Big Pharma Conspiracy Theory Of Concealing The Cure For Cancer
“We have all been affected by cancer, whether through family, friends, neighbors, colleagues — or even personally.” — Frank Clyburn.
According to the NIH’s National Cancer Institute, there are approximately 439 new cases of cancer per 100,000 individuals each year in the US. Because of how familiar cancer is worldwide, it’s an undeniable fact that people want answers. As generations watch technological phenomenons frequently progress, it’s no surprise that especially affected victims of this disease question why a cure has yet to be discovered. Some believe the cure has already been found. This “some” represents the conspiracy theorists that believe that “Big Pharma” and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are concealing the cure for cancer. Although it’s unclear who sparked this controversial theory, more people were left scratching their heads when doctors weren’t impressed with influencers' claims that they created a cure. Many of these conspiracy theorists support their assertions based on the studies from Alfredo Bowman and Stanislaw Burzynski, who both claim they’ve found the cure for cancer. People who know little about how the body works may be impressed by their use of scientific-sounding concepts, but their claims clash with the established scientific knowledge of physiology, biochemistry, and disease processes. The scientific evidence provided by licensed doctors and cancer researchers worldwide prove that Big Pharma is not hiding the cure for cancer, nor is it scientifically proven that one exists. It’s important for people to understand this because this conspiracy demonstrates false malicious intent of the government — which puts into question their intentions towards the public overall — and provides false hope to cancer victims.
Big Pharma is a term for the world’s largest publicly traded pharmaceutical companies — one of the most powerful industries in the world. The most common Big Pharma Conspiracy presumes that pharmaceutical companies suppress the cure for cancer because they won’t make as big of a profit if sold; so they instead distribute only expensive, and less efficacious treatments and drugs. Because of how ineffective these treatments and drugs are, they keep the patients sick enough to require repetitive prescriptions of these products. According to the theory, this strategy is the result of an extremely profitable cancer business — which is supposedly the intention of Big Pharma. Despite the fact that this theory applies to most diseases, cancer is prominent because of its mortality rate. A premise takes it a step further, attesting that superior pharmaceutical drug companies create some of the diseases that make their products imperative. Researcher Kat Arvey from Cancer Research UK argues that “to suggest that there is a conspiracy aimed at depriving cancer sufferers of effective treatments is not only absurd, it’s offensive to the global community of dedicated scientists, to the staff and supporters of cancer research organizations, and — most importantly — to cancer patients and their loved ones.”
Kat Arvey is one of the many cancer researchers and doctors who challenge the Big Pharma Conspiracy. In his article “Some Think Big Pharma Is A Suppressing A Cure For Cancer. Here’s Why That Could Never Happen”, Cancer specialist David Chan chooses to ignore this widespread conspiracy and suggests that medical insurance companies along with the federal government would love nothing better than to substitute an expensive cancer treatment for a cure that would cost substantially more. Further, he personalizes the argument by establishing that cancer researchers’ loved ones have or have died from cancer and would love nothing more than for them to be cured. With mathematical research, David Grimes from the University of Oxford estimates that at least 710,000 individuals from eight different pharmaceutical companies would be required to suppress a cure for cancer. This doesn’t include employees from smaller branches, academic scientists, health journalists, or even the FDA. Chan insists that it's not human nature to conceal a secret as big as the cure for cancer — which would reward those with a Noble Prize — so there is no way hundreds of thousands of people would prevent word from getting out. Even though cancer researchers themselves can’t provide concrete evidence that this is nothing but a conspiracy, they make a persuasive agreement that it’s absurd to believe hundreds of thousands of contributors would have severe malicious intent towards the sick and dying. Despite this, many still side with the conspiracy based on the word of those who claim to have created cures even though they are not scientifically proven.
Alfredo Bowman, commonly recognized as Dr. Sebi, was a self-proclaimed healer and doctor — despite having never received any formal education — who claimed to have found the cure for various diseases, including cancer. He believed cancer could be cured with the use of herbs, natural electric therapy, thermal baths, and natural saunas. Bowman particularly swayed people of color using a racially sensitive topic. In his letter or Dr. Simba V. Mubako, he argued that the white man — doctors and scientists skeptical of his work — “are ignorant of our needs. We survived and thrived as a people, long before the advent of European intervention and modern technology.” The Dr. Sebi’s Cell Foods Website declares that “disease can only exist in acidic environments” and consistent use of African Biomineral Balance compounds — predominantly of alkaline nature — will effectively cleanse and detoxify a diseased body, reversing it to its intended alkaline state. Additionally, Bowman declares that “Dr. Sebi’s intra-cellular detoxifying cleanse will purify each cell in the body. The body will then rebuild and rejuvenation will take place. Dr. Sebi offers the Folio-Mineral Therapy which is a natural vegetation cell food: a living substance which nourishes the body and detoxifies the cellular level.” His assertions generated skepticism amongst many licensed doctors such as Stephen Barrett.
Stephen Barrett’s article “A Skeptical Look at the late ‘Dr. Sebi’” provides extensive scientific research that proves why Bowman’s “scientific research” is fraudulent and inconclusive. Barrett concludes: “To test whether products are effective against specific diseases, it would be necessary to have access to large numbers of patients, access to laboratory facilities, and the ability to do properly-designed studies that monitor patients over significant periods of time. I see no evidence that Bowman or his 'Research Institute' conducted any such study or even kept track of what happened to their customers.”
