Actress Farrah Fawcett suffers return of cancer; seeks alternative treatments in Germany

Former "Charlie's Angels" star Farrah Fawcett, seen here in 2006, has suffered a relapse in her battle against anal cancer and plans to pursue alternative treatments in Germany. Diagnosed with cancer in September 2006, the actress had been declared cancer free by her doctors on Feb. 2, 2007, her 60th birthday, after having undergone chemotherapy and radiation.

When she first revealed her condition in 2006, Fawcett said, "I am resolutely strong and I am determined to bite the bullet and fight the fight while going through cutting-edge, state-of-the-art treatment. I should be able to return to my life as it was before at the end of my treatment." Cancerous cells were re-detected in May of 2007. Sadly, Fawcett’s ordeal points to the failed treatments that comprise cancer care today.

Cancer treatments actually increase the number of cancer cells

After 30 years of failed cancer treatment, experts are finally conceding modern treatment of cancer has its downsides. Experiments conducted at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Maryland show that treatments like chemo and radiation do shrink the size of tumors, but they end up triggering a small population of cancer stem cells that drive the disease and promotes the spread (metastasis) of cancer. Source: Science Daily Sept. 22, 2007

FDA approves drug that allegedly prevents breast cancer, but it promotes blood clots that cause cancer to spread

A drug that raises the risk of blood clots that then facilitates the spread of cancer is the second drug approved by the Food & Drug Administration to prevent breast cancer. The drug, Evista (Raloxifene), also used to treat osteoporosis, was found to increase the relative risk of dying from a stroke by 49 percent in a study published last year. Nonetheless, the FDA approved Evista as an alternative to tamixofen. But many women refuse to take tamoxifen because of its side effects.

The FDA press release says evidence from three studies show that Evista reduces the risk of invasive breast cancer by 44 to 71 percent, while a fourth larger study showed no advantage over tamoxifen. Why was the data from the largest study separated from the other three reports? (Obvious, all totaled it would have shown no advantage at all).

Since 1998 it has been quoted that Raloxifene (Evista) reduces the incidence of breast cancer by a reported 76%. But that figure is specious. The Canada Drug Guide Project explains Raloxifene this way:
It is claimed that Raloxifene (Evista) reduces incidence of breast cancer by 76% with only a 1% risk of side effects. What it didn’t make clear is the fact that the patients who took the drug in the study went from having a 1% absolute risk of having breast cancer down to a 0.24% absolute risk of having breast cancer over three years (hence, the “76%” reduction). If measured in relative terms, many of the side effects increased much more than 76%--in fact some risks, such as those for blood clots, increased, relatively speaking, by 300%. (See reference here*)

-Copyright Bill Sardi, Knowledge of Health, Inc

Common vitamin “stops cancer in its tracks”

If cancer patients only knew how to use natural remedies to treat and prevent tumors, but their doctors show little interest. Take, for example, vitamin C. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine report that cancer cells require a protein called hypoxia inducing factor-1 (HIF-1) for their survival. Cancer cells grow so fast that circulation cannot supply enough oxygen. Cancerous tissues are characterized as being hypoxic, that is, without oxygen. HIF-1 helps oxygen-deprived tumor cells adapt and create energy from sugars, which keeps them alive. Free radicals (oxidizers) are required to trigger the production of HIF-1. Antioxidants, like vitamin C, remove the free radicals, stop the production of HIF-1 and “stops the tumor in its tracks.” Source: Cancer Cell 12: 230-38, Sept. 2007. To learn more about vitamin C and hypoxia-inducing factor, read You Don’t Have To Be Afraid of Cancer Anymore.

Vitamin D-estroys Cancer

The book “You Don’t Have To Be Afraid of Cancer Any More” asserts there are available over-the-counter remedies that are more powerful than any chemotherapy drugs in use today. Take, for example, vitamin D. Just 50 micrograms (2000 international units) or just 1/20th of 1 milligram, will cut the risk for colon cancer in half, and 90 micrograms (3600 IU) will cut the risk of breast cancer in half. These are the new calculations released by Cedric F. Garland, cancer researcher at the University of California San Diego. If foods were fortified with vitamin D, Dr. Garland estimates at least 60,000 cases of colorectal cancer could be avoided per year and another 85,000 cases of breast cancer in North America alone. Source: Nutrition Reviews 65; 8 (Suppl):91-95, 2007. Has your oncologist recommended vitamin D to prevent recurrence of cancer?