Cesium Cancer Cure

Alternative health practitioners promote cesium chloride as a treatment for cancer. The dietary supplement, sold in pill form, is absorbable by all cells. Proponents say the substance may slow tumor growth by raising the pH level of cancer cells, which they say is low compared to other cells. For that reason, cesium chloride has been called high-pH therapy. It is not to be confused with radioactive cesium (cesium-137), which is used in some radiation treatments for cancer.

The Facts

• Cesium chloride (CsCl) is a form of the rare, naturally occurring element cesium. It is chemically similar to sodium, lithium and potassium. In alternative medicine, cesium chloride doses of 1 to 6 grams per day are suggested as a treatment, and possible cure, for cancer. It's sometimes given with other vitamins and minerals. In some cases cesium chloride is administered intravenously.

  High pH therapy with cesium chloride began in the 1980s. But the substance was suggested as a potential anti-cancer chemical in the 1920s.

Effectiveness

• The American Cancer Society says the available scientific evidence fails to support claims that cesium chloride supplements are effective in treating cancer. Some people, moreover, have experienced such severe problems as heart rhythm disruptions, loss of consciousness and seizures from taking th substance. Another danger, according to the group, is that patients will rely on cesium chloride whike postponing conventional, evidence-based treatments for cancer.

  On his website, University of Rochester computer science professor Randal Nelson shows a special interest in cesium because of its unique properties. Among them: It explodes upon contact with any moisture; its hydroxide is a base powerful enough to eat through glass, flesh and other substances; and it's the key component of the cesium clock, the world's most accurate type of clock.

  As such, he's often asked about cesium chloride as a cancer cure. Though there are some interesting case studies, he writes, the evidence is "pretty murky at this point." What few references there are in the medical literature, he says, tend to be in little-known journals.

  In the 1980s, according to the American Cancer Society, researchers found that cesium or cesium chloride decreased the growth of tumors and led to fewer deaths in mice with some types of cancer. But animal models also showed severe side effects. Apart from case studies, the group says, the safety and efficacy of cesium chloride as a cancer therapy have yet to be determined.