DMSO - The Persecuted Drug by Dr.

Stanley Jacob
Chapter6: DMSO - The Persecuted Drug by Dr. Stanley Jacob [from the book: Politics In
Healing by Daniel Haley] 27 Feb 2011

A New York Times editorial on April 3, 1965 called DMSO the closest thing to a wonder drug produced in
the 1960's. There was a great deal of publicity and controversy about DMSO in the 1960's and 1970's. On
.March 23 and July 6, 1980, Mike Wallace had two 60 Minutes programs on DMSO

The Persecuted Drug - The Story of DMSO (from which the title of this chapter was borrowed) was written
:in 1972 by the late Pat McGrady Sr. In the opening of his book he wrote

This is the story of a drug which was glorified briefly as having almost panacean properties for the ailments
of man and beast and diseases of plant life and then was banished by high United States authorities (the
.FDA) as dangerous and without merit

This is also the story of a mild-mannered scientist (Dr Stanley Jacob) who challenged the law and defied
.the officials and their police in a soul-searing struggle to make the drug available wherever there is life

The drug is known as DMSO, or dimethyl sulfoxide (a liquid). It has been championed by reputable
physicians as capable of healing or palliating many ailments. It has been represented as a "wonder drug" or
a "miracle drug". It is abundant; it can be extracted from such sources as coal, oil, or most commonly lignin,
the material nature uses to cement cells together in trees; it is cheap; it is most often administered by simply
dabbing it on the skin, and, alone or as a carrier for other drugs, which DMSO often potentiates, it
.penetrates the skin to enter the blood stream where it is borne to all parts of the body
Scientists contend that the (thousands of) papers published in professional journals refute virtually all the
.FDA charges

On July 31. 1980, Senator Mark Hatfield of Oregon testified at a hearing of Senator Edward Kennedy's sub-
:committee on health

I cannot make an absolute statement that DMSO is indeed the wonder drug of our century; but every bit of
evidence I encounter reinforces the premise that it is. After 1,200 scientific publications on the merits of
DMSO, after international symposia in Germany, the U.S., and Austria - all concluding that DMSO is safe
and effective - after three separate pharmaceutical firms have submitted for new drug applications to the
FDA (all rejected), DMSO is still not available to Americans, although it is available in many other countries.
I have urged the Senate to support my legislation (to approve DMSO) on behalf of all Americans who are
suffering from diseases untreatable by any other known substance and those who may have need of this
.drug in the future

Strokes are the third biggest killer in the U.S., causing over 150,000 deaths a year. They are also "the
primary cause of serious disabilities", U.S. News reported on March 30, 1998, "leaving 3,000,000 people
annually unable to work or take care of themselves". If given soon after a stroke, DMSO, one of the world's
greatest solvents, has been shown to dissolve the clot that causes the stroke, thus restoring circulation and
avoiding paralysis. How soon? Dr. Stanley Jacob says within the first few hours is best and intravenously is
better than oral, but oral works too. Once DMSO gets into the body either daubed on the skin, given I.V., or
by mouth, it permeates the body and crosses the brain barricr, so even taken orally it can improve
circulation. One man who had a stroke at 7:30 AM refused to go to the hospital until after his wife had
spoken with Dr. Stanley Jacob, which didn't happen until 6:30 PM. Starting at 7 PM the day of the stroke,
she gave him one ounce of 50% DMSO in a little orange juice every 15 minutes for two hours and then
every half hour for two hours. The next day, her husband was better and soon returned to normal. A
substance that can stop a stroke as it's happening is something many might want in their home medicine
.chest
Neurosurgeon Dr. Jack de Ia Torre is professor of physiology and neurosurgery at the University of New
Mexico in Albuquerque. He and Dr. Jacob believe that DMSO should be in every ambulance and
emergency room so as to start giving it intravenously to stroke victims in the ambulance as soon as picked
up or, at the latest, as soon as the patient arrives at an emergency room. If such were the established
.practice, the number of people dying or incapacitated from strokes would plummet

Not only would many lives be saved, but also the awful hardship of paralysis or loss of speech might be
prevented. A stroke, even survived, can often bring a person's effective life to an abrupt halt. The savings to
the medical system would be astronomical. The cost of the product: pharmaceutical grade DMSO retails at
.$30-40 a gallon

DMSO's ability to stop strokes is only its most dramatic and unappreciated attribute, and the one which
.would save the most lives, the most suffering, and the most money

A close second is DMSO's effectiveness with head and/or spinal cord injuries. Dr. de la Torre states there
are around 1,000,000 head injuries each year. Of these about 500,000 are hospitalized with 50-80,000
being severe, another 50,000 moderate, and the rest less serious. Of the 50,000 severe, 60-70% either die
.or have severe continuing neurological problems (i.e., paralysis), a multi-billion dollar a year expense

Research in animals indicates to Dr. de la Torre that if Christopher Reeve had been given DMSO
intravenously immediately after his accident, he might never have been paralyzed. Dr. Jacob first has given
DMSO intravenously to people who were already paralyzed - paraplegics - and little by little they regained
.use of limbs. One man, quadraplegic, recovered enough to go through college and then to work in a bank

A recent study in Turkey combined DMSO with fructose diphosphate. In 20 patients with head injuries, the
combination proved very effective in decreasing intracranial pressure. De la Torre declares that in his
experience, nothing reduces intracranial pressure faster than DMSO. Animal tests in the 1960's and then
.human tests on prisoners in 1967 demonstrated that DMSO is non-toxic, indeed, less toxic than aspirin
In Dr. de la Torre's tests on dogs, injuries that normally would have caused paralysis healed completely
when DMSO was given. The mechanisms of action by DMSO are much the same in both strokes and spinal
cord injuries. In DMSO, Nature's Healer, Dr. Morton Walker summarizes Dr. de Ia Torre's testimony to
:Congress in 1980 on DMSO's methodology, based on his research with the drug which began in 1971

DMSO permits and promotes better blood flow by dilating blood vessels, thus increasing the delivery of
.oxygen and by reducing blood platelet stickiness

Because DMSO dilates blood vessels, carotid artery blood flow to the brain increases after DMSO is given
.intravenously

After I.V. administration of DMSO, there is an elevation in the amount of spinal cord blood flow to the region
of trauma. One of the first things that happens after spinal cord trauma is that a reduction of oxygen and
blood flow sets in, inasmuch as the blood vessels constrict or shut down... Without some treatment, the
tissue swells. Eventually, this leads to paralysis. In a cerebral stroke, the animal will either become
.comatose or lethargic or die. With DMSO infusion immediately after injury (or stroke) all this is prevented

Thirty minutes after giving DMSO I.V., there is an increase in the flow of cortisone, a natural body
substance which helps fight off effects of trauma, even though the animal being tested had already stopped
.secreting cortisone

DMSO crosses the blood-brain barrier, enters the brain, picks up water from an injury, and rushes it out of
.the system, thus relieving intracranial pressure

