Heavy Metals and Chelation in Cancer Treatments

Cancer and heart disease display spatial patterns that suggest the possible involvement of selenium deficiencies and mercury excess in their etiologies.[vii] Mercury directly interferes with DNA repair enzymes.
Major focuses during treatment are building the immune system, increasing supply of glutathione, protect the mitochondria, stimulate metabolism, clean the intestinal system and remove heavy metals from both sides of the blood brain barrier. During this past century the physical environment that surrounds us has gotten incredibly toxic and even the food most people eat acts to destroy rather than nourish. We and our children are being caught between a hammer and a hard place. On one side we are being poisoned by the water we drink, the air we breathe, the foods we eat, by the mercury amalgam fillings in our mouths, by the vaccines we have taken, and in general by the drugs we take.
None of the chemicals on its own appears to be toxic at minuscule doses. But what happens when a person is exposed to a whole cocktail of them? -Dr. Amy Perbeck
The emerging compounds of greatest concern to most scientists are the "endocrine disrupters." These are chemicals in the environment that mimic hormones when they get into the body. An astonishing array of chemicals fall into this category and they have detrimental effects at the lowest imaginable levels . . . chemicals in certain cosmetics, shampoos, shaving lotions, skin creams, dishwashing liquids, pesticides, flame retardants, plastics and antibacterial soaps. Like actual hormones, "they have effects at exceedingly low levels," says Dr. Herb Buxton. Because so many of them bind to a certain type of receptor in the body-whether for estrogens, androgens or thyroid hormones-the effects add up. Some of the basic symptoms that express the trap we have fallen into are: fatigue, lethargy, depression, headaches, allergies, chronic infection, frequent colds, nervousness, and sudden anger, sensitivity to perfume/odors, memory loss and joint pains. Thus in cancer treatment it is extremely important to detoxify and chelate out these endocrine disrupters.
Uranium oxide particles are DNA time bombs. Because of the affinity of a phosphate in human DNA towards uranium, these particles destroy the DNA so the disastrous effects of depleted uranium won't be limited to only one generation.
One type of contamination reinforces and strengthens the other so medical treatments need to simultaneously address both chemical toxicity and radiation poisoning without further poisoning the body. Exposure to radiation causes a cascade of free radicals that wreak havoc on the body. Radiation also decimates the body's supply of glutathione, which allows free radicals to run rampant through our tissues and organs. Sadly with the insane use of depleted uranium weapons, radiation levels are creeping up all over the world, especially in the northern hemisphere.
The first law of detoxification and chelation is to avoid exposure to toxins as much as possible. Check your exposure vulnerability by location at the following site. http://www.scorecard.org/env-releases/hap/rank- states.tcl
Though the material (depleted uranium) generally used by the U.S. Department of Defense is 40 percent less radioactive than natural uranium it is not something you want to be exposed to. The main cancer risk from inhaled depleted uranium would be from tiny insoluble particles lodged deep in the lungs. According to the inhalation-retention model constructed by the International Commission on Radiation Protection (ICRP), 15 percent of an insoluble inhaled uranium oxide aerosol could be retained in the lungs for more than a year.
Toxic heavy metals that have been released into our environment have reached such high levels that everyone's health is now seriously threatened.
The fact that heavy metals cause chromosome damage makes it clear that genetic causes are acting powerfully in the spread of cancer. [viii] Also importantly we see that the effect of a single chemical exposure is very different from the effects of the same chemical in a mixture. Experiments with single chemicals can significantly underestimate effects of the same chemical in mixtures. All these heavy metals and hostile chemicals like pesticides can injure chromosomes, either by altering the chemistry of a single gene so that the gene conveys improper information, called point mutation, or by actually breaking the chromosomes, called deletion.
Rapid rises in disease are in part provoked on the genetic level.
Increasingly, the issue of heavy metals toxicity is being portrayed as a "genetic issue" rather than an environmental one when genetic deterioration is being driven by the huge rise in heavy metals in the environment. It's a clear case of putting the horse before the cart since without the presence of heavy metals there is no heavy metal poisoning. Unlike when a patient gets chemotherapy or radiation treatments, we build up the body as we destroy cancer cells and most importantly help the body detoxify by chelating out the heavy metals through natural means. We also have to facilitate the elimination of cancer waste.
Lack of selenium may lead to cancer, cardiovascular diseases and osteoarthritis.
Selenium helps stop damaged DNA molecules from reproducing. In other words, selenium acts to prevent tumors from developing. "It contributes towards the death of cancerous and pre-cancer cells. Their death appears to occur before they replicate, thus helping stop cancer before it gets started," says Dr. James Howenstine. Dr. W Kostler wrote, "The normal level of selenium should be 80 to 130 micrograms per litre of blood. We check the levels of selenium in different cancer patients at their first consultation in our office - most of them suffer from a big deficiency in selenium."
