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January / February *Current Issue*



     Special



     Cancer Cures Offer New Hope: Special Report on

     Essiac



     As modern science has shown, an essential part of

     health is a positive, affirmative attitude. A

     determination to live, and taking the time to live

     with joy in one's own unique lifestyle is

     essential to health. Also, for the purposes of

     this paper, certain nutritional supplements have

     been shown to be very effective and essential. As

     scientific investigation continues, more and more

     natural medicines are gaining recognition as the

     remedies of choice. Nutrition itself, a good, raw

     foods, whole foods diet, the juices of fresh

     vegetables and fruits are all used not only for

     daily dietary needs, but also to treat illnesses.

     Additionally, estimates range from 35-40% of the

     American public use alternative treatments to

     conventional, pharmaceutical medicine. Many

     medical doctors themselves use such alternatives

     as homeopathy, acupuncture, and physical therapies

     such as massage, chiropractic, herbal,

     naturopathic, mind-body medicine and more, and

     they refer their patients to such practitioners,

     according to Oscar Janiger, M.D. in his new book A

     Different Kind of Healing.



     Herbs, with their antiviral, antibacterial, and

     antibiotic properties have been included in

     healing regimens for thousands of years because

     they strengthen the immune system instead of

     suppress the disease along with the rest of the

     system as do so many modern drugs. Why one can not

     often find an herbal treatment, or other

     alternative treatment working with one's own M.D.

     is an engaging question. The explanations can be

     multiple, but at least one reason stands out: 1.)

     he or she simply has not learned about these

     options. Many feel the challenge is compounded by

     current laws and medical association conventions,

     which keep the medical profession within certain

     well defined, but somewhat limited practices. Many

     physicians wish to change this system. Individuals

     in today's world filled with information and

     knowledge that is evolving daily find it is a wise

     course of action to question physicians regarding

     their knowledge of all forms of healing. A growing

     number of people no longer assume physicians

     gained all knowledge in medical school, and many

     physicians are turning to alternatives as orthodox

     medicine faces failure after failure in treating

     major diseases such as cancer.



           [===================================================]



                                    Keeping Hope Alive



                         Flor  Essence(TM) for a Brighter Future



                                THE TRIED AND TRUE FORMULA



                  * Only the Flor  Essence(TM) formula was developed and

                    perfected over decades of clinical application by

                    Canadian nurse, Rene Caisse, and her eventual partner

                    and co-owner, Dr. Charles Brusch, personal physician

                    to President John F. Kennedy.

                  * Only Flor  Essence(TM) has been formulated with the

                    precise percentage of herbal ingredients inherited

                    from eminent physician, Dr. Charles Brusch

 [Image]          * Only Flor  Essence(TM) is endorsed by

                    internationally acclaimed health researcher and

    [Image]         educator, Elaine Alexander, legal recipient of the

     Herbal         herbal formula from Dr. Brusch in 1988. Elaine

 Solutions For      Alexander now devotes her life to helping thousands

  Living Well       regenerate their health through this powerful

                    purifying tea.

                  * Flor  Essence(TM) contains eight quality tested

                    herbs, including burdock root, sheep sorrel, slippery

                    elm, watercress, Turkish rhubarb, kelp, blessed

                    thistle and red clover. Flor  Essence(TM) is

                    remarkably effective for flushing out accumulated

                    toxins, thus allowing the body to promptly return to

                    a state of vibrant health. It is available in a

                    ready-to-use liquid extract or a dry herbal blend to

                    be prepared as a tea



                       Flor  Essence(TM) is now available at most fine

                        health food stores. If it is not in your area,

                             contact Flora Inc., at 1-800-446-2110



           [===================================================]

     In the U.S. today, where healthcosts top $1

     trillion, where expenditures are greater than in

     any other country and yet where the U.S. ranks

     16th in life expectancy, one encounters many

     alternatives to conventional drug and surgery

     treatments. Orthodox cancer treatments today can

     start at $5,000 and rise to $14,000 for a short

     treatment span. Side effects of chemotherapy and

     radiation are often devastating, and at autopsy

     many patients are found to have died, not of their

     cancer, but of the treatment. This article will

     look at a remarkable herbal remedy for treatment

     of cancer and other immune deficient diseases that

     traces its roots to Canada and a Native American

     BY medicine man. When the effects of this

     treatment are seen by those who have been cured,

     it is reaffirming of the value of tradition and

     the contributions of indigenous cultures to the

     health knowledge base in modern health care.



