by
>researcher Graham Goddard in 1967. Goddard was studying the learning
>process in rats, and part of his studies included electrical stimulation
>of the rats' brains at a very low intensity, too low to cause any type of
>convulsing. What he found was that after a couple of weeks of this
>treatment, the rats did experience convulsions when the stimulation was
>applied. Their brains had become sensitized to electricity, and even
>months later, one of these rats would convulse when stimulated (History,
>199 FPRIVATE "TYPE=PICT;ALT=8)" . Goddard and others later demonstrated that it was possible to
>induce kindling chemically as well (Hargreaves, 1996.)
>
>The name "kindling" was chosen because the process was likened to a log
>fire. The log itself, while it might be suitable fuel for a fire, is very
>hard to set afire in the first place. But surround it by smaller, easy to
>light pieces of wood - kindling - and set these blazing, and soon the log
>itself will catch fire. Dr. Robert M. Post of the National Institute of
>Mental Health (USA) is credited with first applying the kindling model to
>bipolar disorder (NARSAD). Demitri and Janice Papolos, in their excellent
>book The Bipolar Child, describe this model as follows:
>
>..... initial periods of cycling may begin with an environmental stressor,
>but if the cycles continue or occur unchecked, the brain becomes kindled
>or sensitized - pathways inside the central nervous system are reinforced
>so to speak - and future episodes of depression, hypomania, or mania will
>occur by themselves (independently of an outside stimulus), with greater
>and greater frequency.
>
>Thus, to put it simply, brain cells that have been involved in an episode
>once are more likely to do so again, and more cells will become sensitized
>over time. This theory has been borne out by some research observations.
>For example, "there is evidence that the more mood episodes a person has,
>the harder it is to treat each subsequent episode..." thus taking the
>kindling analogy one step further: that a fire which has spread is harder
>to put out (Expert Consensus, 1997).
>
>Thus, many researchers now believe that kindling contributes to both rapid
>cycling and treatment-resistant bipolar disorder, and this model also is
>consistent with cases where cycling began with definite mood triggers,
>stressful or exciting events, and later became spontaneous.
>
>In addition, it has been shown that substances such as cocaine and alcohol
>have their own kindling effects which can contribute to bipolar kindling.
>In fact, it was the knowledge that cocaine causes seizures that led Dr.
>Post to connect kindling in epilepsy with mood disorders, after he had
>studied the unexpected effects of cocaine on severely depressed patients
>(NARSAD). A study led by Dr. Joseph Goldberg found that patients diagnosed
>with both bipolar disorder and substance abuse were much more likely to
>respond to treatment that included an anticonvulsant/mood stabilizer,
>divalproex (Depakote) or carbamazepine (Tegretol), with or without
>Lithium, than treatment with Lithium alone. At the same time, patients who
>had bipolar disorder but no history of substance abuse had similar
>remission rates with both types of treatment. Dr. Goldberg did note that
>more controlled studies are needed on the role of anticonvulsants in
>treating dual diagnosis patients. (Substance Abuse, 2000)
>
>As a result of many studies involving the kindling model, many researchers
>now stress the need for early and aggressive treatment of bipolar
>disorder, to prevent the brain from becoming more and more sensitized and
>going into rapid cycling or treatment resistant manic depression. A 1999
>study also indicated that a significantly higher percentage of dual
>diagnosis patients had a history of medication noncompliance - which could
>suggest that kindling had more time to take place when no medication was
>being taken. (Substance Abuse, 2000) What does all this mean for the
>bipolar patient?
>
>Take your medications as prescribed. Stopping treatment now could make
>your condition actually worsen and become more difficult to treat in the
>future.
>
>If you have not been diagnosed but feel you may be manic depressive, seek
>treatment, the sooner the better.
>
>Be honest with your prescribing doctor if you have an alcohol or drug
>problem, so he or she can evaluate your medication therapy accordingly.
>
>
>
>Again, there is no evidence that Holosync, or any type of binaural beat,
>creates this kindling effect. Even if it did, there is no evidence that
>any of the negative effects of kindling mentioned have ever happened to
>Holosync users or to users of any other binaural beat product. Again, this
>is faulty, lazy, irresponsible logic. It is in the same realm as saying
>that people are killed by sharks in the waters off Miami, proving that
>water is a cause of shark attacks.
>
>Michael Hutchison wrote a book twenty years ago about technologies that
>affect consciousness. In doing so he met and spoke with several scientists
>who had done some work with binaural beat technologies, and he read the
>available literature on this subject (of which there isn't a lot). Michael
>Hutchison, however, is not a scientist, and is not the expert on this
>subject most people give him credit for being. I would hazard a guess that
>he is familiar with little if any literature that I am not also familiar
>with. In addition, I have twenty years of experience with this technology,
>with over 160,000 users givng me feedback--something Hutchison cannot say.
>
>In its possibility of (supposedly) creating these negative reactions in
>users, Holosync is technologically no different than any of the other
>binaural beat products on the market, including those Hutchison has
>created himself. Yet Hutchison isn't making defamatory statements about
>any other binaural beat products. Hutchison has zero information about
>Holosync, and zero evidence that ANY binaural product creates any of these
>problems. Perhaps he should confine his comments to subjects about which
>he knows something.
>
>
>In short, Holosync has withstood the test of time. We've been around since
>1989, and the company continues to grow at a huge pace because Holosync
>works and does what we say it will do. A minuscule number of people return
>the product for a refund, and we receive many letters every day from
>people telling us about the positive changes they experience as they use
>it. None of the effects Hutchison cites has ever been linked to Holosync,
>and no one, to my knowledge, has ever complained about anything that
>resembles those effects.
>
>Hopefully, this will put this ridiculous matter to rest.
>
>Be well.
>
>Bill Harris
*********************
Here is the complete link from this thread.
http://p072.ezboard.com/fcenterpointefrm16.showMessageRange?topicID=126.topic&start=21&stop=40
