As appeared in The Natural Healer, Fall 2002

Imagine that your body is the house of your soul and you have been putting garbage in one room in your house for years. Eventually, this garbage finally attracts flies. Flies are like cancer. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy may kill the flies but they also contribute to the garbage. If you don’t get rid of the garbage the flies will come back. Cancer can be the result of this garbage we collect from infection, chemicals, radiation and electromagnetic fields. These concepts were discussed in my previous article, “Cancer: What You Might Not Have Been Told – A Naturopathic Perspective” (The Natural Healer, Spring 2002 Edition, pgs, 16-18).

To begin to clear out the garbage, we have two major systems by which our bodies detoxify chemical compounds: Phase 1 and Phase 2 detox pathways. Chemicals are grouped as endotoxins (produced from inside the body) or exotoxins (produced from outside the body). Our bodies detoxify the majority of chemicals through Phase 1 detox where the substance is made either water soluble and goes to the kidneys to be eliminated, or it becomes more toxic in preparation for Phase 2 detox.

In Phase 2 detox the chemical has an amino acid added to it (the most important of which is glutathione). This makes the compound either water soluble to be urinated out, or fat soluble to be excreted by the liver into the small intestine and out through the stool. This is how our bodies eliminate toxic wastes. Interestingly enough, this is the precise pathway by which pharmaceutical drugs are monitored for their excretion rates and toxicity. It is important to note that if these detoxification pathways are not working effectively then we become susceptible to the toxicity of drugs, chemicals, environmental toxins, and toxins created by our own metabolic processes.

According to a 1994 study published in the journal Nature, workers at a chemical factory in Turin, Italy suffered an extremely high incidence of bladder cancer. The liver detoxification pathways were the only metabolic pathways that could be correlated with the incidence of cancer. The workers who had the most dysfunctional detoxification pathways were the ones who developed bladder cancer.

Clearing out the Garbage

Of the many alternative therapies that can benefit cancer patients, there are a few from which I have seen the best results. The word “benefit” can mean cure, prolonging life, coexistence with one’s diagnosis, or easing one’s passing. In my clinic, we always aspire to cure. The following are those we have found to yield the best results:

1) Of primary importance is diet. For years naturopathic doctors have been advocating a diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables and fewer red meats. If you have been diagnosed with cancer, imagine that the cancer is producing toxins and the microorganism that caused the cancer is producing toxins, thus creating a toxic burden. To reduce the toxic load on the body it is important to reduce the chemicals in our foods and consume fewer animal products. It is a known fact that as you go up the food chain chemicals increase in concentration. The next thing we must do is to deprive the cancer and the microorganism that may have caused cancer of its food supply. Cancer cells behave like bacteria and as such their metabolism is geared towards running on sugar (glucose). So in response to this we should consume no sugar or sugar derivatives, and no compounds that can easily be turned into sugar (i.e. processed flour products and alcohol).

2) Water treatment like a reverse osmosis water unit is essential. Your kidneys along with your liver are the most important organs of detoxification in the body. If you don’t use a water filter then you are the water filter.

3) If you can afford it, treat the air in your house with UV light and HEPA filtration or similar technology. Oxygen deprivation is a primary cause of cancer.

4) We must ensure optimal functioning of both the kidneys and liver, as these are the main places where chemicals are detoxified through Phase 1 and 2 pathways. This can be accomplished by the following:

• Drink lots of filtered water, more than 8 glasses per day
• Regular bowel movements are essential. Fat-soluble toxins are secreted through the bile duct. However, 85% of toxins and bile are reabsorbed by the small intestines, more if you are constipated.
• Colonics may also be necessary to rid the body of more toxins.
• You can optimize the absorption of nutrients through a process called EAT (Eliminate Allergy Technique), as well as the introduction of nutrients in high concentrations, intravenously if necessary.
• Therapies that kill cancer cells and microorganisms, stimulate the immune system, detoxify the body, and protect healthy cells in the body.

5) Ozone therapy is, in my humble opinion, one of the most important therapies for cancer today (ozone is O3, oxygen is O2). Ozone is very unstable and highly reactive. Most people have heard of ozone from air pollution advisories. Ozone is quoted and used as a gauge of air pollution simply due to the fact that ozone is the earth’s attempt to heal itself. Ozone is created as the earth tries to get rid of pollutants.

However, since ozone is the easiest chemical to gauge, it is apparently much better to blame ozone than a specific chemical that would point the finger at one particular company or industry. It’s much easier to blame it on something much more nebulous and not take any responsibility for pollution and health problems caused by this pollution as the management in the world’s largest corporations have consistently shown of late.

Ozone kills microorganisms. It kills cancer cells, supports the body’s chemical detoxification pathways, neutralizes chemicals directly, increases oxygenation throughout the body, stimulates the immune system and controls bleeding. In fact ozone is so amazing in killing microorganisms that the cities of Montreal, Kiev, Moscow, Paris, Los Angeles, as well as 2,500 other cities around the world use ozone to purify their water supplies.

