Are there alternatives to chemo and radiation?

Peggy Steele

In his book, "Cancer Confidential," Keith Scott-Mumby MD, MB ChB, PhD said, "There were 12 million new cases of cancer worldwide in 2007 and about eight million cancer deaths. The WHO estimates that at current rate, the number of new cancer cases will catapult to 27 million annually by 2030; there will be 17 million cancer deaths per year and 75 million people living with cancer within five years after diagnosis.

"Also, by 2010, cancer will become the number one killer worldwide, outpacing heart disease and causing more deaths than AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined."

What is killing all those people - cancer ... or their treatments?

The traditional approach by oncologists is surgery, chemo and radiation. This is the mantra they all sing: cut, poison and burn. But do these protocols work?

The December 2004 issue of Clinical Oncology stated the five-year survival rate in adults treated with chemotherapy was estimated to be 2.1% in the U.S.A. and 2.3% in Australia, respectively. (There has been a 10% increase in survival for cancers of the cervix, testes and lymphomas.)

Every book and report I have read lately on cancer treatments says basically the same thing as Tanya Harter Pierce said in her book, "Outsmart Your Cancer," "The use of a toxic treatment for cancer may enable the cancer to spread even faster in a person's body. This is because the immune system and other natural defense mechanisms have been so weakened by the treatment itself. ... Conventional toxic approaches such as chemotherapy and radiation do not allow for continual use of a treatment because they are so toxic, continual use would kill the patient before the cancer could!

"For this reason, toxic treatments are always spaced out. This necessity to space out a toxic treatment is not optimally effective since one of cancer's best abilities is to grow new cells fast. Thus, in between toxic treatment administrations, while the patient's body is recovering from the treatment, the cancer cells are recovering too. And those cancer cells that grow back the fastest are those cells that have some amount of resistance to the treatment. In other words, the treatment itself selects for the proliferation of resistant cancer cells in a person's body.

"This type of resistance has become more and more evident with the use of antibiotics - causing antibiotic-resistant bacteria. In the case of chemotherapy use (and radiation) this type of dynamic may result in what are called, 'multi-drug resistant' cancer cells, or MDR cells. With non -toxic treatments, these vicious dynamics are avoided."

In their book, "The Cancer Breakthrough," Dr. Steve Hickey and Dr. Hilary Roberts came to the same conclusion. They said, " Both chemotherapy and radiation have practical limits. Such treatments kill susceptible cells, while leaving resistant cells unharmed. This process is similar to giving antibiotics for bacterial infections: if some bacteria survive, a drug-resistant infection can develop. Chemotherapy and radiation treatments tend to be given intermittently. In between cycles of therapy, or when the treatment is completed, resistant cells can multiply. As a result, cycles of treatment become progressively less effective.

"Unfortunately, cells which survive radiotherapy are often resistant to other therapies, including anti-cancer drugs. Like bacteria which develop resistance to antibiotics, cancer treatment can result in cells which are multiple-resistant to several forms of treatment."

Scott-Mumby said, "the conventional treatment of cancer has been an unmitigated disaster. It is getting better and there are new "smart" therapies on the way. But cutting, burning and poisoning with chemo does as much, or more to finish off the patient as the disease itself."

This has happened to virtually any cancer patient I've met who went the chemo/radiation route. They all developed secondary cancers. It happened to a very close friend recently. The treatments reduced the size of her lung cancer - but then she developed liver cancer. We buried her in June - 10 months after her initial diagnosis. She had rejected any suggestion of alternative treatments.

The patients I've met with metastatic cancer who are including alternative treatments such as high-dose intravenous vitamin C (IVC) in their treatment regimen, are for the most part, surviving. One woman diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer six years ago is now considered cancer-free. She isn't taking anything for granted, however, and still takes an IVC treatment every other week as a precautionary measure.

A new approach at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Toronto researcher and 2004 recipient of the Robert L. Noble Prize, Dr. Robert Kerbel has been studying the biology of cancer. The more he learns, the more convinced he is that there is something wrong with the way we have been treating cancer. He is currently helping to lead studies on a new chemotherapy concept called metronomic dosing, where chemotherapy drugs are given to patients at relatively low, minimally toxic doses on a more frequent schedule, as opposed to the maximum tolerated dose method of standard chemotherapy treatment.

Cancer cells can mutate quickly and "learn" to resist the drugs sent in to fight them. Dr. Kerbel is therefore studying how blood vessels form in the tumours themselves, and the normal host cells that comprise them." If we can stop these vessels from forming, we can stop the tumour from growing."

Dr. Kerbel wants to attack the blood vessels that feed the tumours. Although he claims this approach would not "cure" a cancer, it would slow it down and, perhaps, force it into a dormant state. (Dormant is good.)

