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I will believe Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez who has pioneered one of the few successful treatments for Stage IV pancreatic cancer, based on vitamins, supplements, and an organic diet. Read what he has to say:
A copy of the Gonzalez letter to Maloney:
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July 15, 2005
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney
1651 Third Avenue #311
New York, New York 10128
Dear Congresswoman Maloney:
I am writing with some desperation to express my strong opposition to
CAFTA which is soon coming up for a vote in the House of
Representatives. I sincerely hope someone in your staff reads this letter, as the
lives of my patients could be in jeopardy should CAFTA pass and become law.
I am a physician who lives in your district, and practices in
Manhattan. I have a very traditional medical education background (AB Brown,
postgraduate work at Columbia, MD at Cornell, fellowship in cancer
immunology). Since I was a medical student, first under the direction of the
then President of the Sloan Kettering Institute, I began researching
intensive nutritional approaches to the treatment of advanced cancer.
Though in the past my work has been considered controversial, in recent
years I have received significant academic support. In 1993, the National
Cancer Institute invited me to present my work to a senior level group
in Bethesda, and at their suggestion I pursued my first clinical trial,
an evaluation of my approach in the treatment of inoperable pancreatic
cancer, considered the most deadly of cancers. The results of that
effort, which went beyond anything previously documented for the disease,
were published in 1999 in the research journal Nutrition and Cancer. As
a result of that study, the National Cancer Institute awarded me a
large grant to support further clinical trials of my work, currently being
conducted at the Columbia University College of Physicians and
Surgeons. My current approach involves the use of high dose pancreatic enzyme
and nutritional therapy in the treatment of advanced malignancies, and
does not involve the use of chemotherapy. All the supplements we
prescribed are considered nutritional supplements; though we have full FDA
approval for the study, none of these supplements required a prescription.
I want to mention that my research has been strongly supported by both
Republicans and Democrats, particularly Senator Tom Harkin and
Congressman Dan Burton, both of whom have met with me to discuss my work.
What does this have to do with CAFTA? Everything, since should CAFTA
pass in the US, by the definitions of CAFTA, my therapy, the clinical
trial itself, could become illegal.
Few Congressmen and certainly few Senators realize that CAFTA requires
harmonization with existing European legislation regarding food and
dietary supplements under the CODEX regulations. This is the genesis of
the potential problem. The pharmaceutical industry has in Europe mounted
a relentless campaign to use CODEX to virtually eliminate the over the
counter sales of most nutritional and herbal supplements, and turn them
into prescription items which could then be sold at much higher prices,
completely under the control of drug companies.
Currently, as you probably know, nutritional supplements are available
over the counter in this country, and do not require a prescription. I
believe as a physician and scientist that this easy availability of
such products has been of great benefit to millions of Americans, as a
substantial and ever increasing amount of scientific literature supports
the beneficial effects of many nutrients that are too often inadequately
provided in food.
CAFTA, if passed, would require the US harmonize its dietary supplement
legislation with that of CODEX, forbid the over-the-counter sale of the
great majority of useful supplements, and destroy the valuable US
supplement industry. Since my therapy utilizes only nutritional supplements,
should CAFTA pass, and CODEX supercede American protection of their
availability, my treatment would come to an end, my promising research
would be dismantled, and many hundreds of my patients whose lives depend
on this treatment will die. I am not exaggerating, and any of your staff
are invited to come to my office to discuss these critical issues with
me.
Nutritional supplements have a long history of safety except in very
rare cases when misused; their safety profile is far more impressive than
that of many over the counter drugs such as aspirin, which yearly is
responsible for several hundred deaths. Nutritional supplements as
currently available offer many benefits in terms of disease prevention and
good health, as documented clearly in the extensive nutritional
literature, and they are a subject about which millions of Americans are
passionate. You may not be aware, but for 30 years the pharmaceutical industry
in the US has sought to gain complete control of what they perceive as
a lucrative industry, by turning nutritional supplements into
prescription items. Their attempts, often hidden beyond sacred tenets of
"consumer protection from dangerous supplements," have little to do with the
consumer and everything to do with industry control.
Many of my own patients are desperate, as they learn the dangers of
CAFTA and CODEX to their lives. But that's just the beginning; within the
past few weeks, millions of Americans, including many who feel their
health depends on the availability of their supplements, have started to
organize. The political ramifications are enormous. I have scores of my
advanced cancer patients who have already said should CAFTA pass and
their supplement supply be compromised, they will picket the offices of
any Congressman and Senator who voted for CAFTA, and they plan to stay
and die right in front of the offices.
I have been rather amazed that so many politicians seem unaware of what
CODEX is, how the drug companies have used it to infiltrate CAFTA, and
its true origins from the pharmaceutical industry who have failed for
thirty years to get control of the supplement business.
I hope you believe that I am not exaggerating when I tell you a vote
for CAFTA is a vote for the death of my patients.
For your information, I do have a website with rather extensive
discussions about me and my work. The address is:
www.dr-gonzalez.com
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Nicholas Gonzalez, M.D.
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