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>> Statement: [Page 90]

Wright states “The first blow was a 1963 raid by US Marshals, acting on a warrant issued by the Food and Drug Administration to seize more than a hundred E-Meters stored in the Washington Church.

The FDA charged that the labeling for the E-Meter suggested that it was effective in diagnosing and treating ‘all mental and nervous disorders and illnesses,’ as well as ‘psychosomatic ailments of mankind such as arthritis, cancer, stomach ulcers, and radiation burns from atomic bombs, poliomyelitis, the common cold, etc.’”

>> True Information: Here are the true facts about this incident, which has long since been resolved.

Fifty years ago, in 1963, agents of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), assisted by longshoremen, raided the Founding Church of Scientology in Washington, D.C., and seized Scientology books and E-Meters. Years of litigation resulted in a landmark religious recognition for the Church on 30 July 1971, when the Founding Church of Scientology won religious recognition for the E-Meter as a religious artifact which can only be used by Scientology ministers and ministers-in training. On 1 March 1973, after ten years of litigation against the FDA, the Founding Church won final victory and the E-Meters and books taken in the 1963 FDA raid were ordered returned to the Church.

This matter has never been brought up again by the FDA.

Since that time, the Church has steadily built friendships and forged partnerships with civic and government officials in Washington, D.C., toward creating an improved environment and uplifting the culture. In September 2012, the Church of Scientology opened its National Affairs Office at Dupont Circle, to greatly expanding the Church’s ability to provide Washington, D.C. and the nation with its many social betterment programs and humanitarian initiatives. Dignitaries who took part in the opening ceremony included three U.S. Members of Congress and the Senior Program Manager at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.