     ESSIAC IS CAISSE REVERSED



     In 1922 nurse Rene Caisse worked in the surgery

     ward in an Ontario hospital where she found an

     elderly woman patient with a strangely scarred

     breast. The woman explained to nurse Caisse that

     thirty years earlier doctors told her she had

     advanced breast cancer and would need to have the

     breast removed. She declined the surgery. A Native

     American friend in Ontario had offered to heal it

     with herbal medicine, and she decided to accept.

     The man, an Ojibway herbalist, gave her the herb

     recipe, showed her how to make a brew of it, and

     she drank the tea daily. Her tumors shrank and

     then disappeared. She was still totally cancer

     free over thirty years later as she spoke with

     nurse Caisse in the Ontario hospital.



     Caisse obtained the recipe for herself thinking

     she could use it if she ever had cancer. It turned

     out that shortly afterward Caisse's aunt was

     diagnosed with advanced stomach cancer and given

     six months to live. Caisse asked the physician,

     Dr. R.O. Fisher, for permission to try the tea on

     her aunt. He consented. Her aunt drank the herbal

     brew daily for over two months and recovered. She

     lived for twenty years more.



     Dr. Fisher and nurse Caisse began treating cancer

     patients who had been diagnosed as terminal by

     their doctors, and many of them improved

     dramatically. They modified the combination of

     herbs somewhat, and Caisse named the concoction

     ``Essiac,'' which is her name spelled backward.



     Through the years, Caisse treated thousands of

     cases. The vast majority were brought to her for

     treatment after surgery, radiation and

     chemotherapy had failed, and the patients were

     pronounced incurable. One example is Annie Bonar.

     She was diagnosed with uterine and bowel cancer,

     which had spread after radium teatments, and her

     arm had swelled to double its size, turning black.

     The night before the arm was to be amputated, she

     opted for Essiac therapy instead. During four

     months of the herbal treatment, she went from 90

     to 150 pounds and her arm returned to normal. A

     series of exams revealed she was cancer-free. The

     Royal Cancer Commission of Canada listed her case

     as ``recovery due to radiation.''



     Canadian officials, concerned about laws against

     ``practicing medicine'' without a license, as well

     as many others in the medical community attempted

     to censor her work. This ultimately became a

     braking factor in Caisse's treatments. She also

     had numerous lucrative offers for the formula, but

     always feared a large company would take it over,

     and that Essiac would then become less freely

     available to the people who needed it most. It

     came freely from the Earth in a healing spirit to

     a Native American who passed it on in grace.

     Shouldn't all people have it that way? Caisse

     asked.



     In fact, Dr. Frederick Banting, discoverer of

     insulin, wanted to test the substance in his

     laboratory, because one person who had been cured

     of cancer by Essiac was taken off insulin for her

     diabetes. Under Essiac therapy, though her cancer

     tumor of the bowel became larger and harder at

     first, the tumor soon softened, got smaller and

     disappeared. The woman's diabetes also

     disappeared. Dr. Banting thought the Essiac healed

     the pancreas as well, and thus had potential to

     treat diabetes. He wanted to test the substance in

     his lab, but he also wanted Caisse to close her

     clinic while tests were run. She refused. There

     were too many people waiting for treatment. The

     tests on diabetes were not run. (See personal

     stories below.)



     Essiac, despite the evidence that it seems more

     effective than chemotherapy, radiation and surgery

     in treating various cancers, not to mention a lack

     of the undesireable side effects found in these

     conventional treatments, is not a cure-all

     according to Dr. Jim Chan, N.D. Chan obtained

     Essiac from the Resperin Corp. of Toronto for

     cancer patients through the emergency drug release

     program and maintains that Essiac is ``not 100%

     effective.'' The individual's personal life, the

     kind of carcinoma and the time at which they start

     taking Essiac are factors. Still, he has had a

     high success rate with those who had the least

     amount of radiation or chemotherapy. Most had

     begun the Essiac alternative in late stages of

     their cancer illness. However, Essiac has a far

     better success rate than chemotherapy.



     Even though over $100 billion per year is spent on

     treating cancer with conventional drugs and

     surgery, and despite the fact that alternatives

     which have been proven to work are not allowed by

     current laws to be used in medicine, and cancer

     rates are higher than ever, ``only 2 to 3% of the

     nearly 1 million Americans who die of cancer each

     year are being saved by chemotherapy'' [or is it a

     placebo effect?], according to Dr. John Cairns of

     Harvard University School of Public Health. Yet,

     over 1/2 of all cancer patients routinely receive

     chemotherapy drugs, which often cripple a person's

     chances of survival.'' (Townsend Letter for

     Doctors, May, 1993, No. 119.)



