Scientists have discovered that extracts from a plant, found in arid regions of India and Pakistan, can kill cancerous cells and produces no harmful side-effects associated with chemotherapy.
Tea from the plant known as virgin’s mantle is already drunk by women in rural Pakistan who have breast cancer, the Daily Mail reported.
Researchers from Aston University, Birmingham, and Russells Hall Hospital, Dudley, found that it contains potent anti-cancer agents that act singly or in combination against the proliferation of cancer cells.
Laboratory tests showed they arrested the growth of cells within five hours of application and caused them to die within 24 hours.
The plant, which has the botanical name Fagonia cretica, is found in arid, desert regions of Pakistan, India, Africa and parts of Europe.
Professor Helen Griffiths and Professor Amtul R. Carmichael, who headed the study, found herbal tea made from the extract of the plant destroys cancer cells but unlike conventional chemotherapy, treatment does not damage normal breast cells, thus reducing side effects. — PTI