Historical Records on Using Arsenic to Treat Cancer, Asthma, Psoriasis and Other Diseases
In Water Margin, one of China's four great classical novels, Pan Jinlian, the sister-in-law of Wu Song, poisons Wu Song's elder brother Wu Dalang with arsenic, triggering Wu Song's revenge. Arsenic (pishuang) is a highly toxic Chinese medicinal, belonging to the category of violent poisons; it is a clinically controlled drug and cannot be bought casually.
The scientific name of arsenic is arsenic trioxide. It is an odorless, tasteless white powder or crystal, intensely poisonous; whether inhaled or ingested, it can cause fatal harm. Arsenic mainly affects the nervous system and capillary permeability, and is irritating to the skin and mucous membranes.
On oral poisoning with arsenic, a person develops nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain; the stool is sometimes mixed with blood; the limbs suffer painful spasms; there is oliguria or anuria; in severe cases, coma, convulsions, and even death from respiratory paralysis. Within one to three weeks of acute poisoning, peripheral neuropathy may develop, along with toxic myocarditis and hepatitis. Heavy inhalation can also cause acute poisoning, though the gastrointestinal symptoms from inhalation are milder; inhalation more often produces Mees' lines on the fingernails and toenails.
Long-term, small inhalation or ingestion readily causes chronic poisoning, whose main features are gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and bloody stool, plus liver and kidney damage. It also causes skin pigmentation, hyperkeratosis or verrucous hyperplasia, and the onset of multiple peripheral neuritis.
Arsenic is also carcinogenic; long-term exposure carries a risk of lung cancer and skin cancer.
Yet at the same time arsenic is an important Chinese medicinal for treating cancer. Professor Chen Zhu, former minister of health, and Professor Zhang Tingdong of the First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University both won international awards for their research on treating cancer with arsenic. Arsenic's efficacy in treating leukemia has been fully affirmed; besides leukemia, arsenic can also treat lung cancer, skin cancer and various other cancers. The renowned veteran TCM physician Sun Bingyan was a master at using arsenic to treat cancer.
Arsenic can be used to treat cancer by ingestion, inhalation or external application. One late-stage lung cancer patient I once treated achieved confirmed results by inhaling the smoke of burning arsenic.
According to TCM classics, arsenic has the effects of 'expelling phlegm and arresting malaria, killing worms, and eroding malignant flesh; treating cold-phlegm asthma, malaria, intermittent dysentery, syphilis, hemorrhoids, scrofula, rapid gingival gangrene, tinea sores, and ulcers whose putrid flesh will not detach.' That is to say, arsenic can treat not only cancer but also asthma, syphilis, hemorrhoids, psoriasis and ulcers. Its efficacy lies chiefly in its ability to remove putrid flesh and generate new tissue, and to 'fight poison with poison.'
Bencao Mengquan (Materia Medica of Garden Splendor) says of arsenic: 'It arrests malaria and stops roaring asthma; wind-phlegm above the diaphragm can be vomited up. It breaks hard concretions and grinds accumulations; retained food in the abdomen can be dispelled.' Rihuazi Bencao records that arsenic 'treats heart pain from qi and blood counterflow in women, and induces abortion.' Kaibao Bencao states: 'It governs all kinds of malaria and wind-phlegm in the chest and diaphragm; it may be used as an emetic.' Yixue Rumen (Introduction to Medicine) says arsenic 'governs malignant sores and scrofula, and putrid flesh; mixed with other medicinals and applied, it erodes and detaches them naturally. It also treats snake-urine sores on the hands and feet—swelling, pain, rotting flesh and dropping-off of finger joints—ground to powder and mixed with egg white for application.' Bencao Gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica) records: 'It erodes the putrid flesh of abscesses and boils, withers hemorrhoids, and kills worms.' Yuyu Yaojie says arsenic 'treats cold phlegm and cold accumulation, chronic malaria and accumulated dysentery; heals hemorrhoidal fistulas and scrofula; relieves heart pain and wheezing; erodes the putrid flesh of abscesses; and subdues rapid gingival gangrene.'
Yet from ancient times to the present, people have also recognized arsenic's violent toxicity; every medical work records it as 'acrid, hot, and greatly poisonous.' Yixue Zhezhong says of arsenic: 'It greatly injures the chest qi; those with spleen-stomach deficiency must strictly avoid it.' Kaibao Bencao calls arsenic 'an excessively hot and greatly poisonous substance, hence it cannot be taken for long; it can harm the person.'
When arsenic enters formulas it is generally used in pills or powders, in extremely tiny doses. Internal use must be extremely cautious; patients with bodily deficiency and pregnant women are contraindicated. The dose for inhalation must also be strictly controlled. Arsenicity must not be allowed to accumulate in the body for long; whether inhaled or ingested, arsenic must be combined with purgative Chinese medicinals such as Dahuang (Rhubarb) or Badou Shuang (Croton Sedum) to ensure rapid excretion. Patients must not experiment with arsenic on their own; it should be used under the guidance of a qualified physician.
Below are some appended formulas, excerpted from ancient works, in which arsenic treats disease, for reference by qualified physicians.
① Treating wheezing cough: Take pishuang (arsenic), wheat flour and Haipiaoxiao (cuttlebone) each, one qian. Grind to a fine powder, mix with water into small cakes, roast slowly over low heat until yellow, then regrind to a fine powder. Take one zi (about 0.4 g) each dose, swallowed with a mouthful of well water; after a while, vomiting should occur. Halve the dose for children. Avoid hot foods. (Chishui Xuanzhu)
② Treating chronic malignant sores: Take pishuang one fen (finely ground), Fuzi (prepared aconite) one fen (powder), Kushen (sophora root) one fen (powder), Liuhuang (sulfur) one fen (finely ground), and la-qie (wax) one fen. Decoct with 50 g (two liang) of sesame oil; when the oil is hot add the wax, then add the medicinal powders and stir into an ointment. To apply: first wash the sore with a decoction of Shuodiao (Eupatorium) and willow branches, wipe dry, and apply twice daily. (Shenghuifang: Pishuang Gao, Arsenic Ointment)
③ Treating tinea, whether dry or wet, of many years' standing: Take pishuang one fen, Liuhuang (sulfur) three fen, Mitengseng (litharge) three fen, and Nifen (fulminating powder) two fen. Finely grind all into powder. For dry tinea, mix with raw oil for application; for wet tinea, sprinkle the powder on. (Shenghuifang: Pishuang San, Arsenic Powder)
Author's website: www.zhouzhiyuan.com