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CNN Live At Daybreak
Scorpion Venom on Cancerous Tumors
Aired November 04, 2003 - 05:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In Cuba, thousands of cancer patients swear they're getting better and they say it's all because of a creature most people would rather avoid.
CNN's Lucia Newman has the story from Havana.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twenty-eight-year- old Mudis Manson (ph) says she's living proof it works. "I was 11 when I was diagnosed," she says, "and started taking Escozul when I was 15." Her father, Jose Filipe Monson (ph), says in 1992 her cancer of the pancreas had spread, despite two years of chemotherapy, radiation treatment and three operations, that doctors had given up.
In desperation, he turned to this man, Misiel Bordier (ph), a biologist from Guantanamo who was experimenting with scorpion venom on cancerous tumors in rats and dogs. The result, says Bordier, were astonishing. "The immune system of the benign cells increases. The malignant cells start dying. Tumors shrink or disappear," explains Bordier. "We saw how some 85 percent of the rats survived."
Mudis was his first human patient. She and her father were so grateful, they began breeding scorpions. They now have 3,000 and under Bordier's direction, are distributing the venom at no cost at no cost at their home.
Twice a week they dispense hundreds of bottles of this unusual liquid, a potion made from water mixed with drops of venom from the blue scorpion. "Doctors gave my father a month to live and said they could do nothing because he had nine brain tumors," says Rafael Cortez (ph), who came to pick up more of the scorpion poison he says has prolonged his father's life for the last seven months.
(on camera): The only problem, say the Mosons, is a shortage of the raw material for their treatment. They say there just aren't enough of these little blue scorpions to meet the demand.
(voice-over): In just over a decade, some 60,000 Cubans have used the Escozul to treat their cancer, says Bordier. Mudis and her father admit they haven't gathered any scientifically controlled data, but say from their experience, 80 percent of patients show a marked improvement in quality and duration of life, and of those, 25 to 30 percent go into remission.
Cuba's Oncology Institute is skeptical and says more tests need to be run to determine whether Escozul does, indeed, work. In the meantime, people like Victor Manuel Frada (ph), who has lymphoma, will continue to come here for Escozul, which provides, if not a miracle cure, at least a last ray of hope.
Lucia Newman, CNN, Jaguey Grande, Cuba.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 4, 2003 - 05:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In Cuba, thousands of cancer patients swear they're getting better and they say it's all because of a creature most people would rather avoid.
CNN's Lucia Newman has the story from Havana.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twenty-eight-year- old Mudis Manson (ph) says she's living proof it works. "I was 11 when I was diagnosed," she says, "and started taking Escozul when I was 15." Her father, Jose Filipe Monson (ph), says in 1992 her cancer of the pancreas had spread, despite two years of chemotherapy, radiation treatment and three operations, that doctors had given up.
In desperation, he turned to this man, Misiel Bordier (ph), a biologist from Guantanamo who was experimenting with scorpion venom on cancerous tumors in rats and dogs. The result, says Bordier, were astonishing. "The immune system of the benign cells increases. The malignant cells start dying. Tumors shrink or disappear," explains Bordier. "We saw how some 85 percent of the rats survived."
Mudis was his first human patient. She and her father were so grateful, they began breeding scorpions. They now have 3,000 and under Bordier's direction, are distributing the venom at no cost at no cost at their home.
Twice a week they dispense hundreds of bottles of this unusual liquid, a potion made from water mixed with drops of venom from the blue scorpion. "Doctors gave my father a month to live and said they could do nothing because he had nine brain tumors," says Rafael Cortez (ph), who came to pick up more of the scorpion poison he says has prolonged his father's life for the last seven months.
(on camera): The only problem, say the Mosons, is a shortage of the raw material for their treatment. They say there just aren't enough of these little blue scorpions to meet the demand.
(voice-over): In just over a decade, some 60,000 Cubans have used the Escozul to treat their cancer, says Bordier. Mudis and her father admit they haven't gathered any scientifically controlled data, but say from their experience, 80 percent of patients show a marked improvement in quality and duration of life, and of those, 25 to 30 percent go into remission.
Cuba's Oncology Institute is skeptical and says more tests need to be run to determine whether Escozul does, indeed, work. In the meantime, people like Victor Manuel Frada (ph), who has lymphoma, will continue to come here for Escozul, which provides, if not a miracle cure, at least a last ray of hope.
Lucia Newman, CNN, Jaguey Grande, Cuba.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
