We all know someone with cancer. Or we did. Or we will. Or maybe it's you, right now. Who should decide what cancer treatment patients can pursue?
It's 2:00 a.m. and I can't stop watching this Q & A session on the latest Dr. Burzynski film. I haven't gotten this worked up over a post in a long time and I'm only half-way through watching it. I'm not even tired, I'm just ticked.
This post started out as one thing: ‘Be aware of this alternative cancer therapy', and is turning into something completely different:
The FDA is screwing with our right to choose our own healthcare just as they screw with our right to choose our food!
I know that many of you will not watch the video, so I'm pasting some highlights below, but please try and watch it if at all possible. You have to understand this because if you haven't already battled cancer in your family, then it's likely that you will someday. You need to be AWARE of what's happening.
Once you are more aware, you may still choose to go the conventional route for treatment when facing a cancer diagnosis, and if it's ever myself or someone in my family, I might, too. Every cancer is so unique, there are many different pieces of the puzzle to take into account. Until these decisions are in front of us and until we do the in-depth research that would be necessary in that situation to be sure we're making the right choice, then we won't know. But I'll tell you this: I will not blindly follow my doctor's advice, or Dr. Burzynski's advice, or the advice from ANYONE without first gathering every shred of information possible, praying like crazy of course, and then deciding.
But here's the problem. And it's a HUGE problem.
What if after all of that research, I decide that I DO want to try Dr. Burzynski's antineoplaston therapy, and I find out that it's our very best option, the safest and the one with the best chance for a good outcome? Guess what? Now we can't, because the FDA has said NO to Dr. Burzynski accepting any new patients!!! This makes my blood boil.
As even if the FDA hadn't prohibited Dr. Burzynski from taking new patients, there's also the expense to deal with, and the fact that insurance companies won't cover alternative therapies. Yet when they have an experimental therapy that is big-pharma related, insurance companies often will cover that.
Like the man says in the video below, what makes this the ‘alternative' therapy, and what makes Dr. Burzynski the ‘quack'?! His therapy has been proven safe and has cured people of cancer. (Not all, of course, but you can never heal everyone.) While chemotherapy drugs also only cure some, they are dangerous because they're toxic to every other cell in the body! (Everyone knows that's how it works: it harms the good with the bad, and this is sometimes necessary, but what if it's not?) It seems like a no-brainer that the term “quack” is thrown around by the mainstream in order to make anything else seem scary.
Take a deep breath (you'll need it) and read some excerpts from the Q & A session…
“Here we are, the home of the brave and the land of the free. This is the freest country on the face of the planet, yet when it comes down to medical issues, being able to choose the medical regimen of your choice, fighting your cancer or your disease the way that you want to, you're not allowed. There are three modalities for treating cancer, this is like religious dogma, it's surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and that's it. Try to do something else and you'll have major problems, you'll be in for the shock of your life.”
“Why the hell do we have to go off-shore, this is America, why can't we choose what we want to choose?! What's particularly ridiculous about all of this is that nothing else out there WORKS! Not only does it not work, it makes you miserable and ruins your quality of life.”
It gets even worse with this from the filmmaker…
“David Axelrod (a top political advisor to President Bill Clinton as well as campaign advisor to President Barack Obama) saw a rough cut of the first Burzynski film in late 2009 privately, and he said that this is all very important, but it's just too big. We can't face this in this country, not for at least 10 years. The economy had just tanked and he even eluded that it could possibly send the country into a further recession because of what it would do to companies like Amgen, which is 90% reliant on cancer therapies. The stock market would plummet if this thing were released. It would come from the pharmaceutical world, it's just a sad reality. It's almost as big as oil, countries have gone to war over a resource this valuable. And I can understand from a market point of view, if I were a CEO or on the board of pharma, from a purely self-preservation point of view, I can understand where they're coming from, but obviously from a morality point of view it's much more difficult to wrap your heads around.”
