A good friend of mine directed me to the free Vimeo viewing of Burzynski: Cancer is Serious Business the other week. I watched the movie in snippets here and there while the free viewing was available, before the option to purchase a DVD took its place. My friend said she would love to hear my thoughts if I had time to share and I thought I would share them here…

I am a doctor. Which means I am a scientist. And because science can really only prove things to be definitely no or maybe yes, I am naturally a skeptic. As such, I am only mildly ashamed to say I was skeptical of this film and its claims from the start. I’ll admit the dad that lost his 7 year-old daughter was pretty heart-wrenching (and completely justified) in his disgust at the way the medical system failed him (and her). But my brain still reflected on other cancer “cures” that supposedly left people in complete remission.

Many folks claim prayer does the same thing as Burzynski’s antineoplastons.

My next feeling was one of overwhelming similarity to a documentary I watched about electric cars 10 years or so ago. There was the same focus on how electricity was obviously a superior choice when it comes to transportation, but that there was too much money and corporate interest tied up in oil for it to succeed in the mainstream market. The electric car was being held back by expensive legislation in the best interest of the car manufacturing company that was currently spitting out gas-guzzling SUVs and the obviously interested oil companies.

But this is effing cancer. CANCER.

Cancer doesn’t pollute the environment and fill the deep pockets of oil tycoons, it KILLS PEOPLE.

While I have not done a formal oncology rotation during medical school, I have been in contact with many cancer victims and survivors. I know that radiation and chemotherapy are devastating treatments that usually cause more harm than good. If you don’t die quickly of cancer, you are in for a long, hard road. Is it possible that a better alternative exists?

In short, the scientific side of me does not doubt that Dr. Burzynski has likely found a cure for many types cancer.

I also don’t doubt there is far too much politics and money (and politics) involved in the FDA. Living in the USA for almost two years and being immersed in the healthcare system, I find the whole organization and administration from the top down to be confusing, inefficient, and often downright unethical or immoral. For example, who gets to decide which drugs are covered by particular insurance packages and which are not? The FDA? The pharmaceutical companies reportedly paying fees to the FDA? Some of these drugs are available after failed trials of others and the lines deciding which should be tried first seem sort of arbitrary from a biochemical and pharmaceutical point-of-view.

Brandon asked me if I thought that the American government put their interest in money over their interest in the health of its population. I had to pause, but responded that I felt that seemed to be true. At least in practice, if not in theory or intention.

What I am left wondering is why Dr. Burzynski bothered to continue fighting with the American system after so many decades? It was obvious his antineoplastons were getting the desired effect and he was literally being harassed by the medical boards that granted him his license to practice medicine. Why didn’t he go back to Europe (or to Japan or Canada) and push his research and approval forward there? We have seen that most European nations are much more open to alternative therapies — such as stem cell research — even if it takes a bite out of the pharmaceutical profit.

Lastly, while the film is eager to highlight many of the success stories of Dr. Burzynski’s treatment, there is very little mention of an overall success rate or side effects. At the end of the film, the on-screen dialogue notes that he has had 30-50% success rate in treating inoperable brainstem glioma in children. That is the only time I can remember seeing or hearing that at least half (or more than half) of his patients do not achieve a 5-year remission rate. Similarly, while the toxic effects of traditional chemotherapy and radiation are dramatically outlined, am I to believe that the lack of comment on antineoplaston side effects means they don’t exist? That it is a perfectly risk-free treatment?

All that said, at the very least, I believe Dr. Burzynski has been treated unfairly by the FDA, the National Cancer Institute and the United States Government. I don’t know why it’s happening or how it will be resolved.

But I do know who I will be contacting if (when) I or a member of my family are diagnosed with cancer.