The History of a Tragedy
A factual book about a cancer cure that was and is hidden from the world.
You will read Herbert Bailey's book, A Matter of Life or Death, The !ncredible Story of Krebiozen, (published by G. P. Putnam's Sons, 210 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y., $4.95) with certainly two emotions, indignation and outrage. If you have know someone who suffered with cancer you are likely to become bitter as you read of a cure for this disease whose release, Mr. Bailey says, has been thwarted and suppressed by the American Medical Association since 1951.
The story began with the experiments of Dr. Stevan Durovic, a former assistant professor at the University of Belgrade. He came to the United States after several years of experimentation in South America, with a drug which he had discovered and which he believed to be a cure for cancer. Once in the United States he was brought to the attention of Dr. Andrew C. Ivy, a medical researcher of unassailable reputation and gigantic stature in his profession. Dr. Ivy was, at the time, vice president of the University of Illinois, and head of its huge Medical School. His efforts in cancer research had led to his appointment as Executive Director of the National Advisory Cancer Council and he was also a director of the American Cancer Society. An important, a respected, an honored man.
Early Results Show Promise
Dr. Ivy became interested in the theory and possibilities shown in Dr. Durovic's substance, Krebiozen, and he decided to test it in the scientific manner his experience had taught him was necessary for an accurate picture of the drug's potential. From the very beginning the results were astounding in their positiveness. Though Krebiozen was used only on persons who had been diagnosed as hopeless and close to death, its remarkable characteristics showed themselves almost at once. There was a lessening or complete disappearance of pain, and in many cases tumors were dissolved and replaced with healthy tissue. Physicians who were trying it all over the country reported like results. It began to look as though science had finally come up with a weapon against cancer that had a chance to win the fight.
With such a product as a cancer cure, scientific and humanitarian considerations are joined by a third consideration-commercialism. Without a doubt, a cancer cure is worth a lot of money. What victim would not offer all he owns, or all he can borrow for even a chance that he might be cured? Large drug companies have made millions on substances designed to treat diseases far less urgent and wide spread than cancer. This then is why two Chicago businessmen tried to get control of the distribution rights to Krebiozen. When they were refused, they threatened to ruin Krebiozen and everyone connected with it. One of the men who made this threat was the friend of J. J. Moore, then treasurer of the American Medical Association.
The promise shown in the early tests of Krebiozen seemed to be emphasized with each new experiment. The excitement and relief provided by such apparent success left little room for worry over the threat that had been made. How could so proud and secure a venture as a scientifically proven cancer cure be scuttled by the influence of commercial interests?
Dr. Ivy Pays the Price
The answer to that question came with devastating swiftness. In rapid succession Dr. Ivy was suspended from membership in the Chicago Medical Society, removed from the vice presidency of the University of Illinois, and had his resignation accepted by both national cancer societies noted above. But worst of all, his work with Krebiozen was assailed as inaccurate and unscientific. His conclusions were dismissed or so interpreted as to discredit his research methods, methods which had been good enough to earn him a worldwide reputation, methods which till then had been regarded as the ultimate in scientific detachment and objectivity. Suddenly the approach was wrong, the conclusions untrue, the impression was fostered that Dr. Ivy was no longer capable of reliable scientific observation. It was even suggested that Dr. Ivy had become senile and was loyal to Krebiozen only because his mind was failing.
How Krebiozen Fared
The fate of Krebiozen itself was similar. Within a few short months after Dr. Ivy made known some observations on 26 patients whose history showed Krebiozen to be of "promise," the Journal of the Amer:ican Medical Association published a Status Report on Krebiozen. It dealt with 100 case histories, a project which top scientists would have difficulty in completing properly in two years, not six weeks, even working at top speed! The report was extremely damaging, and the temper of the average observer after reading it is reflected in a Chicago Tribune editorial which said, "Medically speaking, Krebiozen is dead. Let it be buried with out ceremony." These people, among them thousands of doctors who rely on the Journal of the American Medical Association for all of their current medical information, never knew that the core of the report was faked. Mr. Bailey shows that the doctor who wrote the article made so many omissions of factual and favorable results and so altered the findings that were at his disposal that even the most naive researcher would have discredited his conclusions at once ---as thoroughly utiscientific and worthless. These and other facts showing that the AMA acted in a biased and arbitrary fashion concerning Krebiozen were sworn to under oath at a subsequent investigation of the whole situation by the Illinois State Legislature. But still the smudges on the reputation of Krebiozen could not be erased. When anyone powerful enough to effect a change became interested, he would contact a doctor, perhaps a cancer specialist, who had seen and believed the A.M.A. report, and the doctor could only say he'd seen a report proving Krebiozen worthless. How could the doctor be aware that the article, not Krebiozen, was a fraud? How could he know that five patients examined by the author of the report (but deliberately omitted from it) were free from any detectable cancer after 5 years, due to treatment with Krebiozen?
