Alternative Cancer Therapies

Numerous effective, nontoxic cancer treatments exist with tremendous promise. However, they are perceived as a threat by the mega-billion-dollar cancer establishment! Multinational drug companies and other vested interests don’t welcome safe, inexpensive cancer cures because they can’t be marketed to reap high profits. The information below highlights important facts about cancer and illustrates how alternative cancer therapies have been kept from the public by the key players in the cancer industry. While only ten therapies are discussed, there are nearly 100 non-toxic or less toxic treatments for cancer.

The myth is that alternative cancer therapists are quacks, unscrupulous, unlicensed, untrained in medicine and just out for a fast buck. The truth is that in a 1984 study reported in the Annals of internal Medicine, Barrie Cassileth, PhD et al found that 60 per cent of the 138 alternative caner practitioners they investigated were actually medical doctors. Of the remaining 40 per cent, many held doctorates in biology, chemistry or other related sciences and had extensive research backgrounds.

Note: the blacklisting and prohibition of each of the listed therapies occurred in the absence of any complaints or charges from the users of these treatments.

Essiac
In 1922 Rene Caisse, a Canadian nurse, healed thousands of cancer patients.

Dr Charles Brusch, personal physician to the late John F. Kennedy, obtained positive results with Essiac after 10 years of research and cured himself of bowel cancer.

Methods of Suppression
Constant threat of persecution and harassment by Canadian authorities;

Attempts to obtain official approval were thwarted;

In 1938, insufficient votes in Canadian parliament precluded legalization of Essiac;

1982 Health Protection Branch terminated the permit for clinical testing of Essiac, without completion of the studies and deemed that "no clinical evidence exists to support claims that it is an effective treatment for cancer."

Max Gerson Therapy
Regimen has two components: detoxification of wastes and toxins and an intensive nutritional program to flood the body with healing nutrients;

Almost all types of cancer are said to respond to the treatment;

A modified version of the Gerson Therapy showed that cachexia (wasting away) can be prevented or delayed, less need for analgesics, slower progression of existing liver metastases, and less risk of complications.

Method of Suppression
Dr Gerson was persecuted and harassed by the medical establishment for years;

He was attacked in the pages of the Journal of the American Medical Association for treating cancer patients with diet therapy;

He was expelled from the New York Medical Society and deprived of his hospital affiliations;

Therapy was blacklisted and featured on the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) Unproven Methods list;

The Gerson Therapy can only be administered in Tijuana, Mexico.

Immuno-Augmentative Therapy (IAT)
IAT is a two-step procedure consisting of an evaluation to measure deficiencies of blood proteins, followed by injections of cytokines (immune substances) that augment immune system functioning and shrink tumors;

Reportedly, 50 to 60 per cent of patients experience tumor reduction; many undergo long-term regression; some achieve complete remission;

Many treated cases of metastatic cancer of colon and abdomen are now well beyond five years of recovery;

Eleven IAT-treated patients with advanced mesothelioma achieved survival rates two to three times greater than those of the traditional therapies.

Methods of Suppression
Even after Dr Burton demonstrated how his therapy could shrink tumors, the ACS still placed IAT on the Unproven Methods blacklist;

Burton’s research funding was cut--this included a grant from the US Public Health Service;

Professional journals refused to publish any more of his papers;

In 1977 he was forced to relocate to Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, to continue treating patients;

NCI continued attempts to shut down the new clinic--they succeeded in 1985 by bringing false charges against him;

Burton filed lawsuits against the NCI and the Centre for Disease Control; his Bahamian clinic was reopened eight months later.

Laetrile (Amygdalin)
A concentrated extract of amygdalin made from apricot kernels;

Dr Kanematsu Suigiura showed that laetrile had a substantial effect on inhibiting the growth of secondary tumors in mice;

Laetrile can produce a 60 per cent reduction in lung metastases;

Ralph Moss reported that about 20 experiments completed at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center produced positive results.

Methods of Suppression
Reports released to the media by Sloan-Kettering highlighted only the negative aspects of Suigiura’s work while positive results were downplayed;

Sloan-Kettering deemed laetrile completely ineffective in treating cancer despite solid evidence to the contrary;

When Ralph Moss, director for public affairs and science writer for Sloan-Kettering, charged the centre’s officials with covering up positive findings with laetrile, his employment was terminated.

Hydrogen Peroxide
Proponents claim that hydrogen peroxide kills bacteria and viruses, oxidizes toxins, and stimulates the immune system;

Hydrogen peroxide stimulates natural killer cells, which attack cancer cells as these attempt to spread throughout the body;

When used with radiation, it allowed the sick tissue around the cancer to recover more rapidly.

