Hydrogen Peroxide and Cancer

Radiation therapy of cancer is a two-edged sword. In many cases, the X-ray will shrink the tumor mass; but it also shrinks the patient’s immune system. In other words, the treatment is successful, in that the cancerous tumor gets smaller, but you shorten the life of the patient.

There is a direct relationship between the amount of oxygen in a cancer mass (tumor) and the effectiveness of X-ray. The more oxygen present, the more lethal the X-ray to cancer cells. The hyperbaric oxygen chambers mentioned previously would probably work, but there is no way to get the X-ray to the patient if he is sealed in a tank, under pressure. A large room which also puts the X-ray equipment under pressure would have to be built. This would be prohibitively expensive, and the danger of explosion would always be present.

The Baylor team reasoned that if they put oxygen into the tumor mass by injecting H2O2 into the artery leading to the tumor, the tumor would be much more receptive to X-ray destruction. They studied a total of 190 patients using hydrogen peroxide infused into the artery leading to tumorous cancer. The experiment took six years. Their results were astounding.

An 88-year-old man with a squamous cell carcinoma (lethal cancer that is usually caused by chewing tobacco or cigarette smoking) on his right cheek mucous membrane was treated by dripping H2O2 into the neck artery leading to this terrible cancer. The patient was alive and free of evidence of cancer six years later. The life expectancy of this elderly gentleman would be, under conventional treatment, about 12 to 18 months. (Less, if he was given chemotherapy.)

A 29-year-old man had a “fungating mass under the jaw with fixation of the tongue” and gangrene of the jaw bone. In other words, a horrible, disgusting mess which would ordinarily lead to a quick demise (and the sooner the better). He was treated by the same method of H2O2 infusion into cancer, combined with X-ray. At the time of the report (1967), the doctors said the patient was alive and free of cancer. The researchers modestly reported: “These preliminary results suggest an improvement in the radiotherapeutic ratio.” One doctor listening to the report was flabbergasted. ‘You mean the tumor went down that fast? It was such a dramatic difference in size. I couldn’t imagine that happening.”

Can You Take Hydrogen Peroxide Orally?

Dr. Edward C. Rosenow, an eminent scientist, was the first to suggest taking H2O2 by mouth. The formula he devised is still the standard for peroxide taken orally. Many people are now recommending hydrogen peroxide by mouth. It appears efficacious by mouth, but extreme caution has been advised. Ascorbate, iron, and fats in the stomach change H2O2 into superoxide free radicals.

These free radicals can do severe damage to the lining of your stomach. Studies on mice given H2O2, even in low concentrations, were indicative of the risk from taking H2O2 by mouth. The mice developed erosion of the stomach lining, tumors, and in some, cancer. But these studies have been challenged by none other than the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). I don’t like the FDA any more than you do.

Anyone who has studied the history of the FDA knows they have a very cozy relationship with the drug industry. They are now brazenly (and illegally) joined with the drug industry, the Post Office police, the AMA (sub rosa) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in an all-out attempt to destroy the natural health movement in the U.S. But that’s what makes their defense of H2O2 so interesting. H2O2 is dirt cheap.

The drug companies can’t patent it, so it’s a threat to the antibiotic industry (it has remarkable antibiotic effects). It’s a threat to the heart bypass industry (it will clean arteries of atherosclerotic buildup), and it’s a threat to the surgical and chemotherapy cancer treatment industry (combined with radiation, it will rapidly reduce cancer growths with less toxic doses of X-ray) . If the FDA runs true to form, it will eventually join its brothers in the drug industry—medicine, the Post Office, and the FTC—and condemn peroxide therapy. I have good friends who use oral H2O2 in their practice. I have good friends who claim that it’s dangerous to use it orally. All I can do is present both sides and let you make up your own mind as to whether it’s safe. Just because it causes cancer of the stomach in mice doesn’t mean it does in humans. The dose used may have been unrealistically high, as in the studies that resulted in the banning of cyclamate. Or the frequency of dosage may have been excessive. After all, it’s dose times frequency that tells you how much your mouse is actually getting.

Incidentally, garlic extract, called Kyolic, will detoxify even large doses of cyclamate. It may do the same for H2O2; I don’t know. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not recommending cyclamate for your coffee. I just want to make the point that animal experimentation can be misleading. The practitioners using H2O2 by mouth say they “haven’t had any trouble.” That may be like the man who jumped from the 40th floor. As he passed the 10th floor he yelled to a man looking out the window: “So far, so good!” I’m not saying that everything is going to go splat with people taking H2O2 by mouth. But the evidence I have seen can’t be ignored. Those mice I mentioned were given very small doses and they developed serious gastric problems, including cancer, in as little as three weeks. But mice aren’t people. Hydrogen peroxide reacts with fatty acids in the stomach to form hydroxyl radicals. Hydroxyl free radicals are probably one of the major factors in many degenerative diseases, including cancer. Much of the body contains enzymes that quickly break up H2O2 into oxygen and water. But the stomach and intestinal tract contain very little of these protective enzymes, so ulceration of the lining could theoretically develop.

Ulceration can lead to hyperplasia and hyperplasia to cancer. From the Federal Register, January 9, 1981: “In response to the study from Japan, the FDA initiated a review of all available safety data on hydrogen peroxide including the Japanese study and subsequent clarification obtained from the Japanese authors. FDA concludes after this review that there is insufficient evidence from the Japanese study and elsewhere to conclude that hydrogen peroxide is a duodenal carcinogen.

My conclusion: I don’t think H2O2 is dangerous taken orally as long as the recommended dose is not exceeded (ten drops of three percent H2O2, three times a day). But a caveat: Dr. Charles Farr, who probably knows the research literature better than anyone, does not agree. Recent research confirms Dr Farr’s doubts. Dr. Farr says that Criticisms of Hydrogen Peroxide Therapy 38 HYDROGEN PEROXIDE–MEDICAL MIRACLE further evidence exists that H2O2 should not be taken by mouth, especially when there is food in the stomach. If you do take H2O2 orally (and this is not a recommendation that you do so), take it on an empty stomach. The reagent grade H2O2 is probably the safest.

One reason is that of the lead found in the other grades. USP peroxide, for instance, contains five times more lead than reagent grade. But after proper dilution, the contamination problem is revealed to be far worse. There is 200 times more lead or other heavy metals in the other mixtures than in the reagent grade.6 Food grade has not been tested for lead at this time, but it may very well have an even higher level, or it may not. Occasionally, a patient will have a reaction to peroxide. This may be due to toxins being expelled by the breakup of bacteria as the H2O2 zaps them, causing a Herxheimer type of reaction, as mentioned on page 35. It will pass after a few treatments. Skin eruptions are a particularly good sign, although distressing to the patient. This means that toxins are being released. There may even be boils or other inflammatory conditions that develop temporarily. Severe fatigue is not unusual, and there may be sleepiness, nausea, or diarrhea.

The reaction will vary with the condition being treated. None of these reactions are common, but almost any kind of minor reaction is possible. The dosage or frequency of treatment can be reduced, but don’t stop. Eventually, you will probably be rewarded with better health. Before starting, consult a doctor familiar with the procedure. (That won’t be easy. Even doctors who use it I.V. often are chary of recommending it by mouth.)