SCIENTISTS CLAIM THREE MIRACLE RICE VARIETIES MAY CURE CANCER

Researchers and scientists working on a joint project of the Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidalaya and Bhabha Atomic Research Institute (BARC) are of the opinion that three traditional, and almost extinct, rice varieties cultivated largely tribal by farmers of Chhattisgarh have been found to possess qualities that can cure lung and breast cancer. These varieties are ‘Lycha’, ‘Gauthan’ and ‘Maharaji’. Their preliminary findings, though, have been strongly disputed by the medical fraternity and cancer awareness activists, saying that such claims are hard to believe. The preliminary experiments done through methanol extracts from the three varieties at BARC were tested for their anti-cancer efficacy in human breast cancer cells and human lung cancer cells and were found to stop growth of these cells. SANJEEB MUKHERJEE writes

Can rice cure cancer? Well, if researchers working on a joint project by the Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya (IGKV), Raipur, and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai, are right, three traditional rice varieties cultivated largely by tribal farmers of Chhattisgarh have been found to possess qualities that can cure lung and breast cancer.

Their preliminary findings, however, have been strongly disputed by the medical fraternity and activists working to create cancer awareness. They have contended that such claims are hard to believe and have not been substantiated by science.

‘Lycha’, ‘Gauthan’ and ‘Maharaji’ — the three traditional rice varieties — have long exited the state’s largescale cultivation and are at present confined to a few backyard farms. Of these ‘Lycha’ cultivated in and around the Dhamtari, Kondagaon, and Kanker districts of Chhattisgarh has been known to cure skin diseases. ‘Gauthan’ and ‘Maharaji’ cultivated in and around the districts of Mahasamund and Dhamtari have also been known to possess medicinal qualities by the locals. But, these were never commercially exploited as the majority of farmers had stopped cultivating these varieties.

However, students from the IGKV, who have been working on these varieties for the past two years, took samples from the three rice varieties for further research to the BARC. Preliminary experiments done through methanol extracts from the three varieties in the BARC, when tested for their anti-cancer efficacy in human breast cancer cells and lung cancer cells, showed that they stopped their multiplication. Among these, Lycha extract was most effective in killing human breast cancer cells. “The initial result clearly shows that these rice varieties have anti-cancer properties, which if established through proper research and supplemented by strong marketing efforts, could be a boon for millions of cancer patients all over the world,” Deepak Sharma, coordinator of the joint project by IGKV and BARC, told Business Standard.

He said while ‘chemo’ or radiation therapy destroyed infected as well as good cells, the rice extract was found to lower only the count of infected cells.

According to publicly available data in India, lung cancer constitutes 6.9 per cent of all new cancer cases and 9.3 per cent of all cancer-related deaths in both men and women (one of the commonest causes of cancer and cancer-related mortality in men), while breast cancer has been ranked highest among Indian women with the age-adjusted rate as high as 25.8 per 100,000 women and a mortality rate of 12.7 per 100,000 women.

Sharma, meanwhile, said there was an urgent need to establish the efficacy of these varieties for which they had tied up with five major research organisations, including the Advanced Centre for Cancer Biology of the Tata Memorial Institute, the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, and the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru.“We along with these major research institutes are also working to develop food supplements like ‘Bournvita’ from these extracts, which were easily consumable,” he added.

Medical practitioners and people working in the field of cancer awareness have refuted such claims. “Frankly speaking, I don’t believe these claims. There have been so many products in the past that have been claimed to cure cancer, but nobody knows what their fate has been. Such diets, at best, can be preventive measures, but cannot be a replacement for treatment like chemotherapy,” Rita Banik, founder president of ‘RACE to Rein In Cancer’, a group which creates cancer awareness, told Business Standard.

Banik, a cancer survivor and the author of the acclaimed book, Kick The Beast Out of Your Life, said to prevent cancer one had to maintain a balanced diet that included large quantities Vitamin B-17 and so on.