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Old August 5th 06, 03:22 AM posted to misc.health.alternative,talk.politics.medicine,misc.kids.health,alt.support.child-protective-services
Ilena Rose
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Default The Abraham Cherrix cancer story the media won't print: Harry Hoxsey's cancer cures and the US government campaign to destroy them

The Abraham Cherrix cancer story the media won't print

http://www.newstarget.com/z019852.html


Originally published August 3 2006


The Abraham Cherrix cancer story the media won't print: Harry Hoxsey's
cancer cures and the US government campaign to destroy them
The idea of health freedom is one Americans likely never consider.
Certain freedoms in this country are taken for granted -- like the
freedoms of speech and religion -- so freedom to choose a method of
health care seems a given. Unfortunately, recent cases have brought to
the public's attention the startling truth that the government can
(and
does) make medical decisions for Americans, whether or not they agree.
This is especially the case concerning parents' decisions to treat
their children's diseases with alternative therapies over traditional,
and often harmful, treatments. The most recent in a host of such cases
involves a 16-year-old Virginia boy named Abraham Cherrix, who was
diagnosed in August 2005 with Hodgkin's disease -- a cancer of the
lymph nodes. After his initial diagnosis, Abraham submitted to
chemotherapy, which made him feel sick and weak. His cancer went into
brief remission before returning earlier this year, when he decided he
would not undergo more chemotherapy, but rather try alternative herbal
treatments. Abraham's parents supported their son's decision and began
taking him to the Hoxsey Clinic in Mexico for treatments involving
cancer-fighting herbs and an organic diet.


The story should end there. Abraham and his parents should be taking
their son to the clinic in Tijuana, with no interference. However, the
Virginia Department of Social Services decided to get involved, and
asked the state court to require Abraham's parents to return him to a
hospital in Virginia for conventional treatment, which would include
stronger chemotherapy than he'd previously undergone, as well as
radiation therapy. The court agreed and ordered Abraham's parents to
give consent for their son to be treated with harsh chemo treatments
at
Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters in Norfolk.


That's right: The court ordered his parents to give consent, which
flies in the face of the spirit of "consent," which by definition
involves a willing agreement between the consenting parties.
Fortunately for their son's health, Abraham's parents refused, and an
ongoing court battle began -- but for how long can Abraham's family
fend off the courts seeking to subject their son to a "therapy" that
comes with side effects ranging from pain and hair loss to vomiting
and
infections?


Does the state own your body?
Americans should be disturbed by Abraham's ordeal, regardless of
whether or not they believe alternative treatments work. As Abraham's
family lawyer put it: "This is not a case about what treatment is
best.
It's a case about who gets to decide." Other recent cases of health
authorities revoking parents' rights to treat their children with
natural therapies eclipse even Abraham's nightmare.
Take, for instance, the case of 13-year-old Katie Wernecke, a Texas
girl diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease in January 2005. After her
parents took her to the hospital for what they believed was pneumonia,
she was treated with chemotherapy, and doctors also wanted to give her
radiation therapy. Her parents declined, citing possible complications
such as stunted growth, an increase in breast cancer risk and learning
difficulties. They opted to try an alternative therapy involving high
doses of intravenous vitamin C, but before they got to try the much
safer therapy, Texas Child Protective Services intervened.


Unlike Abraham's case, Katie was taken away from her parents after
they
were labeled "neglectful" by the state, and her mother was arrested
and
thrown in jail for taking Katie to hide at a family ranch to avoid the
ordered "treatment."


On a June 9 episode of NBC's "Today Show," viewers saw a videotaped
statement from Katie, who said, "I don't need radiation treatment. And
nobody asked me what I wanted. It's my body."


Apparently, the state of Texas disagreed with the ownership of Katie's
body -- a district court judge eventually ruled that the Werneckes
would be allowed to treat Katie with the vitamin C treatments, but
only
after she underwent five days of court-ordered chemotherapy. What's
worse, her parents weren't allowed to be with her during the chemo
they'd fought so hard to avoid.


Outrage at medical terrorism is compounded by efforts of medical
establishment to silence cancer cures
People might be justifiably outraged to hear of Abraham's and Katie's
trials, or they might believe that the government acted in the best
interest of the young patients in attempting to force on them the only
known "treatment" for cancer. Hold the phone, though. What would
Americans think if they heard that traditional cancer treatments are
not the only therapy, and that safe, effective cancer cures have been
around for decades? Moreover, what would they think if they heard that
trusted medical establishments charged with protecting the health of
Americans -- such as the American Medical Association -- have waged a
decades-long battle against such cancer cures in an attempt to keep
them from the public?
Enter Harry Hoxsey, founder of the "Hoxsey Method" with which Abraham
Cherrix is attempting to treat his cancer. Hoxsey is the
great-grandson
of John Hoxsey, an American physician who discovered a remarkably
effective cancer cure in 1840 by watching horses with cancer cure
themselves by foraging for certain rare herbs.


