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by John C. Hammell
President, International
Advocates for Health Freedom
LE Magazine April 2002
from
LEF Website
One of our greatest fears is being
diagnosed with cancer.
There are few diseases where the
treatment inflicts such massive mutilation, toxicity, lethargy and
pain. Once cancer is discovered, a person's life is often never the
same.
Even when treatment is initially successful, the patient can be
rendered disfigured and parts of their body dysfunctional. The
chance of a recurrence is ever present and even after five years,
the cancer cells can come roaring back, usually much more resistant
to treatment. Even after enduring the agony of conventional therapy,
a huge number of cancer patients still succumb from the metastasis
or infiltration of the initial tumor.
Conventional oncologists are so overwhelmed with patients (sometimes
more than 40 a day), that they lack the time to provide the type of
individualized treatment that is required to induce a complete
response.
A cancer diagnosis can humble a person of any means, exposing them
to hospitals where human beings are treated as if they were on an
"assembly line." At conventional cancer treatment centers, patients
are forced to tolerate inconvenience, neglect and abuse that a
healthy person would not accept at a cut-rate motel.
The organizations that we have counted on to find a cure (National
Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society, pharmaceutical companies,
etc.) have failed. According to the Journal of the
American Medical Association, for most types of cancer, the
chances of surviving more than five years in 1995 was not much
better than 1950 (Welch HG. et al 2000).
We partially attribute the failure to develop better anti-cancer
strategies to the failed policies of the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA).
This agency has a long-standing track record of suppressing novel
therapies that compete with conventional oncology's obscene profits.
In this article, we report on recent FDA raids against alternative
clinics that offered a treatment that appears to be effective. The
harsh reality is that because the
FDA summarily banned this treatment,
cancer patients who were using it may now needlessly die.
One of the reasons you read Life Extension magazine is to
learn of facts not reported by the mass media. The news you haven't
heard about is that the FDA continues to attack those involved in
innovative medicine, despite the documented failure of mainstream
oncologists to save the lives of their cancer patients.
Unlike charlatans who sell worthless products to terminal cancer
victims, nutritionist Joe Di Stefano, Daniel Mayer, DO
and Ivan Danhoff, MD, PhD seemed to be doing everything
right.
They had discovered a non-toxic
therapy that appeared to be prolonging survival time.
Joe Di Stefano, Drs. Mayer and Danhoff were attempting to file the
cumbersome paperwork with the FDA in order to conduct a formal
clinical study. They did not advertise or promote their product, nor
did they promise any miracles. They charged $1,200.00 for as many
intravenous treatments that a patient needed to achieve a remission
or complete response. If a cancer patient could not afford the
$1,200.00, the therapy was provided for free.
No one was denied this therapy
based on inability to pay.
Cancer patients given a death sentence by their oncologist appeared
to be getting better when using this natural therapy. There
is also evidence in the published scientific literature indicating
that this therapy might be effective. Based purely on word-of-mouth,
a growing number of terminal cancer patients began to seek out this
low-cost, non-toxic and possibly effective natural therapy.
According to the FDA, none of the above was permissible. The FDA has
taken particularly brutal steps to make sure that no cancer patient
can access this therapy.
The FDA now wants to criminally indict
those involved so that this therapy will never be available.
FDA caught
trespassing in dumpster...
Nutritionist Joe Di
Stefano seemed to be doing everything right.
He had discovered a
non-toxic therapy that appeared to be prolonging survival time.
In early October, 2001, Joe Di Stefano
exited his medical clinic at midnight after a long day's work, and
was startled to hear strange noises coming from the dumpster in the
back.
Trash was strewn all over the ground. He
peered over the top of the dumpster and caught two strangers red
handed, with rubber gloves on, probing through his dumpster,
trespassing on his property without a search warrant. Then he
noticed their unmarked car nearby. Obviously they just assumed no
one was there late at night.
When Joe demanded to know who they were, and what they thought they
were doing in his garbage, they would not identify themselves and
had the nerve to say,
"we're looking for boxes."
"Sure you are," said Joe, "everyone
looks for boxes at midnight in a dumpster with rubber gloves
on."
Joe proceeded to write down their
license number in order to file a complaint with the St. Petersburg
police.
