"Chemotherapy helps cure cancer and the Earth is flat"
— An Interview with Lothar Hirneise
Tijn Touber—08/2005 (Originally Published 10/03)

Cancer is one of the most feared diseases in modern society, regarded by most as a death sentence. This is a remarkable interview with Lothar Hirneise, an authoritative cancer specialist who has traveled the world in search of successful methods of treatment. The fact that he is not a doctor has kept his mind open enough to make an important discovery: anyone can find a solution to cancer… but brazen confidence is an essential precondition.

This article by Tijn Touber originally appeared in Ode Magazine (www.odemagazine.com) and has been reprinted with permission.

E'VE BEEN TALKING FOR AN HOUR when Lothar Hirneise bends over as if to tell me something in confidence. In a dead-serious tone he says: "A tumour is the body's solution to a problem. A tumour forms because someone is no longer producing adrenaline, which is needed to break down sugar. An excess of sugar is dangerous, so the body produces tumours. Tumours ferment — burn — sugar. They also use a lot of energy — sugar — due to the fast division of cells. That's why some tumours grow so fast. Cancer cells function like liver cells, only much more efficiently. So the tumour helps you to rid your body of poisons. Without the tumour you would be really ill. I always tell people: 'The tumour is not your problem. A tumour is an incredibly ingenious solution on the part of the body.' When you get healthy, the tumour disappears on its own, which is why you shouldn't immediately operate to remove it. First detoxify yourself. If the tumour continues to grow — which is almost never the case — you can always operate later."

"Cancer is not a problem. Cancer is a solution."

"A tumour is an incredibly ingenious solution on the part of the body"

That is the provocative and hopeful vision of Lothar Hirneise. He suspects that in the course of our evolution our bodies created tumours in order to survive: "For instance, too much sugar in the cells causes blindness — as is the case with diabetics. Creating a tumour is a solution. An infection in your intestines is also a potential danger. If it gets too big, the intestines become blocked. Here too, the body's solution is a tumour, which produces enzymes that stop the spread of infection and heal it. The actual tumour then often disappears by itself. Most cancer patients are very surprised that they have a tumour. They've been healthy for years, never had a fever, never needed a doctor and now suddenly they have a tumour. Where did it come from? The tumour was helping them stay healthy, until one day everything fell apart."

Lothar Hirneise is not a doctor. But he does have a pioneering — and well-founded — vision on cancer. Aided by the gründlichkleit, meticulousness, of his native German culture, reasoning is his forte. Hirneise is a man of research and solid proof; a man who took an unusual path in becoming an influential, albeit controversial, cancer specialist in Germany .

Ten years ago Hirneise was a master in Eastern combat sports and a Kung Fu teacher. He also owned a successful sporting goods store. In 1996, he sold the shop for a tidy profit and promised his wife, Chris, and his two sons that after years of hard work and too much time on the road, he would spend more time at home with them. Then a good friend was diagnosed with cancer. Hirneise: "Before I had the sporting goods store I spent 10 years working in hospitals. I was educated as a therapeutic nurse and also studied psychotherapy for four years. So it was not illogical that my friend called on me for help, but I didn't know a lot about cancer. I went in search of information and came across Lynne McTaggart, the founder of the English magazine What Doctor's Don't Tell You and author of the book of the same title. I attended a conference she organised in London on alternative cancer treatments. A few of the speakers told somewhat esoteric stories, but I was impressed by the research results that were presented."

The What Doctor's Don't Tell You conference in London marked the start of an intensive quest by Hirneise for potential cancer therapies. He had time and money — "a unique combination not granted to many people" — and read everything he could get his hands on. "I nearly drove Chris crazy. Every time I was onto yet another potential cure, I hopped in an airplane and went there — Mexico , Russia , China , the Bahamas, the United States , all over Europe… where haven't I been?"