In animal tests, the animals are brought to a point where the electroencephalogram reading becomes flat,
just preceding brain death... Ten minutes after injection of DMSO, the electroencephalogram returns and
.the brain becomes active again
Dr.Walker adds, "DMSO tends to protect nerve cells... following injury. It provides better protection than any
other treatments. Scientists have verified this by observation with the electron microscope and the light
microscope. Thus DMSO prevents the paralysis that may ensue following trauma; it alters the severe
."effects seen after a brain stroke

Drs. Jacob and de la Torre believe that DMSO is the treatment of choice in strokes and note that de la
Torre's work has been confirmed by at least three different groups of investigators in other parts of the
country. They also believe that the combination of DMSO with fructose disphosphate should be the
treatment of choice in spinal cord and closed head injuries, where the fructose diphosphate provides energy
.to help restore damaged tissue

Dreaded Alzheimer's disease will also be another area, they expect, where the combination of DMSO and
fructose diphosphate (patented by Dr. De La Torre) will become the treatment of choice, the fructose
diphosphate being carried across the blood brain barrier by the DMSO to help restore energy to a
.deteriorating brain

In experiments with rats, Dr. de la Torre has combined L-dopa with DMSO, which carries the L-dopa across
the blood brain barrier into the brain where it becomes dopamine and turns off the part of the brain which
.causes the trembling and other symptoms of Parkinson's

While strokes are the third largest killer in the US, heart attacks kill the most people - about 3/4 of a million
per year. Remembering DMSO's ability to dilate blood vessels and improve blood flow, it is not surprising
that South American research indicates that DMSO is effective in heart attacks and angina; prompt use of it
in heart attacks has been credited with preventing damage to heart muscle. Reporting this in his book, Dr.
Morton Walker says, "There is a crying need for research on the use of massive doses of DMSO (2 grams
."per kilogram of body weight) in the treatment of heart attacks
If DMSO is that good, then where is it? Why can't we get it? Why isn't it used? That is another story, and a
sad one when one thinks of the suffering that could have been relieved or avoided if research in DMSO had
not been stifled by the FDA. But this story isn't over yet. DMSO, in addition to being a very safe and
effective non-toxic drug, is also a commercial solvent used in many industrial processes. Unlike Koch, Rife,
or Krebiozen, it cannot be stamped out since it can easily be bought in many hardware stores. Everyone
involved in DMSO research is upset at private use of commercial grade DMSO for any medical purpose,
and with good reason since it contains impurities. However, people suffering from arthritis or other pains
have taken matters into their own hands. There is a large underground market in the substance, and
pharmaceutical grade can frequently be found, not sold for healing purposes, of course. Cutting in half or
less the time to heal sprains, many athletes count on it. It's legal for veterinarians to use in dogs, cats, and
.horses

It should have been otherwise. DMSO should be a prescription drug available to doctors for general use, as
it is in Europe. Instead, it is approved by the FDA for use in humans in just one rare disease, a painful
bladder condition called interstitial cystitis. The health uses of DMSO make it one of the most versatile
substances ever found - a wonder drug indeed. It was discovered in 1866 by Russian scientist Dr Alexander
Saytzeff, who noted in a paper he published in a German medical journal the following year that it would
.dissolve virtually anything combined with it

Entering the body either painted on the skin, taken orally, or via I.V., DMSO rapidly penetrates the cells and
.cleans them of toxins, a desirable mechanism which may explain much of its versatility

Athletes still know about DMSO. June Jones, once quarterback and later coach of the Atlanta Falcons pro-
football team, knows of DMSO. His career almost didn't happen, he told the House of Representatives
Committee on Aging in 1980, which was investigating why the FDA was still telling people that DMSO was
dangerous. With a bursitis calcification in his right shoulder, he could hardly lift his arm, let alone throw a
football. From Oregon, he was aware of DMSO and of Dr. Stanley Jacob, and had used DMSO for sprains,
like thousands of others. So he went to Dr. Jacob, who gave him a shot of DMSO in the shoulder and told
him that the calcification might disappear if he used DMSQ for 30 days straight. He followed instructions
.and it did disappear. The FDA still has not approved DMSO for sports medicine
Former Oregon Governor Tom McCall knows about DMSO. Stricken suddenly by bursitis in 1963, two
daubings of DMSO on his shoulder put an end to the problem as the DMSO dissolved the calcification that
.caused the painful condition

A byproduct of wood pulp production, this "tree juice" as the late Pat McGrady called it, helps so many
human problems that one is reminded of the Book of Genesis, where God said that He had placed on the
Earth something for every human condition. It takes us awhile to figure some of them out, and then even
.longer to clear away the man-made obstacles to their use

In 1960, Robert Herschler, chemist and chief of research at Crown Zellerbach, a huge paper and pulp
manufacturer near Portland, found an inexpensive way to produce DMSO as a byproduct of the pulp
industry. He noted that the chemical had a remarkable ability to penetrate the skin and spread throughout
the body very quickly. By itself not toxic, Herschler learned that when DMSO is put together with something
toxic, there can be problems if the combination is put on the skin or ingested. Since DMSO is a solvent, he
and an assistant regularly washed their hands in it until the day he did so after having handled pesticides
.and became quite sick

To this day, after many hundreds of thousands, probably even millions of people have been treated with
DMSO and thousands of studies have been done, this is the only danger associated with DMSO, beware of
.what you mix it with

Realizing there could be medical possibilities in DMSO, in 1961 Herschler got permission from his superiors
to check with the University of Oregon Medical School in Portland, and was introduced to Stanley Jacob.
The meeting made medical history. Dr. Stanley Jacob, brilliant graduate (in surgery) of Harvard Medical
School and professor of surgery on the faculty of the University of Oregon Medical School, had published
40 papers in prestigious medical journals before he heard of DMSO. Holder of numerous academic and
professional honors, he was already a pioneer. Heart transplants were still the stuff of science fiction in
1961, but even then Jacob and his associates were getting puppy hearts to beat in mature dogs for several
days, and he was looking for ways to preserve them. He found it in DMSO, which is now used worldwide for
.storage of organ transplants
After hearing about DMSO from Robert Herschler, Jacob painted some on his arm and within moments
became aware of its oysterish taste in his mouth. He knew that this meant that the substance had not only
quickly penetrated his skin but that it had gone into his bloodstream and permeated his entire system. He
realized that this could mean an entirely new medical principle for delivering medicines. As Pat McGrady
put it, DMSO "was to change Stanley Jacob's life and what he learned about it was to change the lives of
."many others and had the capacity to change many more

Dr. Jacob and Herschler devised numerous experiments, one showing that mice which had sustained burns
were more comfortable after being daubed with DMSO. Herschler soon profited from this knowledge. After
an accidental chemical burn on his hands, arms, and forehead, he called Jacob. "Apply DMSO on one side
and see what happens", Jacob told him. Herschler called him back in 15 minutes, "The pain stopped. Now
I'm going to do the other side". A few weeks later, one of Herschler's assistants sprained an ankle. In 15
.minutes after DMSO was applied, the pain was gone and in 30 minutes the swelling as well

