Turpentine and petroleum
distillates similar to kerosene have been used
medicinally since ancient times and are still being used
as folk remedies up to the present. They were used in
ancient Babylon to treat stomach problems, inflammations
and ulcers. The process of distilling crude
oil/petroleum into hydrocarbon fractions was first
described in the ninth century in Persia.
The use of these petroleum
products is most widespread in poorer countries,
including Russia, Eastern Europe and Africa. A recent
study in Nigeria found that about 70 per cent of the
population used petroleum products medicinally [1]. The
most common applications are for infections and
infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, cancer,
arthritis and rheumatic diseases in general. Even the
Rockefellers supposedly started their fortune by selling
kerosene as a cancer cure before they found that
chemotherapy was more lucrative.
From the available literature, I
conclude that kerosene therapy may be one of the best
ways to eliminate pathogenic microbes and parasites from
the blood and bowel. My article on
pleomorphic microbes [2] shows that in all of the
above-mentioned diseases there is an overgrowth of
fungal and cell-wall deficient (CWD) pathogenic microbes
in the blood. It appears that the success of kerosene is
due to its detrimental effect on these fungi and CWD
microbes, which then allows the immune system to
eliminate remaining pockets of other pathogens and
abnormal cells in tumours and affected organs.
A comparison of several
disinfectants found that kerosene, while not controlling
the tested bacteria, had the strongest effect on
suppressing Candida—stronger than even a sodium
hypochlorite bleach [3]. This may actually be the secret
of the healing success of kerosene: it suppresses
Candida, viruses and CWD microbes while not harming
normal gut bacteria.
On a German forum I read about a
case of intestinal Candida overgrowth that had
been verified by microbial stool analysis. This had not
been normalised after previous Candida treatment,
but after the use of kerosene all the Candida-related
problems disappeared, as did the allergic reactions to
several foods. A follow-up stool analysis showed that
the intestinal flora was in excellent condition.
In 1914 Charles Oscar Frye
authored a booklet with the title:
"Consumption of the Lungs and Kindred Diseases, Treated
and Cured by Kerosene" and with the subtitle: "Its
Value as a Remedy, when to Use It, how to Use It, a Cure
for the Sick, a Protection for Those in Health." He used
spray inhalation to successfully treat lung
tuberculosis, 1 or 2 sprays twice a day for 1 to 4
months. For internal problems half a teaspoon was
recommended twice a day, see
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/chi.087013173.
Kerosene is a mineral oil
distillate commonly used as a fuel or solvent. It is a
thin, clear, liquid consisting of a mixture of saturated
hydrocarbons that boil between 145–150°C and 275–300°C.
While kerosene can be extracted from coal, oil shale and
wood, it is primarily derived from refining crude
petroleum. Turpentine distilled from different varieties
of California pines is almost pure
heptane, as in light petrol. Other varieties of
pine produce mainly chemicals called
terpenes, as present in
fragrant oils.
The word "kerosene" is used in
Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.
Kerosene is called "paraffin" in the United Kingdom,
Southeast Asia and South Africa, while in Germany and
other parts of Central Europe it is called "light
petroleum" and, medicinally, "petrolatum". The word
Kerosinis
German for "aircraft fuel".
The Cancer Cure of Paula
Ganner
The modern wave of using kerosene
as a cancer cure started in the early 1950s. At the age
of 31, an Austrian woman, Paula
Ganner, with cancer metastases and colon
paralysis after surgery, had been given two days to live
by her doctors. She remembered that in Eastern Europe
kerosene was used as a cure-all, and she started taking
a tablespoonful each day. After three days, she could
leave the bed, and 11 months later she gave birth to a
healthy boy. At age three, this boy contracted polio
which she cured with one teaspoon of kerosene daily for
eight days. Ganner started
spreading the information about the amazing results of
using kerosene for all kinds of health problems, and
over the years she received 20,000 thank-you letters
with success stories.
