Why There Will Never Be Another Cancer-Fighting Master Like Sun Bingyan

People often ask me whether there are still masters like Sun Bingyan, who fought poison with poison. My answer is always no. The reason is simple: under current health law, a doctor who practiced the way old Master Sun did would be imprisoned before long. More importantly, even if he were not afraid of prison, he could not buy the highly toxic drugs Master Sun once used.

Master Sun's medicines included highly toxic arsenic and mercury preparations such as arsenic trioxide (pi-shuang) and calomel (qing-fen). China's State Council Regulations on the Administration of Toxic Drugs for Medical Use explicitly list the following as controlled drugs because of their extreme toxicity, where the therapeutic dose approaches the lethal dose: arsenic stone (red arsenic, white arsenic), arsenic trioxide, mercury, raw nux vomica (Maqianzi), raw Sichuan aconite (Chuanwu), raw wild aconite (Caowu), raw white aconite (Baifuzi), raw prepared aconite (Fuzi), raw pinellia (Banxia), raw arisaema (Tiannanxing), raw croton (Badou), blister beetle (Banmao), Epicauta (Qingniaochong), Huechys (Hongniangchong), raw Euphorbia kansui (Gansui), raw Stellera chamaejasme (Langdu), raw Gamboge (Tenghuang), raw Euphorbia lathyris (Qianjinzi), raw henbane (Tianxianzi), Rhododendron molle (Naoyanghua), Aconitum brachypodum (Xueshang Yizhihao), Red Elixir (Hong Shengdan), White Elixir (Bai Jiangdan), toad venom (Chan-su), Datura flower (Yangjinhua), red powder (Hongfen), calomel (Qingfen), and realgar (Xionghuang).

Article 3 of these Regulations states: "The annual plan for the production, purchasing, supply, and dispensing of toxic drugs shall be drawn up by the pharmaceutical administration of the province, autonomous region, or municipality in accordance with medical needs; after examination and approval by the health administration department of the province, autonomous region, or municipality, it shall be issued by the pharmaceutical administration to the designated production, purchasing, and supply units, and copied to the Ministry of Health, the State Pharmaceutical Administration, and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Producing units may not alter the production plan or sell on their own." Article 5 states: "The purchasing and sale of toxic drugs shall be handled by pharmaceutical-business units designated by the pharmaceutical administration at each level; dispensing shall be handled by state-run pharmacies and medical units. No other unit or individual may engage in the purchasing, sale, or dispensing of toxic drugs."

As China's health care has developed, the government, to protect people's lives, has increasingly emphasized drug safety and tightened control over the toxic herbs circulating in the market. Before 2012, I could still see arsenic trioxide and other highly toxic drugs being traded at some wholesale herb markets (of course, only privately, among acquaintances). After 2012, even the closest acquaintances would not sell arsenic. In fact, many highly toxic drugs disappeared from the herb markets after 2012; with stricter enforcement, several herb dealers who sold arsenic and similar poisons were imprisoned, and doctors who used them were imprisoned as well. Since then, only the few medical institutions allowed to run clinical trials may use arsenic trioxide injection (the main component of arsenic trioxide); everyone else is barred.

So if Dr. Sun Bingyan were still alive, he himself could no longer use his old formulas. Not only Dr. Sun's prescriptions, but many other veteran doctors' prescriptions have become impossible to use because of drug-control rules. I once learned that Dr. Zhao Bingnan's Black Scar Ointment worked very well for diabetic foot, and I went to the surgery department of Beijing Hospital of TCM, where Dr. Zhao worked, asking doctors I knew to get me some. Dr. Zhao's direct disciple's disciple told me bluntly that under current law no one dares use such drugs anymore, so their department stopped using Black Scar Ointment long ago.

The purpose of the Regulations on the Administration of Toxic Drugs for Medical Use is "to strengthen the administration of toxic drugs for medical use and prevent poisoning or fatal accidents." It is a measure of last resort: compared with safer, more effective treatments, the poisoning or death caused by highly toxic drugs inflicts greater loss of life and health. Enforcement was intensified around 2012 because so many deaths from improper use of arsenic and other poisons were being reported each year that the state had to strictly block their folk misuse.

In Master Sun's day, China's medical administration was not as standardized as now, so he used many highly toxic drugs. Some of his patients are still alive; I followed up three of them, who told me his treatment had indeed worked for them, but that many other patients died of poisoning. One patient he treated wrote a memoir saying that, when he was being treated by Master Sun, many fellow patients developed poisoning from the highly toxic drugs, and Master Sun's effective rate was not high. In Master Sun's era China's health care was undeveloped, and patients had no choice but to use such drugs. If these poisoning accidents recurred today, Master Sun would face a flood of doctor-patient disputes and perhaps prison.

So Master Sun's descendants not inheriting his art is understandable. Times progress, and medicine progresses; replacing dangerous treatments with safer ones is responsible to patients and to doctors. People often ask me whether Dr. Sun Bingyan has any successors, and I tell them plainly that his art cannot be passed on, because the law forbids it. Some patients or families even directly demand that I treat them with Master Sun's formulas, and I flatly refuse. First, the law forbids it; second, we simply cannot obtain the herbs he used.

So what is the cure rate of those folk doctors who still treat patients with arsenic-like drugs? I have followed up on the results of some folk TCM doctors who secretly use arsenic; every case I have personally encountered failed to respond. The successful cases are only legends; those legendary cases may be true, but a low effective rate is certain. Some patients I know would have survived far longer had they received standard treatment rather than gambling on this method. Sadly, because they believed in such miracles, they abandoned standard treatment.

After Master Sun died, one of his former patients relapsed. This patient has known me for ten years and is himself a self-made TCM practitioner. He told me frankly that he no longer dares use Master Sun's methods on himself, because when he was treated there he witnessed other patients being poisoned, and the memory is vivid. Fourteen years after Master Sun's treatment, this patient relapsed; he then treated himself with relatively mild heat-clearing and detoxifying herbs and survived another ten years. In fact, he still lacks understanding of the toxic-drug regulations and the drug market; even if he dared use Master Sun's methods, he could not buy arsenic. I once asked an elderly TCM doctor who used arsenic how he obtained it; he said his arsenic was bought over twenty years ago and never used up, and through legal channels he cannot buy it now.

It is not that arsenic preparations are never used to treat cancer now: some formal medical institutions run clinical trials of arsenic trioxide for leukemia and even other cancers. Their trials strictly follow national laws and are far safer and more reliable than folk TCM doctors using arsenic. Patients interested in this treatment should inquire around and go to these formal institutions; there, if poisoning occurs, resuscitation measures are available. The core of medicine is safety and efficacy; one cannot focus only on efficacy while disregarding safety. Treating 100 patients and killing 99 while saving 11 is absolutely not good medicine.