Zeolite scam

[Guest guest]

,

Number of hits in a Google search says absolutely nothing. All 10,000

hits could be saying, " We tried it, and it didn't work worth beans. "

Instead, give us a single peer reviewed study that affirms it. Then,

we'll have something worth discussing.

Natural zeolites are alumina-silicate " cages " that can absorb or carry a

wide variety of elements. If the zeolite in question has absorbed

something toxic or radioactive, for example, the zeolite becomes toxic

or radioactive. Without the caged atom, alumina-silicate is relatively

neutral, although it is an inherent inhalation hazard, similar to any

other fine powder, and it has been suspected of being a carcinogen,

particularly for mesothelioma. Again, I supervise a couple of chemists

that work with this stuff. Our safety committee has to review their

activities.

Here is the VERY FIRST web page I found on the subject by a practicing

pathologist:

[begin quoted extract]

Zeolite is a mineral (actually a family of minerals), an aluminum

silicate with curious physical properties that make it useful in

water-softeners. It's used in cattle and poultry feeds in the US. Eating

the powder is an old Eastern European folk remedy.

As " Cellular Zeolite " and " Natural Cellular Defense " , the mineral is

presently (2006) being multi-level marketed in the US. There are

discussion boards about what a great money-maker it is going to be. The

claim is that the particles enter the blood and are highly effective in

destroying epithelial cancer cells because of the molecular structure of

the crystals.

The claim is obviously false.

The group at the Ruder Baskovic biochemistry labs in Zagreb reviewed

zeolites in medicine and concluded that the stuff is almost insoluble at

the pH ranges found in the human body. " Minimal amounts of free aluminum

or silicium from the ingested zeolites are resorbed from the gut. " They

conclude that if zeolite has any real effect on human health, it is by

influencing the transit time of food through the gut, by altering the

fecal flora, and/or by working on the lymphoid tissue of the gut. This

in and of itself may make a person feel better. The team warned that the

stuff is a mutagen, and might be a carcinogen like asbestos (Lijecnicki

Vjesnik 122: 292, 2000). The same team did some animal studies and there

are two pilot-study publications (Anticancer Res. 23(2B): 1589, 2003 and

J. Mol. Med. 78: 708, 2001). The second publication focused on a single

cell culture and had no controls. It simply demonstrated that adding the

absorbant from a water-softener to a flask with one line of cancer cells

interferes with their growth. I hope no one finds this surprising.

If the mineral had actually entered the bloodstream as microcrystals as

the current marketers claim, it would have been the scientific marvel of

the year and would have resulted in a major publication. Back in 1999,

zeolite was packaged in Croatia as " Megamin " , and the local scientists

denounced it as a cynical scam (Arhiv Za Higijenu Rada i Toksikologiju

50: 67, 1999).

What is most disturbing is a " Scientific Research Monograph " promoting

the " Natural Cellular Defense " , written by an marketer posing as a

scientist. Visitors should know that as of 2006, R___ J.D___ still has

no scientific journal publications, although he claims to do lifestyle

education for physicians overseas and have a teaching position at a

Florida business school. The paper presents no original work, but

reviews the work of other people on zeolites. Yes, they interact with

other molecules, and have some effects on cell membranes in tissue

cultures. What R___ J. D____ fails to tell his readers is that there is

not the slightest evidence that the stuff ever leaves the intestines or

gets anywhere near a tumor. A seventh-grader should be able to see

through the bullsh_t. To avoid prosecution for quackery, at least for

this, he makes no claim of a cancer cure.

You can also find a patent document online, where Harvey Kaufman and

Lifelink Pharmaceuticals have patented zeolite as " a method of treating

epithelial cell cancer " (US Patent 6,288,045). The evidence cited in

support of the invention are some photos of mouth cancer cells in tissue

culture evidently being injured by the powdered rock. The patent makes

the claim that the substance " has a 100% kill rate within 72 hours

against buccal mucosa and ling [sic.] squamous epithelial cell cancers.

It is not cytoxic [sic., the author means cytotoxic] to healthy human

cells. " However, the control cells in the photos are from an oak tree.

The patent goes on to talk about detoxifying carcinogens, and the claim

rests on the obvious fallacy that removing the chemicals that caused the

cancer will treat the cancer. (I wish this were true. You could cure

lung cancer by stopping smoking.)

There follows a frankly hilarious account of the marketer taking cheek

scrapings, putting them in tissue culture medium, adding an unnamed

carcinogen plus saccharin in an unidentified vehicle, and believing that

the morphologic changes mean he has transformed the cells to cancer

cells. After he added zeolite, they ended up undergoing osmotic lysis;

evidently zeolite did not lyse normal buccal cheek cells. However, he

does not describe what happened to his saccharinized cells if he did NOT

add zeolite. This would not pass muster as a high school science project.

The patent also includes an animal study involving a total of ten mice

divided into three groups. The zeolite was actually injected into the

animal's chests, at the identical sites into which the cancer cells had

been introduced. It did not cure any cancer, which is a damning

observation given the previous claims, but the cancers did grow slower,

especially at the beginning. However, in the treatment group, the

powdered rock was actually injected INTO the cancer. Since minerals

introduced into the body's tissues attract macrophages and cause

inflammation, it is not surprising that this slowed down the tumor growth.

The advertising is only semi-literate but makes grandiose claims to be

taken purely on trust. For example, " Harvey Kaufman, researcher,

scientist and creator of the product, has just completed a study on End

IV (sic.) cancer patients. These are basically patients further

treatment (sic.) He is in the process of writing up the results and is

hoping to have them published in The American Medical (sic.) Waiora

cannot make any claims, it can provide coincidental anomalies. All 65

patients started NCD 15 months ago, their cancers given less than 6

weeks to live. As of today 51 are alive and cancer free. " Evidently they

are responding far more dramatically than the mice did. It's no wonder

that the ad provides no details that would allow independent

confirmation, because the story is inconsistent with the realities of

today's medical research. Without an animal model, no institutional

review board would allow someone to do a real study of zeolite on human

beings. Without IRB approval, the Journal of the American Medical

Association won't touch a paper. Anybody smart enough to get a patent

knows this. If the patent-holder merely gave his powder to people who

presented themselves to him as having been told they were in the final

stages of cancer (and there are no criteria for saying that death must

be six weeks away -- another sign that somebody is lying), then he would

not have been in a position to confirm the accuracy of the diagnoses.

The manufacturer is now claiming to have performed a study at Duke

University. There is of course no publication. An internet search (June

2006) shows that some students were given zeolite and their urine tested

for something. Nobody says what. An announcement of results was promised

in March 2006. I'm unable to find it. Chances are this was an undergrad

class project.

I am not making any of this up.

Since this is a multi-level marketing scheme, the person who sells you

the zeolite is probably sincere, well-intentioned and nice. I predict

that the ringleaders will be prosecuted successfully.

[end quote]

I believe I gave you my second hit earlier, which says much the same thing:

http://www.herbological.com/herblog/?p=20

So, , which of your relatives (or you yourself) invested in the

multi-level marketing scheme?

Chuck

P.S. A zeolite company is one of the supporters of CureZone.