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By MARK GUYDISH markg@leader.net
Thursday, March 20, 2003 Page: 11A
A staunch local advocate of the “Water Cure” is offering $20,000 – 40
individual awards of $500 each – to students and their schools willing to
conduct “research” he is convinced will prove the cure works.
“I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before,” said Bob Butts, who has
long pushed the idea that high water intake cures most ailments. “Kids have
no financial agenda and are young enough to still be idealistic.”
On Monday, Butts issued a press release seeking high school and colleges
students who would conduct surveys of people who claim they have been healed
using the Water Cure, and of people who are suffering from “the worst health
problems.”
The students would ask how much water, alcohol, caffeine and salt the
people consume. Students would write a report on their findings, and Butts is
promising to give $500 prizes to the 30 students with the best reports.
He also wants to give 10 similar prizes to participating schools that help
coordinate the student research. “We want to have some kind of project
manager from each school who would assume responsibility to put it together.
“They will design the process themselves,” he added. “They can do it any
way they want.
“I think in no time at all they will see a clear-cut tie-in to their
sickness, and the common denominator will be dehydration,” Butts said.
Butts acknowledges the research will be unscientific, but offers no
apologies. “All that scientific research is only money driven. What we’re
doing is ethics driven.”
He has repeatedly argued that large pharmaceutical companies and medical
professionals have dismissed the Water Cure because it would eliminate the
need for many medicines and treatments, cutting deeply into profits.
The Water Cure requires people to give up caffeine and alcohol, and drink
several quarts of water a day, depending on their weight, along with small
amounts of sea salt.
Butts contends that the process hydrates the body and eliminates symptoms
of many diseases, including cancer and asthma.
He promised that the best reports would be rewarded, and made public, even
if they offer evidence against Water Cure claims. Winners would be selected by
Butts and staff members from the student’s school.
Butts, who heads Cee-Kay Auto stores, said the money for the awards will
come from rental income he receives through his business. He said he devotes
more than half his time to promoting the Water Cure, but that it doesn’t
impact the business. “I no longer draw a salary.”
The idea of enlisting students to conduct the surveys sprang from a Bible
passage.
“In the Bible there’s a saying that a child shall lead them, and that
stuck in my mind.”
Mark Guydish, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7161.