The Watchtower's Half-Century Crusade Against the Germ Theory
The Watchtower's Evidence
The Watchtower opposed the germ theory as late as 1939. The Golden Age did discuss a scientific experiment which was then in progress endeavoring to determine whether or not pasteurization had an effect but, unfortunately, they evidently never reported the results--possibly it did not conform to their perception of the germ theory (Woodworth 1930: 559).
The only study quoted which indicates pasteurization can cause harm compared infants fed on raw milk with those fed on pasteurized milk. The study concluded the weight gain was greater for infants on raw milk--1.7% for the pasteurized milk alone compared to 14% for the raw milk. Aside from discussing the calcium difference in raw versus pasteurized milk, no reason was given for the weight gain difference which may not be a sign of health.
The Watchtower also claimed "studies" were done which involved deliberately placing typhoid, pneumonia, diphtheria, tuberculosis, and meningitis germs in food that was fed to select subjects--none of whom they claim became ill in any of the experiments! Pathogenic germs were even pushed into the patients' sinuses, swabbed on their nostrils and rubbed on their tonsils but "in spite of coaxing, coddling and urging, they refused to produce a solitary sign of meningitis in the eleven tests made" (Fraser 1939: 27). No more details nor references were given for this "study," and thus it cannot be verified. One suspects that this study came solely from the wild imagination of a Watchtower author.
Since the Watchtower taught that the cause of all disease is poisonous chemicals, the so called biochemic theory of disease causation, they opposed not only vaccinations but also chlorination and fluoridation of water. Dumping what they called "irritant poisons" into drinking water (chlorine) not only does not solve the disease problem but creates health problems because disease is caused by chemicals and not germs. The Watchtower concludes that it is also foolish both to forbid selling unpasteurized milk and to quarantine citizens "if found carrying certain germs" because illness is not produced by germs that can be spread by carriers but "by a condition of accumulated poisonous wastes in the system" (Sillaway 1925: 465). In short, their teaching was that
poison wastes in the system [body] are the foundation of all germ disease. It is in this waste that all disease germs breed. Internal and external cleanliness is a sure immunity from every form of germ disease. We might also fitly add, from all disease of whatever character, as this reduction of the body wastes to the minimum, in which they can be excreted as fast as produced, can be done only through a scientifically balanced diet which in itself insures freedom from disease (Sillaway 1925: 465-466).