December 14, 1998

    RE: "Drug Therapy for Osteoporosis," Health and Science, December 12, 1998

The solution to osteoporosis is not drugs. Drugs are not regular components of our diet, and therefore the cause of osteoporosis cannot be a drug deficiency. Long-term drug supplements are not only wrong, but also harmful. Pharmaceutical researches are seldom accurate, as they are motivated by financial rather than health benefits. If synthetic materials are beneficial, Nature would have used them already.

Hormonal replacement is also unnatural. We do not fully understand which organ systems are involved in a hormonal deficiency, nor do we know the correct amount of hormone to use and how to adjust it to accommodate physical and mental changes. Most importantly, hormone therapy weakens the organ which secrets the hormone, just like the prolonged use of a wheelchair causes atrophy of the legs. One should restore the function of an organ rather than assume its task.

Until orthodox medicine learns to treat the root cause of a disease, its therapy will never work.

THE TRAGEDY OF CONVENTIONAL CANCER THERAPY

It is truly a sad story regarding the little girl who died of brain tumor in spite of aggressive conventional therapies and the gallant effort of Dr. Hieserodt in transporting illegal drugs to help her. However the real tragedy is medicine’s fixation on a drug cure for cancer. The key to curing cancer lies in the body’s innate healing. Adequate amount of this healing force can cure terminal cancer without side effects, whereas the loss of it at death renders all therapies useless! Hence, the only therapeutic goal should be to enhance this natural healing.

Unfortunately drugs and surgery work against this principle. They treat symptoms rather than their underlying cause. Drugs are toxic substances. Using potent drugs that attack the immune system to treat an immune deficient disease such as cancer is illogical. Most cancer patients die from the exhaustion of their healing energy due to invasive drugs and surgery. For those who survive, the price of a temporary suppression of the cancer is agonizing side effects and a weakened immunity, but no cure for the cancer. Most survivors do not have the peace of mind that the cancer is cured. Those who believe they are cured forget to make proper lifestyle adjustments to prevent future recurrences.

The absurdity of the conventional symptomatic approach can be illustrated with equivalent life situations. For example, an atomic bomb can quash a riot, but it would destroy the population as well. A nation should always rely on its own strength rather than foreign aid to maintain internal peace. In particular, no one would use foreign troops which kill indiscriminately. In any case, suppressing riots without rectifying its causes will not resolve the problem.

Until medicine learns to cure diseases rather than treat their symptoms, there will not be a cancer story with a truly happy ending.

Yee-Wing Tong, M.D.