The nightmare continues. Once again, I must
ask you to turn your mind toward Houston, toward the government's persecution
of Stanislaw R. Burzynski, MD, PhD.
I recently flew to Houston to have a first-hand look at what this persecution
is doing to the Burzynski Research Institute. I met with Dr. and Mrs. Burzynski,
with patients, and with his attorney, Rick Jaffe. What I saw left me frightened.
You cannot help but be inspired by Dr. B. He is like that indomitable
bird, the storm petrel. It soars above the waves, deriving an inexhaustible
source of energy from the turbulence it finds beneath its wings.So Burzynski
goes on, day by day, treating his patients, trying to do some good in the
face of his implacable enemies—cancer and some agencies of the federal
government.
I have always enjoyed talking science with Dr. Burzynski. Now it is a
bittersweet experience. We discuss the relationship of ras oncogenes and
methylation. Yet there is a sadness: all these potential breakthroughs will
be moot if Dr. B. winds up in an orange jumpsuit. Not much biomedical science
gets done in prison.
I came away from Houston in a state of muted alarm. I believe the situation
is much worse than most of us imagined. We have naively assumed that someone
(A reporter? A Congressman? The President?) would expose, and thereby
put an end to, this outrage. But there are people in the FDA and the Houston
US Attorney's office who are dead set on putting Burzynski away for a
good long time. The judge seems hostile and eagerly subscribes to the
government's flimsy arguments.So forget the Hippocratic oath, the Helsinki
Declaration or freedom of choice. And never mind whether Dr. B. has really
helped people! This is what the war on cancer really comes down to—a
war by our government on the most promising non-toxic treatments.