Wait – there's more… This is what I got in a Burzynski Movie email update:
“Since the international award-winning success of the first documentary, Burzynski, the Movie—released in 2010— a very aggressive paid “Astroturf” campaign has since emerged in an attempt to prevent the public from properly understanding Antineoplastons, Dr. Burzynski's clinic, as well as trying to distort the proven success stories of the many cured patients, the presence of scientifically peer-reviewed data, and more. You know you are making a difference, when special interest groups launch Astroturf campaigns against you! During this Q&A and in the lobby afterward, our cameras were able to record two of them.” (Be sure to click on the Astroturf link to read what exactly that means.)
Please watch at least some of this! There is a CRAZY WILD ending, and I promise I'm not saying that just to get you to watch, my heart is pumping! This is a big issue guys, bigger than any of us even realize. Don't miss it.
If you did watch all the way until the end, I'm curious what you think of the “Critic” and his thoughts on the reasoning for the FDA not approving Dr. Burzynski's therapy and how it relates to speeding laws… He feels it's similar because it protects the majority. Did anyone else NOT see how those two things relate? Someone speeding puts others lives in jeopardy. Whether I choose conventional or alternative cancer therapies doesn't affect anyone else, right?!!! Am I missing something???
- You MUST send this to that person you know who has cancer! (My previous post on Dr. Burzynski.)
- Buy Burzynski, the Movie on DVD
- The Grim Truth About America’s So-called War on Cancer
- Don't miss the FAQ page at the Burzynski Movie website for clarification on many things.
- Watch the trailers:
1st trailer from the first movie:
2nd trailer from the first movie:
Movie trailer from the 2nd movie, which will release this summer:
Elaine says
Im a little unclear what is going on with Dr B TODAY? Is he still in business or has the FDA shut him down somehow? The atrocities in this country keep making my sick.
Michelle Goldstein says
The lack of FDA approval is an economic decision. The cancer industry is big business and anything that threatens it ( successful, alternative, safe cancer cures) has been suppressed by our government. These are hard facts to swallow, but they are the facts. I was appalled when I first realized this. As I said in an earlier response, there have been many safe cancer cures, many quite inexpensive. None are covered by insurance because the FDA will only approve synthetic, pharmaceutical cancer treatments including radiation, chemotherapy and surgery.. Please check out these sources to have all the facts: Tanya Pierces’ well researched book: Outsmart Your Cancer, Ralph Moss’s book The Cancer Industry, Samuel Epstein’s book on the ACA, Susanne Somer’s book Knockout. Pierce’s is the most comprehensive in outlining all of the safe, proven, mostly quite inexpensive cancer cures that have been viciously suppressed in this country beginning with Hoxsey therapy, continuing with Essiatic tea, Gerson therapy, Laetrile (vitamin B17), Kelly’s enzyme therapy, Protocel, Burzynski…They can still be found, but for some of these one has to leave the country. Pierce’s book is the best resource I have found on this subject. Protocel and Essiatic tea are available, but cannot be marketed as anticancer…Pierce also goes into detail on how to access these safe cancer cures, even if it means going to a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico or elswhere, but there are many options in the US. Somer’s book covers these, as well, many of the alternative cancer clinics. The Ketogenic diet works against cancer and the FDA can’t YET control all of our food sources. Important blog to raise awareness on this issue, Kelly!
