[ExI] dichloroacetate: Yet another internet conspiracy theory

The Avantguardian avantguardian2020 at yahoo.com
Tue Oct 14 19:32:09 UTC 2008

--- On Tue, 10/14/08, BillK <pharos at gmail.com> wrote:
> Well, I googled and I don't believe you.

Well then try doing a search on PubMed. I get 88 hits from peer-reviewed journals.
> DCA is *not* known to be safe.
> Numbness and paralysis and increased risk of liver damage
> or liver
> cancer are some of the recorded side effects.

Considering that cancer drugs typically *kill* rapidly dividing cells, that is hardly surprising. A very commonly prescribed chemotherapy called BCNU or carmustine is not all that different from small doses of mustard gas. So the difference between a weapon of mass destruction and a cancer drug is simply dosage. Just make sure you are not confusing toxicology reports of long-term exposure to trace amounts of DCA in drinking water say with its acute effects in a cancer patient undergoing ablative chemotherapy.
> Reducing tumors (not 'curing cancer') in rats
> doesn't mean that it
> will do the same in humans.
> Cancer researchers have 'cured' thousands of rats.

Of course, excuse me for slipping to the imprecision of the typical science journalist to make a point. My point is that the researcher who discovered its chemotherapeutic effect is having an aweful hard time securing funding just to find out it's proper dosing. Especially since DCA's use in treating acidosis *is* patented and FDA approved. 

> This is symptomatic of what happens on the Internet. A few
> 'believers'
> (in anything!) get together and start encouraging each
> other in
> whatever belief they have a common interest in. The
> failures are never
> reported and leave. Only the believers remain.
> This isn't science! This is gossip.

How is it a conspiracy theory to suggest that people will be reluctant to spend millions on something that they cannot hope to profit from, even if it is to save lives? Why are there flu vaccine shortages or government subsidies for flu vaccine manufacture when the technology to make these vaccines have been around forever? You don't need the Illuminati, just Critter's Dilemma.

> Science works by proper double-blind testing, peer review
> and other
> scientists duplicating the results.

All the above is contigent on the generousity of politicians who barely graduated college, can't pronounce nuclear, and think God is their drinking buddy. At least in my country. I hope yours is better.



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