Harry Hoxsey, a coal miner with no formal medical training, began
promoting his great-grandfather's cancer formula -- which contained a
number of herbs, including bloodroot, burdock, red clover, licorice
root, pokeroot, barberry root, buckthorn, prickly ash, stillingia root
and cascara -- in the 1930s. He also marketed a salve for external
cancers, called an "escharotic," which essentially burns off external
cancers. His treatments proved amazingly effective at curing cancer,
and word of his cancer treatments spread. People from all over the
country -- including "terminal" patients conventional doctors had
given
up on -- sought out his treatments, no matter where he was practicing,
and a high number of them were successfully cured.


Hoxsey was not a doctor, and could not legally practice medicine --
even if he was offering genuine cancer cures -- so to stay in
business,
he partnered with various MDs throughout his life, letting them do the
official "treatments" while he acted as "technician." Though he never
claimed to be a licensed physician, he was arrested hundreds of times
over the course of his life, mostly for practicing medicine without a
license -- including 119 arrests between 1926 and 1931 alone.
According
to Ralph W. Moss' "Herbs Against Cancer," Hoxsey had even taken to
carrying $10,000 in cash every day to bail himself out of jail.


At the height of his popularity in the 1950s, Hoxsey was operating a
chain of cancer clinics in Texas, and had seven licensed physicians
working for him. He'd earned a Doctorate of Naturopathy in Texas, and
helped tens of thousands of patients cure their cancer without
surgery,
chemotherapy or radiation, using herbal treatments and escharotic
therapies.


Organized medicine's campaign to eradicate cancer cures
People may wonder why the American public hasn't heard of Hoxsey, if
his treatments were so effective and cured so many. The answer is
because large-scale, vicious attacks by U.S. health agencies
eventually
sent Hoxsey packing to Mexico, where he could finally practice herbal
healing in relative peace. One might also wonder what "health" agency
would ever knowingly drive a cure for cancer out of the country. The
American Medical Association (AMA), the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) would, just to name a
few.
Why? Cliché as it may sound, they did it for political power. The AMA
has historically been considered the "gold standard" of Western
medicine -- a privilege that comes with vast control over what is and
is not considered genuine medicine. Efforts to preserve and gain such
political power have garnered the AMA a shady history rife with
efforts
to suppress natural and alternative treatments. For example, a small
group of chiropractors won a landmark antitrust suit against the AMA
in
1990 in the U.S. Court of Appeals 7th circuit, which ruled the AMA had
violated the Sherman Act by "conducting an illegal boycott in
restraint
of the trade directed at chiropractors generally, and at the four
plaintiffs in particular," This demonstrates the association's
willingness to target entire alternative fields, as well as
individuals
within them.


Though a large part of the AMA's stated mission is to be "an essential
force for progress in improving the nation's health," it was without a
doubt Hoxsey's biggest enemy, and is largely responsible for driving
him and his treatments out of the country. Morris Fishbein, editor of
the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) -- the AMA's
flagship medical journal -- from 1924 to 1949, particularly targeted
Hoxsey and his therapy, labeling Hoxsey a "quack" while simultaneously
refusing to study his therapies or their efficacy. Fishbein went out
of
his way to sully Hoxsey's name in JAMA publications, and was
eventually
found guilty of libeling Hoxsey in two 1947 suits. "Fishbein had
written an 'excoriating editorial' in JAMA titled 'Hoxsey -- Cancer
Charlatan.' He also co-authored an article in the Hearst newspaper
chain's weekly newsmagazine, titled 'Blood Money,'" writes Moss in
"Herbs Against Cancer." Without evidence, Fishbein's JAMA articles
attacked Hoxsey's treatment, claiming it "ate into blood vessels" and
killed patients, Moss writes.


The FDA used money and corrupt political influence to chase Hoxsey out
of America, state by state
The FDA, for its part in the Hoxsey debacle, used its influence to get
courts in the states in which Hoxsey tried to practice to revoke the
licenses of the physicians he worked with. "The FDA had limitless
financial and publicity resources," writes Moss. "When Hoxsey employed
physicians to give his treatment, Texas courts revoked their licenses
and forbade him from operating a clinic. When he turned the clinic
over
to someone else, FDA secured a court order requiring the Hoxsey clinic
to write individually to all patients and inform them that the
treatment was no longer available. The final blow came on October 29,
1958 when the FDA simultaneously padlocked his clinics in a single
day." Hoxsey's longtime nurse and current operator of his clinic in
Mexico, Mildred Nelson, said, "In no way did Harry have the money to
fight that state by state."
The NCI helped eradicate the Hoxsey method from U.S. soil in a
somewhat
different manner -- by giving him hope that the government would
finally investigate his treatment, only to let him down on more than
one occasion.


In 1945, Hoxsey met with three congressmen at the NCI offices in
Maryland, where NCI director R.R. Spencer laid out the details of what
the institute would need to review Hoxsey's method. Hoxsey went back
to
Texas and compiled above and beyond what the NCI had asked for, only
to
be told that his information was too incomplete and fragmented for
investigation. However, in 1947, the NCI asked him to resubmit the
information he'd sent before, for reconsideration by new staff members
at the institute. He sent it, and soon received a reply that his
records were still inadequate for consideration, and no government
investigation would occur.