However, most information on
using kerosene as a cancer cure is in German, with very
little translated into English [4]. Here are some
extracts from testimonials reported in the German
illustrated weekly "7 TAGE" between September 1969 and
February 1970 [5]:
• A dog had a growth the size of
a child's fist on his neck and was given kerosene on
sugar cubes. After two weeks, the growth disappeared.
• After breast cancer surgery, a
woman (48) developed tumours in the uterus. After taking
a daily teaspoon of kerosene she could stop using
morphine, and after six weeks she aborted three tumours.
• Another woman took a
teaspoonful of kerosene three times daily for two weeks,
and repeated this after a two-week interruption. This
not only cured her stomach ulcer, but also, to her
surprise, her diabetes.
• A man cured a severe prostate
problem (it is not mentioned if it was cancer) by taking
one teaspoonful of kerosene each morning and evening for
four weeks. Later, he overcame a stomach ulcer in the
same way. His son successfully used kerosene to cure a
chronic bladder problem, and he cured his dog of
leukaemia after a seven-week kerosene cure.
• After a woman (60) had her
right breast removed, cancer started in her left breast.
She periodically took a teaspoonful of kerosene three
times daily for two weeks and then paused for 10 days.
She had no more cancer problems and no more fear of
cancer.
• A young woman (35) was sent
home to die with an inoperable large tumour in the
pancreas that extended to the adrenal glands. On the
fourth day home, she briefly awoke from a coma and was
given a spoonful of kerosene. Hours later she showed the
first signs of improvement, and after four days she
wanted to get out of bed. The kerosene cure was
continued for another 10 days before she was
investigated at the hospital in Graz and later
discharged as being healthy.
• After six days of using
kerosene, a woman discharged dead tissue which was
confirmed to consist of dead tumour cells (the type of
cancer is not mentioned). After 14 days, the typical
smell of terminal cancer disappeared. She took kerosene
for 32, 25 and 14 days, with nine days of rest between
each. As a pleasant side-effect, she was also cured of
her rheumatic problems.
• A woman (68) had high blood
pressure, heart and circulation problems and rheumatism.
She could hardly walk. After four weeks on kerosene, she
was asked by a friend what she was doing to look
suddenly so much younger. People think she is in her
40s. Her husband, who used to have a bent back, now runs
like a youth. When she sometimes gets some pain in cold
weather, she rubs her body with a sponge dipped in
kerosene and lets it dry; this quickly removes any pain.
• A woman with colon cancer was
scheduled for colostomy (to remove her colon and have a
bag fitted). Instead, she started taking teaspoons of
kerosene. Not much was happening, so she took about 50
ml in one go, together with a lot of honey in milk. This
was followed by four hours of diarrhoea with pus and
blood and the abortion of her tumour.
Other testimonials mention
overcoming bone cancer or myeloma, osteoporosis of the
spinal column, severe digestive and gastro-intestinal
problems, constant vomiting, rheumatism and sciatic
problems. Paula Ganner
apparently used and recommended in addition to or
instead of kerosene purified petrol (Naphthabenzin
or Siedegrenzbenzin Merck
Nr. 1770, with a special boiling range from 100°C to
140°C - SBP 100/140), as utilised for wound cleaning and
as a solvent in laboratories. (The boiling range is the
temperature range of a laboratory distillation of an oil
from the start until evaporation of all the fractions is
complete.)
Turpentine: Another Cure-all
Therapy
In addition to kerosene,
turpentine was previously used as a cure-all. Natural
turpentine, commonly sold as "pure gum turpentine", was
commonly used in lower doses and less frequently than
kerosene. It was especially treasured for its antiseptic
and diuretic properties and as a treatment for
intestinal parasites. According to Wikipedia:
"Turpentine was a common medicine among seamen during
the Age of Discovery, and one of several products
carried aboard Ferdinand Magellan's fleet in his first
circumnavigation of the globe."
