By FRANK HAMPSON

AN American discovery that paw paw leaves may cure cancer is old news for a Gold Coast bookie who was extolling the plant's virtues 14 years ago.

Stan Sheldon, then 70, told the bulletin in May 1978 how he beat cancer by following an old Aboriginal recipe and drinking the extract of boiled pawpaw leaves.

In 1962 he was given five months to live when leading specialists found he had rapidly spreading cancer in both lungs,

But after two months of drinking his pawpaw 'tea" the specialists were astonished to find all signs of his malignancy had disappeared.

Cancer researchers in the United States were reported yesterday to have isolated a chemical compound in the pawpaw tree which was claimed to be a million times stronger than the most widely used anti cancer drug, Adriamycin.

The anti cancer substance, soon to be tasted by the US National Cancer Institute, was found throughout the pawpaw tree, but primarily in twigs and small branches.

Documentation

The Sheldon treatment involved cramming as many paw-paw leaves and stems as possible into a saucepan before adding water. After boiling, the mixture was allowed to simmer for two hours before being drained off. Mr Sheldon drank about 200 ml of the unpleasant tasting brew three times a day. In addition, he took three teaspoons of raw molasses a day another tip from the Aboriginal pharmacopea.

Back in 1978, Mr Sheldon was able to produce medical documentation and letters from his amazed specialists to back up his story. But he refused to label the pawpaw treatment as a "miracle cure for cancer.

All I am doing is reporting events that have happened," he said. He decided to go public after a woman cancer victim earlier told the Bulletin how she had lost faith in doctors and was drinking a daily brew made from paw paw leaves in an attempt to beat her disease.

Mr Sheldon cautioned against foregoing accepted and proven methods of cancer treatment in favour of a herbal treatment such as paw paw leaves. But he said a number of friends had subsequently beaten cancer after trying the paw-paw tea.

The Gold Coast branch president of the Australian Medical Association, oncologist Dr Rob Nitchins said yesterday news of the possible paw paw cancer cure did not surprise him.

Dr Rob Nitchins Response

Several articles in the Bulletin recently have extolled the virtues of a "paw-paw" cure for cancer based on testimonial evidence from a local man several years ago.

I have been quoted commencing favourably, thus implying my support for this type of therapy. This implication is inaccurate. I do not support such treatment at all.

In my capacity as local AMA branch president, your paper requested my comment about a report from US National Cancer Institute scientists claiming a potentially very potent new anti cancer drug had been derived from papaya (Pawpaw) skins (not from leaves or branches of the tree.)

This report clearly stated the drug was the subject of pre clinical studies. That is, it was yet to be tested on humans. I replied that many anti cancer drugs we now use were derived from plants, so such a report did not surprise me.

I further warned there were many obstacles between discovering agents apparently effective in the test tube or in laboratory animals and finding drugs safe and effective for human cancer.

I was not informed about, nor asked to comment on, your paper's archival material about the man who claimed to have "cured" his cancer by drinking a vile sounding brew made from paw-paw branches and leaves sweetened with molasses.

There is nothing in your reports to convince me the man described ever had cancer in the first place. Cancer is a diagnosis only confirmed by biopsy and microscopic examination, not by xray appearances.

If he never had cancer his "cure" is hardly surprising. I can quote many similar anecdotes about apparent cancer "cure" in patients where no pathologic confirmation was obtained.

I further believe it was inappropriate to describe me in your articles as a local oncologist (cancer specialist) rather than as AMA president.

In my many statements as local AMA president reported in your paper over the last 12 months. I have never been described as a cancer specialist until now. It is ironic and misleading to your readers that it should happen on an issue relevant to cancer.

Patients with cancer are often desperate people who do not deserve to be misled.

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