Re: laetrile (crosspost)

From: John Loomis (jloomis_at_mcn.org)
Date: 12/17/04 

Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 18:24:09 -0800

We need to get back on track.
We do understand differing views.
We have Prostate Cancer.
We want to learn how to make it gone or make it better.
We want to learn, how to stop peeing, and get a normal erection.
Anyway, if you can fill us in on that aspect, that would be great!
We do not need any other info other than that as respecteted.
My 2 penny;s
"J" <Nobody@to.conntact> wrote in message
news:41C22E22.AAA6B02F@execulink.com...
> "Robert A. Fink, M. D." (from news:sci.med) wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 16 Dec 2004 16:37:19 -0500, Mark & Steven Bornfeld DDS
>> <bornfeldmung@dentaltwins.com> wrote:
>>
>> >> http://www.whale.to/cancer/laetrile.html
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> > Ah, yes. Another one I remember from my schoolboy daze is
>> > this--you
>> >like this one too?
>> >
>> >http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/Cancer/krebiozen.html
>> >
>> >Steve
>>
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> From another List:
>>
>> Sure, sure. A part of all quack claims is the claim that there is a
>> huge conspiracy of liars form all around the world reporting stuff
>> that doesn't exist.
>>
>> Ann Emerg Med 1998 Dec;32(6):742-4 Acute cyanide toxicity caused by
>> apricot kernel ingestion.
>> Suchard JR, Wallace KL, Gerkin RD Department of Medical Toxicology,
>> Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center,Phoenix, AZ, USA.
>> jsuchard@samaritan.edu A 41-year-old woman ingested apricot kernels
>> purchased at a health food store and became weak and dyspneic within
>> 20 minutes.
>>
>> The patient was comatose and hypothermic on presentation but responded
>> promptly to antidotal therapy for cyanide poisoning.
>> She was later treated with a continuous thiosulfate infusion for
>> persistent metabolic acidosis. This is the first reported case of
>> cyanide toxicity from apricot kernel ingestion in the United States
>> since 1979.
>>
>> PMID: 9832674, UI: 99055485
>> --------------------------------------- Am J Clin Nutr 1979
>> May;32(5):1121-58 Laetrile: the cult of cyanide. Promoting poison for
>> profit.
>> Herbert V Publication Types:
>> Review PMID: 219680, UI: 79162525
>> ---------- Ann Emerg Med 1983 Jul;12(7):449-51 Acute cyanide poisoning
>> from laetrile ingestion.
>> Beamer WC, Shealy RM, Prough DS A case of cyanide poisoning from
>> laetrile ingestion is presented as an illustration of the recognition
>> and treatment of cyanide intoxication. The pharmacology of laetrile,
>> of cyanide, and of antidotes to cyanide intoxication are discussed as
>> they relate to the acute management and successful treatment of this
>> patient after this highly lethal ingestion.
>>
>> PMID: 6881636, UI: 83280902
>> ---------- Pediatrics 1986 Aug;78(2):269-72 Cyanide poisoning from
>> laetrile ingestion: role of nitrite therapy.
>>
>> Hall AH, Linden CH, Kulig KW, Rumack BH A 4-year-old child ingested
>> laetrile and almost died of cyanide poisoning. Treatment with the
>> Lilly cyanide antidote kit resulted in rapid, complete recovery.
>> Extremely high whole blood cyanide levels were documented. The
>> necessity for use of the antidote kit in serious cyanide poisoning has
>> recently been questioned. This case demonstrates benefit from
>> antidotal treatment.
>>
>> PMID: 2942834, UI: 86286401
>> ---------- JAMA 1978 Apr 14;239(15):1532 Rapid death associated with
>> laetrile ingestion.
>> Sadoff L, Fuchs K, Hollander J PMID: 633565, UI: 78133250
>> ---------- J Sch Health 1978 Sep;48(7):409-16 Laetrile--an overview.
>> Price JH, Price JA The original theory in the 1920s on the mode of
>> action of Laetrile is described along with the research that followed
>> in light of this theory. For over 40 years, studies were conducted,
>> using test animals, in an attempt to substantiate the theory. All of
>> these studies have shown Laetrile does not preferentially kill cancer
>> cells. In spite of these studies, the misconception persists that
>> Laetrile prevents and cures cancer. The legal and socioeconomic
