Chinese Herbs for
Breast Cancer Treatment
Acupuncturists police themselves
BBC NEWS
Sunday, 14 October, 2001
Acupuncturists have backed
a plan which would help protect patients from rogue
practitioners.
Ninety per cent of members of the British
Acupuncture Council (BAcC) voted for statutory
regulation at their annual meeting.
Such a body would work in the same way that the General Medical Council regulates
the medical profession.
The BAcC said it would provide greater levels of safety and education to
acupuncture practice in the UK.
Acupuncture recently got a publicity boost when the Prime Minister's wife,
Cherie Blair, was seen with what was believed to be an acupuncture needle
in her ear.
Up to two million people have the therapy every year.
Mike O'Farrell, chief executive of the BAcC, said the new register would
help patients: "This will become the guarantee of safety and excellence
for which patients have long asked."
The introduction of a register would mean public would be able to choose
a registered acupuncturist.
Currently, people have no way of checking the background of the acupuncturist
they choose.
Osteopaths and chiropractors already have
their own regulatory bodies.
Lords' recommendation
In a report on complementary and alternative
medicine, published last November, the House
of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee
recommended statutory regulation.
This ballot, conducted by the Electoral Reform Services, was part of the
preparations to moving to a statutorily regulated position.
John Wheeler of the BAcC told BBC News Online
the council knew of between 5-6,000 acupuncture
practitioners.
But he said there were another 3-4,000 who were practising without any links
to the council.
He said: "Patients who go to those acupuncturists can risk anything
ranging from ineffective practice to harm.
"'It's an invasive procedure, and inserting needles is always potentially dangerous.
There is a risk of infection. There can also be problems with the disposal of
needles."
The proposed regulatory body could work in
the same way as the General Osteopathic Council
and the General Chiropractic Council.
Existing practitioners would have the opportunity to join the register, if
they had the right qualifications.
Then, entry would only be open to those graduating from recognized course.
There are currently nine colleges whose teaching is governed by the British
Acupuncture Accreditation Board.
The BAcC currently runs a voluntary regulatory system.
Backing
A spokesman for the British Medical Association
(BMA) said: "We support statutory regulation
of acupuncture and other alternative therapies.
"The BMA has recommended NHS patients should have more access to acupuncture.
It called for nationwide guidelines on use of the treatment following research
which suggested it was successful in easing back and dental pain, migraine,
nausea and vomiting.
The Department of Health said it backed the
plan for statutory regulation, and that it
was in talks with the acupuncturist groups'
representatives.
By Avy Mallik
Asian Week July 31st 2001
Isaac Cohen is optimistic but guarded — on
predicting what the future holds for the Chinese
herbs he is testing for cancer treatment. “These
Chinese herbs are not a cure for breast cancer
or any other forms of cancer,” he says. “They might,
however, slow down cancer cell growth.” The herbs
may induce a remission in breast cancer activity,
explains the doctor of Chinese medicine.
According to statistics published
by BreastCancer.com,
breast cancer is the most common form of malignancy
among women. Malignant tumors differ from more
common benign tumors in that they are likely to
aggressively spread throughout the body, making
them difficult to treat. This year alone, an estimated
178,000 new cases of breast cancer are predicted
to be reported. In past decades, U.S. patients
almost always battled the disease through means
of mainstream Western science. But as of five years
ago, there has been a rekindling of interest in
alternative forms treatments.
Bradly Jacobs is a doctor and physician
in alternative medicine at University of California
at San Francisco (UCSF). He went to Harvard Medical
School, and has been working at UCSF for the past
four years. Chinese herbs play a significant part
in his treatment for cancer patients. Jacobs is
quite certain that one day the mainstream public
will accept this field of treatment, which is still
in its infancy in the United States.
“There is a growing acceptance
of alternative medication by the public as well
as medical institutions,” he says. “This is a growing
trend, with as many as 60 percent of medical schools
teaching the principles of alternative medicine
and traditional Asian forms of treatment.”
Jacobs believes that there is a
generation gap between doctors when it comes to
trying out newer forms of medicine.
“Since younger physicians are more
exposed to herbal benefits, yoga-therapy and acupuncture,
they are more likely to recommend those forms of
treatment to their patients,” he says.
Jacobs, who was trained as a conventional
medical doctor before studying alternative methods
of treatment, believes that Chinese medicine is
growing in popularity.
“Most academic and governmental
institutions are researching and approving the
use of Chinese herbs,” he says. “And these institutions
are usually a lot more conservative than the Western
public.”
Cohen, meanwhile, has been busily
working on clinical and laboratory tests on the
effects of herbs on cancer cells. He has been a
Chinese medicine practitioner for 13 years, and
went to medical school in the United States. He
later continued his studies in China, specializing
in cancer research. He hopes to conclude his clinical
tests on breast cancer in one year and publish
his results in the near future. His laboratory
tests, he says, have been promising.
“Last week, we had quite a bit
of excitement. Three herbs that we tested showed
a strong ability to slow down the growth of cancer
cells,” he says. “It has only been tested against
breast cancer, but these herbs killed and destroyed
the cells.”
Cohen also thinks that the herbs
in question can work against other types of cancer.
The herbs are called Scutellaria barbatae (Ban
Zhi Lian), Anamarrhena asphodeloides (Zhi Mu),
and Vaccaria sigetalis (Wang Bu Liu Xing).
These laboratory trials, although
promising, do not guarantee that the herbs will
successfully battle breast cancer in human beings.
“Laboratory testing is completely
independent from clinical testing,” Cohen says. “We
cannot prove that these herbs will help in real-life
situations. We will have to do clinical tests to
see if they work.”
Many more studies need to be conducted
to come up with conclusive evidence that these
herbs help fight cancer, Cohen says. He stresses
that breast cancer is an individualistic disease,
which makes it difficult to develop effective treatment
for the masses.
“These herbs can work for several
months on one patient, a number of years for another
patient, or not work at all for someone else,” he
says. “It all depends on what state of cancer you
have, how healthy your body is, and how fast the
cancer cells mutate and grow resistant to the medication.”
Cohen also explains that while
some doctors are recommending the use of Chinese
herbs to their breast cancer patients, others aren't.
He points out, however, that his “study is FDA
approved … We successfully attained the approval
of the medical body as well as the government.”
Nevertheless, the future of Chinese
herbs and other forms of alternative medicine are
uncertain.
“In the 1960s,” explains Cohen, “the
National Cancer Institute tried out 2,500 herbs
for medical purposes. They later abandoned the
project because of the amount of popularity that
synthetic medication had. We at UCSF have picked
up where they left off .”
Cohen doesn't believe that the
interest in traditional and natural forms of medication
will abate anytime soon.
“Several things will happen in
the field of herbal medicine,” he says. “First
of all, herbal medication will be adopted by the
Western world as a legitimate form of medication.
Secondly, there will be no distinction between
conventional medicine and alternative medicine.”
Predicts Cohen: “Over a couple
of years, a pattern should emerge, showing that
the treatments were a success. The key is to correctly
interpret all the findings.”
