CANCER'S CAUSE, CANCER'S CURE (10 page)

But the Oncotest came straight from Beljanski’s research on destabilization. As we discussed at length in chapter 2, certain substances keep the replicated DNA strand from reforming back into its stable double-helix formation. When the hydrogen bonds don’t reform, they create large gaping loops in the double helix of the DNA strands themselves. These gaping loops create cancerous DNA. And therein lies the simple brilliance of the Oncotest: these large gaping loops allow more light—UV light to be exact—to penetrate the cancerous DNA. It is a well-known phenomenon called
hyperchromicity
. Hyperchromicity is the increase in a molecule’s ability to absorb UV light. UV absorption, for example, is increased when the two single DNA strands are being separated. The amount of light penetrating a solution of cancerous DNA mixed with the substance being tested can effectively be measured by a spectrophotometer (a light measuring device). To make it simple, the more UV light that is absorbed in the DNA, the more carcinogenic is the substance being tested. That is the simplicity of the Oncotest.

Surprising Findings

Once Beljanski was able to observe what happens to DNA in the presence of a carcinogen, he then got busy studying the effects. What he found explains much about why cancerous cells behave the way they do.

DNA that has been isolated and purified from cancer cells always demonstrates a weak but persistent destabilization compared to healthy cells. Such a characteristic explains two particular cancer phenomena observed by microbiologists. The first is that there is an accelerated speed of multiplication in malignant cells. Have you ever wondered how cancer can sometimes spread so rapidly? It is because the presence of carcinogens
increases
the growth rate of carcinogenic DNA whereas non-carcinogenic substances do not.

The Oncotest proved this conclusively.

The process Beljanski discovered is astounding, and it makes perfect sense. As discussed in chapter 2, once the hydrogen bonds between the base pairs of DNA are separated by carcinogens and are unable to zip back up, the enzymes responsible for DNA duplication acquire increased access to the open strands. The enzyme just does what it's programmed to do: make more strands-make more and more DNA copies exactly like the original. In other words, the replication process of a destabilized DNA molecule becomes abnormally accelerated. Worse, the process can be speeded up even more by the presence of more known carcinogens. Finally, Beljanski was able to conclude that all documented carcinogens behave in such a manner.

The second phenomenon that Beljanski was able to explain through the Oncotest was that there is an extreme susceptibility of cancerous DNA to carcinogens compared to their healthy counterparts. By contrast, healthy-cell DNA molecules are practically unchanged in their secondary structure, meaning that there is no breakage in the hydrogen bonds. In this case, the double helical strands are not unnaturally separated, and duplication is neither abnormally nor excessively stimulated.

The Oncotest, then, measures two parameters: first, it shows how various substances
affect
or change duplication rates in DNA, and second, it measures those substances which
effect
or bring about a change in the rate of duplication of DNA. Also, Beljanski was able to demonstrate through his test that the destabilization of DNA can occur progressively and with cumulative effects in the presence of mutagenic as well as non-mutagenic molecules.
Finally, the Oncotest was able to show that the above-described phenomena are
perfectly reproducible with all DNA from both healthy and cancerous tissues
(whether they be of plant, mammalian, or human origin).

The Danger of Environmental Toxins

The Oncotest was truly a breakthrough invention in the war against cancer. It showed how cancer overwhelms someone when that patient’s cellular DNA becomes compromised through destabilization. But that begs the simple question: what, in the end, does
cause
cancer?

A particularly striking result of Beljanski’s Oncotest was that many substances which previously were considered to be innocuous (harmless to the human body) were revealed to have carcinogenic potential, depending on their concentrations. At the time of the test’s development, Beljanski was quickly able to confirm the carcinogenicity of numerous antibiotics, antimitotics (drugs that inhibit mitosis, or cell division: a common class of chemotherapeutics), hormones, and a large number of environmental substances. I will deal with the environmental hazards first.

Beljanski’s opinion was that environmental substances could interfere with hydrogen bonding between the two DNA strands (its secondary structure) and influence the functioning of DNA. Unfortunately, the pollutants and toxic substances which abound in our environment play such a dangerous role. The consequence of so much toxicity is humankind’s real and dramatic increase in rates of cancer, autoimmune diseases, toxic metal syndrome, and much more.

All persons living in industrialized and developing countries are exposed to cancer-causing pollutants, commonly called carcinogens. Walking along any street of most major cities around the world, each of us comes into contact with at least a thousand of them. These contaminants promote destabilized DNA.

These toxic substances are found in all aspects of our everyday environment, within our medicines, as well as in a portion of our food and beverages (among other things). Most of them are man-made or are natural substances altered in some way by human intervention. (The exhaust created in a gas-powered combustion engine is an example of the latter.) Additionally and unquestionably we are exposed to cancercausing radiation through such apparati as full-body scanners at airports, microwave ovens, and cell phones.

There is much more cancer now than there was fifty years ago or even five years ago. Why? The extreme pollution of our modern environment goes hand-in-hand with the considerable increase in serious diseases. Nearly everyone can name classifications of pollutants and even specific carcinogens.

