Anyone want to buy my cancer cure?

[DS9Voy]

It's called snake oil. Guaranteed 100% to cure all your ills.

I wish people would stop spreading false info around such as "X natural food will cure you or prevent cancer".

You want to know the biggest cause of cancer? Go outside and take a good breath. In my city you can't do so with out the smell of gasoline in the air. Today we had another "Ozone alert" on the signs along the freeways. I remember watching a movie in the 70's based on the future in which it was casually said "Another acid rain day is forecasted for today" Never thought it would happen, but here we are.

A hamburger is far, far less likely to give you cancer than a polluted environment. I've noticed under the last few years of republican rule the situation has only gotten worse.

Toxins in the air, earth, and water are a huge cause of illness. Instead of some people telling others to drink apple juice to prevent cancer you might ask them to turn off the SUV/hummer, strengthen environmental laws, and do a host of other things to prevent pollution in the environment. That's how you can prevent cancer.

[DanCa]

1. Great Post

I had a freeper the other day tell me why dont I take a glass of orange juice and a multivitamin to "cure" Parkinsons. Where do these mouth breathers come from?

[Warpy]

3. There are a few of them on these boards, too

the problem is that snake oil has a placebo effect and works quite nicely on people who aren't very sick.

For the truly sick, treatments and cures that send the alternative medicine folks into paroxysms of outrage are the best bet. You know, that evil allopathic medicine practiced by overcharging doctors, hospitals and drug companies.

Some alternative practice is great stuff and can make people feel like a million bucks for a short period of time, like massage and acupuncture. However, little beats ugly old allopathic medicine when it comes to controlling symptoms and disease progression long term. Even the Chinese have figured that one out.

Just don't use it instead of allopathic medicine if you're REALLY SICK.

[onager]

5. Warpy, thanks for the voice of reason...

...as usual. I've had a couple of friends who fell for this, and they reacted exactly as you described.

After the first couple of trips to Mexico with the Alternative Healer, they came back talking about how great they felt. And how "traditional Western medicine" was worthless, etc.

But they inevitably relapsed and ended up worse than before.

One co-worker followed this pattern. He was HIV-positive. He didn't show up for work for 3 days, and I went and knocked on his door.

The poor guy was so out of it, he didn't even know who I was. That scared me. I was sure I would be calling the coroner soon. (His partner usually took very good care of him, but he was out of town on an emergency family trip.)

The poster upthread was absolutely right. There is no "alternative" medicine, any more than there is an "alternative gravity." Medicine either works or doesn't.

[renate]

8. I really do have to disagree with you

A responsible, informed practitioner of alternative medicine will send you to an allopathic physician immediately if need be, because what comes first is the health of the patient, not some philosophical treatise about the drug companies. However, in non-urgent cases, natural medicine is often very beneficial, often with or sometimes without allopathic treatments--especially for chronic illness. Please don't try to paint all alternative medical practitioners as crackpots. I won't deny there aren't a few out there, just like there are a minority of sub-par medical doctors who shouldn't be allowed to change a bedpan, let alone treat a patient. But both types of practitioners are in the minority.

[Bridget Burke]

15. Years ago, a friend had horrible pain in his back.

He kept going to a chiropractor who kept treating him & charging him--but the pain just got worse.

So he went to an acupuncturist, who gave him an exam & immediately told him to see a doctor. He had pancreatic cancer & did not last long. He would have had small chance for a cure in any case, but the MD's at least offered some relief from pain.

Acupuncture is useful for some conditions and the acupuncturist knew its limits. Not so for the chiropractor.

[msongs]

2. this just in: conception is the leading cause of death eom :-)

[B Calm]

4. You mean toxic sludge water is not good for you.. Google search

URINE THERAPY, this might be the cure to everything..

[Seeker30]

6. You guys are totally offbase

I can't believe anyone with a brain would endorse a system that enriches the drug companies by having doctors prescribe drugs for any and all ailments. To say something is snake oil simply because it is natural instead of a synthetic drug is just plain ignorant. Natural remedies are rarely tested because there is no profit in it. Cancer treatment in this country is nothing more than a scam and kills as many as it saves. Modern medicine does not want to cure any disease as it is more profitable to treat than to cure. If a cure for cancer came out tomorrow our entire economy would crash.

[DS9Voy]

7. I hate to tell you this

but you can actually patent NATURAL compounds. I believe there was a company that actually patented a certain birds urine when they thought it may have medicinal value.

If there was solid reason to believe a natural remedy did indeed work believe me - it would patented before you know it.

[Baconfoot]

10. Wrong on many counts... let's see...

1)Doctors don't "prescribe drugs for any and all ailments." This is a myth. Sorry.
a)Why, just last week I discussed with my non-alternative physician whether to medicate for a chronic condition of mine (mild Tourette's) and he recommended not to medicate as it would be for purely cosmetic reasons which would not outweigh the side-effects. My non-alternative physician's supervisor person (whatever the proper term is) at the hospital independantly made the same recommendation. CURIOUS INDEED. No doubt a few exceptions that prove the rule, according to you.

b)Also, consider surgeries. Many surgeries reliably, completely cure conditions for which a patient might otherwise have taken a lifetime of painkillers. Why, according to you, are they still developing new surgical procedures? Perhaps it is to give people chronic pain conditions for which they can take medications? Yeeeees yesssss. That must be why they do organ transplants too. They just want you hooked on the antirejection drugs. Yeeeesss precious.


