June 2000 Healing News

Ayurvedic school and hospital open in London

Infectious diseases are dangerously on the rise

News Media blasted for reporting bias

Distortion in media coverage of prescription drugs

Update on Thomas Navarro

Organic farming is profitable

Reclaiming our health

Suicide and genes

Americans do not drink enough water

Repairing the damage of stress naturally

Father of 4-Year-Old Brain Tumor Patient to Square Off Against FDA Head of Oncology at House Hearing

May 31 - WHEN & WHERE: June 7 & 8, 1 PM - RAYBURN BUILDING RM. 2154, Washington, DC
WHAT: HOUSE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM & OVERSIGHT

One of the purposes of the hearing is to investigate the FDA's use of its authority to force cancer patients and parents of cancer patients to accept treatments they do not want, or else face legal action.

The hearings were prompted, at least in part, by the recent case of Thomas Navarro, a 4-year-old boy with a brain cancer known as medulloblastoma. Thomas's story has recently been featured in People Magazine, on CNN and Time, Tom Brokaw's NBC news, & the CBN 700 Club. Thomas's father Jim will appear on the Fox News Channel with Paula Zahn at 10 PM on June 8 (the day after Jim testifies) along with Rep. Dan Burton.

The Navarros refused conventional therapies for Thomas after reviewing the most recent medical literature published by some of the most prestigious cancer centers in the country. The Navarros' research revealed that the FDA-mandated treatments for the disease, combination of chemotherapy and full cranio-spinal radiation, produced consequences unacceptable to the them-hearing and vision loss, hyperthyroidism, severe mental retardation, loss of cognizant speech, stunted growth, radiation-induced psychosis and rage disorder, secondary cancers, and in many cases, death.

Based upon these medical studies, the Navarros made a fully informed decision to turn down chemotherapy and radiation for their son, and to seek other therapies. Specifically, they wanted to have Thomas treated by Dr. Burzynski in Houston, Texas. His antineoplaston therapy has shown excellent results against medulloblastoma, with few side effects.

Since making this decision, the family has been stonewalled by the FDA and hounded by Child Protective Services whose aim was to seize Thomas, subject him to these draconian, ineffective treatments against the wishes of his parents, and to imprison his parents for their temerity in opposing the dictates of the FDA.

On June 7, at the hearing, Jim Navarro and other parents whose children have been harmed or killed by chemo & radiation will ask: Why don't parents have the freedom to choose the treatment they want for their child? Why is the FDA forcing the Navarros (and other families throughout the country) to submit to cancer treatments that have been proved to be ineffective and harmful (in the case of chemotherapy) or, do irreparable damage (full cranio-spinal radiation)? Why does the FDA insist on the continued use of these harmful therapies and deny families the right to seek other, potentially beneficial treatments?

FDA Commissioner Henney and Health & Human Services Secretary Shalala have ignored the pleadings on behalf of Thomas of many powerful people, including Alan Keyes, George W. Bush, Senators Orin Hatch and Tom Harkin, and Rep. Dan Burton. Henney and Shalala also have ignored tens of thousands of phone calls and letters, maintaining their indefensible position in this matter.

During the hearing Jim Navarro will square off against Dr. Richard Padzur, the FDA's head of Oncology, and one of the people responsible for denying Thomas access to the treatment his parents have chosen for him. There will likely be heated debate between Navarro and Pazdur, focusing on issues such as the following: medical freedom, a parent's right to choose a medical treatment for his child vs. the FDA's usurping that right, and the way the FDA manipulates statistics to present positive outcomes for treatments which are, in reality, dismal failures.

It is also interesting to note that neither of the two mandated treatments, chemotherapy and radiation, have ever actually been approved by the FDA for pediatric use. Yet, they have become the "standard of care" despite the fact that much evidence exists to prove they do not work, can kill the child, or cause irreparable harm. Multiple studies going as far back as the 1970's reveal the failure of these treatments, yet the FDA and the pediatric oncology community continue to mandate these known failures as standard treatments (and no one questions their authority to do so). Child Protective Services is often used by the medical community to strong arm the parents into compliance.

Who should decide if it is preferable for a child to possibly live five years with no quality of life and intense suffering, or perhaps have a shorter life with quality? Who should make the choice to decide to try something which may cure their disease or extend life without the great damage done by conventional therapies?

James Navarro is working for passage of H.R. 3677, The Thomas Navarro FDA Patient Rights Act. This act would bar the FDA from placing clinical holds on investigational treatments like antineoplastons just because the FDA believes another therapy is preferable. With the patient's or the parents' declaration in writing that they are fully aware of the conventional treatments and are willing to accept the risk associated with taking an investigational drug, the FDA would have no control of what the patient or the parents would choose.

James Navarro is fighting to give his son the right to the best possible quality of life. He also wants to inform the American public that parents of children who get cancer cannot currently choose the treatment they want for their child and that the FDA has grabbed that power for themselves. If the parents refuse the FDA-recommended treatment, their child can be taken from them and forced to undergo harmful, toxic treatments which can cause irreversible physical and mental damage and even death.

SOURCE: Cancerbusters Foundation

For more information on Thomas Navarro and this case, please visit: http://www.heall.com/thomas/index.html