Iodine, Aids and Breast Cancer

[Guest guest]

The Iodine-Thyroid fix

 

MEDICINE

 

by Candis McLean

 

A B. C. doctor's new treatment for breast cancer is being promoted in a Web

site that was opened in February. The organization behind the Web site,

www.bites-medical.org is the Breast Iodine Thyroid

Effectiveness Society, incorporated in October to promote research and

debate on the little-known connection between breast cancer, iodine and

thyroid.

 

The group is made up primarily of patients of Victoria, B. C., physician

David Derry, 63, author of the 2001 book, Breast Cancer and Iodine

[Trafford Publishing 1-888-232-4444 or sales] In it, he points

out that breast-cancer mortality rates are unchanged since records were

first kept in the 1920s; today, one in eight Canadian women can expect to

develop breast cancer during her lifetime.

 

Dr. Derry's radical new thesis suggests a specific dose of the old-fashioned

antiseptic, iodine, prevents many diseases, including

breast, prostate, ovarian and colon cancer.

 

" I propose that... iodine and thyroid hormone act as a team to provide a

constant surveillance against abnormal cell development, chemicals that are

carcinogenic, and the spread of cancer cells within the body, " writes Dr.

Derry, who, in addition to holding an M. D., has a PhD in neurochemistry and

is a former University of Toronto Medical Research Council Scholar. " Cancer

grows so slowly when using iodine and

thyroid hormone therapy that the cancer will not affect the lives of the

patients who have it. The treatment is non-invasive, inexpensive and

safe. "

 

Dr. Derry also credits iodine with several other roles in the body:

 

It protects against abnormal growth of bacteria in the stomach. It

detoxifies chemicals, food poisoning, snake venom, etc.

It coats incoming allergic proteins to make them non-allergic, and probably

defuses autoimmune disease mechanisms in the same way.

 

 

The problem, according to Dr. Derry, is the low dietary intake of iodine in

the Canadian diet, particularly with iodized salt intake

being generally reduced since the 1950s, depriving people of " the most

important element in the human diet. " What little iodine is consumed, is

captured first by the " master gland, " the thyroid, to produce thyroid

hormone, leaving little or none for other functions such as fighting cancer.

 

" I believe that if the iodine intake of the nations were raised to levels

above the saturation point of the thyroid, " Dr. Derry writes, " there would

be a precipitous drop in the cancer rate of the nation to levels similar to

those of Japan. There, rates of breast, prostate and thyroid cancer are

among the lowest in the world, and iodine intake is the highest due to

consumption of seaweed. "

 

" These levels of five to 10 mg. of iodine daily can be easily

reached with Lugol's [iodine] solution, " he explains, " one drop per day. "

Dr. Derry recommends the drop of iodine each day be taken in a glass of

juice to cover the mild taste.

 

One who champions the treatment is 62-year-old RN Frankie Staples of

Victoria. Diagnosed with breast cancer six years ago, she had a

lump surgically removed, followed by radiation therapy. Dr. Derry then

placed her on natural thyroid hormone plus iodine: 10 drops per day. " I used

to have cystic lumps of the worst kind, known to turn to cancer at over 10

times the normal rate; now I have no lumps at all. None.

I'm very healthy and have known many others who have had good results with

the iodine treatment. "

 

Dr. Derry argues that his practice is not revolutionary; he is merely

returning to the traditional practice used between 1892 and 1973, before

a " hoax " hit. A huge shipment of the natural desiccated thyroid made from

pigs' thyroids was found to be mysteriously lacking in thyroid. As a result

of this scandal, patients got sick, and the use of dessicated thyroid was

largely discontinued in favour of the new, man-made chemical, Synthroid.

 

Suspicions about Synthroid have been growing ever since its arrival. Last

week its manufacturer privately settled a class action lawsuit

in the Ontario Superior Court, reportedly offering the litigants $2.25

million. They had claimed the manufacturer suppressed a negative study to

maintain control of the thyroid market in Canada.

 

At the same time Synthroid was introduced, Dr. Derry says, " for no reason at

all, " dosages were dropped to one-third their previous

levels, and, rather than listening to patients' descriptions of their

symptoms, doctors were taught to rely instead on a lab test. As a result, he

says, the approximately 10% of the population who require

thyroid according to lab tests are being under-treated, while the many more

who should be started on thyroid medication are not.

 

" This was all done with no scrap of evidence and no comparison studies being

done--one of the biggest changes in the history of medicine, and it was

never checked, causing the biggest disaster medically of all

time, " storms Dr. Derry. " The numbers are staggering, the diseases and

deficiencies they have caused--including an epidemic of low IQs, learning

disabilities and dyslexia among their children--are unbelievable, and

the arrogance in their opinions and teaching has led to many unnecessary

deaths. "

 

Dr. Derry associates these dramatic medical changes in the mid-1970s with

the number of new diseases that were either first noticed

or that suddenly increased in the 1980s, including AIDS, chronic fatigue

syndrome, fibromyalgia, autism, ADHD, sleep apnea, hepatitis C and

Alzheimer's disease. He has found all of these ailments respond to thyroid

treatment, including Alzheimer's caught in the early stages: " Brains sharpen

within two weeks, although if Alzheimer's gets

beyond me I can usually slow it, but can't reverse it, " he says. After

conducting his own successful informal study on AIDS and thyroid, he

attempted to do a large-scale double-blind study, but found AIDS

organizations uninterested.

 

" There's a great deal of ignorance about the fact that natural dessicated

thyroid --a natural hormone-- is the safest drug discovered in the last two

centuries, " he states.