Someone complained to Dr. Jacob of a splitting headache and gave him permission to apply some DMSO
after hearing of its capabilities. The headache was gone in minutes, came back in four hours, and left for
good after DMSO was applied a second time. Used for one purpose, sometimes it did another; put on a
cold sore, within a few hours it cleared up a woman's sinusitis. A woman who had had a stroke found after
DMSO was painted on her painful jaw that she could now write with her paralyzed hand and could walk
.better. Dr. Jacob found that it could also suppress inflammation

The tree juice worked in trees, too. Withered old apple trees became youthful and full of leaves after DMSO
.was injected under the bark

Applying DMSO where it hurt to a six-year-old wasted from rheumatoid arthritis, in a half hour the child
could move her shoulder and turn her head for the first time in two years. Persuaded to try walking, she
managed a few steps and then burst into tears. "Why are you crying?" Dr Jacob asked her. "Because it
.doesn't hurt anymore", she replied
DMSO was very cheap, Herschler told Jacob. "I could pipe it down here. You could have it by the barrel or
"!the tank

Impressed with what he was seeing but wanting someone skeptical to play devil's advocate, Dr. Jacob
sought out Dr. Edward Rosenbaum, a physician in private practice in Portland. Rosenbaum did not pay
much attention until a patient with severe bursitis started laughing, proclaiming his pain gone 15 minutes
after his shoulder was painted with DMSO. Another colleague poopooed DMSO until after one of his
bursititis patients had recovered via the chemical. He then declared that obviously the case must have been
.misdiagnosed - and asked if he should buy some stock in Crown Zellerbach (which produced DMSO)

In 1963, Dr. Jacob and Robert Herschler submitted two papers on DMSO to medical journals. Before the
articles were published, the press broke the DMSO story on December 10, 1963 when Crown Zellerbach
and the University of Oregon filed at the state capital a contract in which they became partners in the
patented uses of DMSO. The patents were requested in the names of Herschler and Jacob and spelled out
the major results seen from DMSO research, so the news was now public. On December 18, the New York
.Times carried the story on its front page and Crown Zellerbach's stock jumped 10%

The January and March 1964 issues of Northwest Medicine published articles by Jacob and Rosenbaum on
bursitis and arthritis. This gave some legitimization to DMSO in scientific circles but stirred up animosity as
well among those who resented hearing about DMSO first in the popular press. When Jacob presented his
work to the University of Oregon Medical School faculty, there were a few jeers of "liar, charlatan, quack". It
was hard for many to believe that something as versatile as DMSO could exist. Dr. Jacob sent a memo
describing 20 of his cases to his immediate superior and friend, who replied with a note saying "This
smacks of Andrew Ivy!" A few months later, the same friend told Jacob that he had dreamed the previous
night that the DMSO affair had been turned over to the National Academy of Sciences. Then Stan Jacob
remembered his father's dream. A week before he died, his father said he had dreamed that Stan would
find some wonderful chemical from wood, and people all over the world would be holding out their hands for
!it
That dream was coming true. It would be eight years before his colleague's dream came true, and a lot of
.fur would fly before then

In 1965 Merck, Syntex, and Squibb Pharmaceutical all submitted New Drug Applications (NDA's) to the
FDA, stating that DMSO was ready to be a prescription drug. The FDA turned all of them down. In July
.1965, the first international symposium on DMSO was held in Berlin

What happened to DMSO (and Krebiozen before it) is hard to understand without recalling the crisis
atmosphere in the early 1960's surrounding the sleeping medication thalidomide. The request for approval
of the drug was assigned to Dr. Frances Kelsey, Chief of the Investigational Drug Branch. She processed
the application by doing nothing at all with it for about two years. During that time a number of babies were
born in Europe without arms or other limbs and the cause was traced back to thalidomide. Since Dr. Kelsey
had not processed the application and thus "saved" Americans from the drug, she got a medal from
President Kennedy, (The truth, Dr. Morton Walker tells in DMSO, Nature's Healer, was somewhat different:
1,200 doctors in the U.S. had access to thalidomide through the FDA and there were thalidomide babies in
the U.S. Some were children of doctors.)

After Dr. Kelsey was honored, every other FDA bureaucrat was on the lookout for ways to show vigilance
and for things to stop. On February 8, 1981, Robert Herschler appeared on David Hartmann's Good
Morning America show and told his host about DMSO's reception at the FDA. "They complained bitterly in
1964 that DMSO was both a commercial solvent and a drug. They could not control it. Frances Kelsey
raised her hands and said 'We simply cannot cope with a product like DMSO. We envision hundreds of
(new drug) applications coming in and we simply don't have budget or staff'. After that, the FDA took a hard
."line on DMSO
Remembering thalidomide, the FDA apparently was looking for things to stop, and found its chance in late
1965. The FDA learned that tests in rabbits, dogs, and pigs (but not humans) had shown some problems.
When quantities of DMSO equal to about ten times the maximum human dose (i.e., equal to 350 grams a
day for a 175 pound man) were given every day over a period of six months, slight changes in the lenses of
the animals' eyes would result, enough to produce a slight nearsightedness. The lens changes were not
enough to cause dogs difficulty when running - they didn't bump into things - and in some cases, the
changes disappeared after the massive DMSO doses were stopped. In no test at that time or since has
.DMSO ever caused cataracts, either in animals or in humans

The FDA decided that DMSO was the dangerous drug it was looking for. The first Dr. Jacob and his
colleagues knew of the animal tests was on November 10, 1965. On that crucial date, the FDA sent notices
to all the drug companies involved in DMSO research (Squibb, Syntex, Merck) that "administration of the
drug must be discontinued and the drug recalled from all clinical investigation". In addition, the FDA put out
a series of press releases carried by media all over the world warning of the blinding effects of DMSO, and
leading people to believe that DMSO caused cataracts. But no animals were blinded, and the FDA knew
.that. The "spin" was designed to show that once again the FDA had "saved" us

Thus research was stopped in its tracks on a drug which was stopping pain (when nothing else could) from
bursitis, arthritis (including rheumatoid), and gout, which was cutting at least in half the time needed for
recovery from athletic injuries, and which had even saved a boy's life when his neck was broken in an
accident. DMSO prevents swelling and rapid injection of the chemical soon after the accident prevented the
.swelling which otherwise would have choked him to death
Drs. Jacob and Rosenbaum and Robert Herschler had constantly been looking for any indication of DMSO
toxicity and had found none. Learning of the animal data, as quickly as could be arranged they brought past
and current patients to the ophthalmologists at the University of Oregon to look for lens changes of any sort.
After months of testing, absolutely no lens problems were found. To the contrary, several reported they
could see better after using DMSO (on other parts of the body). So the order to stop research had been
.based on an inaccurate pretext

Informed of the tests by Dr. Jacob and others showing that humans were not experiencing the same lens
changes as the three animal species, the FDA at first seemed to have second thoughts. Had they
?overreacted

