HAMLET AND CASHEW NUTS
Wiping Out Pesky Warts

This is not about my favorite Shakespearean character. HAMLET is human alpha-lactalbumin made lethal to tumor cells, or in layman's terms, breastmilk as a cure for warts. It was termed HAMLET by Swedish researchers because of the proximity of their location to the scene of the Shakespeare play, which took place in Denmark.

While the researchers knew that breastmilk contains a natural antibiotic, its potential against viruses and tumors was discovered by accident. Dr. Catharina Svanborg, professor of clinical immunology at Lund University in Sweden, and her team were testing ways to fight what is called bacterial superinfection, which is a condition wherein bacteria infects cells already infected by a virus. Her team applied alpha-lactalbumin (a protein in mother's milk) to double-infected lung cancer cells. To their surprise, the cancer cells as well as the bacteria inside them were killed. That was because the milk protein had changed its configuration, bound to another milk component called oleic acid, and created the more powerful HAMLET compound. They then tested it against warts on patient's hands and feet, called plantar warts. The warts shrank by at least 75% over the first 3 weeks the compound was applied to the skin. The whole thing has been documented in the latest copy of the New England Journal of Medicine. Read here.

What the world and these Danes do not know is that as of 1997, a Filipino inventor by the name of Rolando dela Cruz has already been reaping rewards internationally for his topical herbal cream preparation for removing warts, moles and other skin growths using cashew extracts. His anti-wart creams can remove warts and unwanted moles in minutes! That makes the HAMLET look lame in comparison. His latest international award came from the 7th Moscow International Salon of Industrial Property or "Archimedes 2004" held at the Exhibition Centre Sokolniki, Moscow, Russia last April 2004. Check out his website here.

But since the international scientific and medical community frowns at people with no publication of his work at a peer-reviewed journal like the New England Journal of Medicine or the Lancet, Dela Cruz might be in danger of being labeled as a quack or simply ignored for his remarkable invention. He must take steps in order to get recognized and put on record that it was a Filipino who discovered a more effective way of getting rid of pesky warts.

Skin warts are caused by the human papilloma virus, which has about 130 known types. Almost all cases of cervical cancer are caused by two sexually transmitted types. Other types cause skin and genital warts, squamous cell skin cancer and lesions in the throat that are deadly in rare cases. Most persons carry the virus in skin cells, but it does not always cause disease. Discoveries like the anti-wart properties of cashew nuts and breat milk serve as a cause of optimism bacause it might one day also prove effective against cervical cancer and other lethal diseases caused by the same virus.