Didymus Judas Thomas says
Let’s remember that the United States Congress can remedy this since the United States Supreme Court has made it clear that Americans do not have the Constitutional right to decide out medical choice(s):
1997 – The Dividing Line Between the Role of the FDA and the Practice of Medicine:
A Historical Review and Current Analysis
(Citing Burzynski)
The RIGHT OF PRIVACY is founded in the 14th Amendment’s concept of PERSONAL LIBERTY and restriction upon state action
privacy interest involves
“the interest in independence in making certain kinds of IMPORTANT DECISIONS”
the Supreme Court characterized the latter privacy interest as
“matters relating to marriage, procreation, contraception, family relationships, and child rearing and education”
The Privitera court declined to follow the defendants’ position and held that the types of “IMPORTANT DECISIONS” deemed fundamental by the Supreme Court DID NOT INCLUDE MEDICAL TREATMENT
(“the RIGHT to seek a cure for one’s illness IS NOT A FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT”)
The Supreme Court reversed the decision on other grounds and remanded the case for consideration of the constitutional issues
On remand, the court of appeals held that PATIENTS DO NOT HAVE A FUNDAMENTAL INTEREST IN THEIR SELECTION OF A PARTICULAR TREATMENT and that the availability of specific medication
“is within the area of governmental interest in protecting public health”
(“The premarketing requirement of the [FDA] . . . IS AN EXERCISE OF CONGRESSIONAL AUTHORITY TO LIMIT THE PATIENT’s CHOICE OF MEDICATION”)
The Supreme Court denied certiorari, so it seems clear that PATIENTS DO NOT HAVE A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO RECEIVE THE MEDICAL TREATMENT OF THEIR CHOOSING and doctors do not have the unfettered ability to provide medical care that is within the jurisdiction of the FDA
https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/8846812?show=full
Heather says
I’m thinking the Founding Fathers would be aghast at the notion that fedgov would have anything at all to do with the matter. That said, I’ve often wondered what would happen if someone took such a matter, or a medical marijuana case, to the Supreme Court, using Roe v Wade as the basis for argument. If whether or not a woman has something (someone, a baby) removed from her body falls under the 4th amendment right to privacy, how is it that what we decide to put into our bodies could possibly _not_? I think, if the arguments were crafted well, SCOTUS would be forced to either take a stand for medical/food freedom or overturn Roe v Wade and return abortion issues to the states.
Didymus Judas Thomas says
Great point, Heather. In fact, Roe / Wade is specifically referred to in the Harvard law paper
Bob says
Before you make any judgment on the basis of someone who admits in the Q&A that he had to promise he wasn’t going to criticize Burzynski, I want you to look at the stories of patients at this website:
theotherburzynskipatientgroup.wordpress.com
Look at the stories of Denise D and Wayne Merritt. Pick any other three. There are hundreds more coming. Hundreds. Never rely on a single source.
Heather says
So it doesn’t work for everyone. Nothing does. Including, and especially, traditional chemo. Ask my Mom. Oh, right, you can’t. She’s dead. First, she had breast cancer, then the little spots of cancer all over that you get from chemo and radiation. She was in and out of hospitals for a long time, too, just like the story at your link. If our medical establishment was doing _honest_ cancer research and treatment, patients would have more, and better, options open to them than cut, burn, and poison.
Amy says
Yes, I am going through this now with a friend who had breast cancer last year, treated with chemo and mastectomy as well as hysterectomy (to avoid ovarian cancer – she has the genetic type). Just came back – spots all over her body. Back to a chemo schedule that I cannot even imagine. It’s horrible.
I get very upset when people try to discredit alternative methods/doctors by saying some patients die. Oncologists’ patients die all the time. Alternative docs should be held to the same standards as conventional, not some unrealistic standard as all cancer patients survive. Still not sure about Dr. B, and it’s good to look at both sides, but let’s be realistic about what “good results” should mean for a cancer doc.
Didymus Judas Thomas says
And to be fair, on the opposite end of the spectrum there is:
http://www.burzynskipatientgroup.org
Lydia says
Thank you so much for sharing this! I had no idea a follow-up was in the works. Very excited to see it when it comes out.
I’m just watching through the Q&A right now after reading your post and wanted to mention that the David Axelrod section that you quoted above was a little confusing. When I originally read it, I had the impression that the whole quote was actually David Axelrod’s. Now I see that was partially my own mistake, but I think it would be clearer if you could note who was actually speaking.
Commenter via Facebook says
This wouldn’t surprise me, though. Because the antineoplastins treatment is so expensive, he probably doesn’t have time to do $50 consultations with everyone who wants to pick his brain and has to narrow it down somehow…
Commenter via Facebook says
Deb I didn’t know you were a cancer survivor!!!
