This summer [1995], the US government has
stepped up its unrelenting attack on cancer pioneer Stanislaw R. Burzynski,
MD, PhD. Assistant US attorneys in Houston, Amy Lecocq and George Tallichet,
continue to recklessly wield the power of the Grand Jury subpoena in what
looks like an attempt to hound the Burzynski clinic out of business. The
attacks are coming so fast and furious that one hardly know where to begin.
EMPLOYEES SUBPOENAED
In June, four more Burzynski Research Institute (BRI) employees, Gabriella
Howard, Cheryl Owens, Eva Powell, and Barbara Tomaszewski, were subpoenaed
to appear before the Grand Jury on June 21, 1995, making a total of nine
employees under subpoena. (The editor of this newsletter was also subpoenaed
in April, 1995.) Barbara Tomaszeweski was told to bring all the medical
records of 22 patients, including X rays, MRIs, CT scans, etc.
But the medical records of some of these patients were among those seized
by the FDA when it raided the clinic back in July, 1985. Seven other sets
of records were presented to the NCI in 1991. The records of six patients
were submitted in quadruplicate twice to the FDA in 1992 and 1993 for a
Drug Master File application.
So complying with this order was no easy thing. In all, there were some
800 films involved. Some of these cases are among Burzynski's best. To copy
them all would have cost about $10,000.
At 11:05 AM, on June 21, the day of the Grand Jury hearing, Burzynski
received a phone call from his attorney, Rick Jaffe, informing him that
FDA agents and a Postal Inspector would be coming to his office around 2
PM to look at the films. These would not be disturbed, he said. The agents
simply wanted to make sure that they were secure. Instead, the agents arrived
at 1 PM, while Burzynski was still searching for what they wanted, and then
in a rush demanded to see the films.
To Dr. B.'s astonishment, the FDA agents confiscated all of the films,
without letting him make any copies!
A number of these patients are still under treatment with antineoplastons,
Burzynski's non-toxic peptide therapy. How can Burzynski, as their physician,
now know if they are making progress, since he cannot compare present to
past X rays? "I never heard of such a ridiculous action in any civilized
country," Burzynski told us in late June. "It is clear that the
intention behind this action is to disturb the treatment of patients who
clearly respond to therapy and whose lives depend on us."
These films were in fact Dr. Burzynski's single most valuable assetãfor
they alone provide final proof of the value of his unique antineoplastons.
>Now it will be difficult for us to publish scientific papers without
having medical records,< he said, ruefully. "And since we have been
repeatedly asked to produce the same medical records, I am afraid that the
records previously produced were lost and that the same fate awaits these
very important films."
But this astonishing story, worthy of Kafka, doesnt end there. Burzynski
now faces further rounds of investigations and demands for documentsãthe
fourth federal Grand Jury in Houston to hound him for mountains of data.
In addition, Burzynski just finished an extensive two-year IRS audit.
"Despite the fact that they did not find any problems in our records,"
he told us, "the Assistant U S Attorneys are going to do the same thing
all over again. They already subpoenaed our accountant and complete financial
records."
"It is hard to believe that the spectre of fascism is upon America,"
the Polish-born scientist told us.
The US Attorneys have also subpoenaed all patient billing records, going
back to 1977. They have even subpoenaed the names and addresses of every
person who has ever received a brochure from BRI-- which after Dr. B.'s
CBS This Morning appearance numbered two thousand per day! In all, they
have ordered Burzynski to turn over tens of thousands of pages of documents.
According to many observers, the US Attorney's office in Houston, headed
by Ms. Gaynelle Griffin Jones, is acting in wild manner. The situation there
is beginning to come to the attention of Congress. But so far most officials
have turned a deaf ear.
The law prohibits the Grand Jury from engaging in "arbitrary fishing
expeditions." Yet what else is happening here? This unending persecution
conveniently allows Burzynskis enemies, both in and out of the FDA, to contact
his scientific collaborators, and inform themãtruthfullyãthat
he is the "target of a federal investigation." This is not hyperbole.
In fact, it is exactly what FDA did in the past, and that sparked a 1985
'Cease and Desist' order against the FDA by US District Court Judge Gabrielle
McDonald."
It is US Attorney General Janet Reno who bears ultimate responsibility for
this nightmare. Readers are urged to write or call her c/o Dept. of Justice,
Constitution Ave. and 10th St., NW, Washington, DC 20530, Tel: (2-2) 514-2101.
Let her know that the Justice Department must have better things to do
than persecute an innovative cancer pioneer!
