werner@aecom.UUCP (Craig Werner) (08/21/85)
In last week's American Medical News there was about eight pages on the various Cancer Clinics springing up in Mexico, etc. The articles were suprisingly sympathetic, they were informative, and objective, and let the proponents of the various therapies make their claims without countering them. None of my observations appeared in the article. Some thoughts on them: 1. None of the clinics, when asked, would give a percentage of their patients who survive. They always replied something like, "Doctors care more about statistics than helping people." (quote from the head of the Gerson clinic) Observation 1: Almost (but not quite) a million people get Cancer every year. Of these, almost (maybe over) half can be cured by conventional methods. Some cancers have a spontaneous remission rate as high as 1 - 5%. That means 10-25,000 people a year will spontaneously recover from various Cancers. Observation 2: The last time proponents (yes, supporters) of Laetrile allowed a followup study to be done, 49 of the 50 patients whose histories they submitted to the California Cancer Commission had died from their cancers by the time of the committee hearing (5 years after submission). This was in 1952. 2. They all claim that the 'Cancer Industry' has a billion dollar stake in making patients go through conventional treatment, rather than use natural therapies and lose money. Observation 1. Non-conventional (and usually ineffective) treatments for Cancer and Arthritis is a $10 Billion/year industry on its own. The Gerson clinic in Tijuana, which treats Cancer with Carrot Juice, Coffee Enemas and Laetrile, charges $2000/week for each patient, cash in advance. Non-conventional therapies have just as much if not more economic pressure. Observation 2. If any company could come up with an effective cure for cancer, it would make Billions, and blow its competitors out of the water, bottom-line, wise. Observation 3. Companies can make just as much money selling natural therapies and chemically-produced ones. Look at all the vitamin companies. Also, money can be made in the absence of exclusive patent rights. Look at all the money that goes into advertising Aspirins, all of which are pretty much chemically identical. 3. The following was the lead-off anecdote: [regarding someone on Chemotherapy] The physician told her to expect some mild illness, maybe minor nausea. Instead she was violently ill for six days. The family rushed her to a Cancer clinic in Tijuana, where she recieved Laetrile. Within three weeks, she felt better. Although, she eventually died from her cancer, "if only we had gotten there sooner, things would have been different," said <>, "In retrospect, we realize that it was just too late." Observation: You have to understand how Chemotherapy works. The agents kill all dividing cells. Cancer cells are almost always dividing. Normal body cells are not. There are a few exceptions, though: hair follicles, skin cells, blood-precursor cells, and the lining of the stomach. These cells regenerate every few weeks. Too many side effects. The dose of chemotherapy was set too high, but instead of lowering her dose, the family swept her to Tijuana. Of course, she felt better after three weeks on Laetrile. Laetrile doesn't do any harm - it also doesn't do any good. Her stomach lining recovered, as it would after any Chemotherapeutic course. And in the absence of treatment, she died of cancer. The rationalization, though is very common in non-conventional medical circles, blame the patient, not the treatment. 4. To say something good about the clinics: They offer hope, they offer emotional support, they usually offer better settings than hospitals, and they don't do painful tests, etc. Obs: They certainly don't offer effective therapy, but they do offer reassurance, and then take credit the spontaneous remissions that occur under their auspices. The first is deplorable, the middle is commendable (and perhaps is something the real Oncologists should learn -- although if they did it to the extent of the foreign clinics they'd probably get sued for creating false hope.), the last is just slick advertising. -- Craig Werner !philabs!aecom!werner "The world is just a straight man for you sometimes"