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elsewhere?... I turned to the medical books for solace and got In the view of health reporter Phillip Day, author of Cancer: none."" Why We're Still Dying to Know The Truth: Talk with cancer patients and one soon discovers that many of "Many people just gulp, enter the cancer tunnel and hope they them report that, although they have an uncomfortable gut feeling come out the other end." that there must somehow be a better way forward, they still find But despite the fact that an Internet search can very easily themselves returning to their oncologist for more of the same generate confusion, there is actually a wealth of expertly uncomfortable treatment. Why is this, when there are proven, documented, credible information available on natural and non-conventional and non-harmful treatments readily available? genuinely efficacious treatments for a variety of serious illnesses, Surely, one significant factor is our hereditary submissive atti- including cancer—information that, in some instances, has been tude to the medical orthodoxy and its archetypal symbolism: the in existence for many years. white coat, the stethoscope, the years of knowledge represented in But information on such treatments is not widely available in those framed degrees. Every artefact speaks of our being in the the public domain—perhaps because genuine medicine has had to hands of experts. And then there is the added pressure that can be fight tremendously hard to be heard clearly. And there are partic- exerted upon the patient at the point of diagnosis by the cancer ular reasons why this has been so. Often, it is not so much where physician. to look for genuine natural treatment and medical advice as how In his essay entitled "The $200 Billion Scam", Jeff Kamen to look for it. reports on how a cancer diagnosis was delivered to Kathy Keeton, Before discussing specific cancer treatments in more depth, it is the late wife of Penthouse magazine magnate Bob Guccione: important that we briefly examine the reasons for the current lev- "T'm sorry,’ she remembers her doctor saying. ‘It's a very rare els of confusion surrounding genuine natural medicine as a whole: form of the disease. It's the nature of this kind of cancer that it —_ wilful distortion, unwitting stupidity, you name it. Conventional takes off at a gallop and metastasizes quickly, so we need to act and alternative, it's taking place on both sides of the fence. We quickly and get you started on must learn to read between the lines. chemotherapy at once. We have some of the best people in the world in this . . . Forked Tongues, Fraud & Failure field. I urge you to let me get you into A first timer seeking Proponents of genuine natural their expert care There is no ume to alternative advice on the ueatments for serious linesses have waste. This form of cancer is often . always had to fight on several fronts in fatal, and quickly so. Untreated, you Internet, for instance, can their long, hard battle for proper have six weeks to tye We really soon become thoroughly ecognition of these eaten ney must move aggressively with the . ave had to do battle with those chemo."""" disheartened. calculating opportunists—the forked- Hazel recalls a similar experience: Some 4,000 links come up tongued drug mere ants—who use "Basically, I was in shock from the " . every trick in the book to undermine diagnosis. I was sitting there, with the under alternative cancer any genuine treatments not under their doctor saying that this treatment was treatment" alone! own jurisdiction and employ all means the best available and that it was actu- possible to disseminate their damaging ally a matter of life or death that I disinformation as far and wide as received it. My husband was sitting possible in order to protect their own next to me, telling me that I needed to go along with it. Ikind of lucrative markets. No department, private or public, is beyond the went into a trance and, although something didn't feel quite right, reach of the drug merchants’ all-consuming influence. I found myself nodding to chemotherapy." Thriller writer John Le Carré spent many years working in the Most definitely, the power imbalance that exists in all doctor- British Foreign Office and knows the politics of big business very patient relationships (whence comes the term "shrink" in psychia- well. His most recent book, The Constant Gardener, focuses on try) is a key agent in determining the direction of treatment. the corrupt nature of the pharmaceutical industry. In an interview on the subject, Le Carré stated recently: Confusing and Conflicting Information "Big Pharma is engaged in the deliberate seduction of the med- Aside from this very powerful influence, a mass exodus away ical profession, country by country, worldwide. It is spending a from conventional cancer treatment towards proven, non-conven- fortune on influencing, hiring and purchasing academic judge- tional treatments has also been severely hampered by the negative ment to a point where, in a few years’ time, if Big Pharma contin- effects of the vast sea of confusing, conflicting and often bizarre ues unchecked on its present happy path, unbought medical opin- information out there, posing as "helpful" alternative cancer ion will be hard to find.""” advice. A first-timer seeking alternative advice on the Internet, In opposition to the incessant drive by Big Business to for instance, can soon become thoroughly disheartened. Some dominate our health choices, Dr Matthias Rath provides a concise 4,000 links come up under "alternative cancer treatment" alone! summary of the primary ethics of the merchant's house: An anxious patient, with no time to separate the wheat from the "Throughout the 20th century, the pharmaceutical industry has chaff, is then faced with having to make a series of calculations, been constructed by investors, the goal being to replace effective based solely on his negative experiences on the Internet and a sort but non-patentable natural remedies with mostly ineffective but of blind, desperate faith that, somehow, the well-qualified oncolo- patentable and highly profitable pharmaceutical drugs. The very gist has got to be right. nature of the pharmaceutical industry is to make money from "And didn't he warn us that there were a lot of Internet kooks ongoing diseases. Like other industries, the pharmaceutical out there?" The patient is then right back to square one and, by industry tries to expand their market—that is, to maintain ongoing default, the chemotherapy suggested earlier seems overall to be diseases and to find new diseases for their drugs. Prevention and the "safest" bet. cure of diseases damages the pharmaceutical business and the A first-timer seeking alternative advice on the Internet, for instance, can soon become thoroughly a= A eer eee disheartened. Some 4,000 links come up under "alternative cancer Confusing and Conflicting Information Aside from this very powerful influence, a mass exodus away from conventional cancer treatment towards proven, non-conven- also been severely hampered by the negative sea of confusing, conflicting and often bizarre information out there, posing as "helpful" alternative cancer advice. A first-timer seeking alternative advice on the Internet, for instance, can soon become thoroughly disheartened. Some 4,000 links come up under "alternative cancer treatment" alone! An anxious patient, with no time to separate the wheat from the chaff, is then faced with having to make a series of calculations, based solely on his negative experiences on the Internet and a sort of blind, desperate faith that, somehow, the well-qualified oncolo- gist has got to be right. "And didn't he warn us that there were a lot of Internet kooks out there?" The patient is then right back to square one and, by default, the chemotherapy suggested earlier seems overall to be the "safest" bet. 26 = NEXUS treatment” alone! www.nexusmagazine.com AUGUST — SEPTEMBER 2002