He demanded that they put the trash back
in the dumpster, which they only grudgingly did, before peeling out
of the driveway with screeching tires, angry at getting caught
trespassing.
It turned out that these "dumpster
divers" were FDA agents seeking evidence to obtain a search
warrant against Joe Di Stefano's clinic.
The raids...
A week later on October 11, 2001, 120 agents from the FDA, DEA,
Customs, U.S. Marshall's Service, Florida Department of Law
Enforcement and the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office raided Joe
DiStafano and Dr. Mayer's clinics in Tampa and St. Petersburg,
Florida.
The home of Joe DiStefano was also
raided. Joe's personal property, including his children's computers
that they needed to do their schoolwork, was seized as the agents
made disparaging and insulting comments to DiStefano and his wife,
Georgeann.
When the FDA agents attacked the clinics, patients were being
administered various therapies by IV injection. The law enforcement
officials asked the patients if they wanted to be unhooked from
their IVs, but not a single one said yes.
Paul Schebell, with stage 4 liver
cancer who'd seen marked improvement during three months of
treatment, said directly to the FDA raid leader,
"We're all adults here making free
will choices. Why don't you get out of here and leave us alone?"
The FDA agent emphatically stated,
"This will be your last treatment!"
Schebell slumped in his chair. A nurse
worried that he might be having a heart attack tried to go across
the room to comfort him, but the FDA agent stood in her path. She
pushed past him and went over to Schebell, who felt like he'd just
been issued a death sentence.
A simultaneous raid occurred against Ivan Danhoff, MD, PhD of
Grand Prairie, Texas, the solidly credentialed researcher and author
of the book, Remarkable Aloe: Aloe Through the Ages.
Dr. Danhoff has published more than 80
research papers, and has served as a consultant to several
pharmaceutical research institutes. He has been a consultant to the
FDA, serving on review panels and committees dealing primarily with
gastrointestinal drugs.
After more than 20 years of research,
Danhof developed an intravenous aloe vera preparation called
Albarin. It is this special aloe
extract that was being used so successfully at the Florida clinics.
The compounding pharmacist who prepared the aloe extract (Jerry W.
Jackson of Allied Pharmacy Services, Arlington, TX) was also raided.
Seized in the raids were the aloe extract (Albarin), all patients'
charts, along with all computers and other business records. The
purpose of the Oct 11, 2001 FDA raid was to stop cancer patients
from being able to use this intravenous form of aloe vera (called
Albarin).
According to the information we have
gathered, Albarin was:
It is difficult for us to verify this
efficacy data, because the FDA seized all patient records.
These cancer patients' lives now have been thrown into disarray;
eight have died as we go to press. Clearly, the surviving cancer
patients must get their Albarin back. If the FDA succeeds in this
draconian effort to suppress patients' access to Albarin, it will
have a chilling effect against other medical pioneers and suppress
consumer access to potentially life-saving therapies.
While the FDA attempts to build a criminal case against those
involved in this project, many more patients face near certain
death. A video made after the FDA raids shows actual cancer patients
describing how Albarin was responsible for keeping them alive.
At the end of this article, you will
find out how you can obtain this video by making a small
contribution to the legal defense fund.
The government
is not committing full resources to fight terrorism!
Protestors in front
of Federal Court House
demanding that the
FDA return the seized aloe (Albarin) extract.
Ironically, these multiple FDA raids
came exactly one month after the
terrorist attacks on the World Trade
Center/Pentagon. If you watched TV on October 11, 2001,
you heard elected and appointed Federal officials categorically
state that all law enforcement resources were being used to fight
terrorism, specifically the spreading anthrax endemic.
You heard officials at the highest
levels of government proclaim that the United States was at war both
at home and abroad and that State and Federal government were
totally committed to protecting American lives and winning the war
against terrorism.
The government was not telling the truth!
At the very time that anthrax was
contaminating congressional office buildings, the FDA was expending
resources digging through Joe Di Stefano's garbage and assembling a
team of law enforcement personnel to conduct multiple raids.
The law enforcement agencies involved in this FDA raid could have
been protecting Americans against terrorism. Instead, the FDA
thought it was more important to deny terminal cancer patients
access to a therapy that may have been keeping them alive.
In the next section, you will learn why
the FDA is so compelled to censor these types of alternative
therapies.
