Journal
of Advancement in Medicine
Volume 2,
Numbers 1/2, Spring/Summer 1989
Walter Blumer,
M.D. and Elmer Cranton, M.D.
ABSTRACT:
Mortality from cancer was reduced 90% during an 18-year follow-up
of 59 patients treated with Calcium-EDTA. Only one of 59 treated
patients (1.7%) died of cancer while 30 of 172 non treated control
subjects (17.6%) died of cancer (P=0.002). Death from artherosclerosis
was also reduced. Treated patients had no evidence of cancer at
the time of entry into this study. Observations relate only to
long-term prevention of death from malignant disease, if chelation
therapy is begun before clinical evidence of cancer occurs. Control
and treated patients lived in the same neighborhood, adjacent
to a heavily traveled highway in a small Swiss city. Both groups
were exposed to the same amount of lead from automobile exhaust,
industrial pollution and other carcinogens. Exposure to carcinogens
was no greater for the studied population than exists in most
other metropolitan areas throughout the world. Statistical analysis
showed EDTA chelation therapy to be the only significant difference
between controls and treated patients to explain the marked reduction
in cancer mortality.
Edta
is well recognized as a therapy for lead toxicity. EDTA also removes
other toxic heavy metals and nutritional elements such as iron
which promote cancer by catalyzing free radical pathology.
Lead
from automobile exhausts, petrochemicals form wear of automobile
tires, cadmium, and other carcinogens are present in higher concentrations
adjacent to heavily traveled automobile highways. These substances
cause cancer and potentate other carcinogens.
It
was reported in an earlier paper that cancer mortality among 231
adults living along a heavily traveled highway was higher than
among persons living in a traffic-free section of the same city1
Nervous disorders, headaches, fatigue, gastrointestinal disorders,
depression, and substance abuse was also observed with higher
frequency.2 It was postulated that lead exposure from automobile
exhausts might be one cause of this difference.
Beginning
in 1961, a group of 59 patients with such symptoms was treated
with parenteral doses of Calcium EDTA. Symptoms improved and urinary
delta-amino levulinic acid diminished.3
Subsequent
to the EDTA chelation therapy, a decrease in cancer mortality
was observed. When compared with a control group of untreated
patients who did not receive EDTA, many fewer cancer deaths were
recorded.4,5 The control group was similar to the treated group
in all ways except to the EDTA chelation therapy.
The
purpose of this present study is to determine more precisely and
to statistically analyze the long-term change in cancer mortality
after treatment with EDTA.
Statistical
Data
A
group of 231 adults was studied beginning in late 1958. All resided
along the main highway in a small Swiss city with a total population
of approximately 3,000. Of these 231 people (105 men and 126 women),
31 persons, (17 men and 14 women) died of malignant tumors during
the 18-year observation period (1959-1976). Causes of death included
4 cases of bronchogenic carcinoma, 5 of colon carcinoma, 5 of
gastric carcinoma, 2 of beast cancer, 3 of ovarian carcinoma,
1 of pancreatic carcinoma, 2 of pleural endothelioma, and 9 cases
of other types of cancer. In all but one case, histopathological
diagnosis was confirmed by a hospital pathologist. Twenty-eight
of the deceased individuals had lived for 10 or more years directly
adjacent to the highway and most were normally present in their
homes for 24 hours of every day.
Fifty-nine
adult study patient received ten or more injections of 1.9 gm
calcium EDTA plus vitamins C and B1 From 1959 through 1976, only
one (1.7%) of patients treated with EDTA died from cancer. In
comparison, of 172 untreated control subjects who had not received
calcium EDTA, 30 (17.4%) died from cancer. This represents a ten-fold
greater incidence of cancer mortality in untreated persons (P=0.002).
The two groups were similar in all other respects.
The
treated group consisted of 35 women and 24 men. It was initially
thought that this higher percentage of women may have included
fewer smokers which might partially explain the reduced mortality.
Analysis showed that none of the 35 treated women died of cancer.
Of 91 untreated women, 14 died of cancer, an incidence of 15%,
and all female cancer deaths occurred in nonsmokers.
The
treated group did not include a greater proportion of persons
who were less exposed to carcinogens in their occupations or who
spent more time away from the heavily congested highway during
the day. Analysis of occupational data and location during the
day showed no differences between the two groups. Housewives,
the majority of whom remained at home each day, were represented
equally in both groups.
No
significant differences existed in age distribution between treated
patients and controls. There were no significant socio-economic
differences between the treated and the untreated persons. Cancer
mortality was independent of monetary income.