Methods of Suppression
Many doctors who have administered hydrogen peroxide infusions in the US have been confronted by medical boards and have been forced to spend time and money defending themselves;

Some physicians have had their licenses revoked.

714-X
Developed by biologist, Gaston Naessens, 714 X is a mixture of camphor and nitrogen, which is injected directly into the lymph system, allowing toxins to be flushed out;

The testimony of his patients at his trials has brought world-wide attention to his therapies;

Methods of Suppression
In May 1989 Naessens was put through a criminal trial by the Quebec Medical Corporation of Physicians, who charged him with practicing dangerous and illegal therapies, fraud and criminal negligence, even though he was later acquitted;

In Quebec, Naessen’s work has been dismissed as worthless. 714-X is available only through the emergency drug branch of the federal government;

Without any investigation, 714-X remains on the ACS Unproven Methods blacklist.

Iscador
Iscador is a fermented preparation of the European mistletoe (viscum album);

Studies have shown that Iscador therapy improves the survival rate of many cancers (cervix, ovaries, breast, colon, stomach and lungs, as well as advanced-stage inoperable solid tumors);

With 20 years of clinical experience, it has been found that Iscador may both inhibit tumor growth and stimulate the immune system;

Best results have been obtained in the treatment of solid tumors, both before and after surgery and radiotherapy.

Methods of Suppression
To access Iscador in Canada special permission must be obtained from the Health Protection Branch;

Despite growing international medical literature in support of Iscador’s anticancer properties, the mistletoe extract is blacklisted by the American Cancer Society.

Hoxsey Therapy
A combination of internal and external herbal preparations, a special diet, nutritional supplements and attitudinal counseling;

The herbal remedies are said to strengthen the immune system and to help carry away wastes and toxins from the tumors that the herbal compounds caused to necrotize;

A report for the Office of Technology Assessment concluded "more recent literature leaves no doubt that Hoxsey’s formula does indeed contain many plant substances of marked therapeutic activity.

Methods of Suppression
Hoxsey faced unrelenting harassment from a hostile medical establishment;

The Hoxsey clinic was shut down in 1960;

The American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the sale of all Hoxsey medications;

In 1968 the ACS added the Hoxsey therapy to its Unproven Methods blacklist ;

His therapy was driven out of the country to Tijuana, Mexico;

A federal document to Congress reported that the AMA, NCI and FDA organized a conspiracy to suppress a fair, unbiased assessment of Hoxsey’s methods.

Hydrazine Sulphate
Discovered by Dr Joseph Gold in 1968, hydrazine sulphate is a chemical that is thought to work against cancer by blocking a liver enzyme;

About half of all patients who take it experience restored appetite, extended survival time and a significant reduction in pain and suffering;

It has little or no side effects and clinically documented anti-tumor action;

Clinical trials suggest that it affects every type of tumor at every stage.

Methods of Suppression
The first tests conducted by Sloan-Kettering researchers intentionally violated drug testing protocols so as to end up with negative results;

The ACS put hydrazine sulphate on its Unproven Methods blacklist, from 1976-1982;

After being placed on the black list, Dr Gold was denied any future funding from government or other sources;

The FDA blocked access to the drug by making it illegal for chemical companies to sell hydrazine sulphate to the public.

Antineoplaston Therapy
Antineoplaston Therapy is a peptide treatment discovered by Stanislaw Burzynski, MD, PhD, in 1967, which apparently inhibits cancer cells and converts them to normal;

In clinical trials, favorable results have been obtained by researchers from Japan, Poland, China and the United States;

Burzynski has published 150 scientific papers and holds 20 patents for antineoplaston treatment, covering 16 countries.

Methods of Suppression
Antineoplaston therapy has been on the ACS unproven methods blacklist since 1983;

The FDA filed suit against Dr Burzynski in 1983. It ordered Burzynski and his institute to stop all further research, development, manufacture and use of antineoplastons. however, a federal judge allowed him to continue research and treatment;

July 1985, agents from the FDA and the Harris County sheriff’s office forcibly entered Burzynski’s clinic and seized 11 filing cabinets containing over 200,000 medical and insurance billing records;

As of March 1993 the FDA still hadn’t brought charges against Dr Burzynski or returned his medical records;

In February 1992, the Texas Attorney General brought a suit to stop all distribution of antineoplaston and destroy existing stock.

References:
1. McTaggart, Lynne. Medicine: What Works and What Doesn’t, 1995.
2. Moss, Ralph. Cancer Therapy--The Independent Consumer’s Guide to Non-toxic Treatment and Prevention. Equinox Press, New York, 1992.
3. Pelton, Ross and Lee Overholser. Alternatives in Cancer Therapy. Simon and Schuster, Toronto, 1994.