Michel Odent, MD

Labor and Birth, Waterbirth

Michel Odent developed the maternity unit at Pithiviers Hospital in France in the 1960s and '70s. He is familiarly known as the obstetrician who introduced the concept of birthing pools and home-like birthing rooms. His approach has been featured in eminent medical journals, and in TV documentaries such as the BBC film Birth Reborn. After his hospital career he practiced homebirth.

As a researcher, he founded the Primal Health Research Center in London (UK), which focuses upon the long-term consequences of early experiences. An overview of the Primal Health Research data bank ( www.birthworks.org/primalhealth) clearly indicates that health is shaped during the primal period (from conception until the first birthday). It also suggests that the way we are born has long-term consequences in terms of sociability, aggressiveness or, otherwise speaking, capacity to love.

Michel Odent has developed a preconceptional program (the "accordion method") in order to minimize the effects of intrauterine and milk pollution by synthetic fat soluble chemicals such as dioxins, PCBs, and so on. His other research interests are non-specific, long-term effects on health of early multiple vaccinations. Author of 55 articles indexed in PubMed, Odent has published 11 books in 21 languages. In his books he developed the art of turning traditional questions around: "how to develop good health", instead of "how to prevent disease", or "how the capacity to love develops", instead of "how to prevent violence". "The Scientification of Love" and "The Farmer and the Obstetrician" raise urgent questions about the future of our civilizations.

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