Pandora Prescription

The Pandora Prescription, by James Sheridan  ★★
The Pandora Prescription was written by a self-acclaimed US government contract pilot who flew secretive diplomatic missions between Miami and Havana, thus claiming inside knowledge in the underworld of international politics and espionage. The book is a fast-acting chase between a government agent working for the Department of Homeland Security, and Travis, who is attempting to locate and possess a so-called Apollo document. The book takes on the similitude of a Borne series movie, with near-omniscient government agents solving in methodological brilliance achieving a fantasy status.
Sheridan attempts to weave within the action his own thoughts on the construct of internal and international politics from a US perspective. His thesis is that following WWII, German agents, who in actuality were planted Soviet double agents, took over and dominated the internal workings of the CIA, making it a partial puppet of Soviet interests. In partial defense of that, he argues how the Kennedy assassination was actually a Soviet action performed through the intermediacy of Cuban agents, willing to seek revenge for US desire to assassinate Castro.
The contents of the Apollo file were documents from a Bilderback conference detailing how the international pharmaceutical industry had actually wished to suppress data regarding Laetrile as the cure for cancer, since it was cheap, effective, and without side effects. Many pages are labored over the thesis that Laetrile is indeed a cure for cancer, the truth of which is suppressed in the interests of maintaining the cost-laden health care industry, which in turn supports the US economy. In the end, the truth ends up in the hands of Soviet agents, who would use it to blackmail US interests.
Unfortunately, Sheridan mixes truth and fiction, attempting multiple theses, including a) the renegade nature of US government, which is a government against the people, and especially true of the Homeland Security, b) the subterfuge of international politics, and “conspiracies/clandestine operatives” such as the Bilderback society and not mentioned Trilateral Commission and Club of Rome, and c) the vast health care conspiracy to suppress the cure for cancer and other ailments. Each of these theses has some truth to it. I simply could not speak with authority regarding either a) or b), but refer you to writings such as are produced by brother Dennis, who has much to say on this topic, which I hold to be mostly accurate and consistent with Sheridan’s thought. Like Sheridan, brother Dennis also has much to say regarding the health care industry, but remains less informed, considering that since there are conspiracies behind every tree and under every rock, it must also be true of health care. As a physician, I certainly have grave concerns about the health care industry and believe that Pharmaceutical concerns heavily influence the data, and its interpretation. There is not a week that goes by where some drug rep is trying to buy me lunch and pawn some expensive, useless, and toxic drug off onto my prescription pattern. I just look at the demise of tamoxifen and the rise of aromatase inhibitors, which are far more expensive with more side effects, but marginally, if at all better than tamoxifen, and certainly with virtually no difference in overall survival. Overall survival is a number, unlike disease-free survival or time to progression, that cannot be manipulated. You can’t fudge on the death of a person by more than a day or two.
But what about Laetrile? Are we really hiding the cure for cancer? To even ask the question betrays a naiveté about cancer. Everybody would love a cure for cancer. The book mentions a small province in Nepal where cancer is not reported. Either they do have not the sophistication to identify cancer when it is present (quite probably true) or they die young (also quite true) and so don’t have the chance of getting the old-age disease. Why do people in Cuba and Mexico die of cancer, where they supposedly know the “truth”? Why have the Russians not opened up massive Laetrile clinics for their citizens, since they don’t have drug cartels, yet know the “truth”? I’ve had many patients go to Mexico for the cure, only to come back worse off than before. They should have laid on the beaches and drank their Tequila, rather than wasting their money on worthless cures. Why is Fidel dying of cancer? Odd thing, is it not? Is the drug cartel in Cuba restricting Laetrile from him? Are there cures for other diseases? If so, why haven’t they been discovered before the modern era? It seems like people live at most for 70-80 years, with higher rates found mostly in societies with improved public sanitation and a reasonably adequate diet. Alternative health care varies extremely, from chiropractic, naturopathic, Eastern mystical, Christian Science faith healing, and the list goes on. Having trained at the U. of Illinois, we are all too aware of the Krebiozin incident, which proved to be worthless (sterile water with less than 1 part per billion of any active ingredient). Now, maybe Krebiozin was just another pharmaceutical cover-up, yet I don’t see Brazilians flocking to Krebiozin clinics, since this is where that supposed miracle drug came from. In actual fact, all cultures and societies and levels of sophistication have their quacks. We will someday look at what we do as barbaric, and my enthusiasm for what I have to offer my patients is less than ebullient. If one cannot cut it out, then cancer will probably not be cured. Sheridan’s ignorance of the types and vagaries of cancer and his solution offers me nothing. This book had a “Bourne Identity” style excitement to its plot, some semblance of truth, but overall, a faulty thesis that distracts from the enjoyment of the story.