By Herbert Vego
The cancer dilemma
ONE year ago, a friend tested positive for lung cancer. Her oncologist suggested chemotherapy, which she initially resisted. She would rather try herbal alternatives.
I could have agreed with her, remembering the story of a high school teacher who had survived cancer after religiously taking tea concocted from periwinkle flower or rosas de baybayon. But I refrained from retelling that story to her for lack of reliable documentation.
Eventually, however, her husband and her only daughter prevailed upon her to undergo chemotherapy even if they knew “it would be a very expensive gamble.”
I refrained from expressing my two cents’ worth on beating the odds through chemo. I went along with the family’s decision.
I texted the patient, “Just keep faith in the Lord and eat nutritious fruits and vegetables.”
I had in mind the guyabano, once touted to be a potent anti-cancer fruit capable of killing malignant cells in the body without the side effects common in chemotherapy.
She eventually succumbed nevertheless.
I have always been skeptical about chemotherapy. My research on this matter on the internet has not yielded convincing results. The one article that won my attention was “Lies About Cancer Treatment” by an American physician, Dr. Michael Cutler, who had written a book with the same title.
Cutler alleges that while cancer victims spend billions of dollars a year for cancer treatment, cure is very unsure. On the other hand, emerging alternative cures – for example cesium chloride, a naturally occurring alkaline mineral that “starves” cancer cells – are being suppressed.
He cites “greed” as the only reason why Big Pharma has prevailed upon the United States’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to go slow on approving natural cancer cures.
Dr. Cutler postulates that 90 percent of oncologists would refuse chemotherapy if they themselves had cancer “because it’s extremely ineffective.”
He believes that the Big Pharma resorts to a “number trick” that drug manufacturers use to promote their cancer treatments. Doctors may recommend a drug that allegedly reduces the chances of cancer recurring by 49 percent without any evidence supporting that claim.
On the contrary, based on the film documentary by two oncologists in Australia – “A Shocking Look at Cancer Studies” – cancer treatments generally enjoy below 10 percent success rate.
Cutler alleges that American drug companies pay oncologists to promote high-priced, but ineffective cancer drugs. He cites data from the American Medical Association confirming that 75 percent of oncologists make money not by treating patients but by selling chemotherapy and other costly anti-cancer drugs. He cites a testimony made by a former drug rep from Eli Lily before the US Congress: “Pharmaceutical companies wine and dine doctors, exaggerate to them the drug benefits and underplay side effects.”
There allegedly exists a covert campaign to censor natural cancer remedies and ruin doctors offering them, as in the case of a Dr. William Kelly, who claimed to have discovered a natural enzyme therapy that, combined with strict nutrition and a detoxification regime, “digested” pancreatic cancer cells. He was jailed after administering the regimen to his patients.
Since we laymen are no authorities on medical matters, as the card players would have it, “Choose your wild.”
-oOo-
‘GIVE ME FIVE’
IT’S not just an expression but a strict adherence to schedule that MORE Electric and Power Corporation is committed to, according to Engr. Bernard Bailey R. Del Castillo, the company’s Senior Assistant Vice President for Network Operations.
During a personal appearance on the radio show “MORE Power at Your Service” (also seen live and replayed on Facebook), Del Castillo told host Joy Fantilaga that their five-year rehabilitation work on Iloilo City’s distribution utility meant that “by the first quarter of 2024, we would have completed our modernization work.”
That means getting rid of dilapidated pieces of equipment, replacing them with high-tech ones.
“Since 1920,” Del Castillo said, “we have been eliminating dilapidated wooden poles, replacing them with concrete ones. As of November, we have put up 1,518 poles and replaced 701 units of transformers. We have upgraded wires, too, to ensure resistance against explosion or any other hazardous breakdown.
“Instead of trimming trees that could brush against high-voltage wires, we have replaced bare wires near the trees with insulated ones. We call them tree wires.
“Every year-end, we calendar our monthly activities for the next year. We monitor compliance of these activities weekly.”
That reminds us of a quote from MORE Power President Roel Z. Castro: “With MORE Power comes great sustainability.”
Indeed, MORE Power has imported two mobile substations to augment its existing ones.
The second one, imported from Turkey’s Aktif Elektroteknik, arrived last Friday at the intended site in Molo. A media presentation enlightened us on its “stand-alone” usefulness. This means that the transferable mobile unit may operate with no need of additional construction or equipment to operate. It has the capacity to distribute 30 to 36 MVA (megavolt amperes) of electricity.
To quote MORE Power PR man Jonathan Cabrera, “MORE is really serious in its commitment to give Ilonggos a robust distribution system.”
