Cancer Drugs May Fight Smallpox

Cancer drugs have unexpectedly led to an entirely new way to beat viral infections - and particularly smallpox - a new study suggests.

Viruses are hard to stop and, with few exceptions, drugs aimed at killing viral infections have not worked nearly as well as the antibiotics that kill bacteria.

For more info: www.newscientist.com...

Nice to see something can be done about smallpox with everyone's fear of it coming back. I would love to see more done about cancer, though. I still believe the government doesn't really want a cure for all cancer as cancer is now and has been for quite some time a big money maker for the medical industry (and the mega-rich that invest in the medical industry).

Just like Diabetes.....why hasn't anyone found a cure for that after all this time? Probably again, because Diabetes is a big money maker!!

Just like Diabetes.....why hasn't anyone found a cure for that after all this time? Probably again, because Diabetes is a big money maker!!

Believe it or not everything is not a conspiracy. We've not found a cure for cancer because is a vague description for myriad diseases. Cancer is a disease characterized by multiple etiologies and cellular defects. There is no easy cure for cancer because there is no one specific cause. It is a disease that is manifested in wide variety of different ways.

Diabetes doesn't have a cure because it's a genetic condition, and we've not yet brought genetic engineering to that level. There is a cure for adult onset diabetes, it's called eating right and exercising.

To imply that scientists working on these diseases are somehow suppressing data or fudging their results is, quite frankly, insulting. Do you know any cancer researchers? Do you know any professional scientists at all? While certainly researchers are looking to get their projects funded, most are genuinely interested in helping people at some level. Believe me when I tell you, you don't go into science to make money... you go into pharmaceuticals to make money. You enter science because you love the process... having the earning potential of an RN isn't sufficient to make most people endure 5-7 years of Ph.D. school.

My point was that these diseases make big money for the drug industry. It is pretty commonly known today that AIDS was a manufactured disease...manufactured in this country...so why should anyone trust the drug industry, medical industry or the large corporations that control them?

I believe there are hard working researchers out there truly looking for cures for many things, but I also believe that there are groups working very hard to suppress some reasearch, keeping cures from coming as quickly as they could. Where's the cure for AIDS? If we made it, we should also have a cure. Or has it mutated causing a new cure to need to be developed....is anyone working on that? Are there groups that don't want a cure found? Why would they create a disease and then turn around and want it cured?

Who owns hospitals? Large corporations...who trusts them? They are only looking to make money and they work in tandem with the drug industry. Some doctors hand out prescription meds like it's candy...why? MONEY FOR THE DRUG COMPANIES!! And then of course there's the kick backs that no one ever talks about.

Please....I respect researchers......but they and you need to wake up to some serious reality about what's really going on on this planet.

Originally posted by Zabilgy
My point was that these diseases make big money for the drug industry. It is pretty commonly known today that AIDS was a manufactured disease...manufactured in this country...

Certainly I am aware of the theories surrounding the origin of AIDS. I am more than a little familiar with them. I've read most of Gallo's old grant applications and several books that suggest this. That it's "commonly known today that AIDS was a manufactured disease" is a overstatement at the very least. Certainly some agree with that, and admittedly, there exists some evidence in support of this hypothesis. This doesn't make it so though. Furthermore, this post wasn't even about AIDS, it was about cancer, with a secondary mention of diabetes.

so why should anyone trust the drug industry, medical industry or the large corporations that control them?

Why should anyone trust ANY large corporation then? Ultimately they are all about making profits. Which corporations and industries should I trust? If I don't look to the drug companies and medial industries to cure cancer, who should I look to? Certainly there exist alternative therapies, but are these people not in it to make a living also? At which profit margins is a company deemed worthy of acceptance.

I believe there are hard working researchers out there truly looking for cures for many things, but I also believe that there are groups working very hard to suppress some reasearch, keeping cures from coming as quickly as they could.

Which groups? What research are they trying to supress? Where is your evidence of such suppression. It'd be nice if we could keep the topic to suppressed MEDICAL research, since that seems to be the diretion of the thread.

Where's the cure for AIDS? If we made it, we should also have a cure.