An FDA less eager to play "gotcha" might have handled the situation quite differently. Upon receiving the
initial lens data, they might have immediately informed the drug companies and Dr. Jacob and asked them
urgently to check if any humans were experiencing the same problems as the animals, which is what Jacob
.and his team did anyway, being responsible scientists
Or, after its first release, the FDA could have announced that it was good to be vigilant but that DMS0 was
not causing the same results in humans as had been seen in some animals. It could then have said quietly
to the researchers, "watch very carefully for human problems because if such occur, DMSO will have to be
withdrawn". If the FDA had done that, everybody would have been happy. The FDA would have shown its
vigilance for drug dangers, which is what it's supposed to do. And nobody would want to work with a
.medicine that caused eye problems

Finally, FDA adopted an all too human attitude; they did not want to admit they had made a mistake. They
apparently arrived at a decision that DMSO must be another thalidomide and that if FDA agents only looked
hard enough, they would find the evidence and all would be heroes. If it had turned out that way, they would
.have been, but it didn't
In 1965, the JAMA printed an article by Dr. Jacob on DMSO. Interestingly, his trouble has only been with
the FDA, not the AMA. The JAMA has never turned down one of his articles, and he regularly writes its
.book reviews

Before freedom in DMSO research was withdrawn, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Forrest Riordan saw DMSO
save a frostbite patient's limbs. Arriving home after midnight on a -15 degree F night, a 59-year-old woman
slipped on the ice outside her garage, hit her head, lost consciousness, and lay beside her car for six hours.
By the time Dr. Riordan saw her, her feet and hands were purple, and her fingers were turning black.
Having already treated 50 patients with DMSO and being aware of its use in preserving and restoring
tissue, Dr. Riordan decided to give it a try. Pat McGrady describes what happened. "The question was,
would DMSO give new life to the lady's dying fingers and restore blood to her limbs? Ten minutes after
Riordan had swabbed DMSO on the patient's hands and lower legs, the treated areas reddened with the
return of blood. The DMSO odor was on her breath, showing that the drug was permeating the woman's
system. On the second day, blisters had popped out on the frozen areas and that evening she regained
consciousness... On the third day, sensation began returning to some of the toes and later the tips of the
fingers began to have feeling again. By Day Seven, she was able to flex her joints. For an entire month, the
patient was sloshed, swabbed, and dabbed with DMSO. Almost a gallon of it was used, but side effects
amounted only to an occasional rash, a bit of burning and itching... By Day Fourteen, it was clear that all
tissues were viable... Riordan concluded that the drug should be applied within 12 hours of freezing and
."that 24 hours may mark the critical point in reversing damage to the involved blood vessels

This is the sort of experimentation that was going on before FDA halted DMSO research, a freedom to "try it
since nothing else is working" approach, which in this case probably saved one lady her life and certainly
her four limbs. How many others today might have saved limbs if the knowledge of this one case had been
?broadcast and DMSO's use encouraged instead of discouraged

In 1965, the JAMA printed an article by Dr. Jacob on DMSO. Interestingly, his trouble has only been with
the FDA, not the AMA. The JAMA has never turned down one of his articles, and he regularly writes its
.book reviews

Planning had been going on for some time for a Symposium on DMSO to be held in March 1966 at the New
York Academy of Sciences. On November 9, 1965, a top FDA official told Dr. Jacob that he had it on good
authority that the Symposium would never be held, not explaining that he would announce the DMSO ban
.the next day

He was wrong. Dr. Chauncey Leake of the University of California Medical Center, who had agreed to chair
the Symposium, told Dean Baird, Dr. Jacob's superior at the Medical School, that he'd been asked to drop
plans for the symposium on the grounds that it would be embarrassing for both the drug companies and the
FDA. Baird replied "Chauncey, when have you and I as deans and educators ever let political or economic
considerations compromise the search for scientific truth?" Baird also told Jacob that Crown Zellerbach,
unused to such controversy, had urged him to call off the symposium. The New York Academy of Sciences,
a large, prestigious organization founded in 1828 with over 25,000 members, made their displeasure at
political interference evident by putting up the $60,000 cost of the meeting when pharmaceutical companies
.refused to do so

Undeterred by the FDA, over 1,000 people from the world scientific community were in attendance when
the symposium opened at the Waldorf Astoria on March 14, 1966, to go on for three days. When one of the
FDA officials spoke, stating "this symposium is a measure of the freedom of investigation.., prevailing in this
.country", people wondered if he was being ironic

The papers presented showed great enthusiasm for DMSO and its unusual medical properties. Its ability to
protect living cells from cold and radiation was discussed, and its lack of toxicity was stressed. Pat McGrady
who attended, wrote, "the studies covered a spectrum of diseases probably far greater than any ever before
."considered in relation to a single drug

McGrady called special attention to an extraordinary paper presented by Dr. Eduardo Ramirez and Dr.
Segisfredo Luza of the Ayetano Heredia University in Lima, Peru. After extensive tests on animals and then
on normal humans, Dr. Ramirez reported "injecting 50% or 80% DMSO intramuscularly into patients with
acute and chronic schizophrenia" and that "of the 14 acute cases, every single one was discharged from
the hospital within 45 days after the start of DMSO treatment... He said that 4 of the 11 chronic cases, one
of whom has been ill for 14 years, were discharged eventually, and the other 7 improved a great deal and
were given occupational therapy... He observed rapid decrease in agitation... recession of persecution
feeling, a relatively sudden tendency to communicate and to stay clean.., the wane of obsessions, return to
alertness, and a calmness where there had been restlessness and anxiety". The only side effects were the
.characteristic garlic-like odor of DMSO

At the end of the symposium, after an almost dazzling presentation of papers, McGrady reported that "an
FDA agent turned to Ann Sullivan of the Portland Oregonian and said 'DMSO is through'. Ann looked at the
".man in amazement and asked 'Where did you ever get that idea?' 'My boss told me', the agent answered

Meanwhile, the drug companies who had been doing clinical trials were reexamining patients and gathering
data regarding possible eye damage. Squibb collected 3,000 cases, Merck 17,000 cases, and Syntex
7,000. No eye changes or damage or any other sign of toxicity were found. By this time, DMSO had been
used in 100,000 people, and there had been no complaints of eye problems anywhere. Additionally,
sufficient animal tests had been carried out to make it clear that the lens changes that had been observed
were "species specific", i.e., they only occurred in dogs, rabbits, and pigs, and not in monkeys, other
.primates, or any other animals

Neither the pharmaceutical reports nor the new animal tests seemed to have much effect on the FDA's new
commissioner, Dr. James Goddard. Goddard soon showed that he intended to use the police powers that
Congress had given him to investigate scientists, who had never before been treated that way by federal
regulators. Quickly adopting a tough line, he took the FDA into some surprising new areas. Speaking to an
AMA convention, he announced that "the FDA is now a third party to the practice of medicine", to the
general consternation of the doctors. It began to look as though Dr. Goddard was out to prove he too could
.stop a thalidomide and that he suspected maybe DMSO was it

