Cancer Decisions - Free Newsletter -September 5, 2004

A NOTE FROM THE STAFF AT CANCER DECISIONS

The Journal of Integrative Cancer Therapy is a peer-reviewed, PubMed-listed medical journal. While normally the journal only releases the full text of its articles to subscribers, two recent articles by Dr. Ralph Moss will be available in full online from the journal's publisher, Sage Publications, until the end of October. You can access these articles either by going to the publisher's website, www.sagepub.com and typing in 'Moss, RW' in the search engine, or by clicking or going to:
http://online.sagepub.com/cgi/searchresults?fulltext=&author1=Moss%2C+R&src=hw&hits=10&hitsbrief=25&resourcetype=1&andorexactfulltext=and

CANCER CONTROL SOCIETY AWARD

I am in Los Angeles this week at the 32nd annual convention of the Cancer Control Society (CCS), where I will receive the Society's Humanitarian Award. The meeting is held each year over Labor Day weekend (this year September 4-6) at the Sheraton Universal Hotel, opposite Universal Studios in Hollywood. It brings together physicians, researchers, activists and cancer patients from all over the world. Approximately 1,200 participants will gather to discuss the latest developments in the field of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

For over three decades, under the leadership of Ms. Lorraine Rosenthal, the CCS has been a source of hard-to-find information on alternative treatments. Its annual convention has functioned as a showcase for many new ideas in the CAM approach to cancer. I have spoken at the CCS meetings several times since the 1970s.

It is a particular honor for me to receive the CCS Humanitarian Award. Previous recipients have included such notables as Stanislaw R. Burzynski, MD, PhD, Prof. Samuel S. Epstein, MD, Josef M. Issels, MD, and O. Carl Simonton, MD.

The Award Citation reads as follows:

"For over 30 years, you have fought for the fair testing of Complementary and Alternative cancer therapies. In the 1970s, you lost your position at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, when you exposed the cover-up of positive experiments with Laetrile (amygdalin).

"Your 11 books, such as "The Cancer Industry," "Herbs Against Cancer," and "Questioning Chemotherapy" are beacons of light for thousands of cancer patients and practitioners.

"You were instrumental in helping to create the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. Because of your efforts, these therapies have now become a respected branch of medicine.

"You have tirelessly advised and counseled thousands of cancer patients. For the past 10 years you have researched and written The Moss Reports, which inform patients of their options in over 200 types of cancers. Your weekly Moss Report newsletter has gone out to tens of thousands of cancer patients and families.

"You were among the first to grasp the potential of the Internet and in 1997 you wrote the book "Alternative Medicine Online." Your cancerdecisions.com website is now the #1 rated site for the topic "alternative cancer treatments" in Yahoo!

"You are the conscience of the cancer community and we hereby acknowledge your achievements as an investigative journalist, a passionate voice for patients' rights and a crusader for the truth!"

This is the third honor I have received in as many years from leading organizations in the field of CAM. (The other two were from the National Foundation for Alternative Medicine in 2002 and the American College for Advancement in Medicine in 2003.) On a personal level it is enormously gratifying to receive such honors, however, I see them also as an endorsement of the particular approach to alternative treatments that I have taken over the years.

Back in 1977, I wrote the following about the Laetrile/amygdalin controversy: "Our interest in Laetrile has always been to have it adequately tested and to have all those research results released….The focus of the Laetrile movement should be to mobilize large numbers of people to demand the truth from the scientific establishment about this agent, and all issues related to cancer."

Consistently, over the years, I have put my emphasis on fostering the fair scientific evaluation of the various methods that are used in the treatment of cancer, from surgery to the far-out alternative treatments coming from outside the mainstream. A belief in the value of good science is the underlying principle of all that I write and do. I seek the cooperation of all likeminded people who want to see CAM subjected to intensive but even-handed scrutiny.

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

In last week's newsletter I discussed the increasingly popular and widely promoted Chinese remedy known as Tian Xian. (The spelling of this name varies widely since it is a transliteration from Chinese.)

In my discussion, I pointed out that there were no scientific studies of Tian Xian available in the National Library of Medicine's database, PubMed. This is incorrect. What I meant to say was that there had been no studies of the use of Tian Xian in the treatment or prevention of cancer. There is in fact one scientific study of Tian Xian available in the database, concerning the possible use of the compound in the management of aphthous ulcers (canker sores) in the mouth. The reference for this study appears below:

Sun A, Chia JS, Wang WB, Chiang CP. Immunomodulating effects of "tien-hsien liquid" on peripheral blood mononuclear cells and T-lymphocytes from patients with recurrent aphthous ulcerations. Am J Chin Med. 2004;32(2):221-34.

--Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D.

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IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER

The news and other items in this newsletter are intended for informational purposes only. Nothing in this newsletter is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice.