War on Cancer – Or Us?
by Jesse A. Stoff, MD, HMD, FAAFP

December 23, 1971: a date that will live in mediocrity.

President Richard Nixon sat down to sign the National Cancer Act, and launched what became known as the war on cancer, when he said; ”more people each year die of cancer in the United States than all of the Americans who lost their lives in World War II. This shows us what is at stake. It tells us why I sent a message to the Congress the first of this year, which provided for a national commitment for the conquest of cancer, to attempt to find a cure”. Now, more than 40 years after the “war” was declared on cancer, the National Cancer Institute has spent well over $90 billion on research and treatment and still 23% of the adult US population will die of the disease, a statistic that has remained essentially unchanged. What’s worse is that a higher percentage will succumb in my area, Long Island, NY, which is classified as a cancer cluster. Not good results at all!

It’s little wonder that we have these awful statistics since our air and water is polluted and our genetically modified “McFood” is held to together by “pink slime”. Cancer is an all too common disease that affects our whole system; it can only occur if MANY things have gone astray. Our body includes many amazing interconnected organs and systems with redundant and back-up systems to minimize our risk of getting sick, but given enough stress, toxin exposure, nutritional deficiencies and time for them to degrade our defenses, bad things can happen. Cancer cells frequently occur in our body, which is within the range of what is considered to be “normal”. One of the important functions of our immune system is to search for and destroy these wayward fragments of humanity so that they don’t have a chance to accumulate and cause big problems. When the war on cancer was launched, the field of Onco-immunology, the science of restoring immune function to destroy the cancer, had not yet been birthed. When the war on cancer was launched it was, and is still considered by most practitioners in the field, to be a war, in that the only question that was asked was “how do we kill the cancer”?

Killing the cancer has resulted in chemotherapy, surgery and radiation as the mainstays of the arsenal, with only an after thought for the innate immune defenses of the body or the quality of life of the individual thus afflicted. Large-scale studies show that simply augmenting nutrition, with the right supplements, will increase the quantity of life while stress reduction techniques will improve its quality. Now, coupling these basic modalities with the awesome potential and power of the immune system allows us to ask the more appropriate, and clinically useful, question of “why”. With new questions comes new answers and renewed HOPE.

Why did the surveillance function of the immune system fail to recognize the threat? Why didn’t the Natural Killer Cells destroy the cancer cells when they were identified? Why is the vitamin D level low? Why is his/her Mercury level high? Why doesn’t he/she get fevers? Why don’t we use low dose, potentiated, minimally toxic chemotherapy instead of the sub-lethal doses conventionally used? Why doesn’t he/she sleep well? Why, why, why??? “Why” is wonderful, because, therein lies HOPE. When we only ask “how do we kill it” and the answer all but destroys the poor soul with the disease, and not all of the cancer cells, there is no place left to go. But, when we ask “why”, the possibilities for treatment are only limited by the practitioner’s insight, experience, and creativity. Therein lies the major difference between the limitations of what is currently considered to be conventional medicine and the real possibility of hope offered by an integrative approach for the treatment of someone with cancer.

Dr. Jesse Stoff is a licensed Medical Doctor, a Certified Naturopathic Physician, a Certified Acupuncturist, and a licensed Homeopathic Physician. He has authored/co-authored dozens of articles and 8 books including co-authoring the bestsellers Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: The Hidden Epidemic and The Prostate Miracle. He has also served as a member of the Clinical Nutrition Board of Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Inc. As Medical Director of the Stoff Institute for Medical Research, he consults with physicians and medical groups both domestically and abroad on the subjects of immune system disorders and immune reconstitution. He has developed several new molecular complexes, one of which is now being patented as a true antibiotic replacement. Dr. Stoff can be reached at Linchitz Medical Wellness, 516-759-4200 or visit www.linchitzwellness.com.