     In 1978, nurse Caisse signed over the rights to

     her Essiac formula, before she died at the age of

     90, to the Resperin Corp. (now, the original

     trademarked Essiac is produced and distributed by

     David Dobbie in Campbellton, New Brunswick, with

     approval of Canadian authorities), and Dr. Charles

     Brusch, M.D. of Cambridge, Massachussets who

     worked with Caisse in treating many patients. He

     cured himself of cancer of the lower bowel with

     Essiac treatments (see following article). Brusch

     turned his formulation over to Elaine Alexander of

     Vancouver, B.C., and this clinically developed

     formula is now manufactured by another Canadian

     company, Flora, Distributors (in the U.S. by

     Flora, Inc., and known as flor*essence as marketed

     through health stores), 1-800-446-2110.



     The early formula consisted of four herbs: Burdock

     Root , Turkey Rhubarb, Sheep Sorrel, and Slippery

     Elm. Dr. Brusch and Caisse, after clinical trials,

     added Red Clover (which is also an herb used as

     part of the Hoxsey therapy) Kelp and Thistle.



     According to herbalist Barbara Mowbray, Burdock

     root has been used for centuries. Eaten as spring

     greens it stimulates production of bile and helps

     liver function. As a first year root, dug in

     autumn, it is used as a blood purifier. It has

     renown for reducing the pain and swelling of

     arthritis. An extract of the root contains inulin,

     which the body converts to insulin, helpful to

     diabetics. There are many other qualities, but

     perhaps most germane is its reputation for tumor

     regression long used in macriobiotic diets. This

     perhaps points to the remarkable results cancer

     sufferers find when using Essiac.



     Turkey Rhubarb, used as stems, now find their way

     in puddings and pies. The root stock is both

     laxative and astringent, depending upon the dose.

     It is effective for diarrhea and known to work in

     removing debris and cleansing for the bowels. In

     Chinese medicine, it is used to treat fevers and

     has been used to treat chronic liver problems.

     Liver toxicity is often found in cancer patients.



     Sheep Sorrel has been used to treat scurvy,

     strengthen the heart and cool the liver. The fresh

     leaves contain a number of acids, which makes them

     a delicacy in fresh salads. It is respected as a

     diuretic and a treatment for blood disorders,

     including assisting with skin problems. A

     decoction can be used internally or externally.

     Also, Rene Caisse, in her fifty years of working

     with cancer patients, observed it to be effective

     in breaking down tumors as well as alleviating

     degenerative diseases



     Slippery Elm, or the inner bark thereof, is used

     to heal wounds and is known for its blanketing

     effect for the mucous membranes of the digestive

     system. It is soothing for sore throats, and coats

     the intestinal tract, producing speculation that

     its role in the Essiac formula is to protect when

     toxins are released. It is nutritive as well, used

     by Native Americans for food when none other was

     available.



     These four herbs and their parts are very

     plentiful in vitamins and minerals. For more

     in-depth information about their uses, chemical

     breakdown, planting and tending, as well as in

     their use as Essiac, see Sheila Faser Snow's

     excellent new book The Essence of Essiac. (See

     Resources end of chapter for ordering this and

     other books.)



     During the clinical trials of Essiac conducted by

     Resperin in 1978, Ed Zalesky, who was 63, had been

     diagnosed with cancer of the small intestine. Four

     feet of ``gut'' had been taken out but cancer was

     still left. ``They said I had six months without

     radiation and two years with radiation.'' He is

     now (1993) running the Canadian Museum of Flight

     seven days a week.



     He is critical of Essiac's detractors: ``Why can't

     the people who administer cancer funds give it a

     fair trial? It isn't going to hurt anyone, and the

     medical profession should stop playing God and

     allow us cancer patients to use the treatment of

     our choice.''



     In his article ``Essiac: A Remarkable Canadian

     Indian Remedy for Cancer'' author Richard Walters

     writes ``One wonders where are the controlled

     clinical trials of Essiac today for desperate

     patients who might benefit from it?'' He goes on

     to note that Dr. E Bruce Hendrick, M.D., chief of

     neurosurgery at the University of Toronto's

     Hospital for Sick Children urges ``a scientific

     clinical trial'' of Essiac. He cites recent

     evidence that patients with ``surgically treated

     tumors of the central nervous system, after taking

     an Essiac regimen, had `escaped from the

     conventional methods of therapy, including both

     radiation and chemotherapy.'''(For the People,

     People's Network, Inc., Telford Hotel, 3 River St.

