Re: laetrile

From: Robert A. Fink, M. D. (lynxer_at_comcast.net)
Date: 12/16/04 

Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 23:53:37 GMT

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.
**********************************

Relevant Pages

  • Re: laetrile
    ... Anyone who pushes laetrile is, AFAIAC, a murderer. ... > Ann Emerg Med 1998 Dec;32:742-4 Acute cyanide toxicity caused by ... > cyanide toxicity from apricot kernel ingestion in the United States ... He had his patients housed at a nearby motel, ...
    (sci.med)
  • Re: laetrile (crosspost)
    ... >> cyanide toxicity from apricot kernel ingestion in the United States ... >> from laetrile ingestion. ... He had his patients housed at a nearby motel, ...
    (sci.med.diseases.cancer)
  • Re: laetrile (crosspost)
    ... We have Prostate Cancer. ... >> cyanide toxicity from apricot kernel ingestion in the United States ... >> from laetrile ingestion. ... He had his patients housed at a nearby motel, ...
    (sci.med.diseases.cancer)
  • Re: laetrile (crosspost)
    ... > cyanide toxicity from apricot kernel ingestion in the United States ... > from laetrile ingestion. ... > laetrile ingestion is presented as an illustration of the recognition ... He had his patients housed at a nearby motel, ...
    (sci.med.diseases.cancer)
  • Re: Cancer truth
    ... the western world and the nature of cancer in general. ... A doctor from the United States FDA once said that Laetrile contains ... 'free' hydrogen cyanide and, thus, is toxic. ...
    (misc.health.alternative)