Commenter via Facebook says
I am a cancer survivor(colon at age 39)..my daughter is a cancer survivor(ovarian age 29)..I CHOSE not to have chemo against the recommendations of the oncologist…who by the way was a complete jerk!!!My daughter was blessed with an amazing doc in GR who was able to remove the cancer and told her no treatment was necessary. Everyone needs to decide for themselves the best treatment plan. I knew the chemo would kill me before the cancer!!! We have to fully embrace the choice we make or that will affect how well the treatment plan will work. I fully embrace the fact that a healthy lifestyle can and will be effective.
Commenter via Facebook says
Thank you, Kelly!
Commenter via Facebook says
Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Commenter via Facebook says
If memory serves me correctly, I inquired and found that the initial consultation for this doc was $4000. It might have been another of the docs mentioned in Suzanne Somers book, however.
Kaymer says
I am hoping that your info is out of date . . . 😉 I had this clinic on my list for Plan C in case my chemo and diet/supplements plans don’t work. I don’t think I would do chemo again unless I get a VERY long remission out of it. I thought I had read someplace that this doc was back in business. Sorry to hear otherwise. Might have to consider going south of the border.
Michelle Goldstein says
Kelly,
My husband and I bought and watched the first DVD, Burzynski the movie and found it very disturbing to watch. The government is interfering with our rights. After reading Oursmart Your Cancer, I felt even more disturbed with our governments long history of suppressing safe, alternative cancer treatments. We have several safe cures for cancers that have been viciously suppressed due to the conflicting interests of the “cancer industry”. Important information to share….
Thanks for your great blog!!
Commenter via Facebook says
The Gerson Method is also very interesting and has healed people all over the world. Even though Gerson came to America and continued his research and work here, the therapy he developed to cure cancer is banned in the US. Then there are the drugs with expired patents that show great promise in treating cancer, but the pharmaceutical companies won’t do any research on them because they won’t make money off of the expired patent. Nice.
Commenter via Facebook says
Thanks for sharing. And pay no attention to the haters.
sam says
The effect of radiation exposure to the population from hospitals and treatment centers, and from all the treated people in society…..is not even considered. Kind of like the Social Security question – no one even brings up that many people die before using it, add that into the numbers, but they do not tell the masses that there is this excess contributions never paid out. No one discusses how much radiation treatment facilities can emit, and how much is emitted from treated cancer patients in society. Most people still think living close to a hospital is plus. What if we revealed what the truth. I have heard that after Fukishima, the amount of radiation hospitals can release legally was increased, and that then they shut off the measuring instruments. Hmmm. Land of the Free indeed. Not at all.
Jammie says
thanks for sharing this. my blood is boiling!
Commenter via Facebook says
So glad you shared this. Lord have mercy.
Mary says
I second this, Kelly! Good for you.
Commenter via Facebook says
Ephesians 5:15-21
15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
Commenter via Facebook says
It’s a shame when government and corporations get in the business of health and healing. Two things they know nothing about.
Commenter via Facebook says
It’s all about the money!! Between Big Pharma and Big Ag, we’re screwed.
Commenter via Facebook says
Great post. I have watched the video and it makes me so sad to know that so few have even heard of him and even less have an option to choose our own care.
Commenter via Facebook says
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BscV-904qe4&list=PLjJMAjCT2pLqBb5E3YTSb_xMB2I4Q4JFn
Commenter via Facebook says
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bdDzlzD5nk&feature=share&list=PLjJMAjCT2pLqBb5E3YTSb_xMB2I4Q4JFn
Sharon says
You are awesome Kelly!! Thank you for sharing…the more of us that TAKE A STAND TOGETHER in support of FREEDOM OF CHOICE, the more we will get closer to HAVE IT!!! I’m ok with those, like Charles Grashow above, that say, “Dr. Burzynski = QUACK. I feel SORRY for anyone who follows his advice.” MY CHOICE does NOT affect THEM!!! He can feel as sorry for me as he wants because I will have a BETTER QUALITY of life with MY CHOICE…I want to CHOOSE my quality!!! I”m doing the best I can right now with what is available and prayer is a HUGE part of it because of the everyday poisons we just BREATHE. Again, thank you!!