DMSO patients, however, did not agree. Those who had found DMSO a veritable WD-40 for arthritis were
furious when their pain returned after the FDA stopped DMSO. They talked to the press, they called their
:senators and congressmen, and wrote angry letters to the FDA. Pat McGrady provides a few samples

My brother has arthritis of the spine. He is in pain and bedridden more than half the time. When he is
treated with DMSO, he is able to lead a normal, active life... Just ONE application of this cheap, safe DMSO
changed my brother from a grimacing patient into an active, pain-free man in exactly 30 minutes! Multiply
him and my family by thousands of times, then think what the FDA's Divine Right of Kings Law is doing to
.thousands and thousands of patients and their families

I had arthritis for four years, gradually getting worse until I was in such agony day and night. I was almost at
my wit's ends... I heard of Dr Jacob and went to visit him... Almost from the first I began to get relief. Now I
am on my feet, well and active... I have never in my life wished ill of anyone but experiencing the caliber of
this agency (FDA) I wish every last one of them would suddenly have an attack of acute arthritis so painful
that you could hear them yell from there to here and have to beg for the only drug discovered that could
.give them real help

FDA statements continued to refer to DMSO's dangerous side effects but gave no specifics, no who, when,
where. Pat McGrady pressed four consecutive FDA commissioners for data on the "dangerous effects".
They all replied that the information was in their files. He asked them to produce it - four times. They
promised to send it to him - four times, but it never came. While Official Medicine had stopped DMSO
research in the U.S., at least it could go on freely elsewhere. A Third International Symposium on DMSO
was held in Vienna in November 1966 and 250 scientists from 12 countries attended. Dr. Chauncey Leake,
as keynoter, said, "Fortunately, members of the health professions throughout the world are not all bound
by the bureaucratic regulations and judgments of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration". Pat McGrady,
who also attended, commented "It was strange hearing this statesman of science in this hall and this city,
which less than a generation ago had been occupied by one of the bloodiest regimes in history, now
."apologize for regimentation in America
He also reported, "As at the Berlin and New York symposia, scientists said they had failed to induce eye
damage with DMSO in any animal species close to the human, and they could find no evidence of eye
."troubles attributable to DMSO in any patient
Some of the interesting papers presented, McGrady wrote, showed that DMSO benefited 77% of patients
with rheumatoid arthritis and 84% with osteoarthritis, controlled many kinds of pain, sped healing, offset
injurious effects of radiation therapy, and proved superior to all other therapy for winter and sports injuries.
Experiments in animals showed that when given to mice ten days before infection, DMSO prevented
typhus, and that DMSO tended to stabilize collagen, a possible anti-aging effect. McGrady noted that
"scores of scientists confirmed the majority of claims Jacob had made... Distinguished scientists clustered
around him and congratulated him for what some called a classical contribution to science and medicine". It
was learned at the conference that Germany quietly was restoring DMSO to drugstores as a prescription
.medicine

Dr. Richard Brobyn, while a consultant for Merck, had devised a plan for human toxicity experiments in
prisoners. After the FDA crackdown, Merck lost interest but Squibb liked his idea. Squibb proposed to the
FDA that Squibb and FDA split the cost for Brobyn's plan and the FDA agreed. Arrangements were made
.for Dr. Brobyn to carry out the trials at the state prison in Vacaville California in the fall of 1967

By this time, all research with prisoners was carried out in accordance with the ethical principles worked out
by Dr. Andrew Ivy when he was the American medical ethics adviser at the Nuremberg trials. Years later,
Dr. Brobyn told Pat McGrady that he himself took the amount of DMSO to be given to the prisoners
.""because I wouldn't expect a patient or experimental subject to do something I wouldn't do myself

Brobyn's plan was for 67 male prisoners to cover themselves with ten times the permissible human dose of
DMSO every day for two weeks, after which they were closely examined. Finding no trace of any effects
other than a rash (an occasional result of DMSO applied to the skin), the second, 90-day phase of the test
started. Forty prisoners similarly doused themselves each day with DMSO, which quickly penetrated the
skin. Regularly put to numerous exams with special attention to eyes, at the end of 90 days no evidence of
toxicity had been seen in the prisoners and the attending ophthalmologist saw no effect at all on the
prisoners' eyes. Dr. Morton Walker observed in DMSO, Nature's Healer that "if sugar, salt, coffee, or tea
had been taken by the prisoners over three months in quantities equal to the DMSO they absorbed, it would
have killed them". Pat McGrady later asked Dr. Brobyn what if he had given the prisoners ten times the
permissible dose of aspirin ever day for three months. Brobyn replied, "You're asking ... is aspirin more toxic
."than DMSO? My answer: Certainly

Brobyn was right. The classic test for toxicity is known as the LD-50 test, which measures the lethal dose
(LD) at which half of a group of test animals is killed. The LD-50 tests for aspirin and DMSO show that
.aspirin is seven times as toxic as DMSO

A year after the Vacaville tests, the FDA lifted its ban on clinical testing in humans and approved tests of
DMSO in rheumatoid arthritis and scleroderma and, separately, in sprains, bursitis, and tendinitis. This did
not release it to doctors for general use in these conditions, but only permitted drug companies to prepare
.complicated applications for testing in them

In 1970, Dr. M. Brandsma of Los Angeles reported that a case of systemic lupus erythematosus, which had
not responded to prednisone, had gone into remission for three years (at the time of reporting) from DMSO.
The same year, British scientists found in two double-blind studies that DMSO combined with idoxyuridine
.stopped the suffering from painful shingles in from 2 to 9 days

Various pieces of research had shown DMSO to be effective against viruses and an important clue as to
why this happened was given in 1971 by Dr. M. Kunze and associates in Vienna. Their study checked the
production of interferon in mice following infection of the mice by the scientists with certain viruses. They
reported that when DMSO was injected 10 minutes after the mice were infected with viruses, "the animals
produced anywhere from 2 to 16 times as much interferon as they would have, had no DMSO been given
."after their being infected

The very significant fact that DMSO would cross the blood brain barrier had been evident from Dr. Jacob's
early research. For those interested in "smart pills", the early 1970's work which John L. Brink and Donald
G. Stein of Clark University published in Volume 158 of Science magazine is relevant. Magnesium pemoline
(PMH) had already been noted to improve learning in rats and in humans. Brink and Stein reported that
PMH dissolved in 100% DMSO greatly increased rats' learning abilities over what was achieved with
pemoline alone. Injecting into rats a solution of radioactive PMH or a solution of radioactive PMH dissolved
in DMSO, they noted that the DMSO/PMH solution was from 50%-100% more successful in crossing the
.blood-brain barrier than the PMH+water solution alone