To expel tapeworms, a powerful
dose of one to two tablespoons of turpentine was given,
usually mixed with the same amount of castor oil and
taken floating on
milk. This was repeated every second or third day until
the fragments of the worm ceased to appear in the stool.
For children, the prescription was less drastic: one
teaspoonful of sugar, three to four drops of turpentine
and one teaspoonful of castor oil.
Jennifer Daniels, MD, discovered
that American slaves had a secret remedy that kept them
free of diseases: a teaspoon of turpentine mixed with a
teaspoon of white sugar, taken for short periods several
times each year. She adopted this as a successful
Candida therapy: Slowly pour a teaspoon of
turpentine over sugar cubes or a rounded teaspoon of
white sugar to soak it all up. Then chew the cubes or
soaked sugar and wash the mixture down with water. Dr
Daniels generally recommends doing this twice a week for
several weeks, but initially daily with long-term
Candida. Continue until the problem is fixed - which
can happen surprisingly quickly. On Internet forums, I
found some testimonials showing that this therapy indeed
worked for these people.
Dr Daniels states that before
starting turpentine therapy it is essential to prepare
by drinking lots of water, adopting a suitable anti-Candida
diet and cleaning the bowel. At this stage, it is
necessary to have three daily bowel movements, otherwise
the pathogens may get into the blood. She also believes
that the use of sugar in this case is beneficial in
stopping the sugar craving so common with Candida
and in attracting the Candida to the "poison".
I tried this out with Diggers
Pure Gum Turpentine, which is available in Australia.
When taking a teaspoon of it on a cube of sugar, I was
surprised how pleasant it tasted, just like a
pine-flavoured lolly. However, I now believe that
instead of using sugar, it is better to take gum
turpentine mixed with an equal amount or more of either
paraffin oil or olive oil. Gum turpentine has a much
stronger effect than kerosene, and some individuals
experienced temporary balance problems. I would limit
the maximum dose to 1 teaspoon per day for an adult.
In her report, Dr Daniels also
wrote that the first edition of The Merck Manual
of appropriate and accepted treatments for recognised
diseases, published in 1899, states that turpentine
therapy is effective for a wide range of conditions
including gonorrhoea, meningitis, arthritis, abdominal
difficulties and lung disease. However, the 1999
Merck Manual just mentions the dire effects of
turpentine poisoning with destruction of the kidneys and
lungs [6].
Understanding The Cure-all
Effect
The secret of the apparent
cure-all effect of kerosene and turpentine may be
understood as the reversal of the disease-causing effect
of modern medicine. There is evidence that most of our
modern diseases were rare in former centuries. Only
relatively few people had cancer, which only
occasionally happened in old age, and asthma, allergies
and autoimmune diseases were rare or absent as well. All
this changed after World War II with the widespread use
of antibiotics. While they targeted bacteria, they
encouraged the rise and spread of fungi and mycoplasmas
which are at the root of most of our modern diseases.
Look at the forest or bushland
trees. Some of their greatest enemies are fungi and
parasites. As a defence, they developed various chemical
strategies to kill or repel these attackers. We know and
use these biochemicals as
eucalyptus oil, neem oil, tea tree oil, pau d'arco
extract, olive leaf extract, turpentine and other
essential oils. Most of these oils are composed of
hydrocarbons, just like kerosene. The main chemical in
turpentine, alpha-pinene, is
also present in the oils of rosemary and eucalyptus.
These volatile essential oils
seem to have a stronger antifungal effect than kerosene,
but frequent intake in high amounts can also cause some
kidney damage. However, it needs to be understood that
an antimicrobial program can only stop an autoimmune
attack as a first and essential step in a healing
process. It does not automatically repair the damage
that has already been done. For instance, in diabetes
type 1 and Parkinson's disease, a healthy lifestyle is
still needed to regenerate insulin-producing or
dopamine-producing cells that have been destroyed; the
same goes for joints that have been badly damaged with
arthritis. Also, the debris of large internal tumours
may require further detoxification and cleansing for
safe removal.