Laboratory
Analysis
Increased
urinary lead excretion after injection of EDTA is a recognized
test for lead accumulation in the body.6 Urinary lead excretion
was measured before and after EDTA infusion in 5 patients with
atomic absorption spectroscopy,7 using the method of Roosels.8
In every case, a substantial increase in lead excretion was measured.
Simultaneously, urinary delta-amino levulinic acid (DALA) decreased.
DALA was measured in the Central Laboratories of the University
Hospital of Zurich, according to the methods of Doss and Schmidt.9
It
is emphasized that the population studied and reported on in this
paper was not exposed to any more lead or other environmental
carcinogens than residents of most metropolitan areas throughout
the world.
Traffic
flow past residences of the study subjects was 4000 vehicles per
day in 1956, increasing to 8000 vehicles per day in 1968. Of those,
7000 were passenger cars and 400 were diesel trucks.
Environmental
measurements of pollutants and carcinogens were made in the immediate
and surrounding area of this study. Tests were done at the Woods
Hole Laboratories, Massachusetts, USA, using ultraviolet spectrophotography,
mass-spectrography and chromatography.10 Soil tests adjacent to
the highway where the study population lived showed the presence
of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are known carcinogens.
In more remote sections of the same city, levels of these pollutants
were found to be approximately three times lower, inversely correlated
with the distance from automobile traffic. Further analyses showed
the majority of measured carcinogens to be from automobile pollution.
Pollution immediately adjacent to the highway where the study
population resided was at or only slightly above permissible levels
allowed under public health and environmental regulations in the
USA.
Discussion
Following
preliminary communication of these data, the committee responsible
for the surveillance of air quality in Switzerland scrutinized
the results using a different statistical method.11 They found
a higher incidence of death from cancer in the untreated group
than in the population of Switzerland as a whole.
The
fact that an identical group treated with EDTA experienced a 90%
reduction in cancer mortality, as well as a reduction in death
from all causes was also confirmed. The fact that the general
mortality as well as cancer mortality was lower in treated than
untreated individuals was also confirmed by Knutti and Schlatter.11
Their proposed explanation was that treated patients might possibly
have been more health conscious or under better medical care,
but this does not seem an adequate explanation of the recorded
facts. Residents of less polluted areas experience a lower cancer
mortality, despite the same level of medical care.
Evidence
presented in this paper indicated that (1) EDTA removes cancer
causing or promoting substances, from the body, and (2) those
substances are correlated with environmental pollution from vehicular
traffic.
The
overall reduction of death from all causes and increased longevity
I the EDTA treated group shows that chelation therapy also reduces
other common causes of mortality such as artherosclerosis and
cardiovascular disease. Except for cancer mortality, exact data
are not available for statistical analysis.
As
early as 1961, it was reported from animal experiments that intravenous
injections of EDTA could slow the growth of experimental carcinoma.
12 A cancer-inhibiting effect has also been demonstrated for other
chelating agents, including BAL, cystine, penicillamine and citric
acid.13-16 Many tumor inhibiting medications, including 5-flouracil,
possess metal-binding properties. 17
Lead
potentiates the carcinogenicity of aromatic hydrocarbons such
as benzopyrene by five fold. 18 areas adjacent to heavily traveled
highways are polluted with many other carcinogens, including polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons, nitrosamines, epoxides, cadmium and asbestos,
in addition to inorganic and tetraethyl lead.
Since
the data from this study were last reported,5 new research has
linked cancer to free radical pathology.19-21 EDTA removes transition
elements, such as iron, which accelerate free radical pathology,
including cancer. Iron is an essential nutritional element but
it is also know to accumulate with age. Catalysis of lipid peroxidation
by iron potentiates the cancer promoting substances. EDTA increases
the urinary excretion of unbound and freely catalytic iron 10
times more then it does lead. There are many reasons why EDTA
chelation therapy could act to prevent cancer.
A
recent publication by McDonagh, et al, 22 confirms improvement
in a wide variety of symptoms, as first reported in this study
population.2 Neurasthenic and nonspecific multi-organ symptoms
improve significantly following EDTA chelation therapy, resulting
in a marked improvement in the overall quality of life.
Body
stores of iron correlate with the risk of cancer.23-25 and artherosclerosis.
26 EDTA removes unbound and potentially toxic iron from the body
much more effectively than lead, 21 which may account for the
findings in this study.
Large
scale, double blind, controlled studies should be undertaken to
fully document the many benefits observed in clinical practice
following treatment with EDTA. EDTA is an inexpensive and relatively
safe substance to administer but he patent has expired and pharmaceutical
companies have no incentive to fund such research.