Data suggests that a diet rich in selenium protects against cancers of the stomach, breast, esophagus, lung, prostate, colon, and rectum. According to Dr. Harold Foster death rates in the USA for cancer are lower when blood selenium levels are high. One important study found that high blood levels of selenium are associated with a four-to-fivefold decrease in the risk of prostate cancer. Scientists at Stanford University studied 52 men who had prostate cancer and compared them to 96 men who didn't. [ix] One surprising finding was that blood levels of selenium generally decreased with age. It is well known that the risk of prostate cancer increases dramatically as one ages.

The nuclear core of our nutritional protocol also includes ALA (Alpha Lipoic Acid). ALA is a naturally-occurring compound that is synthesized in small amounts by plants and animals, including humans. Alpha Lipoic Acid is a sulfurous fatty acid and was first discovered in the 1950s, and recognized it as an antioxidant in 1988. ALA works on the cellular level to help produce energy. It acts as a coenzyme -- a helper of enzymes -- in the cell's major energy cycle, the Krebs cycle. [x] [vii] As a coenzyme, ALA takes part in a multi-enzyme process preparing the fuel for the mitochondrion, the powerhouse of the cell. Without alpha lipoic acid, cells cannot utilize sugar to produce energy and they shut down. This makes alpha-lipoic acid a metabolic antioxidant, able to draw on the cell's own metabolism to magnify its protective effects and that of other antioxidants.
ALA has the ability to salvage and recycle other antioxidants such as vitamin C, vitamin E, and glutathione.[xi][xii]
According to Dr. Burt Berkson, the doctor appointed by the FDA as the principle investigator for intravenous use of ALA, and author of The Alpha Lipoic Acid Breakthrough: Several factors make ALA the ultimate antioxidant. [xiii] [viii] One very basic reason is that ALA is both a hydrophilic and lipophilic molecule. Because it is hydrophilic, it is soluble in blood and other watery body fluids. Because it is lipophilic, it is also soluble in fats. In contrast, vitamin C is only hydrophilic and vitamin E is only lipophilic.
These qualities make ALA an ideal antioxidant that works double duty. It prevents free radical damage in every setting regardless of whether it is the brain fluids, the blood, stored fat, the heart, the pancreas, the kidneys, bone, cartilage, the liver, and for that matter every cell in every organ. ALA can perform the same functions in the watery fluids of the cell and in the blood and other aqueous fluids that come in contact with the body's tissues, just like vitamin C. Because of these remarkable characteristics, ALA can also easily pass through the blood-brain barrier and increase brain energy availability."
Glutathione, which is produced by every cell in the body, is responsible for a number of functions including removing or neutralizing dangerous substances that we are exposed to on a daily basis, including toxic metals. Toxins, pollution, disease, stress, and poor diet can all contribute to loss of glutathione. When glutathione levels reach a critically low level, we are much more vulnerable to toxins and immune dysfunction.
It was the genius of Dr. Alan Greenburg who created what should be perceived as one of the safest and most effective natural chelation formulas. There are many approaches, substances, companies and doctors offering detoxification and chelation products. The great problem is finding science and in-depth studies to back up the many claims being made. [xiv] There is a product named Chelorex [xv] that supplies a list of vital substances that are more than useful in any cancer protocol. Supplying ALA, vitamin C and E, selenium, zinc, magnesium and a list of glutathione promoters and mitochondria protectors, as well as natural chelators, it offers a smooth path for the elimination of a wide range of heavy metals including mercury and uranium. Most pharmaceuticals are actually mitochondria poisons, as are heavy metals and a host of toxic chemicals thus protecting the mitochondria is of the highest priority.
Several more substances round out the entire protocol giving it more depth, utility and universality. We suggest, Living Streams Probiotic, a second-generation probiotic designed to reproduce rapidly, and calcium bentonite [xvi] taken orally. Calcium bentonite clay literally removes positive-charged molecules that attack our bodies from our bodies. According to an article published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Detoxification and Mineral Supplementation As Functions of Geophagy (Johns and Duguette 1991), clay is a potent detoxifier, a catalyst that assists the body in removal of chemical poisons and heavy metals (positive charged ions) from the body.
In Chernobyl, for instance, spirulina was used to help save many children from radiation poisoning. By taking 5 grams of spirulina a day for 45 days, the Institute of Radiation Medicine in Minsk even proved that children on this protocol experienced enhanced immune systems, T-cell counts and reduced radioactivity.
Pure water is also a basic element in the IMVA protocol, and this is presented in an upcoming book from IMVA publications, The Waters of Life. Exceptionally pure water itself has a strong pulling power on the impurities in the body the problem is how to purify and then how to treat the water before drinking. Distilled and Reverse Osmosis water is thought not safe by many health care practitioners because they lack bicarbonates and minerals which leads to the formation of acid in the body. Part of the reason why our body is acid is that it lacks enough bicarbonate necessary to neutralize the acid. This problem is easily corrected in our protocol for the sodium bicarbonate and thiosulfate is added to the water. Full hydration with pure water provides the very foundation of successful medical treatment.
Mark Sircus Ac., OMD