Damaging Fungal Metabolites
William Shaw, PhD, of The Great
Plains Laboratory in Kansas, USA, discovered important
chemical reasons for the devastating health effect of
antibiotic-induced fungal overgrowth [7]. Here is a
typical example of how Candida tends to emerge.
A boy had been developing
normally up to 18 months of age, but then he had several
courses of antibiotics for ear infections. From these
antibiotics, he acquired thrush of the mouth and tongue.
His behaviour deteriorated quickly. He lost his ability
to speak, became extremely hyperactive, kept waking up
all through the night, lost eye contact with his parents
and was diagnosed with autism. After treatment with the
antifungal drug nystatin, he
gradually recovered.
Dr Shaw writes: "I have now
detected this same phenomenon in hundreds of other
cases. Even after six months of antifungal treatment,
there is often a biochemical 'rebound' and loss of
improvements after discontinuing antifungal therapy."
William G. Crook, MD, in The
Yeast Connection [8] and
other books, demonstrated that Candida is the
underlying cause of hyperactivity. So, ADD or ADHD and
autism are just different degrees of the same brain
dysfunction caused by Candida. There is evidence
that a main aggravating factor leading to autism is the
combination of
Candida and various vaccines, possibly due to
mercury and other toxic additives.
Dr Shaw found that tartaric acid,
as in wine and baking powder, is one ofthe problematic Candida metabolites. It is
not normally produced in the body but results from
excessive yeast fermentation, either in the intestines
or other sites of Candida infestation. A main
consequence of tartaric acid in the blood is muscle
weakness, as in fibromyalgia.
Tartaric acid is closely related
to malic acid, which is a
key component of the citric acid cycle that produces
energy in the cells. Tartaric acid blocks the metabolism
of malic acid. With this,
the body cannot produce energy aerobically by oxidising
glucose, but instead it produces energy
anaerobically by converting
glucose into lactic acid. This generates only 20 per
cent of the energy that could have been produced by
proper oxidation of glucose, and explains the chronic
fatigue, overacidity and mineral deficiency so common
with Candida infection.
Furthermore, our brain needs a
high amount of energy to function normally. Therefore,
tartaric acid and acetaldehyde, another disruptive yeast
chemical, combine to cause mental problems such as brain
fog, depression, hyperactivity, autism and
schizophrenia.
Another abnormal chemical is the
five-carbon sugar arabinose,
which cross-links the functional groups of various
proteins, especially enzymes, and in effect causes
deficiencies of vitamin B6, biotin and lipoic acid.
Cross-linking also accelerates ageing, causing cataracts
and increasing rigidity of muscles, tendons and
connective tissue, showing up as wrinkles and ageing
skin. With Candida, we age more quickly.
Arabinose also leads to
increased accumulations of abnormal metabolic protein
residues inside cells, such as in cancer and autoimmune
diseases.
Children with autism have the
same type of arabinose-containing
fibre tangles in the brain as are present in Alzheimer's
disease, indicating that both are related to Candida,
although co-factors such as mercury and other pollutants
also play a role in these two conditions.
The yeast metabolites tartaric
acid and arabinose are also
found in many other diseases. There is much additional
evidence of this same sequence of careless antibiotic
use leading to Candida overgrowth and then to
specific diseases. This may involve: the immune system,
as in cases of autoimmune diseases and cancer; the brain
and nervous system, leading to hyperactivity,
Asperger's syndrome, autism,
obsessive–compulsive disorder, depression, Alzheimer's
disease, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, and other
mental and movement disorders; muscle weakness, as in
fibromyalgia; and generalised weakness, as in chronic
fatigue syndrome. Commonly there are aggravating
co-factors, such as mercury, fluoride as well as
mycoplasmas and parasites.
All of this gives us an
understanding of the biochemical reasons for the
devastating effects of antibiotic caused fungal
overgrowth in our society and the cure-all success of
effective antifungal therapy.