The quest ultimately led to the foundation of Menschen gegen Krebs in 1997, which was partly inspired by People Against Cancer, founded by Frank Wiewel, who Hirneise had met at the conference in London . Menschen gegen Krebs now publishes a newsletter, organises lectures, workshops and conference and also offers assistance by telephone and advice via e-mail. You can become a member and take advantage of these services for €60 a year. Hirneise levies no additional charges for his advice. There appears to be a great need among cancer patients for independent information, which is lacking in the medical world. Hirneise: "Most doctors are good professionals, who truly want to help their patients. But… they're working in a bad system. After all, from whom does the doctor get his information? Firstly, from university professors. And how do you become a professor? By working your way up in the establishment. By repeating what everyone has already said. There is no other way of becoming a professor in the scientific community. Then every doctor regularly attends conferences in his area of expertise. I haven't been to a single conference in three years that wasn't sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry. And then there are magazines and trade journals. They're full of advertisements from the pharmaceutical industry. And that's not even addressing the question of who owns these magazines. There is only one possible conclusion: within conventional medicine independence is a thing of the past."

Hirneise is a great supporter of an integral approach to cancer treatment, which also includes non-Western methods: "In all the years I worked in hospitals, I never heard anyone speak of alternative ways to treat cancer. The average doctor knows nothing of cancer treatments in Russia , India , China or South America , for example. If I ask a doctor about such a treatment, he says: 'If it worked, I would have heard of it.' But that is just the point: nothing is published about those treatment methods in the magazines he reads. This is how the system maintains itself. Oncologists don't know anything about it. Frankly, I think the word "oncologist" isn't even appropriate for most doctors involved in cancer. 'Chemotherapist' or 'radiotherapist' would be better descriptions. That's often all they do."

"Every successful cancer treatment contains three ingredients: thorough detoxification, a change of diet and mental or spiritual work"

It is early in the morning, 8:30 am , and we're sitting having breakfast in Hirneise's office on the top floor of his lovely home looking out on the rolling hills just outside Stuttgart . The subject has been broached: chemotherapy. Hirneise recently wrote on a book on the subject with the provocative title: 'Chemo heilt Krebs und die Erde ist eine Scheibe' (Sensei: Kernen, 2002 — Chemotherapy cures cancer and the Earth is flat). Hirneise's vision leaves little to the imagination: chemotherapy — the therapy that so many cancer patients undergo every day — doesn't work. "I can imagine that in certain cases chemotherapy could provide a temporary solution, but then as part of a complete protocol which includes detoxification, nutrition and mental/spiritual support. However, I am against the way in which the poison is often used. By following the current protocol, people are being killed. Full stop. Moreover, [doctors] tell patients that once the tumour is gone, they're healthy. That is not only untrue, it is stupid. By the way, I know a lot of doctors and I have a lot of friends who are doctors, and over a beer they confide in me that they would never use chemotherapy on themselves or their family. Doctors send patients to me because they know the conventional treatments don't work. They tell their patients: 'I have to give you this, but it won't work. Just go see Mr. Hirneise.' And yet they continue to work within the system. That's schizophrenic isn't it? But a doctor has a lot to lose if he turns his back on the system: money, career, professional standing — everyone looks up to you if you're a doctor. Moreover, if you go against the tide, you are fought tooth and nail. You have to be able to stand that."

Hirneise is also a highly disputed figure. Doctors say he is crazy, dangerous or worse. "But I haven't come across any doctor who said: 'Mr. Hirneise, what you wrote on page 235 doesn't make sense because…' There is no scientific discussion. But that's not surprising. If I ask them for examples of patients in a late stage that have been cured thanks to their treatment, they become silent. On the other hand, I can cite thousands of patients and cases that got better even though those same doctors gave up on them. I know them, I shake their hands every day."

Hirneise has travelled a lot, has read a lot, and has spoken to doctors and patients all over the world. He has set down his experiences and research in an impressive number of statistics. And his conclusion is clear: every successful cancer treatment includes the following three ingredients: thorough detoxification, a change of diet and mental or spiritual work. "In every clinic I visited it was the same story, always and everywhere. It is what the people who overcame cancer did. I have seen people on their deathbeds, where the cancer had spread to their bones, brains, lungs and bone marrow… and they got better. In the final stage of cancer, there is no medicine in the world that can save you — conventional or alternative."

