Please check out the
Cut Poison Burn LIVE Q&A Transcript of the film participants and producers below:
Question: How were you approached to do the film?
Lou Cimino: When I started writing the film I met Dr. Burzynski in Houston and he told me about Donna. I met her and Jim and they told me the story of Thomas and it was a very very hard story and I wanted to do my best to immortalize their child so that what they went through wasn't in vain.
Donna Navarro:
I'm grateful I met Lou. We had a documentary crew follow us around
for 10 years, and Lou was able to incorporate our footage into his
film to bring awareness for medical freedom.
Question: There
is a bill now in front of the House and Senate. Can
you take these
people through this?
Donna Navarro:
There is a bill out there the HR6342 COMPASSIONATE
FREEDOM OF
CHOICE ACT. This enables the patient to use drugs,
treatments and
devices that have not yet been approved by the Food and
Drug
Administration. You can contact representatives of your state.
They need to
support. You can track this bill by going to govtrack.us,
where you can
track in real time. It is in committee waiting to be
voted on before
it goes to the House to be voted on. We need a lot of
support. Also,
Ron Paul is retiring. When he retires this bill is
going to die,
and we will need a new Congressmen or Senator to
introduce this
again.
Question: What
do recommend to families in a similar situation?
Donna Navarro:
It's very hard to get around conventional medicine.
With a child you
have to follow protocols that FDA sets up and if you
try usurping
them, your child can be taken away. Do your research.
Question: Is
every state different?
Donna Navarro:
Every state has different medical freedoms and the
rights of
parents but none of them truly give the right to choose the
modality of
treatment.
Question: What
is the best form of alternative therapy you have come
across?
Donna Navarro:
Every cancer has different aspects to it, and different
kinds of
treatment. Medicine is an art. Dr. S. Burzynski has the best
for the
treatment of brain cancers. Antineoplaston treatment is what
we wanted for
Thomas, who had Medulloblastoma, a form of brain cancer.
Question: How
did you choose what to show?
Charlie Sadoff:
An example of a scene that we debated over how much to
include was the
scene towards the end of the film where Donna is woken
up by Thomas,
and he is struggling. It’s a tough scene to watch
but we decided
to include as much as we could so the audience could
experience as
much as they could what Donna and Jim were going
through. We
showed this scene to Jim before we finalized it, and Jim
gave his
blessing.
Question: What
can they do outside the bill to spread the word about
this issue?
Larry Meistrich:
We are distributing this film so that people can have
a voice. Like us
on Facebook, tell your friends, look at our blog.
Email us if you
want to show this to your church or synagogue, or
local community
group. What we decided to do with the film is to offer
Personal Value
Pricing. If people can't afford to pay for it, people
can download it
and pay what they can for the film. We care about
getting the
message out, and we want Thomas' story to be the last like
this.
Question: What
was Thomas like? Donna Navarro: Thomas was opinionated
and strong child
with a very strong faith in God. He never gave up.
Question: How do
you defeat the FDA?
Donna Navarro: I
don't know how you defeat the FDA! Keep on knocking
on their doors.
They are not elected they are appointed.
They don't change with administrations.
They don't change with administrations.
Charlie Sadoff:
Sunlight always helps which is the point of the film.
The FDA is
autonomous. Oversight from Congress isn't very strong.
Congress needs
to force the FDA to look at their mandate. And private
industry can
help as well if they can come up with ways of getting
certain drugs
into the market that are not FDA approved.
Question: Who
are the politicians that are supporting this bill?
Donna Navarro:
Ron Paul introduced it. The four co-sponsors are Paul
Broun from
Georgia, Dan Burton from Indiana, Morgan H. Griffith from
Virginia, and
Richard Hanna from New York. We need more sponsors so
please write to
your representatives and tell them to support the Bill!
Question: What
should people say when they reach out?
Donna Navarro:
Tell them to support HR6342: The Compassionate Freedom
Act, be concise
and to the point. They look at you as 1,000 votes.
Charlie Sadoff:
it's been crafted to be bipartistan and has a really
low bar for
approval. It's a first step. It should get broader
support.
Congress isn't doing much of anything these days, but if you
can, try to make
your representatives aware of it.
Question: Is
this bill just about medical freedom for children or
adults?
Donna Navarro:
It’s for children and adults.
Question: While
filming this documentary did the crew become
emotional?
Donna Navarro:
No, not really. They were doing everything with us and
through us and
sometimes they got emotional. We were really a family
and we
understood our boundaries. Sometimes we would need to push them
out of the room,
but they understood.
Question: How
about the cutting room?
Charlie Sadoff:
Yes, of course you do get emotional and you get to
know the people
in the movie. In the end you try to tell the best
story you can.
Question: Are
you able to see Dr. Burzynski for treatment?
Donna Navarro:
Dr. Burzinsky can see patients if you fit the FDA
protocol they
set up. He is currently treating patients.
Question: The
film started out as a play. Can you talk about the path
this project
took?
Lou Cimino: I
started writing a play Cut Poison Burn in 1989 and I
started
researching doctors in sort of the medical underground. I was
finding people
who had been harassed and arrested for treating
patients.
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