Paradoxically, even if a tumour has learned to resist a particular drug, that same drug can be used to attack the tumour's blood vessel cells. This may have profound implications for chemotherapy, especially if it is done more often but at lower doses, causing fewer and less severe side effects. You can e-mail Dr. Kerbel at: mailto:robert.kerbel@sri.utoronto.ca

Ottawa researchers get infusion of funding

Thanks to an Ontario provincial infusion of $14.2 million, Dr. John Bell and Dr. Michael McBurney, senior scientists at the Ottawa Health Research Institute will be able to test their cancer-killing virus for effectiveness and safety in patients. According to the Ottawa Citizen, "The virus-based drug, called JX-594, has shown promise in a previous trial of 14 terminal cancer patients. Half survived more than eight months, although their life expectancy was just three to four months.

"The drug did three promising things during the previous trial. Injected straight into liver tumours of people with advanced cancer, it multiplied and killed tumour cells directly, while not killing healthy cells. It also stimulated the body's immune system to recognize and attack tumours, and it choked off the separate blood vessels that feed the tumours.

"This time, Bell plans to combine his genetically engineered "vaccinia" virus with a therapy, being designed at McMaster University, intended to boost the body's natural immune response, which becomes suppressed in cancer sufferers.

"The funding for McBurney's team would bring together laboratory scientists and cancer physicians, who would fine-tune the research needed to bring Bell's experimental therapy closer to becoming a useful anti-cancer drug."

Click here to view a video interview of Dr. Bell.

The search for a kinder, gentler chemo

Science Daily has reported, American researchers have found a way to disguise nano-particles of chemo and trick cancer cells into gobbling them up. This ensures the chemo affects only cancer cells and leaves normal cells alone. They do this by coating the nano-gel (chemo) particles with folic acid - a nutrient cancer cells love. Once the Trojan-horse nano particles enter the cancer cells, scientists apply targeted heat, and voila, the cancer cells are killed. Medical professionals will be snickering up their sleeves at this unscientific, over-simplified, low-tech description of this process. But hey, I never pretended to be a scientist! It's gratifying to know that science recognizes the terrible side effects of chemo therapy and is making concerted efforts to make it a thing of the past.

Are alternative treatments covered?

Unfortunately, alternative treatments are not covered by provincial government health coverage or your insurance company. Perhaps the reason lies with the fact that inexpensive natural remedies cannot be patented and are therefore not financially profitable to big pharma. (Watch the laetrile videos below for a complete explanation.)

There are many alternative treatments that have been successful. (And there have been many alternative medical practitioners who have been persecuted, jailed and driven out of business (or worse) for providing Intravenous high-dose vitamin C, hyperthermia, laetrile, vitamins, herbs and dietary counseling to their cancer patients.

A disturbing history

Scott-Mumby has many frightening and disturbing examples of this in his book, Cancer Confidential. He quotes, "Throughout his career, (naturopathic doctor) John R. Christopher spent his life in and out of court and in and out of jail. He was handcuffed and taken away after one of his lectures for giving herbs to ease the suffering of a woman with terminal cancer. Usually the jury acquitted him against the instructions. Finally in 1969 he was not so lucky, and was given a suspended sentence, because prescribing and suggesting herbs without a (medical) license was a felony." - Dr. Richard Shulze, N.D.

Another example in the Scott-Mumby book, " On two occasions, Gerson became violently ill ... lab tests showed ... arsenic in his urine. Some of Gerson's best case histories had mysteriously disappeared from his files ... Gerson was invited on a talk show by host Long John Nebel ... Nebel was fired the very next day and the radio network was threatened by the AMA," - Norman Fritz.

Scott-Mumby blew my naive brain away with another quote: "After presenting a rather effective lecture on cancer, the windshield was shot out of my car on the road back to San Francisco. The next night the glass window in the tailgate was shot out (300 miles removed from the first shooting). The police said, 'maybe someone is trying to tell you something.' The late Arthur Harris, M.D. was threatened by two men with assassination if he continued to use laetrile. Since that time, we have decentralized the work so that, if any two of us are shot out of the saddle, it will only have a slight negative effect on the program." - Dr. Krebs.

Was Oprah attacked for doing her job?

Dr. Joseph Mercola has reported in his excellent on-line newsletter that Oprah has been attacked in the press for interviewing Suzanne Somers about bio-identical estrogen cream - an alternative to synthetic HRTs. Oprah has apparently been attacked before for mentioning alternative methods on her show.

I actually watched that show - and came away having no idea if bio-identical estrogen is a safe alternative or not. (I suspect past negative experiences with estrogen may have coloured my opinion.) But Oprah certainly should have the journalistic freedom to investigate this or any other topic without fear of being attacked for doing so.

Click here to see the full article

Information

If you are interested in learning about alternative approaches to cancer treatment, you can start by going to the following websites. If a protocol or clinic is mentioned here it doesn't mean I am promoting or endorsing it. I'm simply providing information for you to evaluate and discuss with your qualified health practitioner. This is a jumping-off point for you. If a certain approach makes sense, investigate it further. If none of this makes sense, then simply ignore it.