"Of course chemotherapy is no fun, but a radical change in your diet and lifestyle is more difficult. That's why so few people survive cancer"

If it's so simple and unequivocal why aren't more people getting better? "Because success demands discipline and effort. It demands that the patient get moving, become active, develop a constructive fighting attitude. Most people choose the easy way: chemotherapy, radiation or an operation. People say: 'What do you mean the easy way? Do you know how horrible chemotherapy is?' Of course chemotherapy is no fun, but a radical change in your diet and lifestyle is more difficult. That's why so few people survive cancer.

"'First detoxify, then a good diet and stay happy,' I tell people. 'What?' they cry, 'stay happy? Are you completely deranged Mr. Hirneise? I have tumours everywhere, I can't even walk and you're telling me I should have fun?' Then I tell them that one of two things are going to happen: either you're going to die soon or you're going to stay alive. If you're going to die soon, you're better off having lots of fun now, right? If you're not going to die, you're better off having fun now too because there's nothing better for your immune system. It sounds crazy, but I have a lot of fun with people that come to me. I recently did a seminar with terminal cancer patients — rarely have I laughed so much. Ego satisfaction, money and sex rule the world. Cancer patients are just about the only people not interested in these things. It's as if you were talking to the Pope or Mother Theresa. I learn a lot from them. They live one day at a time. They live so differently than the rest of humanity."

"Cancer cannot exist without stress. One hundred percent impossible!"

If fun and a meaningful life make an important contribution to healing cancer, the question begs whether their absence encourages the disease. For Lothar Hirneise, cancer starts with stress: "Cancer cannot exist without stress. One hundred percent impossible! There are a lot of debates on types of stress — physical and psychological — but for a cell it doesn't matter where the stress comes from. Every cancer patient has a sugar problem. Insulin transports sugar to cells. Adrenaline — and to a lesser extent cortisol and glucagon — takes it away. Everyone thinks that if you are under a lot of stress, you have an excess of adrenaline. This is true, but it's only the beginning. Long-term stress results in adrenaline shortages. That's what you see in cancer patients. So the cell is full of sugar that is not broken down. These cells die. Sugar is a poison; too much of it destroys your arteries, your kidneys and your bones. The body combats that danger by creating tumours — as a last resort for getting rid of the sugar surplus."

"For some people, the solution to the stress that led to the sugar problem will be to change their diet — because they ate poorly — while for others it will be in the psychological, spiritual sphere — because they had serious relationship problems, for example. That's why a good diet doesn't work for everyone, which leads sceptics to say that such a diet 'therefore' doesn't work. It just depends on where the stress comes from. This is why it's so important that the whole person is taken into consideration. That is to say: to talk to the whole person. Frank Wiewel of People Against Cancer says: 'Give me a half-hour with a cancer patient and I'll find the problem.' My experiences are the same. Sometimes we need to talk for hours, but we always find the problem. The problem for doctors is that they aren't paid to talk to patients. If two different women with breast cancer go to a doctor, the problem is clear to him: breast cancer. My experience is that two cases of breast cancer can be two different diseases. If someone who has lost a son develops prostate cancer six months later, would you use chemotherapy to heal him?"

In Hirneise's experience, if patients track down the cause of their cancer and truly want to change, even those at death's door can heal. Paradoxically, the production of adrenaline gets back on track once people relax. "I have a photograph from 1994 of a woman from Karlsruhe , who at that time had cancer in nearly all her bones and in her bone marrow. She couldn't get out of bed or her bones would break. She was on a lot of morphine and nearly died. She's still alive. I recently visited her. She's living a normal life. How much sicker can you be? I know another woman who died twice and was resuscitated twice. The priest was at her bedside to administer the final sacraments. She's doing very well. She's in her 70s, skis in Switzerland and has a lover who's 20 years younger."