The short list of carcinogens indicated here in
TABLE 2-B
(some are classified as controversial) is merely an example of dangerous substances affecting people, probably on a daily basis:

TABLE 2-B
(cont.)

Of course, this table is only partial. In fact, there are probably a hundred-thousand more environmental substances that are dangerous but simply remain unknown. They are everywhere: in homes, water, the air, drugs, food, and more. And even if each substance is a weak carcinogen in and of itself and thus not able to induce harm by itself, it is the number of times one is exposed to any carcinogen that can turn a healthy cell into a cancerous one.

Fortunately, we are becoming more aware of the fact that large numbers of man-made chemicals are carcinogenic. The press is now more willing to denounce such carcinogens, and people around the world are already aware of the situation since cancer rates continue to increase and affect more and more people.

Hormones Can Cause Cancer

The second major category of carcinogens are hormones. Enzymatic and hormonal actions play an essential role in the life of the cell. DNA does not initiate cellular operations; it only acts when spurred on by certain enzymes, primary among them DNA polymerase. Hormones, like environmental toxins, exercise influence on DNA duplication. Alone, the DNA is stable, even inert, with a constant structure, troubled just by mutations.

For a long time, scientists have drawn attention to the relationship between an excess of hormones and cancer. In fact, this was noted as early as 1936 by the noted oncologist, Dr. A. Lacassagne, who published his findings in volume 27, page 217 of the
American Journal of Cancer.
Steroids and other hormones, which give no positive reaction under the Ames test (as they are not mutagenic molecules), all behave as carcinogens when tested with the Oncotest. In fact, steroid hormones strongly stimulate the replication of cancerous DNA isolated from hormonally dependent tissues such as the uterus, adrenal glands, prostate, breast, and ovaries. It should be noted that although it is well-known that hormone treatments are associated with a variety of side effects, Beljanski was among the first to point out that cancer is one of the risks associated with their use. Hormones are necessary, but they must be precisely balanced in the body, and it has now become clear that hormones can increase the incidence of cancer in diverse cases.

To illustrate, women taking synthetic estrogen and progestin as hormone-replacement therapy suffer an increased risk of breast cancer. Furthermore, hormones or similar biological structures (known in biology as analogs) are widely used in the treatment of some cancers where the goal is to interfere with hormones that promote tumor growth.

This underlying risk—that hormone use might promote cancer— is set against their attraction as miracle drugs that can add muscle mass, offset the effects of menopause, delay the aging process, and even play a role in various anticancer therapies.

Of particular interest is the case of steroid hormones (such as testosterone and estrogen in higher doses). They tend to have a carcinogenic effect on cancerous DNA isolated from hormonally dependent tissue (breasts, ovaries, testes, and other organs). They induce both increased ultraviolet absorbance (hyperchromicity) and a strong enhancement of DNA replication and protein synthesis. In contrast, DNA from healthy hormonally dependent tissues and the cancerous DNA from non-hormonally dependent tissues either respond very weakly or not at all to steroid hormones.

The public is subsequently faced with a dilemma when it comes to hormone supplements or hormone replacement therapies; and it is a dilemma of such seriousness that it has gained international attention.
Hormones are given to people of all ages for reasons ranging from acne treatment in young people, to contraception, to treatment of hot flashes and menopause in older women. They are in food, meat, milk, butter, eggs, etc. Under the approving eye of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), hormones fed to cows are a source of cancer.

Recently, some physicians who practice Complementary, Alternative, and Integrative Medicine (CAIM) have emphasized the difference between so-called bio-identical hormones (hormones which have the same structure as those made by the human body) and synthetic or non-bio-identical hormones whose molecular structures differ from those made by the body.

For instance, all birth control pills contain synthetic, patentable hormones, and they are a source of cancer. (Pharmaceutical companies tend to promote and research only non-bio-identical hormones because these types of hormones are patentable, and thus the drug company protects its investment.) Some CAIM physicians believe that synthetic hormones should be avoided in any dosage. But even bio-identical hormones are necessary only in biologically normal doses, and they become dangerous in excessive doses.

Too bad that most conventional physicians tend to prescribe synthetic hormones as a result of promotional pressures in the form of journal advertising, visits from drug company representatives, outright cash gifts, holiday presents, birthday presents, free vacations, massive amounts of drug samples, and so much more largesse. Many physicians are bribable, unfortunately, and the less ethical are not averse to making a lot of extracurricular income from the gifts of pharmaceutical company executives.

There is hope on the horizon, however, because the public is becoming informed and starting to protest. This trend of prescribing non-bio-identical hormones is in the process of changing as of this writing. While synthetic hormones may positively affect human health, physicians prescribing them have also caused illness and even death, especially for women.

Two books I recommend that include vital information about bioidentical hormones, authored by the Hollywood actress Suzanne Somers, are
Ageless: The Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones
, published in 2006 by Crown Publishers in New York City and
Knockout: Interviews with Doctors Who Are Curing Cancer
, published in 2009 also by Crown.