Diseases have numerous probable causes and don’t derive from body acidity, alkalinity, or mineral depletion as Bowman suggests. On February 9th, 1987, Bowman and his businesses faced a trial against the State of New York and Attorney General, Robert Adams for practicing medicine without a license and advertising fraudulent cancer cures to the public. The courts purported that Bowman was incapable of backing his medical claims due to a lack of research, testing, and not verifying illnesses before treating them, which he claimed to have no use for. He came to an agreement with the court that prohibited him from making future diagnoses, required him to distribute refunds to anyone who purchased his products and to retract all of his healing claims. At the end of his life in 2016, Honduran Government authorities charged Bowman with money laundering when he entered the country with cash he could not explain. He was incarcerated on June 3rd and died in Honduras on August 6th. Although many conspiracy theorists believe his death was an inside job, it was ruled that he died of pneumonia. Many believe the government killed him because of his cures, but medical research concludes that 85% of all pneumonia-related deaths occur within people older than 65. Bowman was 82. Although Bowman no longer lives to promote his so-called cure for cancer with natural herbs, someone else remains to provide an alternative cure for cancer: licensed Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski.
Houston doctor Stanislaw Burzynski graduated from the Medical Academy in Lublin earning a Ph.D. in biochemistry. He’s used unproven cancer cures for decades, applying antineoplaston therapy. Antineoplastons are chemical compounds normally found in blood and urine, made up of amino acids and peptides. Burzynski developed antineoplaston therapy in 1976. As of 1980, antineoplastons have been synthesized from commercially available chemicals at the Burzynski Research Institute. His theory is that antineoplastons are building blocks of the body’s natural defense and people with cancer don’t have enough of them. Although his clinic has studied various cancers, the FDA has not approved antineoplaston therapy as a treatment for any disease, let alone cancer. They issued him a warning for advertising it as an unapproved cancer therapy. Therefore, the only way Burzynski has been able to sell and administer antineoplastons are through clinical trials. Burzynski’s practice consists of supplying the body with antineoplastons, whether through injection or ingestion. There is a lack of scientific evidence in regards to antineoplaston being the cure to cancer, which means researchers can’t declare it as effective. Using this undeclared cure on hopeful cancer patients has left many doctors skeptical of Burzynski, even though he’s legally allowed to practice on his patients.
In 2013, Dr. Peter Lipson dissected the views of Burzynski’s practices in an article he titled “FDA Documents Pain Disturbing Picture of Burzynski Cancer Clinic”. Lipson declares that despite decades of giving antineoplastons, Burzynski has failed to publish any human clinical trial data. He has only ever published case reports and “test tube” results. Lipson proceeds to suggest it’s not normal for doctors to charge their patients tens of thousands of dollars to participate in clinical trials — which Burzynski was charging. According to the FDA, the clinic “failed to comply with protocol requirements related to the primary outcome, therapeutic response for 18 of 27 (67%) of subjects reviewed during the inspection. This included incorrectly listing the patient as being in remission; incorrectly listing patients as having a partial response to treatment.” The FDA also found that Burzynski continued with clinical trials when patients developed dangerous side effects that would require removing them from the study. The list of side effects is extensive, but a few include numbness, swelling near the brain, and seizures. In June 2012, antineoplaston trials were ceased following the death of a child patient. Since then, he’s received multiple lawsuits and warnings for malpractice, but continues to clinically trial patients.
All in all, regardless of the concrete evidence that suggests the cure for cancer is not developed, many still come to terms that the superiors of the pharmaceutical world are hiding it for their personal financial gain. Alfredo Bowman’s and Stanislaw Burzynski’s lack of scientific clarification doesn’t go unnoticed by those who have expertise in science in medicine. It does though, come off as very persuasive to the public who generally only have limited scientific knowledge. As Stephen Barrett says, even though it makes sense on the surface that an alkaline factor would counterattack a disease that thrives in acidity as hypothesized by Bowman, one must understand that acidity levels don’t substantially contribute to the development of a disease. Despite Burzynski’s medical license, his claims that antineoplastons cure cancer are dangerous. Repetitive FDA warnings, lawsuits, and deaths of patience undergoing this clinical trial attest to this. It’s unclear if Bowman and Burzynski claimed to have developed cures because they are genuinely passionate about cancer victims or if they’re taking advantage of the ignorance that stains a majority of these conspiracy theorists for monetary gain. As for Big Pharma, based on what many doctors and cancer researchers have concluded, if a cure was truly concealed it would take hundreds and thousands of heartless and maliciously intended people to pull it off. Science is a lengthy process that requires endless amounts of trials and experiments before it can completely be considered. A century ago, there were extremely limited treatments for cancer. Since then, science has come a long way and new theories are developed every day. Humans are not perfect and don’t have the answer to everything. This doesn’t mean that there’s a conspiracy behind something that simply doesn’t work yet. Cancer makes an impact on someone every day. Although most people, including doctors and cancer researchers, wish the cure for cancer was an option for loved ones, the scientific world can’t provide something that just isn’t there.