Hirneise is all too aware that in many ways what he says not only flies in the face of the prevailing view, but moreover is not easy to understand, let alone to apply once the 'cancer' diagnosis has been given. "I had to travel around the world first and only understood it after a couple of years, so how can I expect that someone will understand it after a one-hour lecture?" Hirneise is currently training 30 people who, like himself, can talk to patients just after they've been handed their 'death sentence'. "You need someone objective just then who can think rationally. At that moment your friends and family members are just as emotional as you are. Most people think the doctor is that objective person. He is not. You see you're not just a patient, but also a customer. He has something to sell, whether it's a regular or alternative doctor. We could save a lot of lives if an objective, independent expert talked to patients right away. Which is why we set up the training course whereby each participant promises not to practice psychotherapy or any other cancer treatment on his or her own."

The second obstacle on the path to healing is the so-called aftercare. "After a treatment, a lot of patients are asked to come back in three months. Most people can't sleep for two weeks just before those three months are up. Talk about stress! Then they get a blood test and have to wait a week for the results. It makes people extremely insecure. There is too much opportunity for additional damaging stress. And for misunderstandings. Most doctors use a language no one understands. I advise patients to stay away from aftercare. It is too dangerous."

An example: "A while ago I gave a lecture after which a man came up, hugged me and said: 'You saved my life.' A few months later his daughter called. He had died. What happened? The children had convinced their father to go to a doctor after all. He finally did. That was on a Monday. That Saturday he died. The stress, the fear and anxiety around the doctor's vague diagnosis had driven him crazy. When people ask me which diagnostic tests they should and shouldn't do I tell them: 'Can you sleep without that diagnosis?' If so, don't do it. If you need the diagnosis to sleep better, then go ahead. Instead of a blood test, you're better off looking in the mirror. Look at your whole body, your skin, etc. That is a better diagnosis. Then meditate and listen to your body. Listen to what it wants to tell you. You will discover a great deal, gain a lot of insight. Afterwards you can always go to a doctor. Don't just go to a doctor to have your blood tested or have an x-ray. I know this is a big sacrifice. We think the doctor should know best, right? Wrong. Believe me, that's not the way it works. The tumour is not your enemy. Stress is the true source and no one can handle the stress of too many tests."

Perhaps Lothar Hirneise's most important message is that each person must find his or her own path to healing. A doctor can help in this process. But so can a friend. Everyone can make their own critical assessment of whether a particular treatment would truly be good for them. Individuality is Hirneise's inspiration. A final bit of advice from the man who spoke to so many people that were capable of overcoming their illnesses: "Make a deal with your tumour. I've noticed that a lot of survivors do this. They start a dialogue with the tumour: 'Dear tumour, this is a lose/lose situation. If you get bigger, I'll have to die and so will you. Let's turn this around into a win/win situation. You get smaller — you don't have to die, but shrink to normal proportions — which will mean I can live. In return I'll… ' I tell patients, you have to be very careful what you promise, because the tumour will only keep to its end of the bargain if you do too. If you can't stick to it, make a new deal. There are some people I cannot help. There was one woman whose son had unsuccessfully attempted suicide. On his deathbed she pleaded to God to take her life instead of his. The son lived. A couple of weeks later she had cancer. I told her to make a new deal with God, to talk to him again. But she was afraid that God would then take her son's life. She died shortly thereafter. No one can help someone like that. That is the power of a contract. Every person and every illness is unique and has the right to respect and a very personal approach."

This article is for interest only. If you are unwell or have a medical condition, please seek professional medical advice.

Lothar Hirneise is president and founder of the Menschen Gegen Krebs (People Against Cancer) in Germany, a non-profit organisation established to promote international research, education and consulting regarding the best treatments for cancer therapies. Hirneise has researched in-depth why and how many people heal themselves of cancer.

His fantastic book, Chemotherapy Heals Cancer And The World Is Flat, became a bestseller within a few months in Germany. It includes Hirneise's research on more than 100 alternative cancer therapies and will be available in English from October 2005. The book is published and can be ordered from NEXUS at www.nexus-book.com.

He is also starting an educational program to train people to become holistic cancer consultants like himself (see below).

