In recent weeks there has been a lot of misinformation and disinformation posted about medicinal oleander - including that it is highly toxic, that it is a bogus remedy and that there is no proof of effectiveness.  I won't speculate about the motivations for posting such bogus misinformation here, but I will take this opportunity to set the record straight.

First of all, I absolutely acknowledge that oleander is a very toxic plant in raw form and I will also acknowledge that I may have been remiss in not posting a warning about raw oleander's toxicity in every single post I have made about oleander.  However, I believed that it was obvious that I was discussing medicinal oleander and not raw oleander.  Medicinal oleander -  whether in commercial supplements or in the homemade "oleander soup" version - which have been discussed at CureZone as possible solutions for cancer, HIV/AIDS, hep-C and so forth, is NOT highly toxic.  Neither is it a bogus remedy and neither has there been no proof of effectiveness.

REGARDING THE SAFETY OF OLEANDER

As best I can tell, my first post at CureZone came on May 24, 2007.  When I began posting about oleander, I made it quite clear from the very beginning that raw oleander was toxic and should not be fooled around with, as is demonstrated in the message I posted July 1, 2007 explaining how to safely make the homemade extract:

http://curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=910445

http://curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=911320

At the very beginning of the instructions for making the homemade extract there are these warning paragraphs highlited in red:

Please note:  Raw oleander plant is extremely toxic.  Do not handle or ingest raw oleander or any form of oleander that has not been prepared according to the recipe for “oleander soup” in this book or the commercial products whose links are provided on the last page of this book.  While raw oleander is toxic, there have been no reports of serious adverse reactions or side-effects due to properly prepared oleander extract taken according to directions.  The most common side-effects are loose bowels, slight temperature and perhaps mild nausea, all of which should dissipate quickly as the body becomes acclimated to the extract.

This information is furnished for informational purposes only and nothing contained herein is intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition.  Anyone with a medical condition or seeking medical advice is urged to seek out a qualified medical professional – preferably one well versed in integrative and/or naturopathic medicine.

The homemade extract as well as the commercial supplements discussed at CureZone have all been based on the extract which has been used safely and successfully in thousands of cancer patients for over 40 years by Dr. H. Z. Ozel in Turkey.  His extract was ultimately patented and put into an FDA phase I toxicity trial.  As the trial stated:

"Traditional dose limiting toxicity was not seen, but the MTD was defined by injection volume as 0.8 ml/m2/day."

In other words, the trial never did reach an unsafe toxic level, but rather reached a level where it was impractical to inject more oleander.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16763787

Those who would like to detract from oleander point out that no tumor responses were noted in the trial.  However, what they fail to point out is that the trial only lasted for 3 weeks for most participants and its only purpose was to determine toxicity.  Oleander does not usually work overnight when it comes to cancer, but rather usually works slowly but surely where it first begins to slow tumor growth (normally within the first two months), then stabilizes tumor growth and then ultimately regresses tumors until they often are no longer present at all.

REGARDING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF OLEANDER

It has been posted elsewhere that there is no proof of oleander's effectiveness in humans, that only limited petri dish studies have been conducted, that no further human trials have been conducted and even that one trial has been unable to recruit enough participants to be conducted - all of which are blatantly false.  The truth is that oleander's effectiveness has been abundantly proven both scientifically and in real life experiences and that another trial of an oleander extract has been successfully conducted and concluded and is in the final write-up stages for presentation to the FDA.  That trial was the very same one which another poster alleged had been unable to recruit enough participates, which the poster would have found out if they had done a better job of researching.

Though the most recent trail was also an FDA phase I trial intended to primarily identify limiting toxic doses, it was a somewhat longer trial and did return some very positive results.  At the end of two months, the cancers in 9 out of 20 enrolled patients had been stabilized and three of them had already begun to see tumor regression.  Notably, the trial participants were not encouraged to make dietary and lifestyle changes or to include other immune-boosting and anti-cancer supplementations as is usually the case when someone incorporates oleander in part of an overall protocol such as the one I recommend.  Thus the results seen can almost surely be attributed to oleander alone.  As soon as I find that the FDA write-up has been completed I will be reporting on it.

In real life, the aforementioned Dr. Ozel has a multitude of case reports which vouch for the effectiveness of oleander.  Some of those are:

Mesothelioma - HD
http://www.drozel.org/eng/diagnosis_mesothelioma_HD.htm

Adenocarcinoma (epithelial type malignant mesothelioma?) - US
http://www.drozel.org/eng/diagnosis_adenocarcinoma_US.htm

Small cell anaplastic carcinoma in the lung -YG
http://www.drozel.org/eng/diagnosis_smallcell_YG.htm

Malignant lymphoma, lung cancer - MG
http://www.drozel.org/eng/diagnosis_malignant_MG.htm

Prostate cancer with bone metastases - KE
http://www.drozel.org/eng/diagnosis_pancreas_SO.htm

Pancreas cancer with bone metastases - SO
http://www.drozel.org/eng/diagnosis_pancreas_SO.htm

Pancreas cancer - MH
http://www.drozel.org/eng/diagnosis_pancreas_MH.htm

Peritoneal carcinosis - HA
http://www.drozel.org/eng/diagnosis_peritoneal_HA.htm

Inoperable stomach carcinoma with metastases -VO
http://www.drozel.org/eng/diagnosis_stomach_VO.htm

Brain tumor - AS
http://www.drozel.org/eng/diagnosis_brain_AS.htm

Brain tumor - SD
http://www.drozel.org/eng/diagnosis_brain_SD.htm

Breast cancer (Ductal carcinoma) - SE
http://www.drozel.org/eng/diagnosis_breast_SE.htm

Antrum cancer - YT
http://www.drozel.org/eng/diagnosis_antrum_YT.htm

Brain tumor - EO
http://drozel.org/eng/diagnosis_brain_EO.html

There are also many other case reports about the successful use of oleander, as researched and reported in the book I wrote.

Then there is the 100% successful double-blind placebo controlled study on actual humans which was conducted at a Johannesburg, South Africa AIDS clinic:

http://www.tbyil.com/HIV_Clinical_Trial.htm

http://www.tbyil.com/HIV_OPC_Trial.pdf

And finally there are the abundant real life success reports and unsolicited testimonials from actual humans about the success they have had as a result of taking supplemental oleander (and other recommende items) including a number of individual reports posted here at CureZone and this compilation:

http://curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=1661043#i

No one is suggesting that oleander is a miracle cure-all or that it is right for everyone or best for everyone.  However it is quite obvious that, despite the misinformation and disinformation that has been posted elsewhere, the real truth is that oleander has been very successful in actual human use in many, many instances - especially when combined with an over all anti-cancer lifestyle and protocol.