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Germanium's Action Against Cancer

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Cancer - A Philosophical Treatise

We must go back to basics to answer the question "what is cancer?". We are so conditioned to going into a state of shock at the very mention of the word that we hardly think rationally of just what cancer is. It is, stated very simply, the uncontrolled proliferation of cells. Normally, our immune system can handle foreign cells, toxins, and abnormal, cancerous cells. However, due to a multiplicity of factors, perhaps genetic predisposition, poor diet, toxic environmental attack, recreational abuse, negativity and depression, our "resistance" weakens, abnormal cells multiply and start to spread, somehow oblivious to normal control mechanisms.

Nowhere is the split between allopathic and holistic medicine more pronounced than in diseases such as cancer. Western science, stuck in the notion "one disease, one cause", spends billions of dollars in many highly focused races to find a cure for a "dis-ease" of a body. Hence the "search and destroy" methodology of chemotherapy, radiation therapy, radical surgery, all in the sincere desire that to be healed, the cancer must be destroyed.

A holistic approach to healing considers all factors of the individual: psychological/spiritual, emotional, environmental as well as physical. Where is the cancer? What in that person's life has caused him to create a cancer in that part of the body? What is the physical and genetic disposition of the person, his parents? What has been his diet? How stressful is his work? Is he fulfilled emotionally and spiritually? Does he exercise?

Diagnosis and treatment of cancer would ideally utilize, in a cooperative fashion, the most appropriate techniques of modern medicine and/or complementary therapies, with the patient playing an active role in his treatment and healing (9). This type of treatment would use to maximum advantage technological advances of modern medicine as well as the accumulated wisdom of traditional healing practices.

The approaches used with Germanium in the East and West exemplify almost perfectly the dichotomy between the two healing traditions. On the one hand, the Asai Germanium clinic prescribes organic Germanium, along with a non-acid forming diet and stress counselling for its cancer patients. On the other extreme, North American oncology groups administer Spirogermanium in intravenous drips to cancer patients (117), who have already undergone every other option before being admitted to the Germanium clinical trial.

Chapter 13 compares and evaluates in detail, the philosophy and practice of each of these approaches, as well as those more in the middle. This chapter summarizes the scientific research which documents organic Germanium as a therapeutic agent in cancer treatment.

Germanium - Advantages Of Being A Food And A Drug

There are normally several distinct stages whereby a potential cancer drug is tested before it can be made available. If the substance demonstrates anticancer activity in a number of in vitro (in the test tube) assays, then studies on animals will be conducted. If these studies demonstrate promising results, then experiments and trials will be conducted with actual human cancer patients. Because organic Germanium is a natural substance with virtually no demonstrated toxicity (see chapter on Safety), Germanium is classified as a food supplement and not a drug, which has enabled faster progress in establishing its therapeutic action in humans for many serious illnessess, including cancer. Thus, treatment of human cancer patients over almost two decades has occurred in parallel with the careful scientific studies in animals, establishing its anticancer action, resulting in a wealth of documentation from the human side, as well as laboratory data. There are business and philosophical issues deriving from this question of "food or drug", which will be addressed in Chapter 12.

Putting together the cancer research studies of the three organic Germanium compounds, Ge-132, Sanumgerman and Spirogermanium, at the cellular level, in animals and human cancer patients, the evidence for organic Germanium's anticancer properties is solid and reproducible. This chapter will highlight the research results in these various areas.

Cellular Level

1. The Allium test uses actively dividing plant cells to measure the anticancer or oncostatic activity of a potential anticancer substance. Sanumgerman, when analyzed by this procedure, showed the characteristics of an active compound (36,54,62).
2. Tests with various laboratory cancerous cell lines demonstrated that Spirogermanium significantly inhibited DNA, RNA and protein synthesis of these cancer cells at very low concentrations (88,118).
3. Further characterization of organic Germanium's mode of action at the cellular and molecular level, showed that Germanium compounds inhibited viral (HSV-1) replication in vitro and blocked the synthesis of DNA in hepatoma 22A and ovarian cancer cells (39,40,68).

Animal Studies

1. Sanumgerman's antitumour activity with several types of cancers has been documented in mice. In one study, the group of mice which received Sanumgerman had a 20% incidence of tumours, compared to 50% in the control group (13). Also, Sanumgerman administered to mice with carcinoma of the colon survived longer (61). In other studies, Sanumgerman showed positive results against colon, lung and Myeloma type cancers (60).
2. In studies with rats, Spirogermanium was shown to increase the lifespan by 500% of animals with Walker type carcinoma (115).
3. Ge-132 has shown significant antitumour activity against a wide spectrum of tumours (53,58,71,101), which has been elegantly shown to be mediated by activation of immune mechanisms, including macrophages, natural killer cells, interferon and T-suppressor cells (see also chapter 3).