Pat McGrady once asked Dr. Stanley Jacob who would gain the most from DMSO. Here is Dr. Jacob's
answer. "Quadraplegia is the saddest thing that happens to people. It occurs most often to the young and
healthy, to soldiers fighting our wars, to youngsters driving, to athletes in personal contact games. As a
quadraplegic, you lie in bed, a total vegetable. Your mind functions but you cannot pass urine or have a
bowel movement without help... So many of them eventually say to me 'Dr. Jacob, I couldn't even commit
suicide'." Jacob told McGrady about one such patient, a case where he was called in almost immediately
following an accident. "A 16-year-old girl, a fine athlete, who dove off a board and landed on her neck on
the bottom of the pool. Her doctor was pessimistic but willing to try almost anything that offered a glimmer of
hope. She was a complete quadraplegic, utterly helpless. She was on DMSO for an entire year. Gradually -
one by one, it seemed - her organs began to function again. Eventually, she walked. And now she is in
".college, doing very well

This was accomplished with the medicine on which FDA banned research in the U.S. in 1965. It was 13
.years later before the FDA approved DMSO as a prescription drug for use in interstitial cystitis

Grey Keinsley of Littleton, Colorado, is the one-time quadraplegic mentioned earlier by Dr. Jacob, who went
on to college and to ajob in a bank. But Keinsley did not start DMSO until February 1965, two years after his
accident. By August 1965, he lifted both arms over his head and put on a T-shirt unassisted. A little later
sensation began to return to his lower chest and his right hip. Then the FDA banned DMSO, and he was
deprived of it for three years, starting again only in 1968. The next year, he received his bachelor of arts
degree in economics. His mother told McGrady that Dr. Jacob not only did not charge for his services, but
paid bills for extensive medical examinations which were done in Colorado. McGrady reported that as of
1973, Grey Keinsley could move both of his legs. Grey Keinsley is the only known case of a quadraplegic
regaining movement of the lower limbs when therapy was started two years after the accident. Dr. Jacob
has seen two quadraplegic patients recover completely when DMSO was started within one hour after the
.accident

In 1971, Squibb Pharmaceutical again filed an NDA, stating once more that DMSO was ready to become a
.prescription drug, and again was turned down by the FDA

In 1972, the prediction in 1964 of Stanley Jacob's colleague came true; the FDA asked the National
Academy of Sciences (NAS), through its National Research Council to make an "independent review" of all
information on the effectiveness and toxicity of DMSO. However, the NAS got much of its funding at that
time from the FDA. An NAS officer told Pat McGrady "we have been asked to wash the FDA's dirty linen,
".and we have agreed

McGrady learned that the NAS intended to take 4 months just to plan how it would read the 1,200 papers
(at that time) on DMSO, and then to take 18-24 months to do so. At a press conference, McGrady told the
NAS president that, having read all the papers, he calculated that he, as a slow reader, could read them all
.in three weeks, or a fast reader could go through them all in two weeks

Instead of taking two years to read the material, McGrady challenged, why not set three fast readers to go
over the papers in two weeks and then free the drug for medical use if no reason was found to continue the
ban. This would be preferable, he pointed out, to holding up research on DMSO, since the published
studies seemed to show no toxicity to humans. He further suggested that the FDA be required to provide
solid evidence of toxicity, if they had any, while Dr. Jacob and his colleagues be invited to provide all
.favorable and unfavorable reports

These suggestions were apparently far too sensible to be taken seriously. When the report came out in
1974, it seemed as though the Official Medicine of the FDA was speaking through the mouth of the NAS.
The report stated (despite 1,200 papers to the contrary) that "there was inadequate scientific evidence of
effectiveness of DMSO for the treatment of any disease, and that the toxicity potential was sufficiently great
that the drug should remain an investigational drug". Thus DMSO would not be released for doctors to use
.in general practice, but would remain bottled up

In 1974, another symposium on DMSO was held at the New York Academy of Sciences. In 1975, the
universally liked Pat McGrady, once science advisor to the American Cancer Society, died of cancer. His
.DMSO, the Persecuted Drug is a classic on the early years of DMSO

Meanwhile, in Houston, Dr. Eli Jordon Tucker, an elderly and highly respected orthopedic surgeon, was
treating cancer with a combination of DMSO and hematoxylon, a non-toxic dye sometimes used as a
medicine. In experiments in cancerous mice conducted by Thomas D. Rogers, PhD, under the supervision
of Vernon Scholes MD at North Texas State University, the mixture was seen to go directly to tumors and
nowhere else, where it effectively starved them. Hematoxylon without DMSO was found to have no effect at
all on cancer. In 1972, Houston KHOU TV newsman Ron Stone did a documentary on Dr. Tucker's
achievements in cancer. Dr. Tucker himself never published his DMSO-hematoxylon results after 1968 out
of concern over losing his license for using an unapproved drug. Dr. Morton Walker devoted 30 pages of his
DMSO, Nature's Healer to the fascinating story of Dr. Tucker. (With Dr. John Sessions, Dr. Walker has also
written Coping with Cancer, a further discussion of DMSO therapy for cancer; both books are available from
Freelance Communications, 484 High Ridge Road, Stamford, CT 06904-3095.)

Finding his DMSO-hematoxylon mix effective in large cell lymphosarcoma and adenocarcinoma in dogs, Dr.
.Tucker worked out a human dosage which he gave only to terminal patients

One who remembers the DMSO combination and Dr. Tucker very well is Alva Ruth Wilson in the Houston
area. She qualified for his treatment because when she sought him out (after hearing the TV program), she
had been given six months to live from lymphosarcoma. Starting in January 1973, she took an intravenous
drip of the DMSO-hematoxylon mixture five days a week. Before requesting Dr. Tucker's treatment, Mrs.
Wilson had maximum amounts of chemotherapy and radiation, but neither helped - the tumors kept on
spreading. Chemotherapy had to be stopped because its side effects were giving her leukopenia, a disease
in which her white cells had dropped to way below normal, leaving her with almost no immunity. While she
was on Dr. Tucker's program, her conventional doctor wanted to give her more radiation. Dr. Tucker told her
that since she was on DMSO, the radiation would not hurt her, a fact well established by clinical studies in
various countries and virtually ignored in the United States. Although no primary source of her cancer was
ever found, some cloudiness in X-rays of the stomach aroused suspicion, so that was where the radiation
was directed. Another woman (not one of Dr. Tucker's patients) who started radiation of the stomach the
same day returned for the second treatment in a wheelchair, so ill had the radiation made her, and for the
third on a stretcher as a patient in the hospital. But Mrs. Wilson, taking her daily DMSO I.V., took the same
radiation and felt great. By January 1974, after a year on Dr. Tucker's program, no more tumors could be
.found and she continues in fine health in 2000

.As far as Dr. Jacob knows, DMSO was not used on those who suffered radiation damage at Chernobyl

Another of Dr. Tucker's success stories, Joe Floyd of Spring, Texas, was 71 and in good health when
interviewed by Dr. Walker in 1989. In 1974, Floyd was stricken with deadly adenocarcinoma. By
coincidence, his doctor's wife had the same kind of cancer and the doctor urged Floyd to take the
.chemotherapy his wife would take. Floyd demurred and sought out Dr. Tucker