Who benefits
from FDA "protection"?
Most people don't realize how politically influenced the FDA is.
Several former FDA officials who now
work as consultants for private industry explained this to me. The
FDA receives a lot of "complaints" about various products it
regulates.
When I was first told this, I said,
"Do you mean a lot of consumers
complain to the FDA?"
The answer is no. The FDA defines
"complaints" as when a commercial company contacts the FDA
and asks them to investigate the activities of a competitor.
The purpose of these complaints is to
cause problems for the competitor so that the "complaining" company
can gain a tactical advantage in the marketplace. The FDA is happy
to serve various pharmaceutical interests in this role due to the
revolving door between the Agency and certain companies whose
interests they protect.
The FDA claims to be a consumer protection agency. The truth
is that industry uses the FDA to attack competitors. So when
the FDA pretends to have the interests of consumers at heart, always
look to who benefits from the FDA's actions. In most cases, it's
giant drug companies, the blood banking industry, large food
processors, etc. There is relatively little "consumer protection"
provided to the American public by the FDA. The FDA aggressively
protects the profit margins of industry (especially big drug
companies), at the expense of the individual consumer.
Now here is where the story gets interesting. Who do you think
"complained" to the FDA about Joe Di Stephano and Dr. Mayer's
intravenous aloe therapy? It turns out that no cancer patient or
their families ever complained.
Joe Di Stefano and Dr. Mayer are loved
and respected by their patients who found them by word-of-mouth.
Unlike many alternative clinics attacked by the FDA, Joe Di Stefano
and Dr. Mayer were not advertising and not making curative health
claims. Remember, to find out what motivates the FDA to act, you
have to look at whose economic interests were being impacted.
It turns out that more and more cancer
patients were choosing this nontoxic alternative therapy instead
of chemotherapy. So the oncologists in the area got together to
"complain" to the FDA about Joe Di Stefano and Dr. Mayer selling an
unapproved cancer drug (aloe extract).
Realizing that these conventional oncologists are part of the
monolithic "cancer industry," the FDA acted with lightning speed to
shut down this competitive threat. After all, if the effects of this
aloe extract became widely known, it could inhibit sales of highly
profitable chemotherapy drugs.
The FDA has historically functioned to protect the profits of the
politically well connected.
Small companies who discover novel
approaches to treat disease seldom survive the FDA's delays in
approving paperwork or Gestapo-like raids as were instigated against
Joe Di Stefano, et al.
What the FDA
says
The FDA is attempting to label Albarin as a "dangerous, unapproved
drug" and would have people believe that Joe Di Stefano and others
involved with it were "ripping people off."
Joe Di Stefano claims they were bending
over backwards to comply with the FDA's drug approval process when
the raid occurred. If Joe Di Stefano's group had been a large
pharmaceutical company, the FDA would have made an inquiry about
what was going on instead of conducting an armed raid.
The FDA is threatening to bring criminal charges against Joe Di
Stephano and others for selling an "unapproved drug."
Based on how the FDA traditionally
prosecutes a criminal case, they will seek to block all evidence and
testimony showing that the unapproved therapy may be effective.
Instead, they will make their case to the jury that it is illegal to
sell an unapproved drug. FDA enforcement personnel have stated that
they don't care whether Albarin was saving people's lives or not.
They say their job is to enforce the law, not determine
efficacy.
The Judge sealed the documents relating to the execution of this
search warrant and all the patients' records remain with the FDA.
This prevents us from conducting a complete independent evaluation
of this situation.
However, the medical records that we
have reviewed lends weight to the many testimonials from actual
cancer patients about the benefits they were obtaining from
Albarin.
How effective
is this aloe extract?
We could present an array of evidence
that would indicate that Joe Di Stephano's aloe extract (Albarin) is
a valid cancer therapy, but we are going to wait until we can get
ahold of the actual patient records (now being held by the FDA). We
don't want to raise any false hopes.
The handful of medical records we've
seen seem to confirm the numerous verbal testimonies we've heard
regarding Albarin's effectiveness. Although the FDA has made a more
complete evaluation impossible until some time in the future, we
still emphasize the need to contribute to Joe DiStefano's legal fund
and to do everything possible to help these cancer victims get their
Albarin back!