     White Springs, FL 32096.)



     Walters goes on to note that Dr. Emma Carson, a

     Los Angeles physician who spent 24 days inspecting

     nurse Caisse's Bracebridge clinic in its heyday in

     1937 agreed. Originally skeptical and planning to

     stay only a couple of days, after scrutiny of

     clinical records and examination of over 400

     patients she wrote, ``The vast majority of Miss

     Caisse's patients are brought to her for treatment

     after surgery, radium, X-rays, emplastrums, etc.,

     has failed to be helpful, and the patients are

     pronounced incurable. Really the progress

     obtainable and the actual results from `Essiac'

     treatments and the rapidity of repair was

     absolutely marvelous and must be seen to

     convincingly confirm belief.''



     She went on to say, ``Several prominent physicians

     and surgeons who are quite familiar with the

     indisputable results obtained in response to

     `Essiac' treatments...conceded to me that the Rene

     M. Caisse `Essiac Treatment' for cancer is the

     most humane, satisfactory and frequently

     successful remedy for the annihilation of cancer

     `that they had found at that time....'''



     Questions remain about the efficacy of any cancer

     treatment. Certainly chemotherapy, radiation, and

     surgery are suspect, their rates of success in

     curing cancer almost nil, and the amounts of money

     spent funding the research and perpetuation of the

     industry incredibly high in relation to the

     success. M.D.s criticize one another and assert

     that those who work with these conventional

     treatments know 95% of the drugs in chemotherapy

     do not work. Yet the funding continues while

     clinical studies show failures.



     Indeed, Barry Lynes, author of The Healing of

     Cancer, cites evidence that the FDA itself has a

     history of ignoring dangerous drugs and chemical

     additives marketed by drug companies while using

     bureaucratic delays, legal harassment,

     unconstitutional procedures, and falsified

     evidence to stop alternative cures.



     THE SIMPLICITY OF ESSIAC



     The Essiac formula (see next page), at least the

     one given by Rene Caisse to the Resperin

     corporation, is so simple and natural that it

     deserves the grace of these magical lines of Edna

     St. Vincent Millay: ``And all the loveliest things

     there be / Come simply, so, it seems to me.''

     (``The Goose Girl,''The Harp Weaver, 1923)



     Nurse Rene Caisse drank the tea every day, to the

     day she died at age 90. She felt it was nourishing

     and prevented disease.



     With the abundance of evidence available, why is

     Essiac not given more study? Is it because the

     herbs used are so readily available, the formula

     so simple that no one would make any money curing

     cancer anymore?



     Or, is Essiac efficiency argued away using the

     logic of the placebo effect? The argument goes

     that a terminal cancer patient is so desperate

     they are ready to believe anything, and their

     belief actually cures rather than any herb or

     drug. If so, the same argument can be made about

     chemotherapy or radiation. Patients who live do so

     despite the destruction of their immune systems by

     these treatments. If this is the case, then

     wouldn't a patient rather spend $50 to $500 on

     herbs and maintain their immune systems than spend

     a life savings on drugs that actually wreak havoc

     on the whole body and have an extremely low

     success rate?



     In a recent interview Oscar Janiger, M.D., arguing

     for the use and more research of alternative

     methods of healing, including the so-called

     spiritual, noted that the ``use of placebos raises

     again the issue of whether people get better

     because of the powerful belief systems or

     suggestions that are made.... [Placebos] are what

     make people well as much as the chemotherapy

     does.''If thoughts and attitudes create a disease,

     then they can cure it. However, the earth also

     provides abundant resources for aiding the body in

     healing processes, and people are awakening to the

     natural resources, such as the herbs in Essiac,

     that supplement our efforts to prevent illness or

     cure disease.



     Supporters of Rene Caisse and Essiac gathered

     55,000 signatures for a petition supporting a bill

     to allow her to continue to treat cancer patients

     with Essiac free from the constant threats of

     arrest. The signatories included many doctors,

     Caisse's patients and their families. The bill to

     legalize Essiac as a remedy for terminal cancer

     patients failed by three votes to pass in the

     Ontario Parliament. Rene Caisse found years later

     that the College of Physicians and Surgeons met

     and told members ofParliament ``If you don't

     respond to the political pressure and legalize

     Essiac, we'll take a sincere look and give

     [Caisse] a fair hearing.'' (Gary Glum, ``Another

     Suppressed Cure,'' Unusual Alternatives for

     Health, Aug/Sep, 1992.) So Parliament didn't

     legalize Essiac, and people wonder what ever

     happened to the ``sincere look.'' Where is the

     fair hearing that was promised?