.Six months later, he was back at work, but the doctor's wife was dead

Clyde Robert Lindsay knows about DMSO. At 3 years of age, in 1966, he was given up for dead with
cancer. Dr. Tucker gave his mother a dropper bottle of DMSO+hematoxylon and told her to give him 5
drops in distilled water every morning on an empty stomach. In 1992, Dr. Walker found him to be a big,
.strong young man of 29

While researching for DMSO, Nature's Healer, Dr. Walker visited Dr. Tucker, who gave him his formula.
Then, as Walker explains, "Dr. Tucker himself came down with a form of cancer that would have responded
to his DMSO+hematoxylon treatment, but before he could administer it to himself, he fell into a coma". No
one had access to the formula, and Dr. Walker did not know that Dr. Tucker needed it until after Dr. Tucker
.died

To make sure Dr. Tucker's formula does not get lost, Dr. Walker printed it in DMSO, Nature's Healer, with
comp1ete instructions for preparation and dosage. Walker notes that the treatment solution can be taken
.orally (the way Clyde Robert Lindsay took it)

Dr. Tucker's remarkable work, as yet unnoticed by conventional medicine, should not be considered
surprising since there have been numerous studies indicating that DMSO either by itself or in combination
with other drugs can be helpful in cancer. As mentioned earlier, DMSO is known to stimulate the body's
production of interferon which, synthesized, has been used in cancer treatment. DMSO has been found to
potentiate certain chemotherapies while rendering them less toxic, and this has been reported in the
medical literature. DMSO would permit safer and more effective use of radiation in cancer treatment,
because of its protective action (as noted in Mrs. Wilson's case). This was originally reported in 1961. The
March 1985 Russian radiological journal Meditsinkaya Radiologia reported on the use of DMSO with
.radiation in cancer treatment
Pat McGrady noted that the late Dr. Florence Seibert, one of the researchers in pleomorphic organisms,
observed that "organisms frequently found in cancer and leukemia patients suspected as a cause for
cancer (the sort that Royal Rife and Dr. Gruner of Montreal saw) stopped growing when exposed to 25%
DMSO... Dr. Robert Schrek and associates of the Veterans Hospital in Hines, Illinois, found that two per
cent DMSO, which had no effect on normal cells after two days, killed 90% of the leukemic cells in a single
day... Noted virologist Dr. Charlotte Friend of New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine transformed
leukemic cells back to normal, hemoglobin manufacturing cells with a very weak concentration of (2%)
DMSO added to the medium in which cells were growing... In April 1973, Drs. Etienne and Jennie
Lasfargues of the Institute of Medical Research in Camden, NJ, reported that while DMSO increased the
number of virus-infected mouse breast cancer cells sixfold for awhile, by the end of three months, DMS0
."had completely rid the cultures of infected cancer cells

McGrady also noted that "Dr. Leo Stjernvall, a University of Helsinki pathologist, and his associate Dr. K.
Setala... reported that cancer cells.., build a protective 'cytoplasmic barrier' which prevents the poisons of
(various cancer drugs) from seeping inside the cells and killing them or arresting their growth. Stjernvall
dissolved the anti-cancer drug vinblastine sulfate in DMSO and dabbed it on cancer that he had induced
with chemicals applied to a mouse's skin. The fibrous cytoplasmic barriers melted away and other
structures changed so that the cancer cells took on the appearance of benignly overgrown but otherwise
normal cells. Other common anti-cancer drugs became equally effective when dissolved in DMSO. The
experiments showed that DMSO transported-drugs can alter the malignant cell toward normal." The fibrous
barrier referred to by Dr. Stjernvall is the fibrin cover described in the Hoxsey chapter. Whatever will
dissolve that cover opens up a cancer tumor to attack by the body's immune system - if it is healthy - or by
.cancer cell killing (cytotoxic) drugs so much in current use

How did the National Cancer Institute's "War on Cancer" overlook the extensive research on DMSO and
?cancer

Heart attack, cancer and stroke - the three greatest killers in the U.S. - and DMSO has relevance to them
?all, but how many people know this

The FDA, at least, knew about Dr. Tucker. Invited to New York in 1978 by doctors wanting to learn about
his cancer treatment, he asked Joe Floyd to go along. While planning the trip, Tucker received a call from
Dr. K. C. Pani, the FDA official in charge of DMSO since 1968. Pani had heard of Tucker's work and invited
him to stop in Washington en route to New York. Tucker visited Pani, showing him various patient records,
X-rays, and slides. Dr. Morton Walker tells the story, "When they came to Floyd's record, Dr. Pani asked
'How long did this one last?' Tucker replied 'He's sitting down in the lobby'. Pani said 'I want to meet this
dead man'. They sought out Mr. Floyd, who told his story. Then the FDA official, visibly impressed, said he
would be in touch with Tucker soon. He also mentioned that he was in contact with Dr. Stanley Jacob of
".Oregon and that he was monitoring the use of DMSO

About one week later, the FDA approved the use of DMSO in the treatment of interstitial cystitis. This 1978
action was the first time FDA had approved DMSO as a prescription drug for any human ailment.
Considering that it had been 13 years since the crackdown, it was a major breakthrough, and it certainly
.seemed that Dr. Tucker had had something to do with precipitating it

Unbelievably, as we enter the 21St century all these years later, it is still the only FDA approved human use
for DMSO. It is also approved for the preservation of frozen human tissues, the first use to which Stanley
Jacob put DMSO. Ironic to think that surgeons soak in DMSO tissues such as the bone marrow which they
will later place in human bodies. This chemical is famous for its penetrating abilities, so such transplants are
obviously drenched in DMSO. It's considered safe enough to be approved for that, but not for general
.medical use, for doctors to use in any of the hundreds of ways where DMSO can be effective

?What does the FDA think it is saving us from

The FDA used the bogus issue of eye damage for several decades to hold back DMSO. Dr. Walker points
out that "adverse eye findings have been reported with all the arthritis drugs, such as Anaprox, Naprosyn,
and Motrin (as per their package inserts) yet no one has suggested that these minimally effective drugs be
".taken off the market

As far as eyes are concerned, the evidence on DMSO is quite to the contrary. When several patients
treated with DMSO for muscular problems reported to Dr. Jacob that their vision had improved, he sent
them to Dr. Robert O. Hill, ophthalmologist at the University of Oregon Medical School. Confirming the
favorable changes, Dr. Hill began his own experiments with DMSO (after it was known that the lens
changes did not happen in humans). His research showed drops of 50% DMSO to be effective in retinitis
pigmentosa and macular degeneration, and presented a report on this at the New York Academy of
.Sciences symposium in 1971

In the 1970's, my late mother developed macular degeneration. Having read Dr. Hill's study, I called him. In
addition to what he had written, he added that one should use cold compresses after using the drops. I
relayed this to my mother and when she was at home one summer, her housekeeper put two drops of 50%
DMSO in each eye twice a day. When my mother was getting ready to return to Florida for the winter, she
said, "Those DMSO drops worked. When I came home in June, lying in bed I could not see the individual
."slats on the venetian blinds in my bedroom and now I can