It is important to point out that studies published in the
peer-reviewed scientific literature indicate that aloe extracts may
be effective against cancer.
The problem is that this special aloe
extract (Albarin) cannot be obtained anywhere else at this time.
The "war
against cancer" is a massive failure
Since 1950, an enormous amount of money has been spent on cancer
research. Within the next 12 months, however, more than 554,000
Americans will die from cancer. (Greenlee RT, et al. 2001)
The sad fact is that despite aggressive use of chemotherapy and
other conventional treatments, there was little in the way of
improvement in long-term survival against most forms of cancer from
years 1950 to 1995.
This dismal statistic was revealed in a study published in the
Journal of the American Medical Association (Welch HG., et al.
2000). The title of this article is, "Are
Increasing 5-Year Survival Rates Evidence of Success Against Cancer?"
The doctors who authored this study
reviewed cancer mortality data from year 1950 to 1995. The purpose
of this review was to determine if progress is being made in
extending survival time of cancer patients. The results showed that
for the most common cancers, the odds of dying in 1995 were about
the same as in 1950. The reason more people are now living over five
years is because of improved methods of screening and diagnosis,
i.e. the cancer is found earlier when it is easier to treat.
This grim survival data, published in the American Medical
Association's own journal, indicate that more innovative approaches
are needed if we are to discover effective methods of treating this
dreaded disease.
Even after cancer patients are declared terminal, the FDA does
everything in its power to deny access to alternative approaches.
The FDA's hostile actions directly suppress the kind of creative
thinking that is so desperately needed to eradicate this insidious
disease.
Scientists who have discovered
innovative therapies face financial ruin and incarceration if they
dare offer them before gaining the FDA's official seal of approval.
The regulatory
system must be changed
Scientists have identified many ways of controlling cancer cell
propagation, but little of this new technology is being used in the
clinical practice of medicine. When a scientific discovery is made,
drug companies spend years seeking a patent and then more years
carrying it through the bureaucratic approval process.
The reason why so many cancer patients
continue to die is an antiquated regulatory system that
causes potential therapies to be delayed or suppressed altogether.
The system needs to be changed if we are to make a realistic attempt
to save the 1500 American cancer patients who perish each day. Our
long-standing proposal has been to change the law so that anyone can
"opt-out" of the FDA's so-called umbrella of "protection." The way
this approach would work is that companies could sell novel products
with a label clearly stating that they were "Not Approved By The
FDA."
Consumers who trusted the government
could stay with FDA-approved drugs only, while those willing to take
a risk would be allowed to try whatever they choose. Companies that
made fraudulent claims for products could be prosecuted under the
laws that exist today.
We believe that this free market initiative would result in a
renaissance in the practice of medicine, analogous to the computer
technology revolution that has occurred over the past two decades.
In this free market environment, many inexpensive cures would
be found for lethal diseases. Greater competition would help
eliminate the health care cost crisis that exists today. In this
libertarian utopia, when you heard about a medical breakthrough on
the news, you would not have to wait years before the therapy might
become available.
Today's over-regulated system results in terminally ill people
hearing of scientific discoveries that could cure their disease, but
are quickly advised by the newscaster that the therapy is years away
from FDA approval.
We think that terminally ill people
should be able to make up their own minds about what drugs they are
willing to try.
What cancer
patients and their families must do
There are millions of cancer patients alive right now who face
possible or probable death in the next 12 months. If you add up
family members and friends, there are tens of millions of Americans
who should be outraged by an outdated regulatory system that blocks
access to potentially life-saving therapies.
The reason
the FDA can continue to suppress
innovative therapies is that cancer patients have failed to organize
for the purpose of abolishing the FDA's arbitrary authority.
The first step to changing today's outmoded system is to organize
those who understand the magnitude of this problem into a group that
will make an impact on Congressional leaders.
We ask those who are concerned about cancer to register their names
and addresses at the website,
www.cancervictor.com.
If you don't have a computer, send your
name and address to:
Cancer Patient Advocates
PO Box 1067
Hollywood, FL 33022
You will be kept informed on legislation
actions to break down the bureaucratic barriers that deny effective
therapies to cancer patients.
