Coretta Scott King's Death Triggers Shutdown of Mexican Clinic

The revelation last week that Coretta Scott King, widow of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., had died in a Mexican cancer clinic, and that the clinic had subsequently been shut down by Mexican authorities, has once again focused public attention on the phenomenon of the Tijuana-area clinics and the unusual cancer treatments they provide.

My new report, "Mexican Cancer Clinics in the Era of Evidence-Based Medicine," presents a thorough analysis of the history, therapeutic philosophies, and current status of approximately two dozen Mexican clinics, and examines in great detail the criticisms that have been leveled against them and their operators by US medical authorities and the mainstream media. This 40-page report is arguably the most complete discussion of the Mexican clinic phenomenon, from the point of view of evidence-based medicine, yet written.

For decades, these clinics that have provided American and other international patients with alternative treatments for cancer and other chronic, degenerative diseases. Yet the treatments they provide, and their very existence, are now threatened as never before. In addition to giving an overview of their activities, I provide suggestions for reform that, if implemented, would help bring the Tijuana area clinics into the world of 21st century scientific medicine.

Abram Hoffer, MD, PhD, the famed orthomolecular physician, has read this new report and states:

"Dr. Moss has written a superb report on the Mexican alternative medicine clinics. But such alternative clinics for treating cancer would be unnecessary if conventional oncology were doing a proper job. As it is, sick and dying patients feel driven to seek treatment at facilities in another country. The vast majority of patients who make these journeys do so either because they are in a sense refugees from failed conventional approaches, or because they seek specific treatments that are not available in their home country. The role of big government in attempting to discourage such "medical tourism" and ultimately to prevent access to alternative treatments is thoroughly examined in this excellent report."

(In case you are unfamiliar with Abram Hoffer, MD, PhD, FRCP-C, he is a Canadian psychiatrist well known for his use of "orthomolecular medicine" in the treatment of diseases such as cancer. He was formerly Director of Psychiatric Research of the province of Saskatchewan and is the author of hundreds of peer-reviewed articles. In 1955, he discovered that niacin successfully controlled elevated cholesterol levels.)

David Hess, PhD, professor and chairperson of the Department of Science and Technology Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, and an expert on the sociology of cancer treatments writes:

"For over thirty years Ralph Moss has been a beacon of integrity in the controversies surrounding complementary and alternative cancer therapies. He cuts through the rhetoric and hype on both sides and always keeps the best interest of the patient in mind. His current work on the Mexican cancer clinics updates his classic book, The Cancer Industry, by taking us into an era of globalization. International agreements such as NAFTA and the changing economy of Tijuana are creating the conditions for a new wave of repression of the longstanding phenomenon of the border clinics."

The new report on the Mexican clinics costs $9.95 and can be downloaded by clicking here.