The trials involved 243 patients with newly diagnosed non-small cell lung cancer, 266 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, and 127 patients with advanced colorectal cancer. The largest of the three found that nerve damage occurred more often and that quality of life was significantly worse in the hydrazine sulfate group. After these studies were published, proponents claimed that they were flawed because patients were permitted to ingest tranquilizers, barbiturates, or alcohol, which allegedly would nullify the effect of hydrazine sulfate. The National Cancer Institute rejected these concerns, and an investigation by the United States General Accounting Office found no difference in survival times between the patients who had taken these drugs and those who had not.
In December 2000, the Annals of Internal Medicine published a case report of a 55-year-old man with cancer of the sinus near his left cheekbone. Instead of undergoing recommended medical treatment, he obtained hydrazine sulfate through a website and, for four months, followed the regimen published on the kathykeeton.com website. Two weeks later, he was hospitalized with signs of kidney and liver failure. Despite intensive hospital care, he died within a week.
"Today’s leading proponent is Michio Kushi, founder and president of the Kushi Institute in Brookline, Massachusetts. According to Institute publications, the macrobiotic way of life should include chewing food at least 50 times per mouthful (or until it becomes liquid), not wearing synthetic or woolen clothing next to the skin, avoiding long hot baths or showers, having large green plants in your house to enrich the oxygen content of the air, and singing a happy song every day. Kushi claims that cancer is largely due to improper diet, thinking, and way of life, and can be influenced by changing these factors. He recommends yin foods for cancers due to excess yang, and yang foods for tumors that are predominantly yin," explained Barrett and Herbert.
The diet itself can cause cancer patients to undergo serious weight loss and the only claims of cure come from those who also received responsible medical treatment. Recently, Kushi’s wife, Aveline, died of cervical cancer. She was reported to have undergone standard radiation treatment when the cancer was discovered. She resorted to acupuncture and other Eastern methods when the cancer spread to her bones and she was told that no standard treatment was available.
"Metabolic" treatment regimens vary from practitioner to practitioner and may include a "natural food" diet, coffee enemas, vitamins, minerals, glandulars, enzymes, laetrile, and various other nostrums that are not legally marketable in the United States. No scientific study has ever shown that "metabolic therapy" or any of its components is effective against cancer or any other serious disease.
Harold Manner, Ph.D., a biology professor who announced in 1977 that he had cured cancer in mice with injections of laetrile, enzymes, and vitamin A, was its most famous proponent. He was affiliated with a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico until his death in 1988.
"Tabebuia woods contains lapachol, which has been demonstrated to have antitumor activity in a few animal tumor models. However, no published study has shown a significant effect on cancer in humans. Studies during the early 1970s found that lapachol is not as readily absorbed by humans as by rats, and that plasma levels high enough to influence tumors would be accompanied by anticoagulant effects," explained the two doctors.
"However, one Philippine ‘healer’ has been reported to use human blood, which raises the possibility that HIV or hepatitis B could be transmitted. The American Cancer Society has concluded that ‘all demonstrations to date of psychic surgery have been done by various forms of trickery.’ Most ‘psychic surgeons’ practice in the Philippines or Brazil, but some have made tours within the United States. A few have been prosecuted for theft and/or practicing medicine without a license."
In1993, 60 Minutes aired a program promoting the claims of William Lane, Ph.D., author of the book Sharks Don’t Get Cancer. The highlight was a Cuban study of 29 "terminal" cancer patients who received shark-cartilage preparations. Patients were filmed doing exercises and reporting "feeling better" several weeks after the treatment had begun.
"The fact that ‘feeling better’ does not indicate whether a cancer treatment is effective was not mentioned. Nor was the fact that sharks do get cancer, even of their cartilage. NCI officials subsequently reviewed the Cuban data and concluded that they were incomplete and unimpressive," Barrett and Herbert opined.
They added that "in May 1997, at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting, researchers reported a study that found shark cartilage ineffective against advanced cancer in adults with a life expectancy of at least 12 weeks. The researchers concluded that shark cartilage was inactive in patients with advanced stages of cancer, specifically in breast, colon, lung, and prostate cancers. The study was sponsored by the Cancer Treatment Research Foundation, Cartilage Technologies (a manufacturer), and Cancer Treatment Centers of America. A few months later, Cartilage Technologies announced that it would support no additional research on shark cartilage as a cancer remedy."
"The Mayo Clinic conducted three double-blind studies involving a total of 367 patients with advanced cancer. All three studies found that patients given 10 g of vitamin C daily did no better than those given a placebo. Despite many years of taking huge daily amounts of vitamin C, both Pauling and his wife Ava died of cancer – she in 1981 and he in 1994," Herbert and Barrett mentioned.