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RITCH & GRAVES,
ATTORNEYS AT LAW,
Gainesville, Fla., April 24, 1980.
Hon. CLAUDE PEPPER,
2239 Rayburn House Office Building,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR REPRESENTATIVE PEPPER: I have noted with interest your investigation into
the FDA position regarding Dimethyl Sulfoxide. Therefore, I am writing this letter
to attest to DMSO's miracle abilities.
Recently, a veterinarian prescribed DMSO for my German Shepherd, who has
arthritis. The veterinarian advised me that the drug was approved for use by horses
only, but that due to the apparent inability of other prescription medication to aid
my Shepherd in her plight, he was willing to try DMSO. Inasmuch as I have disc
problems, I decided to try DMSO on my back. In a matter of minutes, for the first
time in 18 months, I was not in pain. I have no way of knowing how long the relief
will last, but at the time I am dictating this letter, it has been over 15 hours.
I sincerely hope that you and your select committee on aging will be able to fully
explore DMSO and its use. It would be my sincere hope, after experimenting with
the drug myself, that DMSO be made available to all people who need it for relief.
The Federal Drug Administration, in my opinion, has taken a dim view of some-
thing that works strictly because no one can explain why it works.
Keep up the good work.
Cordially yours,
R. FRANKLIN RITCH.
PRINEVILLE, OREG., April 24, 1980.
Representative CLAUDE PEPPER,
House Office Building,
Washington, D.C.
DEAR MR. PEPPER: I have been contacted by the Independent Citizens Research
Foundation for the Study of Degenerative Disease, Inc., re. the use of DMSO.
I feel that I am quite qualified to comment about DMSO because I have known
about it and have worked on many experimental uses for it since it's discovery. In
fact, a neighbor of ours was one of the ones that first "stumbled" onto its first
unusual effects at Crown Zellerbach's mill at Camas, Washington many years ago.
I am a Registered Nurse and worked for many years with Dr. Rosenbaum at
Holliday Park Hospital and Dr. Jacob from the University of Oregon Medical School
in Portland, Oregon in many of their first experimental cases.
It would take pages for me to relate the marvelous effects I have seen from the
use of DMSO, especially in bursitis and in every stage of arthritis. One would have
to be blind or insensitive to human suffering to deprive those patients from the
relief they get from the use of DMSO.
My husband is registered at the University of Oregon Medical School to obtain
and use DMSO on an experimental basis and he finds DMSO invaluable for the
immediate relief and cure of herpes sinplex which he occasionally gets on his lips
and across his nose. No other medication has been so effective.
I well remember when the first article re DMSO came out in "Northwest Medi-
cine", a publication for Northwest doctors. Because it scooped the Journal for the
AMA it was instantly played down by the AMA and a bitter battle ensued for many
years. I really believe that was when the battle lines were drawn and many of the
doctors were too stubborn to admit that they could have been wrong.
I had a nephew who suffered severe 2nd and 3rd degree burns on his face and
neck from a motorcycle accident. His doctor used DMSO in his treatment and, in
my 40 plus years of nursing I have never seen a burn heal so rapidly, without a
skin-graft and not even a scar.
I believe every one should have the right to choose if they want to receive this
medication in their own particular case upon recommendation of their doctor.
I am thoroughly convinced that if the F.D.A. was just half as careful in passing on
some medications as they have been on DMSO maybe some of us would be better
off. My husband was just recently put on "Corgard" for high blood pressure. This is
such a new medication that it isn't even in the new 1980 P.D.R. (Physician's Desk
Reference). I'm sure if it had been more thoroughly tested and researched he
certainly would have been told of its side effects, such as slow pulse. I caught it
when his pulse had dropped to 38 and he stopped taking it. His doctor's remark was
that he guessed it must slow the pulse, too.
