Ernesto Contreras (physician)

This article is about the Mexican medical physician. For other uses, see Ernesto Contreras (disambiguation).
Dr. Ernesto Contreras, Sr.
Born Ernesto Contreras, Sr
(1915-06-01)June 1, 1915
Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
Died October 3, 2003(2003-10-03)
Baja California, Tijuana, Mexico
Cause of death Natural causes
Citizenship Mexico
Education Military Medical School, Mexico City
General Practitioner, 1939
Occupation Physician, researcher, hospital director, military, professor
Years active 62
Relatives
  • Rita Pulido (wife)
  • Francisco Contreras (son)
    current Director, President and Chairman of Oasis of Hope Hospital

Medical career

Profession Medical Doctor
Field Cancer research
Institutions Oasis of Hope Hospital
Specialism Pediatric pathology

Military career

Allegiance  Mexico
Service/branch Mexican Army
Years of service 1939–43
Rank Major
Unit 18th Army Air Forces Base Unit

Ernesto Contreras (1915–2003) was a Mexican doctor. He operated the Oasis of Hope Hospital in Tijuana for over 30 years, claiming to "treat" cancer patients with amygdalin (also called "laetrile" or, erroneously, "vitamin B17") which has been found completely ineffective. His practices have been widely condemned.

Contreras received post-graduate training at the Children's Hospital Boston in Boston. He served as the chief pathologist at the Army Hospital in Mexico City and was Professor of Histology and Pathology at the Mexican Army Medical School.

Controversial cancer treatment

About extreme terminal cancer cases, Contreras alleged: "The palliative action [the ability of laetrile to improve comfort of patient] is in about 60% of the cases. Frequently, enough to be significant, I see arrest of the disease or even regression in some 15% of the very advanced cases."[1] There is no evidence to support Contreras' statements.

Many of Contreras' patients came from the United States, where use of laetrile is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.[2] Since the 1970s, the use of Laetrile to treat cancer has been described in the scientific literature as a canonical example of quackery and has never been shown to be effective in the treatment or prevention of cancer.[2][3][4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Cancer News Journal, Jan./April, 1971, pp. 20.
  2. 1 2 Herbert V (May 1979). "Laetrile: the cult of cyanide. Promoting poison for profit". Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 32 (5): 1121–58. PMID 219680.
  3. ↑ Lerner IJ (February 1984). "The whys of cancer quackery". Cancer. 53 (3 Suppl): 815–9. doi:10.1002/1097-0142(19840201)53:3+<815::AID-CNCR2820531334>3.0.CO;2-U. PMID 6362828.
  4. ↑ Nightingale SL (1984). "Laetrile: the regulatory challenge of an unproven remedy". Public Health Rep. 99 (4): 333–8. PMC 1424606Freely accessible. PMID 6431478.

External links

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