Why? Even if we did make it, that doesn't mean we have a cure. Since your so well versed in the manmade nature of HIV, you must be aware of the hypothesis that Gallo developed the virus, and via a contaminated culture infected a hepatitis vaccine with HIV. Even if HIV is man-made, it doesn't make the release intentional.

Or has it mutated causing a new cure to need to be developed....is anyone working on that?

Well, rapid mutation is the nature of retroviruses. Why is this so far fetched? People are working on AIDS cures and anti-virals all the time, right now as we speak.

Are there groups that don't want a cure found?

According to you.

Why would they create a disease and then turn around and want it cured?

Hmmmm.... maybe a silly notion like self-preservation. Even if they keep the cure for themselves, you think no other researchers would eventually come up with the cure? We've all got access to the same literature, and same molecular techniques.

Who owns hospitals?

Depends on the hospital

Large corporations...who trusts them?

Large corporations own some, or even most hospitals. Who trusts large corporations? Most of us... do you happen to drive a car, wear manufactured clothing, shop at Wal-Mart or Target, buy processed food?

Some doctors hand out prescription meds like it's candy...why? MONEY FOR THE DRUG COMPANIES!!

Some doctors do in fact do this. However, I seriously doubt it's so they can generate money for the drug companies as much as it is they wish to keep their clients happy. I don't know what country you live in, but in the US, people want the doctor to give them a pill. God forbid you have to change your behavior and do something healthy. Furthermore, this is what western Dr.s are trained to do. They treat symptoms for the most part. What more would you expect of them. All of this is peripheral to the thread anyway. The point was why is there no cure for cancer. I answered your question.

Allow me to ask you a question: You really believe that if some major drug company actually had a cash-cow magic bullet drug that cured cancer they would keep it suppressed? A drug like that has all of the market it would ever need.

And then of course there's the kick backs that no one ever talks about.

Making unsupportable vague inferences to cryptic shady dealings that may or may not have occured does nothing to support your case.

Please....I respect researchers......but they and you need to wake up to some serious reality about what's really going on on this planet.

Please.

You need to read up on diseases before you go flippantly shouting 'Conspiracy.' If you're really interested in why there is no cure for cancer, perhaps you should actually read up on the molecular genetics and etiology of cancers. If you had a clearer understanding of the disease process you might not feel the need to accuse medical science of being heartless, money-grubbing bastards, which certainly do exist in the medical community, just as they do in all communities. But the point is this: if you actually understood what was going on in cancer, you'd have a clearer understanding of the difficulties in developing a cure. Cancer is not a disease like the flu. Cancer is a genetic disease, and an extremely varied and diverse genetic disease at that. This is the reason there is no cure for cancer currently, and a reason that there may never be one single cure for cancer.

I agree that if some company came up with a "magic bullet" for cancer it would be plain stupid not to put it on the market. There's just powers out there that would want to make sure they controlled it and that they were the ones to profit from it......large corporations. It is actually possible that if someone came up with this "magic bullet" it could actually get them killed. Do you realize that?

I know about cancer. My brother died at 21 of cancer. Bad cancer. Cancer of the liver. It spread throughout his body over the course of two years. My understanding is it's one of the worst forms to get. The same thing Michael Landon had. I'm not a cancer researcher so I don't know all the terminology and all the varieties of cancer,etc.....But I do know that sick people keep hospitals in business, sick people keep the drug industry in business. And I do know about kick backs. Doctors all over the USA where I'm from thank you, get kick backs from drug companies for prescribing their drugs and giving out free samples of their drugs.

I'm not a doctor. I'm not a medical researcher. I'm no moron either. The medical industry and drug industry disgust me.

Yes...this thread started off being about some cancer cure possibly working for Small Pox.....I was just happy to see some positive news about a disease. But of course, small pox isn't killing millions of people. Those seem to be the diseases without cures. When was the last time someone came up with a real cure for a serious disease?....and why is that?

Originally posted by Zabilgy
It is actually possible that if someone came up with this "magic bullet" it could actually get them killed. Do you realize that?

Certainly anything is possible.