Ozone is also used by industry to break down industrial wastes to make them biodegradable. Ozone has been used in medicine since WW1 where Germany used it extensively to treat battle wounds and anaerobic infections. Ozone is so good at killing viruses that the Canadian Medical Association Journal published an article in 1993 showing ozone killing the HIV virus and the hepatitis and herpes viruses.

In 1991 research published in the journal Lymphokine and Cytokine Research discovered that a compound called tumor necrosis factor, which helps in identifying and killing cancer cells, was released immediately after ozonation took place. Researchers Bocci, Luzzi and Paulesu concluded that “this is of obvious importance not only for the treatment of viral diseases but also for immunodepressed and tumour bearing patients”.

The journal Science published an article by Dr. Frederick Sweet in 1980 finding that the growth of human cancer cells from the lung, breast, and uterine tumors was selectively inhibited by ozone. Cancer cell growth was inhibited by 40-60% and normal cell growth was not affected. The authors stated that, “cancer cells are less able to compensate for the oxidative burden of ozone than normal cells”.

6) Hydrogen peroxide is another therapy that shows great promise, (Ozone is O3, oxygen is O2, water is H2O and hydrogen peroxide is H2O2). H2O2 and ozone are called biooxidative therapies. Hydrogen Peroxide, just like ozone, is nonpatentable and therefore the pharmaceutical industries view these therapies, no matter how effective, as quackery, misguided science, and just plain heresy. H2O2 has properties very similar to ozone. H2O2 is an oxygenator; the body naturally secretes it to kill microorganisms and cancer cells, regulate hormones, and it is needed for the metabolism of protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals. In my practice, we use it intravenously only if we cannot use ozone. This can be due to the medicines the patient requires or if the veins are sclerosed (hardened), typically due to chemotherapy.

H2O2 is also used for the following:

• As a bleaching agent in pollution control to treat sewage and wastewater
• As a propellant (NASA uses it as rocket fuel)
• in cleansing products
• in agriculture (farmers use it to purify drinking water, one pint of 35% food grade H2O2 is added to one thousand gallons of drinking water for farm animals)
• in medicine.

In 1888, Dr Love, MD at the City Hospital in St Louis, recorded the first use of H2O2. Currently H2O2 and/or ozone are being used at almost every alternative cancer clinic in the world. In the October 1965 journal Cancer, an article related the initial investigations on the benefits of H2O2 on reducing tumor size so surgery could be successful. In the June 1989 journal Cancer, another article discussed the “delivery of cytotoxic (cell killing) quantities of H2O2 to Hodgkin’s Disease”. In the 1979 Journal of Experimental Medicine authors Drs. Nathan and Cohn wrote, “H2O2 contributes to the lysis (destruction) of tumor cells by macrophages and granulocytes (white blood cells) in vitro.”

High dose intravenous ascorbates (Vitamin C) have proven very successful in numerous cancer cases. It is known that small doses of Vitamin C act as an antioxidant and possibly work against chemotherapy and radiation. However high doses of vitamin C act as a proxident, therefore promoting increased oxygenation. It is well known in cancer research circles that cancer cells have very minimal amounts of an enzyme called catalase, which cells need to break down peroxides. Peroxides are derivatives of ozone, H2O2 and high dose Ascorbates (vitamin C). So if you can increase peroxides you can kill cancer cells. According to pioneer Dr Hugh Riordan, as published in the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine 2000, “Vitamin C is toxic to tumor cells”. Ultraviolet blood irradiation works along very similar lines as ozone and H2O2.

7) Hyperthermia has been utilized for cancer therapy since the ancient Egyptians. In 1977 the American Cancer Society removed hyperthermia from its unproven methods and in 1984 the FDA approved it as a medical procedure to treat cancer. Hyperthermia works by the heat cutting off nutrients and oxygen vital to the tumor cells by causing a collapse of the tumor’s vascular network. However to perform this technique the liver, kidneys and heart must be in near optimum functioning condition.

Miscellaneous Therapies

Several other therapies have also shown benefit in fighting cancer. For example:

Hydrotherapy works very similarly to hyperthermia, however its application is less aggressive and it is more supportive of the liver’s detoxification pathways.

Colonics is a form of hydrotherapy whereby toxins are removed from the large intestine and eliminated in wastewater.

Chelation is a therapy that removes heavy metals and also increases circulation throughout the body. It is most noted in its application for heart disease and peripheral arterial diseases.

Microorganism Elimination Technique is a novel energy technique that we have used at NaturoMedic.com with guarded optimism. This therapy helps direct the immune system to identify and kill cancer cells. We all have cancer cells. It’s just a matter of whether our immune system identifies them as such and kills them.

Botanical medicines have also been documented as having anticancerous activity. However, the discussion of the many different botanical medicines available today would be too broad an area to cover effectively herein.

In order to get rid of the garbage in our bodies and keep it out, we must be willing to walk the unmarked path of “vis medicatrix Naturae”, the healing power of nature. As you can clearly see, alternative, complementary, and naturopathic medicine all have anticancerous effectiveness. However, the political climate, the interests of profits, and lack of research funding have made it very hard for the pioneers in this area to make significant inroads into mainstream thought. The obstacles these pioneers face are much larger than the odds between David meeting Goliath.