2)You say modern medicine does not want to cure "any disease." That's fascinating.

a)What's with antibiotics? They didn't want to cure my double pneumonia, which they did, in fact cure? They didn't want to cure, say, the athlete's foot I had when I was a swimmer? Tell me, why did "they" invent and market antibiotics? I suppose it's just to keep the patient alive longer so that they can delevope a chronic illness for which they can pay more?

b)What's with antivirals? Someone I know was recently given a course of antiviral medication for his Bell's Palsy, which MY GOD, went away. I suppose, however, that antivirals are just another component in the vast conspiracy to seem like cures are being developed but are really schemes to leech money from people. My acquaintance must have just SLIPPED through the cracks on this one.

c)What's with vaccines? (Construe "cure" broadly for this part of the response) Sure diseases can be completely irradicated with proper global vaccination. But the real point of vaccines must be, I'm sure, to gain a monopoly on a particular germ and to weaken people's immunity to deadly germs.

d)For that matter, what's with amputation?

e)What's with cancer treatments? (Psssst click on that recent cancer myths link. I think you might be surprised at the recovery rates.)

3)The entire economy would COLLAPSE if a cure for cancer were found tomorrow you say.
a)Nice. What possible reason could you have for thinking this?
b)If you are worried about this, stop. A cure for any particular type or types of cancer will be something we see coming for years in advance as the drug/drugs/therapy goes through the various stages of testing. So we'll have plenty of time to prevent this oh-so-plausible economic collapse.

In short, you are mistaken.

[Seeker30]

23. Sorry, you are wrong

1)Doctors don't "prescribe drugs for any and all ailments." This is a myth. Sorry.

A myth?? Please. You really should look up who does the majority of funding for medical schools..DRUG COMPANIES. Walk into any doctors office and you'll see advertising for drugs on everything from the calendars to the pens. Doctors get kickbacks for the drugs they prescribe. So are you going to tell me all of a sudden 5 million kids in this country need Ritalin? Why do drug companies put commercials on TV? Quit being brainwashed.

2)You say modern medicine does not want to cure "any disease." That's fascinating.

You tell me the last disease cured. With all the technological advances over the past 50 years not ONE disease has been cured.

3)The entire economy would COLLAPSE if a cure for cancer were found tomorrow you say.
a)Nice. What possible reason could you have for thinking this?

Its called economics. The average cost for cancer treatment is $277,000. Multiply that with the 1,220,100 people diagnosed with cancer every year in this country. The profits are astronomical.
$337,967,700,000, that is the cost every year that is spent on treatment. If cancer were cured tomorrow tens of thousands of people in the medical field would be unemployed, drug company stocks would plummet, and some hospitals would be forced to close their doors. Sorry this is so hard for you to comprehend.

[Dear Maggie]

12. You are right on

I believe there was a cure for the autoimmune, diabetes causing chemical I've studied, but the medical profession and drug companies make so much money on the ill... that it didn't get brought out.

If I had a cure for the cancers out there ... I'd shout it from the housetops.

Not to say that there aren't millions of outstanding doctors who put their patients first and foremost ... but then there are others who just want to earn money, and they get the same pay whether the patient lives or dies.

Stop the exposure to 2-butoxyethanol and half our medical folks wouldn't have much to do ... and the drug companies would go out of business. That's what I think.

I lost my dear friend a couple of days ago ... I suspect she died from the effects of being a good housekeeper and cleaning through the years with products such as Lysol Tub 'n Tile. What a loss to society, to her family, to me. I will miss Helen forever and always and the world is diminished with her death at 66.

In her case I suspect she died of the advanced autoimmune hemolytic anemia ... rapid heart beat from lack of oxygen. She was getting weekly Procrit shots as she didn't have enough red blood cells. I kept sharing information with her, but it was obvious that the doctors she saw were stumped by her ailments (high blood sugar, high blood pressure, joints hurting, blood clot in leg) and that the most of them were quite disinterested ... "Oh, go to the ER. We don't have time to work you into our schedule"

Oh, well, just the civilian version of 'gulf war syndrome' and the USA hasn't figured that out yet. They do say, however, except for Lou Gehrig's Disease the gulf war vets are no more harmed than the general population.

[coffeenap]

16. What is the Lou Gehrig's disease connection? A friend of mine

died of ALS at age 40--horrible.

[shockra]

13. True.

The last book I read this in was Living Well with Hypothyroidism, where Mary M. Shomon openly admitted that you shouldn't be looking for cures because the drug companies are doing quite well making money off the drugs.