Lothar Hirneise can be reached at:
Menschen gegen Krebs
p.O. Box 1205
71386 Kernen
Germany
Tel: +49-(0)7151-910217
mgk@krebstherapien.de
www.krebstherapien.de

Three Steps to Good Health

Detoxification starts with cleaning the intestines, for example by using enemas (bowel cleanses). It is also important to have any dead teeth pulled. The root canals of dead teeth are full of bacteria that attack the liver and lymph system. In addition, the (levorotatory or left-rotating) lactic acid, which is produced by the cancer cells, must be removed from the body. Due to a lack of oxygen in cancer cells, sugar is not entirely broken down and is converted into lactic acid. The lactic acid travels to the liver, the liver reconverts it to sugar and sugar feeds the cancer cells. Hirneise: "This is a vicious cycle. If I ask oncologists how they approach the lactic acid problem some say, what lactic acid problem? They don't consider it important. But not only will it kill you, it causes a lot of pain, comparable to when you do intensive sports — the lactic acid build-up in your muscles."

Excess lactic acid can be removed by taking a daily half-hour bath in water heated to 37 0°C, to which 100 grams of baking soda have been added. The baking soda increases the water's pH-value, which pulls the acid from the body. Hirneise: "It is cheap, fast and 100% effective. When the lactic acid has been removed, you'll need less morphine or none at all. Every day I talk to people who have been helped this way. They used painkillers for years. Now they sit for a half-hour in the bathtub." You also need to add dextrorotatory (right-rotating) lactic acid to your system by eating soft curd cheese, certain types of yoghurt or sauerkraut, for example.

Healthy food is based on living products. It's not about the calories but about life force. Fresh vegetables and fruits contain light and light is life force.

Thinking positive and a fighting attitude are essential. But so is visualisation. Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine stimulate people to see themselves healthy in the future. Hirneise: "Imagine, you have a tumour in your knee. Visualise yourself skiing in three months. See it as if you were sitting in a movie theatre, watching on a big screen. This creates a suction force towards health. Everyone who survived terminal stage cancer visualised this — even those who considered it a lot of rubbish. When I talk to them, they tell me they prayed, for example. I ask them what prayer is to them. They say: 'I told God that if he helped me, I would do this or that.' They saw themselves doing something beautiful in the future. They saw themselves in the future, completely healthy."

Holistic Cancer Consultants (HCC)
Introduction to a new vocational profile

Independent, holistic cancer consulting:
Sooner or later all those who are involved intensively with non-conventional cancer therapies, are confronted with the same problem: The majority of all patients only turn to biological therapies when conventional therapies have failed. Unfortunately the starting point at which a biological therapy is employed is totally different than it was when chemotherapy or irradiation was administered, because our body is no longer the same after irradiation or chemotherapy, not even if 'objective data', such as hemograms, stabilize after several weeks.

In 99.9% of cases cancer is diagnosed by conventionally trained physicians, and consequently most patients are also treated conventionally. However, since doctors are only slightly familiar (or not at all familiar) with non-conventional therapies (mistletoe, thymus, enzymes, vitamins, etc.), and often they still have a large information deficit concerning the statistics on conventionally used therapies, patients usually can only choose between an operation, chemotherapy, and irradiation.

The greatest deficit however with those directly affected, and this also includes family members, who usually are not in a situation where they can make rational decisions immediately after the diagnosis. The emotional involvement does not permit this. This is unfortunately the reason why far too many rash decisions are still being made; decisions that many patients later regret. This is understandable, because when people have cancer, they almost always believe that they do not have any time to consider things, or to research the issues.

But let's be honest:

* What doctor provides his patients with copies of studies about the chemotherapy or the irradiation that will be administered?

* What doctor is even capable of describing a conventional approach AND a non-conventional approach?

* What patient can pose THE questions to his doctor that are really important (due to the patient's lack of knowledge and the emotional impact of the patient's diagnosis)?