I know about cancer. My brother died at 21 of cancer. Bad cancer. Cancer of the liver. It spread throughout his body over the course of two years.

You have my condolences and my sympathies.

My understanding is it's one of the worst forms to get.

Well, if it killed your 21 year old brother in two years, I would be inclined to concur. If you don't mind my asking, was it really advanced when they discovered it, or did it just progress very quickly? It seems like the best chance we have of beating cancer currently in lieu of the magic bullet, is early detection.

The same thing Michael Landon had.

I thought he had lung cancer.... I'm probably wrong though.

I'm no moron either.

I certainly didn't mean to imply this.

I was just happy to see some positive news about a disease.

I hear you.

But of course, small pox isn't killing millions of people. Those seem to be the diseases without cures. When was the last time someone came up with a real cure for a serious disease?....and why is that?

Well not killing millions currently anyway... Ever read The Demon in the Freezer by Rhoads? It discusses the bioweapons programs in the former Soviet Union in some detail. Apparently they were generating smallpox by the metric ton.... that's metric tons of virus particles.... that's almost inconceivable to me.

This thread brings a point I would like to address though: You mention that no new cures for any significant diseases have been discovered recently. For the most part, I don't disagree with you. We are certainly left without a cure for AIDS, etc. However, at the same time I would like to point out that as a result of HIV research entire new classes of drugs exist. Nucleoside analogs like AZT (which incidentally was initially researched as an anti cancer agent) were not really recognized as effective drugs previous to this. Protease inhibitors were also not specifically recognized either. Many new anti-viral therapies were developed as a result of HIV research. That in and of itself could be considered valuable. I believe one such drug was also thought to be effective against smallpox, though I am feeling to lazy to do a search right now.

I apologize if I come off a bit intense. I have nothing against you. When my brother's cancer was detected, I would say it was advanced to some degree. It was also 1970 when he was diagnosed, so obviously things have come a long way since then. He was in his first year of college and complained of circulation problems in his legs. We brought him home and his legs were red almost like he had a rash. A biopsy was done (thru the abdomen) and that's when it was discovered (some say allowing air to get to cancer can make it spread, is that true in your experience?)....I'm not sure specifically what they removed at that time, but he came out of the hospital okay for a while and then got real sick again. Went into the hospital again and was treated with various treatments....including vitamin K? Anyway, in the hospital it was decided there was nothing they could do to keep it from spreading. My brother decided to come home and deal with it as best he could. He lived at home as long as he could until it got so bad he had to go back in the hospital and then it got real bad...spread everywhere, blood vessels bursting everywhere leaving him bruised all over, etc.....I believe a nurse on the staff gave him a lethal injection to end his misery but I may be wrong. If she did, she did him a favor.

Anyway, one last thing. I can't stand all the ads on TV for drugs. It's out of control. It's like alcohol and tobacco used to be....or worse.

I understand smallpox is in the possession of some powers as well as other germ warfare viruses like anthrax and others. pretty scary stuff.

Anyway, yesterday was a long day and I was just venting. But I do have serious issues with the medical and drug industries on the whole.

A biopsy was done (thru the abdomen) and that's when it was discovered (some say allowing air to get to cancer can make it spread, is that true in your experience?).

I don't know about the air thing... could be true. But I have heard that biopsies and other such molestations can induce certain tumors to metastasize.

..including vitamin K?

Quite possible indeed. I believe Vit K. has been used to treat a wide variety of cancers. I think that mercola, is a big proponent of natural vitamin K therapies for cancer treatment. While I don't always agree with Mercola's conclusions, I have a great deal of respect for him.

In any case, I am sorry to hear about your brother's difficult battle with cancer. A grandfather that I was extremely close with had a similar battle. A cousin of mine has recurring Leukemia more or less her entire life.

I can't stand all the ads on TV for drugs. It's out of control.

I agree with this as well. They've got a pill for conditions I didn't even know existed.

Anyway, yesterday was a long day and I was just venting.

No problemo.... certainly no offense intended.

I wasn't offended at all.....I felt I was being offensive. Whatever. Peace to you and yours. Down with evil!!