"Since a substantial part of research into thyroid disease is funded by major manufacturers of thyroid drugs, it is not likely that any meaningful research will be conducted that could truly improve the quality of life of people with hypothryoidism. Manufacturers are not likely to fund research into prevention of hypothyroidism, search for real cures for hypothyroidism (that would replace lifelong treatment with levothyroxine), explore alternative drugs or therapies that might have better results for some people, or study the side effects of their levothyroxine products. This is an important point. There is no incentive for manufacturers to research cures because there is no reason to fund research that might result in reduced sales of levothyroxine, the drug they profit from selling in the first place.

Nearly all mainstream research on drugs involves the manufacturers in some way. According to an investigation by the New England Journal of Medicine, 96 percent of the doctors, scientists, and researchers who write articles supporting particular drugs or therapies receive some financial benefit from the pharmaceutical companies that make the drugs.

This influence makes it all the more important for patients to take it upon themselves to get more information about their hypothyroidism. You can't assume that you will get complete, balanced, and unbiased information from patient brochures, pharmaceutical company-sponsored informational sessions, or doctors who may be biased due to sponsorships, research funding, or their medical education."

(italics in the original)

[Kraklen]

19. You think alternative medicine is any better?

Talk about a shady business. They sell stuff that doesn't even begin to treat disease. Do you think they want to cure anything? Of course not.

[BMG]

9. Concrete is also radioactive.

Humans are exposed to radioactive substances/waves/ommissions daily.

Sucks huh?

Makes me want to go live in a forest or something.

[Dear Maggie]

11. butyl ether in gasoline?

Remember in the 70's they were adding MTBE to gasoline and then State by State they were banning it. Alaska's Governor did all on his own I heard due to the health effects that were noticed in Fairbanks.

We are a chemically poisoned people ... and that is causing much cancer and birth defects.

I hear China has more and more cars being made there without the environmental requirements of our cars. The 'acid rain' is ruining their own agricultural lands and in neighboring countries, too, such as Japan.

When China wants the oil for their cars ... they will be able to pay the highest price for it ... since the trade balance is way off in their favor ... so where does that leave us?

[robcon]

14. The problem is the facts explode your theory

Cancers in the U.S. are on the decline (aside, of course, of the reduction of smoking-related lung cancer, which is 100% environmental) on an age-adjusted basis.

Long-term survivial rates for cancers like leukemia, breast cancer, testicular cancer, etc. have increased dramatically in the last 25 years. Some important cancers, like lung cancer, ovarian cancer and pancreatic cancer have so far been resistant to the dramatic increases in survival rates so far.

The cure for cancer, as Jimmy Carter has said, is medical research.

[Dear Maggie]

17. We are poisoning our own - Stop it!

"Some important cancers, like lung cancer, ovarian cancer and pancreatic cancer have so far been resistant to the dramatic increases in survival rates so far."

These could all be from exposure to 2-butoxyethanol.

The rare joint cancer that Robert Urich had can travel to the lungs ... so that's not from smoking, sad to say.

Jimmy Carter is WRONG - Stay away from 2-butoxyethanol is a better plan.

And find all products that contain over 5% of it ... and label as poison

[Seeker30]

18. Those facts are misleading

Cancer rates have fallen 1.6% since 1982, true. But consider the fact that in 1982 and before approximately half the population smoked, now only 25% smoke, so cancer rates should have declined more than 1.6%.

Now, if you want to talk about real facts, 100 years ago your chance of developing any type of cancer was one in a hundred, today you now have a one in four chance. How do you explain that?

People are surviving longer than they were 25 years ago, but that does not mean they are being cured, stats only look at 5 year survival rates and it does not take into account quality of life while surviving longer.

[Kraklen]

22. How do I explain 100 year old cancer rates versus todays?

Pretty simple. Today more people are living long enough to get cancer. 100 years ago people were dying from syphillis, polio, typhus, and tuberculosis.

[KT2000]

24. cancer in children is increasing

shame on us.
I do not believe that cancer is declining. In the way that a person with cancer undergoing surgery dies on the table and the death is attributed to complications from surgery - not cancer, I believe cancer stats are skewed. I know that they are not collected accurately in the state where I live. They come up with numbers that are may be useful but not accurate.

I know that when I look around at women my age - early 50's, so many have already been through: breast cancer, uterine cancer; ovarian cancer. Most did not smoke and they had the cancers in their 30s and 40s.

I see so many women with autoimmune diseases, children with learning disabilities, asthma, allergies, premature puberty, autoimmune diseases.

Only a VERY FEW chemicals used commercially have been tested for immune; nervous system and developmental effects.

The original poster is correct - ingesting poisons and hormone disruptors on a daily basis is not doing the human body any good and will likely create a society of chronically ill, impaired people in the not too distant future. The kicker is though - that is not a decision you can make for yourself. It is made by people who indulge in wanton use of toxic chemicals for their personal reasons (such as herbicides and pesticides) without consideration of the damage being done to anyone else.

[Kraklen]

20. stop smoking and get a radon detector.

That'll eliminate most cancer right there. Get regular mammograms or prostate exams and you'll be in good shape.

[democrat_patriot]

21. Reminds me of a book

by Stephen King, The Running Man. (Not to be confused with the shit-awful movie).

The poor couldn't afford the air filters so they died young. The rich partied and stayed away from the dirty poor areas....