Commenter via Facebook says
Yes, good post. It makes me pretty upset too. What kind of freedom to we have, if we’re not in control of our own bodies?
Commenter via Facebook says
I enjoyed the post and will try to find time to watch the movie. Thanks for the great info! 🙂
Commenter via Facebook says
Great documentary that everyone should watch
Commenter via Facebook says
Great post.
ValerieH says
I first heard of him in Suzanne Somets’ book Knockout. She states that radiation and chemotherapy only work 6% of the time. I don’t know what I would do if I got cancer. Of course, if it were my child it would be worse. There are hundreds of proven therapies that are not the standard of care. It is a crime against humanity to force people into these tortures because certain companies need to make money. I met someone who survived ovarian cancer with a ketogenic diet and hydrogen peroxide therapy.
charles grashow says
Dr. Burzynski = QUACK. I feel SORRY for anyone who follows his advice.
Melissa @ Real Food Eater says
Charles – Do you have personal experience to know that he is a quack? I’m guessing if people have been cured by his cancer therapies than “quack” isn’t an appropriate label for him…..just sayin’.
Amanda says
The Largest Issue with Dr. Burzynski that I have read about (and I do not have cancer nor have been treated by him,) is that 1) the cost is astronomically expensive and not covered by insurance, 2) many of the drugs that he uses are standard chemotherapy drugs, and 3) there have been no credible studies to show that his techniques work. Yes, we have all heard the glowing testimonials in the movies, and yes, I completely agree that the trials that he has attempted to run in the past may have been screwed over by outside agencies, but it is worth a second look. For every success story that we hear about, we do not hear about the many people who lost their loved ones and a lot of money on his treatment.
I’ve worked in academia and designed research studies, though outside of the field of medicine. He should be able to write treatment protocols that can be scientifically tested and therefore finally confirm the validity of the Antineoplastons as a viable cancer tool. Until then, he is a doctor that is using untested and unconfirmed tools, and having some success with them. In addition, this treatment costs over 100,000 per year, so it is out of reach for the majority of people.
(But, in full disclosure, if I got cancer, and was unable to slow its progress, and was rich enough to afford his care, I would probably try to go to his clinic.)
Thomas Martin says
Obviously, you haven’t watched the first movie and know nothing about the history, yet you feel compelled to comment. Yes, there was an FDA study in which the test was specifcally designed by the FDA to fail. Burzynski even said it would fail. It isn’t chemo, it is something completely different. The FDA has clearly stated, in the first movie, that they will NEVER approve the drug because Dr. Burzynski owns the patent himself, rather than a corporation. The FDA is not interested in a cancer cure, they are interested in proping up the Pharma companies. This has absolutely nothing to do with a studies or even science – it is only about pollitics. I would think a science background would compel you to get all the information befor commenting. But then, maybe you get your funding from Big Pharma as well. Does this work 100% of the time, No, it doesn’t. Is that the only thing that gets approved by the FDA? No, not normally.
Kari says
My daughter was an antineoplaston patient with Dr B. Yes, it is expensive but they did run our insurance and yes, our insurance did cover some of the treatment. The antineoplastons were part of an FDA approved clinical trial so my daughter actually received the medication part free of charge. Antineoplastons are not the only treatment he offers so sometimes he might recommend a chemotherapy – all cancers are not the same and must be treated accordingly. When we were there some patients could not get FDA approval to start antineoplastons so they had to receive chemotherapy treatment from the clinic. No, antineoplastons do not cure everyone but neither does chemotherapy and radiation. All hospitals run experimental clinical trials and the antineoplaston clinical trial must meet the same standards as clinical trials in other hospitals.
