/oss/taxonomy/term/1890/all en /oss/article/health-technology/costly-reprogramming-immune-system-fight-cancer <p>Alternative medicine, with its universal boogeymen and safe panaceas, gives us a simplistic (and wrong) view of the world. Medicine, on the other hand, often demands that we make tough choices. Chemotherapy may kill cancer cells but it also kills any rapidly dividing cell, which means hair loss and nausea. A new type of intervention for cancer was approved by Health Canada a year ago and is now being covered by the Quebec public drug plan.</p> Fri, 18 Oct 2019 17:42:21 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 7965 at /oss /oss/article/cancer-controversial-science-health-news/leukemia-needs-chemotherapy-not-live-enzyme-treatment <p>Do parents have a right to make a decision about how a minor’s cancer is to be treated? Or not treated? This is not just a hypothetical question, it is a very current one. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is a bone marrow cancer that untreated leads to death but with appropriate chemotherapy has an over 90% cure rate. The parents of an eleven year old Canadian girl have decided to end the recommended treatment before it was completed in favour of a “natural” therapy, stating that this was more in line with their native traditions.</p> Sun, 12 Oct 2014 13:39:16 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2203 at /oss