>> implications of Laetrile are examined and the role of health education
>> in combating this problem is explored.
>>
>> PMID: 250579, UI: 79030831
>> ---------- Ann Intern Med 1978 Sep;89(3):389-97 The current status of
>> laetrile.
>> Dorr RT, Paxinos J Amygdalin at various concentrations and with
>> numerous impurities is the most common cyanogenic glycoside found in
>> laetrile samples. Its chemical properties were first described in
>> 1837, and pharmacologic studies have shown that ultimately it is
>> broken down to HCN, benzaldehyde, and glucose by enzymes found in gut
>> bacteria but not intracellularly in humans. Fatal and nonfatal
>> toxicities to orally ingested cyanogenic glycosides have been reported
>> worldwide. We review here the signs and symptoms of acute cyanide
>> toxicity and its treatment. Substantial in-vitro and in-vivo testing
>> in animal tumor systems has shown that amygdalin is entirely devoid of
>> significant anticancer activity.
>> Control animals often have lived longer than those treated with
>> various doses and schedules of amygdalin. Acceptable clinical studies
>> in humans are lacking, but such ventures would appear to be
>> contraindicated from animal studies and observed human toxicities. We
>> also discuss current legal-judicial aspects of laetrile therapy for
>> cancer.
>>
>> Publication Types:
>> Historical article PMID: 356691, UI: 78255119 Note: human studies were
>> done eventually, and no benefit was found. As with vitamin C,
>> detractors have always found something wrong with negative studies.
>> As for eating laetrile or apricot pits, caveat emptor. The apricot no
>> more makes laetrile in its seeds to cure your cancer than foxglove
>> make digitalis to help your heart. These things are made as poisons
>> to animals which may want to eat them. In the case of laetrile,
>> that's ALL the stuff is.
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> I had the experience of practicing in a town right next to the town
>> where Dr. John Richardson (now deceased), a great advocate of Laetrile
>> in the seventies, maintained his practice. Dr. Richardson, a
>> physician who could not qualify for hospital privileges, had patients
>> coming from all over the world to Albany, California, then a
>> conservative community in the Bay Area, to receive treatment with
>> Laetrile. He had his patients housed at a nearby motel, since he
>> could not hospitalize them.
>>
>> Every month or so, our hospital's Emergency Room would see patients
>> who were in extremis from their malignancies after they had come there
>> for continuing treatment, and Dr. Richardson was never available to
>> share medical records or any other data which might have been helpful
>> in treating the patients (or even lessening their pain as they died).
>> Dr. Richardson eventually was removed from practice by the State.
>>
>> I saw several of Dr. Richardson's "success" patients. In reviewing
>> their records (which the patients brought), there was no evidence that
>> they had ever had a proper diagnosis of "cancer", yet their survival
>> was credited to Laetrile.
>>
>> Finally, when the Federal Government finally got a hold of some
>> samples of Laetrile, it was determined that some specimens contained
>> absolutely NO "active ingredient"; and others contained so much
>> cyanide that a small dose could easily kill a young or elderly
>> patient.
>>
>> Schemes such as Laetrile, Krebiozen, and related "cures" are designed
>> to take financial advantage of people who have illnesses for which
>> modern science has yet to develop a "cure". Such people and their
>> families are bilked of their savings, their homes, etc., and then, the
>> practitioners of these schemes laugh all the way to the bank.
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Bob
>>
>> Robert A. Fink, M. D.
>> Neurological Surgery
>> 2500 Milvia Street Suite 222
>> Berkeley, CA 94704-2636 USA
>> 510-849-2555
>>
>> **********************************
>> NOTE: The material above is not "medical
>> advice". Medical advice can only be
>> given after an in-person contact between
>> doctor and patient.
>> **********************************
>

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