Talc has been used as a treatment of a side effect of lung cancer. This side effect is that fluid builds up around the lungs and exerts pressure on them. Talc has been placed around the lungs and the ensuing scarring has prevented the fluid build up to happen.

Strange thing is though that patients under this treatment have also showed a longer life expectancy. It seems like the talc is able to stimulate good cells and inhibit bad ones. It seems to do this by stimulating the production of the hormone endostatin. This hormone has been tried before but done through injection . It is speculated that the talc does a better job by stimulating the body's own production, locally.

“We were surprised to find that talc has added benefits besides causing scarring and taking away the fluid that surrounds the lung,” Antony said. “The cells that cover the lining of the lung are stimulated by the presence of talc to produce a factor that inhibits the growth of blood vessels and kills the tumor cells themselves.” Less than one day after treatment with talc, patients began producing 10-fold higher levels of endostatin, a hormone released by healthy lung cells. Endostatin prevents new blood vessels from forming, slows cell growth and movement, and even induces nearby tumor cells to commit suicide. All of these make it hard for tumors to grow and spread into healthy lung tissue.

According to Wikipedia though,  talc is suspected suspected to be cancer inducing...

(First posted June 7, 2007 5:12 pm)