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Who they are.- Located in Guantanamo (Cuba) this group discovered
ESCOZUL in the 1980s. Initially it was directed by the already deceased
Cuban biologist Misael Bordier. Today this group works under the
direction of Vivian, the laboratory technician who used to work
with Bordier. This group also operates in Mexico, where Bordier's
widow lives, and in Havana where his son is.
How they work.- How they work- Misael Bordier's group produces
ESCOZUL without any authorization from the Cuban government. It
is a small, non-multidisciplinary group; in this sense it is not
composed by fully qualified professionals and it has no access to
the necessary resources to carry out a comprehensive research. Firstly,
we will talk about its rigor based on three fundamental aspects:
the degree of expertise, its working methods and scientific results.
Degree of expertise.
Misael Bordier, the deceased leader of the group, graduated in Biology
from the University of Oriente (Cuba) in 1972. It will not be accurate
to refer to him as a doctor because he neither studied that degree
nor had the scientific title of Doctor in Science (PhD). As his
own web site
explains, Misael Bordier worked for many years as a professor and
it is only in 1980 that he carried out his first research work in
the area of anthropology. In 1985 he started to investigate the
effects of the blue scorpion venom in canines with carcinogenic
afflictions. Controversially and without any clinical study he started
providing the venom to cancer patients in the late 1980s.
Most of the research done by Bordier's group was carried out in
the Medical Sciences Faculty of the University of Guantanamo and
in the Health and Epidemiology Regional Laboratory of Guantanamo.
Before Bordier's death the team was also made up of Erick Diaz Rodriguez,
the engineer Alexis Quito and the technician Vivian S Villa. Doctor
Elvira Poch Mulgado and Doctor Sinoel Llorente Sanchez also collaborated/helped
in the researches. Their work can be seen on Bordier's website.
However, none of them has published their work in scientific journals
to guarantee their scientific rigor.
Working methods.
Their working methods are totally empirical. The group has never
controlled the factors
affecting the quality of ESCOZUL
- When breeding blue scorpions they do not take into account any
vital needs or habits these animals may have. We had the opportunity
to visit the breeding place in Guantanamo, when Bordier was still
living there, and we saw that the scorpions were kept all together
in a very small space under palm leaves. In such confined spaces
the scorpions are subjected to high levels of stress as they resort
to cannibalism in the fight for essential space. These breeding
conditions and the poor quality of the food reduce the quality and
quantity of the venom. Moreover, this situation indiscriminately
increases the frequency of the milking, causing the death of the
scorpions. All this must be considered particularly because this
type of scorpion is unique in Cuba and the group has been exploiting
these animals for more than 20 years, causing a decline in the natural
population. The blue scorpion is a scarce resource which limits
the production of ESCOZUL and consequently its availability for
the treatment of cancer.
- This Group obtains ESCOZUL by milking the scorpions and diluting
the obtained venom but without determining the concentration of
the "core solution"; consequently they do not know the
final
concentration of the ESCOZUL given to patients. Let us show
this fact with an example:
They take 300 animals, and they milk them in 100 ml of water, this
first solution is the "core solution" the concentration
of which is not analyzed. This solution then undergoes consecutive
dilutions until a low quality and practically homeopathic ESCOZUL
is obtained. This method is very different from the one used by
LABIOFAM resulting in a lower quality of the product. This has grave
implications because that ESCOZUL has a low concentration of proteins
and therefore it will not be as effective as it is required
- Bordier's team carries out an evaluation of the patients before
giving them ESCOZUL. They ask for their latest diagnosis and the
treatment they are following. They may also ask for the patient's
age, height, weight, first diagnosis, a photocopy of all the tests
they had done (TAC, scans, biopsy, etc), treatments they had followed
and their results, medicines taken, allergies, related pathologies,
name of the doctor and health centre where the patient is being
treated. They analyze the results of their survey and then prescribe
ESCOZUL to the patient. How do they know what is the correct concentration
of ESCOZUL to give to a person if until now they have not published
any work on clinical tests on people? Have they any scientific evidence
to guarantee the use of ESCOZUL in patients who present different
types of cancer? Has ESCOZUL got the same effect in all patients?
Have they statistics of treated patients and their evolution? No
one questions their procedures because ESCOZUL is very popular and
its results are undeniable. However, if ESCOZUL is prepared incorrectly
its effects could diminish and you will not obtain the desired positive
effects.
In 1994 Misael Bordier requested and received the patent for ESCOZUL.
However, that patent is currently under revision until LABIOFAM
finishes the research on ESCOZUL. This has happened because the
Cuban Patent Office has put into force new laws for medical products
based on the European Union Standards. Many of the co-authors of
the patent for ESCOZUL prefer not to talk about their relationship
with Bordier, even when most of them did not work with him directly
after breaking off personal and work relations due to the policy
Bordier was developing in relation to ESCOZUL. It is important to
say that all the co-authors have the same percentage in the patent.
All these irregularities in the production of ESCOZUL in Guantanamo
caused a reaction from the Cuban government that was clearly expressed
in a public
declaration made by CECMED (the Centre for the State Control
of the Quality of Drugs, equivalent to The Food and Drugs Administration,
FDA). This declaration states that the ESCOZUL produced in Guantanamo
cannot be traded, distributed or prescribed in Cuban territory because
the laboratories in Guantanamo do not have a license to produce
ESCOZUL.
Bordier's group do not ask for money for the evaluation or for the
ESCOZUL they provide. However, they do accept donations offered
by grateful patients (between 100 and 300 USD and more for each
treatment); this is what it is happening in Guantanamo. Besides,
the group has broadened its market. Today they have three branches
abroad, one in Chile, one in Mexico and one in Spain, all illegal.
In all these places they offer ESCOZUL with a cost of around 220
- 400USD for a dispatch every 2 months.
Scientific results.
Since 1985, year in which the research started, to the present neither
Bordier nor the rest of the group have presented a serious research
work. If we analyze the publications that appear in their website
we can see that none of them comply with the minimum requirements
to be considered scientific articles. In fact, they have never been
published in any scientific journal and they never will.
They say that 70 000 patients have at present been treated with
a 97% effectiveness but, where are the records proving such a claim?
Where are the statistics of the patients treated, divided according
to the type of cancer, survival rate, and other parameters that
should be measured? Why has this information not been published
in medical journals? Would they not need an unmanageable amount
of blue scorpions in order to produce enough ESCOZUL for 70 000
patients? These questions remain unanswered prompting us to suspect
that the information has been manipulated to hide the group's lack
of scientific rigor and the extreme dilution that ESCOZUL must undergo
to meet such high demand. Besides, they do not have any other research
projects of international character that would provide funding for
research development.
For more than 20 years Bordier's group has not been able to carry
out professional research on blue scorpion venom, and it is most
unlikely that they ever will. For this reason the Cuban government
took over the research on ESCOZUL and is today in charge of the
company LABIOFAM.
The group in Guantanamo has neither the resources nor the scientific
capacity to develop any kind of research on the effects of the blue
scorpion venom, and it is considered by the Cuban health authorities
as a group of amateurs without any scientific rigor. However, the
contribution made by Bordier by giving this medicine for the treatment
of cancer worldwide might still be recognized. For that reason alone,
regardless of the turn taken by the Guantanamo group, we are indebted
to Bordier.
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