Which Products To Use
The most suitable
microbicidal hydrocarbons
seem to be those with boiling points between 100°C and
200°C. The lighter and more volatile hydrocarbons, while
very effective for cleaning the blood, have a stronger
odour and are more difficult to "stomach", while those
boiling over 200°C tend to remain in the intestinal
tract and act mainly as laxatives rather than being
absorbed for a microbicidal
effect in the blood.
The range of 100°C to 200°C
includes the saturated hydrocarbon chains with seven to
11 carbon atoms. It is interesting to note that the
medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil with the
strongest microbicidal
effects (lauric acid,
capric acid and caprylic
acid) have eight to 12 carbon atoms.
As well as having a suitable
boiling range, good kerosene should be low in aromatics.
This is basically what "low odour" means. To see if
products from other companies or in other countries are
suitable, go to the website of the manufacturer and look
up the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS). Note that
kerosene may be sold under other names such as "naphtha
petroleum", "hydrocarbon solvent" and "mineral
turpentine".
It is not advisable to use
products without knowing their boiling range and
chemical composition. The products should contain
petrochemical-based aliphatic hydrocarbons, and not
half-synthetic isoparaffins or special solvent mixtures
that are available from art suppliers as aromatics-free
mineral turpentine.
Shell Chemicals has two suitable
products free of aromatics: Shell-Sol D40, with a
boiling range of 145°C to 210°C, and the lower boiling
range SBP 100/140. BP White Spirit, low in aromatics,
boils from 142°C to 200°C. The Total Group offers
Spirdane D40, free of aromatics and with a boiling range
from 156°C to 198°C, while Solane 100-155 and Solane
100-140 have lower boiling ranges. The stated boiling
ranges are typical, not necessarily actual, values, and
the MSDSs for these products may be somewhat different.
With products of narrow boiling ranges, it is best to
combine high and low boiling fractions for a broader
boiling range. Special Boiling Point Solvent SBP 100/140
is basically what Paula Ganner
recommended.
A suitable variety of kerosene
available in Australia is Diggers Low Odour Kerosene
[9], more commonly sold in hardware stores than in
supermarkets. Also, Diggers White Spirits and Diggers
Mineral Turpentine are available as low-odour products
with the same chemical composition as Diggers Low Odour
Kerosene. The boiling range is from 149°C to 194°C. The
manufacturer, Recochem Inc., also supplies odourless
kerosene, which is even easier to take; however, its
boiling range of 190°C to 230°C is rather high and is
not effective for purifying the blood, although it may
work for cleaning the large intestine.
A suitable low-odour product in
the US is Klean-Strip
1 Kerosene, see
www.wmbarr.com/product.aspx?catid=35&prodid=71;
you can get it at Wal-Mart and various hardware stores.
In Europe you can get Shell-Sol D40, SBP (Siedegrenzbenzin)
100/140 and Gum Turpentine (Balsam
Terpentinoel) from http://kremer-pigmente.de/en
(click on "Shop" and search for these products).
Generally these products may be
available in building materials and paint supply stores
and larger hardware stores. Nevertheless, if a
low-aromatics or de-aromatised product is not available,
then even normal kerosene with a higher content of
aromatics may be used. It is not more toxic but only has
a stronger odour. The really toxic product in crude
petroleum and most motor fuels is benzene, but this has
a rather low boiling point of 80°C and therefore is not
a problem in fractions with a boiling point over 100°C.
In contrast to mineral
turpentine, which is similar to kerosene, natural
turpentine is commonly sold as "pure gum turpentine" or
"100% gum turpentine". Pure gum turpentine is used as a
solvent or thinner for artist's paint and as a general
solvent.
How To Use Kerosene and
Turpentine
How kerosene is taken and for how
long is rather flexible. Some take it as needed, while
others have a full course every year just as a
precaution. A good way is to start with a few drops or
half a teaspoonful, then continue with one teaspoon for
a week or two; if not much seems to happen, then
gradually increase up to one tablespoon for a while
until ending with one teaspoonful, for a total duration
of about six weeks or until your problem has
sufficiently improved. It may be advisable to have a
shorter or longer follow-up course two months later.