However, Hoxsey's cancer cures were not entirely without government
approval. Dr. John Heinerman writes in "Natural Pet Cures" that: "A
Dallas judge ruled in federal court that Hoxsey's therapy was
'comparable to surgery, radium and x-ray in its effectiveness, without
the destructive side effects of those treatments.' (Hoxsey) faced
unrelenting opposition and harassment from a hostile medical
establishment. The AMA, NCI, and FDA organized a 'conspiracy' to
'suppress' a fair, unbiased assessment of Hoxsey's methods, according
to a 1953 report to Congress."


In spite of that court's approval, Hoxsey's clinics in Dallas were
shut
down in the 1950s, and he moved his practice to Mexico. Hoxsey died in
1974, and his nurse, Mildred Nelson, has carried the torch at the
Tijuana-based Bio-Medical Center ever since, caring for patients such
as Abraham Cherrix.


Hoxsey's cancer cures really work
Though the government agencies that drove Hoxsey from the United
States
never bothered to test his therapy and called him a "quack" out of
hand
because he did not have a medical license, research has proven the
efficacious effects of the herbs in his formulas.
For example, red clover has long been used as an herbal remedy for
cancer, infections, tumors and menopause symptoms. It also supports
the
immune system and the blood. Burdock fights skin disorders and cancer,
and supports the liver, skin and immune system. Licorice root is used
for a myriad of health conditions ranging from inflammation and
arthritis to cancer and heart disease. It supports the immune system,
the blood, and the function of the spleen.


Pokeroot has shown anti-cancer properties, especially for breast
cancers. Similarly, bloodroot is a powerful fighter against skin
cancer. Cascara is a natural treatment for leukemia and liver
disorders, and supports liver and gallbladder function. Stillingia
root
also treats skin conditions and acts as a blood purifier.


Though Hoxsey's formula often uses broad combinations of powerful
herbs
such as red clover and bloodroot, as well as many others, his formula
is adapted to specially fit each individual patient, adding or
removing
herbal components case-by-case. The Hoxsey method also incorporates a
healthy organic diet, along with vitamins and immune stimulation.
While
official government studies have never been performed, other forms of
honest evidence support the benefits and success of Hoxsey's method.


"Today substantial laboratory data indicates that the Hoxsey herbal
tonic could have genuine value against cancer," writes Kenny Ausubel
in
"When Healing Becomes A Crime." Ausubel continues, "Thousands of
patients believe it saved their lives. There is no dispute that the
Hoxsey remedies for external cancer are effective. Over the course of
this century, numerous prominent figures including senators,
congressmen, judges, and even doctors have affirmed Hoxsey's reputed
cures and repeatedly called for an investigation. Why, then, has it
taken so long? The answer is buried in medical politics. It revolves
around a fierce trade war fought over money as well as fundamental
conflict of medical opinion. Its consequence has been the exclusion
and
outright suppression of Hoxsey as well as numerous other unorthodox
cancer therapies."


Alternative practitioners suffer from medical establishment's
meddling,
but patients suffer more
Unfortunately, Hoxsey's therapy is far from the only alternative
treatment to be railroaded by conventional medical authorities.
Unorthodox medical therapies have been forced to relocate to Mexico
and
other countries free of the red tape surrounding American medical
politics.
Who suffers most from such medical bias and political lust? Sure, the
alternative practitioners suffer, but so do countless Americans who
are
kept in the dark about natural, effective, safe treatments for
diseases
traditional practitioners treat with toxic chemotherapy and radiation
-- which seem to kill the patients more often than save them. What's
worse, the U.S. medical establishment seems to have convinced much of
the country that its poisonous cancer "treatments" are the only
option,
and anyone who does not subject themselves or their children to it are
criminals who must be punished.


"Since the early 1970s when President Nixon declared the War on
Cancer,
two trillion dollars have been spent on conventional cancer treatment
and research, with the result that more Americans are dying of cancer
than ever before," writes Walter Last in "The Natural Way to Heal: 65
Ways to Create Superior Health."


That's $2 trillion down the drain studying dangerous treatments that
likely cause cancer as often as they temporarily delay its symptoms.
Meanwhile, how much money does the FDA, AMA and NCI waste forcing
holistic therapies like Hoxsey's out of the country? Today, such
agencies have the public convinced that anyone seeking alternative
therapies for serious diseases like cancer is misguided, uninformed
and
naive, and must be forced to submit to conventional treatments
ostensibly for their own good, even if it is against their will.


A foundational principle of the United States is the freedom of its
citizens to choose what is best for them, including how best to treat
disease. With cases like Abraham Cherrix and Katie Wernecke seeing
increasing media coverage, perhaps Americans will begin to realize how
close they are to losing their health freedom. Medical agencies have
already won many of the health freedom battles by successfully driving
alternative therapies from U.S. soil, but it is far from too late for
such offenses to be reversed. Americans may yet re-win their right to
be in charge of their own bodies, regardless of the medical political
scheming of the AMA, FDA and NCI.


Perhaps Abraham Cherrix says it best: "I think it's my body. I can
choose what's best for my body. If I don't have the right to do that,
then I don't have any rights at all anyway."


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