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Show Cancer fears turn ; to quack remedies I ihf diagnosis is cancer, the ' Vhf?-L a meoffcrthntta often Nimi sometimes irrational. ;;s Xwable time, people may b8Vlng ,h"aPy l"f;SS.se existing law. do . J actively regulate quackery ? not TLb Dt Arthus D. Broom, M''v f Utah professor and S of medicinal chemistry in the Sof Pharmacy. Broom has spent fgt'ing cancer drugs. Jd ..M,nv people will do anthing to facing cancer," says Broom. iwanymu-acletreata,ent,no Sma t r what it costs or where they must U to get it. Cancer quackery is an Suriating practice because it does not ' cure cancer." J According to Broom, quack remedies Xlv heavilv on testimonials. No Xentific evidence exists to support U'rure claims and very few people giving testimonials have had biopsy-proven Hcancer. "It's easy to cure to disease .hat has never existed," he notes. There are about 100 kinds of cancer, all of which must be managed individually. in-dividually. Except for the unusual occupational cancers, most causes are !got well understood. "We're learning much more about how to cure cancer," says Broom. "A little over 40 percent of cancer patients are being cured and the number is I increasing steadily. But one cannot minimize the fact that many people JJu-ho get cancer die of it," he says. J Quack cures range from the bizarre J"Grape cure" to the most current laetrile remedy, with a wide spectrum of products in between, he says. Remedies that may seem plausible at first are invariably shown to be worthless. wor-thless. I Chaparral tea, once popular in Utah, Is an example of quackery that began irith an authentic, but ultimately Erroneous assumption, he says. Broom relates the case of the elderly man who as operated on for a known malignant melanoma. Rather than undergo further surgery, he went home, put his affairs in order and tried an old Indian remedy - chaparrel tea. A year later Ihere was no sign of the disease. Excited about the plant's prospects, searchers found that the plant had mi described as a potent antitumor gent. Samples were obtained and :i' Jtntified by a botanist, and extracts i itre made. Pure compounds and lerivatives were tested extensively in mimals and patients. '"We did everything under the sun," ""ays Broom. "It was absolutely inef- 1 - ective." The case, described at a scientific netting, was reported in the press and ales of the product soared. "People we making a killing off plants that irow wild over much of the southern south-ern United States," he points out. "The disease ultimately returned in the gentleman and he died of the melanoma, a sequence of events not unusual with that type of cancer." Laetrile is an "interesting phenomenon," says Broom. Instead of endorsements by key public figures, laetrile began as a "freedom of choice" issue. The substance is derived from apricot pits and the rationale for its use is that cancer cells contain an enzyme that breaks down the product into cyanide, which kills tumor cells but not normal cells. ' "It's a rather elaborate and lovely rationale," says Broom. "The trouble is it doesn't work, because there are no differences in the levels of those enzymes en-zymes between normal and tumor cells." Broom says there is no medical conspiracy to withhold laetril from the public. Physicians also die of cancer. Enormous amounts of time and money have been spent testing laetrile exactly as proponents have outlined, with no positive results, he emphasizes. Such tests also raise ethical questions about using a "drug" devoid of value. The laetrile issue has always revolved around the freedom to take whatever medication is desired for well-being, adds Broom. "One should not have to die of cancer to exercise one's freedom of choice," he says. "Choice implies knowledge of the consequences and most victims of quackery do not know the consequences." con-sequences." He is equally concerned about the "grossly excessive" prices charged for laetrile compared to manufacturing costs-markups of a thousand percent or more are common-and the product's purity. "Since it is still illegal to deal with laetrile in interstate commerce, it's smuggled into states in which it is not prepared," he explains. "Quality control is nonexistent. Some batches seized and sampled have shown only 50 percent purity. What is contained in the other 50 percent is anyone's guess, but it's not likely to be good for you." Megadoses of vitamin C-another popular cancer treatment are being studied to see if there is any nutritional benefit to cancer patients. "Nutrition is likely to be a significant factor in the well-being and possibly in the effect of treatment in these patients," he says. "But a systematic, scientifically sound approach to understanding un-derstanding nutritional needs is clearly different from the quack view that fruit diets, apricots pits or carrot juice will cure cancer. "The fear of cancer is often worse than the reality," concludes Broom. "So many are being successfully treated that it's a shame when some turn to quackery and lose the one good chance they have of being cured." Broom, the Utah State Medical Association or the American Cancer Society will provide information on quack practices and unproven remedies upon request. |