See and hear
the dying cancer patients
Joe Di Stefano and the others have run out of money to pay
attorneys. The FDA has economically devastated their business and
they are now facing criminal charges. Joe Di Stefano, NC and
Daniel Mayer, DO do not have deep pockets, but now have some
large legal expenses. They unselfishly devoted themselves to their
patients, and were charging next to nothing for the Albarin
treatments.
For a donation of $25.00 you will be sent a videotape with footage
of a protest held by the Albarin patients in front of the Federal
Courthouse in Tampa. Included on the tape are numerous
interviews with Albarin patients, pleading for your help so that
they might live.
To help battle FDA tyranny, please send your tax-deductible donation
to:
Freedom of Choice Fund / FLA
4811 Cypress Ridge PL
Tampa, FL 33624-6308
The video tape will shock you, as you
hear multiple testimonials from cancer patients who believe they owe
their lives to the pioneers who developed Albarin.
My personal
comments...
As soon as I heard about these outrageous FDA raids, I flew to Tampa
and spent two weeks helping Joe Di Stefano organize his legal
defense. I spoke with numerous cancer patients and reviewed the
results of studies indicating that Albarin was working exceedingly
well.
Dr. Danhof stated that Albarin is almost identical to
Acemannon, an aloe drug
patented by Carrington Labs, where Danhof used to work. He explained
that the difference is Acemannon uses only the middle part of the
leaf, the filet as its called, which has a high water content, so
it's more diluted than the extract used in Albarin, which
utilizes the whole leaf.
This is the only way to get the large
molecule constituents that work well in the treatment of cancer.
Danhof stated that Acemannon's safety had been verified by numerous
animal studies and had been approved by the Department of
Agriculture for use in the treatment of feline leukemia and in the
treatment of sarcomas, for which it worked very well.
Dr. Danhoff stated that Albarin had a history of being used
successfully since 1996 in humans in over 600 patients in the USA,
Canada, Mexico, Holland, Belgium, Germany and China. He emphasizes
that he goes to great lengths in his lab using spectral
chromatography and other analytic methods to produce a safe, pure
substance, and that he has tested every batch on himself or his
colleague first before giving it to any patients. All aloe utilized
was certified organic. He emphasizes that it took him over 20 years
to perfect the process of producing Albarin, which is extracted
through a freeze-drying process.
Dr. Danhof states that the chill that patients notice from Albarin
is,
"not a side effect, its just a sign
that the immune system is responding favorably, and when you
contrast this with the side effects of chemotherapy drugs such
as severe nausea, vomiting and other problems stemming from
toxicity, which Albarin doesn't have, it's a vast improvement,
and a big reason why patients like it so much."
Dr. Danhof provided a statement to me
detailing his extensive experience as a medical researcher and
professor of medicine at Southwestern Medical School, the University
of Texas Health Science Center in Dallas between 1953 and 1983 where
he first started studying aloe.
You can find out more about Albarin, including several key studies
cited by Dr. Danhof, by accessing the International Advocates For
Health Freedom website,
www.iahf.com - go to the
Albarin Raid section.
Please send at least a minimum $25.00 donation (more if you possibly
can) to the legal defense fund.
You will receive the videotape of the
patient interviews so you can help save the lives of the cancer
victims who appear to have derived significant benefit from this
natural therapy.
LEGAL DEFENSE
DONATIONS NEEDED
All donations are tax deductible.
Please make check payabe to:
"NISLPP" (National Institute for Science Law and Public
Policy")
Freedom of Choice Fund/FLA
4811 Cypress Ridge PL,
Tampa, FL 33624-6308
John C. Hammell, President, International Advocates for
Health Freedom
http://www.iahf.com
PO Box 625 Floyd, VA 24091 USA
1-800-333-2553.
References
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Greenlee RT, et al. Cancer
statistics, 2001. CA Cancer J Clin 2001 Jan-Feb;51(1):15-36.
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Welch HG, et al. Are increasing
5-year survival rates evidence of success against cancer?
JAMA 2000 Jun 14;283(22):2975-8.
Abstracts of
Published Studies Indicating Aloe's Potential Efficacy Against
Cancer
Aloe-emodin is a new type of anticancer
agent with selective activity against neuroectodermal tumors
Pecere T, Gazzola MV,
Mucignat C, Parolin C, Vecchia FD, Cavaggioni A, Basso G,
Diaspro A, Salvato B, Carli M, Palu G.