Bailey Names Names
The intrigue involved in this story is of melodramatic proportions. There are monitored phone calls, South American undercover agents, falsified medical reports, threats of deportation and suggestions of influence by the Vatican. The story is all written out, and every word is documented by Mr. Bailey. The villains are painted with certainty and positively identified. No innuendo or veiled references are employed to shield the author from possible libel or slander, yet in spite of Mr. Bailey's invitations, no single action of this kind has ever been instituted. To illustrate: a reporter on the staff of the New York Post, after reading the indictment contained in Mr. Bailey's first book on the subject: K-Krebiozen-Key to Cancer?, called the A.M.A. for specific answers to specific questions, such as, "Does J. J. Moore deny that he formed a conspiracy to gain control of Krebiwen?" or, "Does the A.M.A. deny that its official report against Krebiozen was falsified?" and was met with this stock answer: "The A.M.A. will not answer specific questions concerning Krebiozen." The reporter's s comment: ''. . . it sounds a bit like the
A.M.A. is pleading the Fifth Amendment."
A Book Is Buried
Tile negative attitude of the A.M.A. toward Krebiozen showed itself in the fate of Mr. Bailey's first book on the subject. The New York Times accepted one advertisement for the book, then refused subsequent ads on the recommendations of its medical advisors. A favorable review of the book was written by the same paper's science editor, but it never appeared in print. An unfortunate review followed. The New York Public Library, one of the world's largest, kept the book off its shelves until nearly a year after its publication, because of its "controversial" content. To underline the precariousness of being connected with such a book, the records will show that the publishers of K-Krebiozen-Key to Cancer were out of business within a year of publishing it.
Dr. Ivy was having similar problems in publishing a monograph in which he reported on 687 patients over a six year period who had been treated with Krebiozen. The work showed observable benefits in 70% of the cases, and directly objectively beneficial results in 50% of the cases. Dr. Ivy sent an article based on this monograph to one medical journal after another---remember this was news on an effective treatment for cancer!-only to have it returned with apologies and excuses for not being able to publish it. The monograph was finally published by a small general publisher, Henry Regnery, Chicago. Instead of headlines and excitement over the proven claim that Krebiozen had destroyed cancer cells in half of the patients treated with it, the monograph was greeted with apathy and indifference. The American Cancer Society officially announced that it would stand by the A.M.A. verdict of 1951 in the matter, as did others whose opinion could have helped foster interest or general acceptance.
Misrepresentations Detailed
The stories of Krebiozen's fight for acceptance against organised medicine are catalogued in A Matter of Life or Death up to l957. They are too numerous for even a brief mention of all of them here, however the details of a correspondence between three Sloan-Kettering cancer specialists and a Mrs Dorothea Seeber on behalf of a friend in the last stages of cancer are typical--- Mrs. Seeber wrote a letter asking Sloan-Kettering doctors their opinion of Krebiosen and whether it would be advisable to use it on a "hopeless case." One doctor, whose signature is printed with his letter, as are the others, answers that "We tried it (Krebiosen) on 100 patients and I regret to say that we could not substantiate any of the claims ascribed to its use. Another answer said, "I have had only a few patients who have been tried on Krebiozen, and there was no improvement in their condition." A third wrote: "A considerable amount of work has been done on this drug and we found it is absolutely worthless." An affidavit by Dr Ivy is printed in the same chapter in which he swears that these three doctors never asked for nor received any Krebiozen for use on cancer patients and could not, therefore, have come to any firsthand findings concerning it. Until 1956, the date of the affidavit, not a single ampule of Krebiosen had ever been sent to the Sloan-Kettering Institute!
As this book was written, Dr Ivy was making every worthwhile effort to get the A.M.A. to run a blind experiment on Krebiozen, the type in which neither the doctor nor the patient is aware of whether or not the injection he gives contains the substance being tested. The experiment would be set up by AMA experts; thev could choose the doctors and the patients, and the results would be published for all the world to see if Krebiozen is a miracle or a fraud. As yet the AMA refuses to have any part of such an objective test. Why?
The last chapter of the heroic Krebiosen story is yet to be written. When it is, it will be a humiliating admission to the American people that the most powerfull medical authority in the world saw fit to deprive of a proper investigation a promising, now-proven, non-toxic cure for cancer, due to personal motives of one of its highest officials. It will also tell the glorious story of selfless men who sacrificed everything-money, security, position and reputation-in the attempt to get Krebiozen to those who need it. These and other heroes and villains will be brought to light. When this story is told openly, and to the world, the indignation and scorn that will be heaped upon those rsponsible for holding back Krebiozen defies the imagination.
from Prevention Magazine
[Cancer]