John Kanzius (born 1944), is an American inventor, radio and TV engineer, one-time station owner and ham radio operator (Call Sign K3TUP) from Erie, Pennsylvania, who has invented a method that has the potential to treat cancer. He has also demonstrated a device that can "burn salt water". Both effects involve the use of his radio frequency transmitter.
Kanzius, an autodidact, says that he was motivated to research the subject of cancer treatment by his own experiences undergoing chemotherapy for treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
As of 2007-04-23, preliminary research using the Kanzius RF device at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston (by Dr. Steven A. Curley, Professor in Surgical Oncology) and The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (by Dr. David A. Geller, co-director of the Liver Cancer Center) has shown promising results. If federal approval is granted, testing on human patients would be the next step.
Steven A. Curley, who pioneered the clinical studies that led to FDA approval of radiofrequency ablation to treat unresectable primary and metastatic hepatobiliary malignancies, referred to the method as “one of the most exciting developments in years.”
Kanzius also made it clear that a driving force to coordinate and implement his research was based on seeing cancer-ridden children with little or no hope and desiring to change this for the betterment of all.
The prototype of the device, which was first tested successfully at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center by Klune et al. was built by Kanzius himself in his home.
As of 1st November 2007, preliminary trials with rabbits have turned up a 100% success rate, with the tumors successfully eliminated and the rabbits remaining unharmed.
Kanzius has proposed that the flame is produced by radio waves "forcing together" the "normally separated" hydrogen and oxygen in the water, a process he calls "reunification." In water (H2O), hydrogen is covalently bonded to oxygen, and thus the process must "reunite" pairs of hydrogen atoms and pairs of oxygen atoms, releasing dihydrogen (H2) and dioxygen (O2). The energy from the radio waves is absorbed by the water and splits the water into hydrogen and oxygen which then react together to reform the water and re-release the energy and form a flame. In other words, the process turns radio energy into heat and light energy. The water torch, a form of oxyhydrogen torch, is an earlier example of the process of recombining oxygen and hydrogen to release of heat and light energy.
Kanzius' experiment has been confirmed by Rustum Roy, a materials scientist at Pennsylvania State University, in a demonstration before the Material Science faculty, using Kanzius' RF transceiver, which Kanzius had brought to the lab for the day. On his website, Roy writes: "It is clear that Mr. Kanzius has demonstrated the ability to dissociate aqueous solutions of sodium chloride at normal sea water concentrations into hydrogen and oxygen."
According to Roy, "The salt water isn't burning per se, despite appearances. The radio frequencies act to weaken the bonds between the elements that make up salt water, releasing the hydrogen. Once ignited, the hydrogen will burn as long as it is exposed to the frequencies." The temperature and flame color varies with water solutions and concentrations.
Philip Ball, a consulting editor at Nature and author of "H2O: A Biography of Water", is highly critical of any theory of water as a fuel, both in general, and specifically as an alternative to traditional fuel sources. Although he says that Kanzius' discovery itself needs to be verified through careful experiments, he states that "water is not a fuel" and "[w]ater does not burn". Ball also states that according to the laws of thermodynamics, it is "impossible to extract energy by producing hydrogen from water and then burning it, as this would be a basis for a perpetual motion machine." He is critical of lack of inquiry in the media reports about bogus science. Ball writes "Here, however (for what it is worth) is the definitive verdict of thermodynamics: water is not a fuel."
Systems and methods for Combined RF-induced hyperthermia and radioimmunotherapy