Commonly, kerosene is taken once
a day either before breakfast or at bedtime. One woman
supposedly cured her terminal cancer, with metastases
all over the body, by drinking a glassful of kerosene
followed by fruit juice. She wrote that it caused
extreme diarrhoea and vomiting for three days. However,
this is a dangerous way of doing the treatment, as
vomiting can easily cause kerosene to get into the
lungs; this is the main reason why people can die from
drinking kerosene.
High doses of microbicides may
cause too much fungal die-off too suddenly, resulting in
a "reaction" with nausea and fatigue. While this is
generally good and part of the healing process, it is
better to increase the dose only gradually to avoid or
minimise strong, unpleasant reactions, although
diarrhoea is very common at some stage. During a
reaction, temporarily reduce or skip the remedy until
recovered.
Kerosene is best taken on an
empty or nearly empty stomach, as it floats on anything
that is in the stomach and then may continue repeating
for a longer time. I prefer it the traditional way with
molasses: lick some molasses to coat your tongue, then
take a spoonful of kerosene and wash it down with a
small amount of drink and food. For children, kerosene
has been used by placing several drops on sugar before
ingestion.
For arthritis, one part of
kerosene may be diluted with one or two parts of olive
oil and used as a rub or in a pack placed on painful
areas. For throat infections, the pack may also be
wrapped around the neck. If used undiluted, the kerosene
may start burning after 10 to 60 minutes depending on
the sensitivity of the skin and the kerosene's boiling
range and purity. If one keeps it on for long enough,
the skin becomes red and will blister.
This is very effective in drawing
out inflammatory pain from arthritic joints and
promoting their healing. Cover the reddened skin with
vitamin E oil until healed. Also, tumours may be covered
with diluted or undiluted kerosene packs. For toe and
nail fungus as well as fungal infections of the skin,
the affected parts may be soaked in concentrated or
diluted kerosene or turpentine. Candida
infections or thrush in the mouth or vagina may be
treated by coating or rinsing with diluted kerosene or
turpentine.
In a personal communication I was
given the following information: "My grandmother used to
regularly paint our sore throats with kerosene, using a
wing or tail feather taken from a chook. I remember my
throat being painted as a matter of course as a young
boy, as were [the throats of] the rest of the family -
and it worked." I also received similar comments from
others, and it was usually the grandmother who initiated
this therapy.
The very light product which
Paula Ganner apparently
recommended is best for cleaning the blood, as it is
quickly absorbed in the stomach. This also works well
with teaspoon-doses of the low-odour kerosene. However,
for cleaning the bowel of cancer, Candida or
parasites, it may be necessary to take up to a
tablespoonful at a time. If only a teaspoonful is taken,
most of the lighter hydrocarbons will already be
absorbed in the stomach and not enough will reach the
large intestines. Odourless kerosene with a higher
boiling range may also be tried for this purpose, but it
is not known if it is as effective as lighter varieties.
One may try a spoonful daily for several weeks, but cut
back if this causes diarrhoea.
Liquid paraffin or paraffin oil,
with a boiling point over 300°C, is available from
pharmacies and may be used as a laxative or for skin
protection. It is not useful for killing microbes but,
like odourless kerosene, it may be used during a
cleansing period to bind fat-soluble toxins released
from the liver. This supposedly makes cleansing more
effective by preventing re-absorption of such waste
products. Up to a tablespoonful may be tried daily, or
until diarrhoea occurs. Also products with a lower
boiling range stimulate the liver to release toxins,
provided that sufficient is taken to pass through the
bowel.
Toxicity Issues
The MSDS for Diggers Low Odour
Kerosene includes the following information: "Expected
to be of low toxicity… Aspiration into lungs when
swallowed or vomited may cause chemical
pneumonitis which can be
fatal" [10]. The MSDS for normal kerosene of another
company states: "If more than several mouthfuls are
swallowed, abdominal discomfort, nausea, and
diarrhea may occur" [11].