Heather says
This is a bit tough when the FDA will only allow you to take patients for whom NOTHING else has worked…so you don’t get regular cancer patients. You only get the ones who have already been made much more sick than they were to start with by conventional cancer treatments. So he’s at least sometimes curing the ones that the AMA and the pharma companies have given up on, but he doesn’t get to try being the first place people go. The drug companies, mainstream medicine, and the FDA are basically one big racket, run for the profits of insurance companies, pharma companies, and hospital corporations. What’s best for healing people doesn’t really even enter into it.
Didymus Judas Thomas says
I enjoy when people raise the “cost” issue. Let’s “keep it real,” people, and compare to the alternatives:
Cost cancer
https://articles.cnn.com/2009-06-16/politics/health.care.hearing_1_health-insurance-post-claims-underwriting-individual-health?_s=PM:POLITICS
2008 – Cost cancer insurance
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/health/06avastin.html?_r=0
Cost cancer chemo up-front
https://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB120934207044648511.html?mod=2_1566_topbox#articleTabs%3Darticle
3/2012
https://www.avalerehealth.net/news/2012-04-03_COA/Cost_of_Care.pdf
CHEMOTHERAPY:
9/24/2012
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/09/24/3549634/prices-soar-as-hospitals-dominate.html
5/14/2012
https://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-05-14/national/35457286_1_lung-cancer-drug-drugs-work-multiple-myeloma-patients
RADIATION:
1/4/2013
https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2013/01/13370/how-prostate-cancer-therapies-compare-cost-and-effectiveness
3/15/2012
https://www.ascopost.com/issues/march-15-2012/rising-costs-in-radiation-oncology-linked-to-medicare-coverage.aspx
https://cancer.disease.com/Treatment/Radiation-Therapy
Freespiritaz says
Trolls are not welcome!
Amy says
People with dissenting opinions aren’t always trolls. Dr. B. is controversial in some ways – I’ve heard complaints as well as praise. I fully support him being allowed to practice, and believe the FDA has acted in really corrupt and inappropriate ways here, and I think we should all be able to pursue whatever medical care we want. But I do think there is some valid variance of opinion on Dr. B, as with many practitioners.
Didymus Judas Thomas says
Let’s not forget that the “alleged” “QUACK” has had independent researchers do a Randomized trial in Japan with positive results:
Randomized Phase II Study of Hepatic Arterial Infusion with or without Antineoplastons as Adjuvant Therapy after Hepatectomy for liver Metastases from Colorectal Cancer
Annals of Oncology 2010;21:viii221
https://www.burzynskiclinic.com/images/stories/Publications/8774.pdf
https://oncologypro.esmo.org/meeting-resources/meeting-abstracts/european-society-for-medical-oncology-esmo-2010/randomized-phase-ii-study-of-hepatic-ar-3558.aspx
https://abstracts.webges.com/viewing/view.php?congress=esmo2010&congress_id=296&publication_id=3558
https://www.colorectal-cancer.ca/IMG/pdf/CCAC_Research_June_19_2009.pdf
https://www.biomeddefine.com/sdx/t31/all/100/epithelial+neoplasm+glandular+piperidines+chemical+ingredient.html
https://www.biomeddefine.com/sdx/t31/all/100/ca+secondary+cancer+piperidines+chemical+ingredient.html
https://www.drugs.com/clinical_trials/metastatic-colon-cancer-randomized-phase-ii-clinical-study-antineoplaston-therapy-doubled-5-year-7307.html
Christopher K. Nagy, M.D. says
Work to opt out of the cancer epidemic by living an Anticancer lifestyle – many tips here in the talk, Keeping A Breast – Natural Ways to Prevent Breast Cancer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0hir_tGIqw&feature=bulletin
Heather says
Here’s something to add into your equation above: https://www.naturalnews.com/039879_sequester_cancer_care_health_rationing.html I don’t know whether to be upset about this (they could easily cut the amount of the sequester out of the budget without taking it out on cancer patients) or glad, because maybe some of these poor people will find better help with less poisonous methods.