Department of Histology,
Microbiology, and Medical Biotechnologies, Medical School,
University of Padova, Italy.
Here we report that aloe-emodin (AE), a hydroxyanthraquinone
present in Aloe vera leaves, has a specific in vitro and in vivo
antineuroectodermal tumor activity. The growth of human
neuroectodermal tumors is inhibited in mice with severe combined
immunodeficiency without any appreciable toxic effects on the
animals.
The compound does not inhibit the
proliferation of normal fibroblasts nor that of hemopoietic
progenitor cells. The cytotoxicity mechanism consists of the
induction of apoptosis, whereas the selectivity against
neuroectodermal tumor cells is founded on a specific
energy-dependent pathway of drug incorporation. Taking into
account its unique cytotoxicity profile and mode of action, AE
might represent a conceptually new lead antitumor drug. Cancer
Res 2000 Jun 1;60(11):2800-4
Aloe Vera has been claimed to
contain several important therapeutic properties, including
anticancer effects. The effect of Aloe Vera administration was
studied on a pleural tumor in rat. Growth of Yoshida AH-130
ascite hepatoma cells injected (2 x 10(5) in 0.1 ml) into pleura
of male inbred Fisher rats was evaluated at different times (7th
and 14th days).
Data show that the use of Aloe Vera
proved a therapeutic method, and that the present experimental
model could be useful in the study of other therapeutics
treatments in vivo.
Int J Tissue React
1998;20(4):115-8
The therapeutic potential of Aloe Vera in
tumor-bearing rats
Corsi MM, Bertelli AA, Gaja G, Fulgenzi A, Ferrero ME.
Institute of General
Pathology, Medical Faculty, University of Milan, Italy.
Aloe Vera has been claimed to contain several important
therapeutic properties, including anticancer effects. The effect
of Aloe Vera administration was studied on a pleural tumor in
rat. Growth of Yoshida AH-130 ascite hepatoma cells injected (2
x 10(5) in 0.1 ml) into pleura of male inbred Fisher rats was
evaluated at different times (7th and 14th days).
Data show that the use of Aloe Vera
proved a therapeutic method, and that the present experimental
model could be useful in the study of other therapeutics
treatments in vivo.
Int J Tissue React
1998;20(4):115-8
Activation of a mouse macrophage
cell line by acemannan
the major carbohydrate
fraction from Aloe vera gel
Zhang L, Tizard IR.
Department of
Veterinary Pathobiology, Texas A & M University College Station
77843, USA.
Acemannan is the name given to the major carbohydrate fraction
obtained from the gel of the Aloe vera leaf. It has been claimed
to have several important therapeutic properties including
acceleration of wound healing, immune stimulation, anti-cancer
and anti-viral effects. However, the biological mechanisms of
these activities are unclear.
Because of this wide diversity of
effects, it is believed that they may be exerted through
pluripotent effector cells such as macrophages. The effects of
acemannan on the mouse macrophage cell line, RAW 264.7 cells
were therefore investigated. It was found that acemannan could
stimulate macrophage cytokine production, nitric oxide release,
surface molecule expression, and cell morphologic changes. The
production of the cytokines IL-6 and TNF-alpha were dependent on
the dose of acemannan provided.
Nitric oxide production, cell
morphologic changes and surface antigen expression were
increased in response to stimulation by a mixture of acemannan
and IFN-gamma. These results suggest that acemannan may
function, at least in part, through macrophage activation.
Immunopharmacology 1996
Nov;35(2):119-28
Tumor inhibitors. 114. Aloe emodin
antileukemic principle
isolated from Rhamnus frangula L.
Kupchan SM, Karim A.
A systematic fractionation of an ethanol-water (1:1) extract of
the seeds of Rhamnus frangula L., guided by assays for tumore-inhibitory
activity, led to the isolation of aloe emodin (1). This compound
was found to show significant antileukemic activity against the
P-388 lymphocytic leukemia in mice.
A note-worthy vehicle-dependence of
the testing results is reported. In the light of this
vehicle-dependence, the re-examination of other anthraquinone
derivatives is recommended.
Lloydia 1976
Jul-Aug;39(4):223-4
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