The MSDS for blue kerosene gives the same toxicity data
as for clear kerosene. This means that the added blue
colouring does not increase toxicity.
As people do not normally swallow
more than several mouthfuls of kerosene, it is obvious
that taking a spoonful for a limited period is not a
toxicity problem. Therefore, the real danger of kerosene
does not come from any inherent toxicity per se,
but, rather, from getting vomit into the lungs after a
large amount has been swallowed accidentally or in a
suicide attempt, and this can indeed cause death.
However, even getting just water into the lungs can be
very bad as well.
The acute oral toxicity of
kerosene for rats is given as "LD50 > 5000 mg/kg". LD50
is the dose at which 50 per cent of the rats will die;
in this case, more than 5 g/kg are required. In
comparison, the LD50 of gum turpentine for rats is given
as 5760 mg/kg. The MSDS for Diggers Pure Gum Turpentine
states: "Ingestion can cause nausea, vomiting and
bladder irritation. Aspiration into lungs when swallowed
or vomited may cause chemical
pneumonitis which can be fatal" [12].
The main danger with
petrol/gasoline is from sniffing or inhaling the vapours,
which can have strong effects on the brain and central
nervous system. Yet ingesting this more-problematic
product is not necessarily all bad. A man in China drank
(and still drinks) a glass of gasoline/petrol every day,
or about four litres a month, for 42 years, and at over
70 years of age he looks younger than most non-petrol
drinkers in their 50s or 60s. He started out drinking
kerosene for pain relief, but later switched over to
petrol. It has been estimated that, in all, he drank
about 1.5 tons of it [13].
The System Fights Back
Soon after the German magazine "7
TAGE" published some of the 20,000 testimonials that
Paula Ganner had received,
the editor of that magazine lost his job and the entry
for petroleum products as a cleaning remedy for wounds
was removed from the German pharmacopoeia. Kerosene was
declared to be a dangerous poison that caused severe
kidney damage, although no specific data or instances
were provided.
In 1979, a woman who had
distributed health information about kerosene was taken
to court in Hersbruck,
Germany. The public prosecutor was unable to show that a
law had been violated or that anyone had been harmed
using kerosene in the recommended ways. Also, the
forensic expert was unable to point to any harm. He
expressed the view that with cancer one should use
everything that might be useful, and that clinical
trials should be conducted. Consequently, the
prosecution had to drop the case [14].
In the early 1980s, kerosene in
Australian supermarkets was colourless. But then reports
of people using it to cure their cancer started
circulating, and suddenly all kerosene in supermarkets
was blue. Also, strong warnings about the deadly effects
of ingesting kerosene started to appear. Today, the
Wikipedia page on kerosene states clearly and simply:
"Ingestion of kerosene is harmful or fatal."
Increasingly the most recent MSDSs no longer provide
toxicity data so that people cannot see how relatively
non-toxic kerosene is. Instead, only the warning remains
that it can be fatal if it gets into the lungs.
All of this is obviously in
conflict with its use for hundreds of years as a trusted
remedy, and is in conflict with the scientific toxicity
information. In France, kerosene still appears in the
official pharmacopoeia as huile
de Gabianand is
prescribed as a remedy for bronchitis, asthma and
cystitis. Even the medical literature contains clinical
studies by reputable researchers showing that kerosene
is effective against cancer [15].
Nevertheless, science is no
obstacle for those in pursuit of profit or special
interests. To reduce my chances of having to go to court
in this matter, I want to make it clear that this
article is for information only, and that I do not
recommend using kerosene or turpentine to treat cancer
or any other condition. People need to do their own
research and evaluation of available information before
deciding whether any potential benefits from using
kerosene are worth risking the dangers mentioned by our
health authorities. ∞
[3] Awodele, O. et al., "The
antimicrobial activities of some commonly used
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