American Anti-Cancer Institute newsletter is chock full of information including survivor's stories. See the amazing story of Dr. Lorraine Day at: www.americanaci.org . Under AACI Partners, click on Survivors-Stories of Hope. Warning: Lorraine Day photos are not for the faint of heart. If you are at all squeamish, skip this item.

The Cancer Control Society in Los Angeles provides information on alternative clinics in the USA, Mexico and Canada. They provide a list of cancer patients who are willing to talk about their treatments and outcome. (I had a delightful conversation with one cancer survivor who I'll write about in a future issue.) The society will be running a three-day conference in September. See their website at: www.cancercontrolsociety.com.

Intravenous High-Dose Vitamin C

High-dose intravenous vitamin C (IVC) has been a hotly debated topic. Trials done at McGill University concluded there was no benefit to IVC. However, it has been claimed that dosages used in the trials were not high enough to produce results. In trials at the Mayo Clinic, only oral vitamin C was administered. It is now known that intravenous vitamin C has to be administered to be effective. The wrong form of vitamin C has been used in other trials. One can wonder if the trials were deliberately set up for failure. This issue is discussed at: Medical Breakthroughs Reported by Ivanhoe.

The idea that vitamin C could protect against cancer was investigated first by Linus Pauling in the late 1970s along with a Scottish surgeon Ewan Cameron. They reported that patients treated with high doses of vitamin C had survived three to four times longer than similar patients who did not receive vitamin C supplements.

In Sept., 2005, Medical News Today reported, "Scientists have found that high intravenous doses of vitamin C kills cancer cells. The ascorbate dose has to be very high, too high to be taken orally, hence the intravenous administration. Some recent trials showed orally administered vitamin C had no effect on cancer cells, so the researchers decided to see what would happen if they injected the ascorbate straight into the bloodstream. The tests were carried out in a lab, simulating clinical infusions of vitamin C on nine different cancer cells and four normal cells. They found that while the normal cells were not affected, five of the cancer cells became 50% smaller. The lymphoma cells were completely destroyed."

The Bio-Communications Research Institute, a division of the Center for the Improvement of Human Functioning in Wichita, Kansas, has pioneered the use of IVC for the treatment of many cancers. Their research and informational videos can be seen at: www.bcrionline.org. The Bright Spot for Health is another division of the Center for the Improvement of Human Functioning. It can be seen at: www.brightspot.org

Laetrile

This fascinating lecture by G. Edward Griffen has been divided into nine minute segments. He speaks about his personal connection to laetrile, the science and politics of laetrile and winds up with a description of the trials run by Sloan-Kettering. This institution went to great lengths to discredit the results of its own trials.

The story of laetrile is highly controversial. Its sale is illegal in the U.S.A. and difficult to obtain in Canada. Health Canada issued a warning to consumers June 14, 2009, stating that bitter apricot kernels can cause cyanide poisoning in consumers. (Apparently one Canadian overdid it and had to be carted off to hospital.) Health Canada has not approved apricot kernels for any medicinal or natural health purposes. The health department considers small amounts of cyanide contained in one or two apricot kernels to be safe to consume.

In the Laetrile video 3 shown below, Edward Griffen says the cyanide and benzaldehyde locked up in molecular form in apricot kernels are only toxic to cancer cells when the cancer cells themselves unlock these elements. He acknowledges cyanide is poisonous in its gaseous form. However when you ingest apricot kernels, cyanide is not in its gaseous or nascent form. It is locked up in molecular form and does not pose a danger. Opinions vary as to how many apricot kernels it is safe to ingest. Griffen feels one can consume a small handful without adverse effects. He acknowledges in one of his videos (in another series), if you unwisely overdo it and munch down a bowl full, you are going to have one heck of a tummy ache and wind up in hospital.

When I first viewed these videos, it was my intention to watch only the first one - and get to the rest at a later time. Well, I just couldn't stop watching this fascinating story unfold. It's a real who-dunnit, page-turner.

Laetrile 1 How Griffen became involved in the Laetrile story

Laetrile 2 The science of cancer therapy: Two conflicting views

Laetrile 3 How amygdalin (laetrile, B-17) works against cancer

Laetrile 4 The politics of cancer therapy: The pharmaceutical cartel

Laetrile 5 Efficiency in philanthropy: Sloan-Kettering trials

Laetrile 6 Sloan-Kettering trials continued

Laetrile 7 A deliberate plan to withhold a control for cancer?

You can obtain Ed Griffen's books and DVDs at: www.1cure4cancer.com. He has another website at: www.realityzone.com.

DISCLAIMER:
The material contained in this story is not intended as a substitute for the diagnosis, treatment or advice of a qualified, licensed medical professional. No one should consider that this site represents the "practice of medicine." This site assumes no responsibility for how the material herein is used. Be advised that the statements regarding alternative treatments for cancer have not been evaluated by Health Canada or the CMA.