Deise, a friend from Brazil (where DMSO is legal), told me that a New York eye doctor had told her she was
developing macular degeneration, so I told her the above story. A year later, she informed me that the same
doctor had told her that her signs of macular degeneration had disappeared. The previous year, she had
.persistently put DMSO drops in her eyes several times a day

Telling another friend with macular degeneration of Deise's experience, she looked for DMSO at a health
food store and then balked. The bottle of DMSO, she pointed out, was clearly labeled "Do not get into the
eyes. Do not touch the skin. If gets on skin, call a physician". The label also read "This is sold only as a
solvent". Calling the 800 number on the label, I learned that the product was pure DMSO, not industrial
grade. With that sort of warning on the label, how could anyone guess that the liquid in that bottle is used on
the skin of many athletic teams when there are muscular injuries. Such is the result of FDA's policy of
censoring truthful health claims, preventing Americans from learning what this and other products can do for
.them

In 1978, Dr. Arthur Scherbel, then chief of Rheumatology at the Cleveland Clinic, carried out a study of the
use of DMSO intravenously in scleroderma, a particularly miserable disease affecting around 150,000
Americans. Parts of the body increasingly calcify and become rigid, an eventually fatal condition for which
there was then and still is no cure. Dr. Scherbel found clear evidence of DMSO's efficacy in scleroderma
and submitted his trial with a New Drug Application (NDA) to the FDA, which turned him down. DMSO is
.approved for use in scleroderma in Canada

Something else happened in 1978 that opened windows in the overregulated U.S. medical system. The
chemical EDTA has long been on the "GRAS" list (Generally Regarded As Safe) and is FDA approved for
use intravenously for the removal of lead, in cases of lead poisoning. Reasoning that if EDTA could remove
lead it might also remove calcium, certain medical pioneers tried EDTA to deal with calcified arteries, and
saw patients' circulation improve. The late Dr. Ray Evers was one of the foremost of those pioneers. Soon
the FDA came down on him for his "unapproved" use of EDTA. Instead of caving in, Dr. Evers sued the
FDA in Federal Court, asking for an injunction to stop the agency from interfering in his practice of
medicine. This was not their business, he declared, but rather making sure that drugs are safe. Since FDA
had long since declared that EDTA was safe for use in humans, he told the court that as a licensed
physician it was his right to use a safe drug in whatever way he found to be useful. The FDA's interpretation
of current law was then and still is that it requires them to control every usage of every drug. To their
chagrin, the Court agreed with Dr. Evers, stating, "Congress did not empower the FDA to interfere with
medical practice by limiting the ability of physicians to prescribe according to their best judgment". The FDA
.appealed, and he won again. The FDA did not appeal a second time, letting the ruling stand

The Evers Ruling thus makes it legal for a doctor to use an FDA approved drug in any way he/she thinks fit.
Combined with the FDA's 1978 approval for use in interstitial cystitis, this meant that since DMSO had been
.approved for one human use, doctors could now use it for other human uses, and many did

In 1979, just to make sure the FDA didn't interfere, the Oregon legislature passed a bill protecting Dr.
.Jacob's right to use DMSO within the state

In September 1979, the FDA published a regulation abolishing its 1965 regulation which had banned
general research in DMSO, but its posture was still suspicious. The unbending bureaucracy was beginning
to bend a bit, but it was a little late. FDA had said no so many times that drug companies were beginning to
believe they meant it and medical studies began to slow down. It was taking the patience of Job to persist
with DMSO against such opposition, a repeat of the pattern with Dr. Ivy. The FDA had put out so much
.static that the scientific community began to back off

Still, the Evers Ruling had opened things up considerably, and certain bold doctors proceeded to use
DMSO intravenously, often seeing dramatic results. One of those pioneers was Dr. William Campbell
Douglass, a person used to making his own decisions. Mrs. Ruth Lewis of Sarasota, Florida, told Dr. Morton
Walker of her experiences with Dr. Douglass. Rheumatoid arthritis caused her so much pain she could not
walk without a cane. After a back injury, she was told she had to remain in bed for six months. Realizing
that if she did so she might never walk again, even with canes, she decided to try something else. Her son
and husband literally carried her into Dr. Douglass' office, then in Marietta, Georgia, "unable to put both feet
on the ground", she told Dr. Walker. "After 2 1/2 weeks of DMSO treatment, I walked out of that office
without any help whatsoever or a cane. I had been unable to close my right hand completely for over a
year. It kept me awake at night with pain. But after the I.V., topical, and oral treatments, I can now close my
".hand tightly. The arthritis has not returned

In DMSO, Nature's Healer, Dr. Walker explains DMSO's action in arthritis, "DMSO is a scavenger of
hydroxy radicals, and this chemical ION is dominant in arthritis. Hydroxy radicals are responsible for
breaking down the synovial fluid and the cartilage of the joints. [DMSO is] one of the few known substances
responsible for detoxifying this radical... Neutralizing this highly toxic free radical causes the reduction of
inflammation and the diminishing of pain in arthritis. It is probably the primary mechanism that allows DMSO
."to work effectively against arthritis

Dr. Douglass told Dr. Walker of another startling case. Penelope Pappas of Sarasota, Florida, then six
years old, put her index finger into a live light socket. Before she could withdrew it, it was "cooked through
and burned ash white at the tip". Within 30 minutes, Dr. Douglass was able to have the finger soaking in
full-strength DMSO as the child screamed with pain. By the end of 20 minutes immersion in the liquid, the
child had stopped crying because she felt no more discomfort. She slept undisturbed all night and the next
day showed a pink and healing index finger. At the time... it was felt that she would probably lose the tip of
.her finger from gangrene. The finger healed completely

In 1980, Mike Wallace featured DMSO on two programs, first on March 23. and then on July 6. Dr. Richard
Crout of the FDA appeared on the March show, insisting that there could be no FDA approval of DMSO
without double-blind studies. He knew as well as anybody that this is virtually impossible with DMSO
because of its smell; anyone who takes DMSO either orally, topically, or via I.V., will soon exude a
characteristic garlic-like odor, and if it is taken orally, it has an oyster-like taste. In a double-blind test,
neither doctor nor patient is supposed to know who is getting the drug being tested, and who is getting a
placebo. How could this be done with DMSO? And how could it be done with chemotherapy, with its
sometimes burning and poisoning effects? For similar reasons, double-blind tests are impossible with many
chemotherapies, but the FDA allows the use of these very costly drugs, which are so profitable to the
.pharmaceutical companies

Mike Wallace presented Sandy Sherrick of Riverside, California, on the March show. She had lived for two
years in constant pain following a whiplash injury from an auto accident. "The pain was extremely bad. I
was to the point where I cried continuously. I did not cook meals. I did not clean. I barely got myself
".dressed

Learning of DMSO in November 1979, she flew to Portland and Mike Wallace filmed her treatment. Dr.
Walker describes the program, "By the third day of I.V. and topical applications, the patient began to feel
.somewhat better, reported Wallace