The above-cited animal studies with organic Germanium compounds were conducted by a variety of established scientific groups around the world, in accordance with scientifically accepted protocols, such as those set down by the National Cancer Institute, USA. The results have been published in learned refereed scientific journals, attesting to the fact that the methodology and data analysis were subjected to controls associated with scientific metholody. Although this in itself is no guarantee of a substance's efficacy in humans, it does attest to the fact that organic Germanium compounds demonstrate significant anticancer activity in laboratory animals infected with a wide range of different cancers.

Human Cancer Patients

Clinical Trials

1. Clinical trials on lung cancer showed a statistically significant effect of Ge-132 upon life prolongation, tumour regression and overall improvement in performance status and immunological parameters. A double-blind controlled study for unresectable lung cancer was commenced in 1980 (71). The patients were divided into classes, depending on the type of cancer. The treatments consisted either of chemotherapy plus Ge-132, or chemotherapy plus a placebo, administered double-blind, meaning that neither the patient nor the doctor knew whether the individual was receiving Germanium or the placebo. Interim results to date revealed a significant difference between the placebo and Ge-132 in the proportion of partial and complete responses to treatment with organic Germanium.
2. A technical document issued by the Asai Germanium Research Institute, compiles clinical and research data on the pharmacological, immunological and toxicological properties of Ge-132 (30). The long list of studies, trials and investigators in the Appendix attests to the intense research activity ongoing in Japan, to "evaluate strictly the therapeutic efficacy of Ge-132".
3. A clinical study of Sanumgerman's effectiveness against ovarian malignancy was conducted with 6 women, aged 44-64, who had been operated for malignant tumours of the ovaries and uterus (85). The well-being of all these patients improved considerably, and they experienced considerable relief from pain. The remarkable analgesic (pain-relieving) properties of organic Germanium are reviewed in chapter . In five out of the six women, there was no exudate formation in the abdominal or inner pelvic cavity; a slight exudate was observed in the sixth woman.
4. A Phase I clinical trial was conducted with 35 patients with a variety of cancers, with intravenously administered Spirogermanium (88,89). This trial was conducted in order to define a tolerated dosage and to determine anticancer activity. Several of the patients experienced mild and transient side effects such as dizziness which were all resolved within a few minutes to several hours. There was no evidence of cumulative toxicity, nor of bone marrow depression. One patient showed a partial response in the palpable lymph nodes for 2 months.
5. A Phase II trial for patients with lymphoma-proliferative disease (non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and Hodgkin's disease) was conducted with Spirogermanium. Out of 17 patients, 5 (30%) demonstrated an objective response, including 2 complete responses. No hematological toxicity was observed (88).

Excerpted Case Histories

1. Reduction in the size of a splenic tumour was achieved after 3 week's Sanumgerman, orally administered to a 62 year old woman with myeloproliferate syndrome (55).
2. An 18-year old male with embryonal cancer of the testicles and lung filae, undergoing a variety of therapeutic regimes, including Sanumgerman, recovered, with no metastases up to the present (1985) (85).
3. A 55 year old woman who had been operated on for Sigmcarcinoma, developed metastases in the stomach, kidney, mesenterium and liver. Following cytostatic (chemo) therapy, she received Sanumgerman treatment. Dark-field analysis of her red blood picture was closely monitored. After 3 months of treatment with Sanumgerman, there was a significant decrease in erythrombic development, with considerable improvement in cell respiration. Four years after the operation, there was NO trace of liver metastases, although the size of the tumour and lymphatic ganglion slightly increased (77).
4. A 78 year old male with colon cancer and liver metastases was operated on in 1978 and again in 1979. Liver metastases were discovered in 1982, upon which biological therapy, a strict cancer diet and Sanumgerman therapy was initiated. After 1 year, there were no metastases in a clinical examination, which was the same situation a further 3 years later (120).
5. A 54 year old man with a large bean-size cancerous growth on the right lung, after taking anticancer drugs lost his appetite and was losing his strength. Five weeks after taking 500 mg daily Ge-132, X-rays showed absolutely no trace of cancer, the dry cough had disappeared and his overall condition improved to his former state of good health (2).

These few case histories represented a small fraction of the "anecdotal" evidence that has accumulated, attesting to organic Germanium's therapeutic effectiveness in treating cancer. Not all cancer patients receiving organic Germanium have been cured; minimal therapeutic effect has been noted in several clinical trials with intravenously administered Spirogermanium. As is discussed in in Chapter 13, this may in part reflect the trial selection and administration procedures.

However almost invariably a general overall improvement in the quality of life occurs, due in large part to organic Germanium's ability to relieve pain. Anecdotal case histories are not considered by scientists to be proof of a substance's efficacy, because it cannot be rigorously proved that the patient was cured by the particular substance in question. Greater agreement about methodology in clinical testing must occur if an integration between western science and holistic medicine can occur. Holistic medicine takes as a given that the true healer is the individual himself, who, in taking whatever treatment he does, is enabling his body's own healing powers to restore him to health. Combining scientific rigour with holistic compassion will increase an individual's course of therapeutic progress.