However it particularly these three points that are the most important after a diagnosis of cancer. Unfortunately there are only a few people who have the good fortune to be able to sit across the table from a doctor who is familiar with both important directions of oncology. Another major challenge is to determine whether the therapy offered would help just the patient, or whether it also helps others. For a number of very different reasons many patients are 'directed into studies' and thus they lose forever the chance that is afforded by non-conventional, successful, therapies. On the other hand others pay for expensive non-conventional therapies and only determine much too late that the therapies offered do not even come close to being worth the money. Unfortunately the issues of money, career, and therapies are almost always related and thus it is very difficult for a lay person (and often for experts as well) to understand whether the therapies offered are independent from other — mostly financial — interests. This is the reason why other teachers and I started offering career training to those interested in becoming a holistic cancer consultant.

FAQ

How do we do this?
We train people to be consultants, not therapists (consultants are people who only advise cancer patients verbally; they do not perform any therapy, not even psychological therapy. Therapists are people who use therapies on patients, or with patients). We consider separation between treating specialist/therapist and consultant to be absolutely necessary so that conflicts of interest do not even occur. This is the only that a patient can be 100% certain that he is being advised independently. A consultant earns money with his work, but ONLY with his verbal work, he does not earn 'supplemental income' which unfortunately is the status quo today. Naturally we make all of our knowledge available to our consultants, this particularly includes which doctors and clinics offer holistic treatment, or successfully treat cancer.

May I request money for my consulting later?
Of course. Every holistic cancer consultant can and should advise people based on his personal life context (self-help group leader, former patient, physician, psychologist, naturopath, etc.), and naturally he should also be paid for this advice. The only difference between a treating specialist and the consultant is that the consultant does not perform any therapy on his own, for which he receives money from patients.

How long is the training course?
A total of 2 years, which is divided into 4 blocks each lasting 5 days. The blocks do not just facilitate the usual transmission of course content, (this primarily occurs at home), rather they are designed to provide more depth on the material, to answer open questions, and to aid the personal development of the consultant, and the exchange of experience among participants.

What does the training course include?
An extensive curriculum in which the minimum knowledge required to holistically advise people with cancer is presented. Naturally this also includes the entire 3E program (Eat healthy, Eliminate toxins, Energetic work) and the knowledge of different cancer therapies, standard allopathic therapies, and diagnosis, and most importantly, knowledge of which conventional and non-conventional therapies are demonstrably successful for which types of cancer. The training enables each consult to create a consulting offering for his work. We do not think that each consultant should work in the same manner. Just as each patient is a unique individual, so each consultant must identify for himself the best way that he can advise and accompany people who are ill. We regard this point as the greatest challenge of the training course.

Do I need basic medical knowledge?
Yes and no. Basically we say that natural medical training will be quite helpful in learning the material, however it is not a necessity, if the person being trained is prepared to acquire the necessary knowledge.

Who are the instructors?
Mr. Lothar Hirneise, and others who can contribute to achieving the learning objective.

Please describe the activity of a holistic cancer consultant in practical terms?
Naturally the answer to these questions depends on the context of the individual, the professional experience of the individual, or the profession in which the individual would like to work. Basically the consultants offer accompaniment on the patient's path — regardless of whether the patient wants to pursue a conventional path, or a non-conventional path. The consulting can take a few hours (3E program, accompanying the patient to the oncologist etc.) or it can extend over a longer period. Also close collaboration with the treating therapist is possible.

Where can I be trained and how much does it cost?
Up to this point the training was only available in German. Currently in Europe there are trained cancer consultants, or cancer consultants in training, in Germany, Austria, France, Holland, Slovenia, and in Spain. Those interested in English language training can register now for England and for the USA.
Start England / London: Summer 2006.
Start USA / New York or maybe in California: Summer 2006.

More information about costs and precise dates is available here:
www.hcc-uk.com and www.hcc-usa.com
or write to: mgk@krebstherapien.de.

"Chemotherapy helps cure cancer and the Earth is flat" — An Interview with Lothar Hirneise Tijn Touber—08/2005 (Originally Published 10/03)

"Chemotherapy helps cure cancer and the Earth is flat"
— An Interview with Lothar Hirneise
Tijn Touber—08/2005 (Originally Published 10/03)