     Recently Dr. Gary Glum, a Los Angeles

     chiropractor, completed several years research of

     nurse Caisse's experiences with Essiac. He wrote a

     biography of Caisse titled Calling of An Angel

     (1988). He was given a formula for Essiac by Mary

     Macpherson, a close friend of nurse Caisse, and he

     published the formula in his book. Many people

     have used this formula and been healed of cancers,

     including luekemia (see page 12). Research and

     statistics remain to be activated, but anecdotal

     evidence indicates people have used the brew for

     treating many immune deficiencies, and others

     drink it daily as a preventive, testifying they

     feel better overall, indeed with more energy and

     verve for life.



     Despite the lack of interest from the medical

     profession and clinical proof, Essiac is growing

     in popularity. If it didn't have any merit, it

     would have killed itself by now.



     Aside from its use in treating various cancers,

     Essiac seems also to be a strong preventive and

     relieves pain in cancer patients. Gary Glum's wife

     found that Essiac normalized her thyroid gland,

     and she was able to stop taking her two grains of

     thyroid, which she had been on since sixth grade.

     Rene Caisse also found that Essiac would heal

     stomach ulcers within three to four weeks, and,

     best of all, all evidence so far shows it to be

     non-toxic when taken in no more than three 2 ounce

     doses during a 24 hour period. Rene Caisse

     sometimes added cress to the formula when she ran

     out of sheep's sorrel, and more recent formulas

     also contains Red Clover and Thistle as part of

     the development with Dr. Brusch.



     CONCLUDING NOTE



     I spoke with a Seattle man recently who had yet

     another story to tell about Essiac. He was

     diagnosed with cancer of the tongue in 1990. It

     had spread to the lymph nodes of his neck. He was

     set up for treatments with radiation and

     chemotherapy. His wife wanted him to try

     alternatives. Finally he did, but his doctors did

     not want to listen to him when he told them about

     the other vitamin and food supplements he was

     taking, nor the Essiac.



     After about 2 1/2 weeks of radiation he said his

     entire tongue was burned like a canker sore. He

     lost 65 pounds. It took from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. to

     drink his juices and vitamins. The tumor was

     shrinking. The doctors attributed it to radiation,

     not the food, herb and vitamin supplements. By the

     7th week the radiation had burned the neck so that

     it looked like raw meat.



     He stopped the radiation treatments in May, 1992.

     One month later doctors removed 39 lymph nodes in

     the neck, and there was no cancer in one of them.

     They attributed it to radiation. He still has no

     cancer today. He takes his supplements daily. The

     Drs. want to know how he's doing, and he tells

     them he's still doing the things they don't want

     to hear about, so he doesn't tell them about them.



     He takes Essiac daily. He says he tries to tell

     the doctors about it, but they don't want to

     listen. He buys the prescription drugs they've

     given him, but he must have over a gallon sized

     pail of the pills at home that he has never taken.

     I asked him how he had changed during his ordeal,

     because he had mentioned how important his

     attitude was in his healing. He said he woke up a

     lot., looked at his life, listened more. His life

     had changed. His faith was stronger.



     He saw beauty and caring in people. His wife,

     friends, strangers were wonderful in helping him.

     The doctors and nurses were marvelous. The only

     thing that bothered him, he said, was that there

     was no interest on the part of the doctors in what

     he was doing. ``The doctors were so busy they

     didn't want to listen, or didn't have the time to

     listen. Why aren't they listening to people who

     have been cured and using the things they use to

     cure themselves?''



     Scott E. Miners is a freelance writer in the field

     of health who focuses on the blending of science

     and the arts of medicine, philosophy, and natural

     healthcare.



     References



        *  Janiger, Oscar, M.D. A Different Kind of

          Healing (J.P.Tarcher, Inc., 1993).

        *  Cairns, John, M.D., Townsend Letter for

          Doctors, May, 1993, #119, 911 Tyler St. Pt

          Townsend, WA 98368.)

        *  Walters, Richard, ``Essiac: A Remarkable

          Canadian Indian Remedy for Cancer.'' For the

          People, a publication of Peoples Network,

          Inc., Telford Hotel, 3 River St., White

          springs, FL 32096.

        *  Lynes, Barry, The Healing of Cancer: The

          Cures, the Cover-ups, the Solutions, Marcus

          Books, P.O. Box 327, Queensville, Ontario,

          Canada LOG 1RO.

        *  Janiger, Oscar, M.D. ``What's Up Doc?''

          interview with Krysta Gibson; New Times,

          V.9,1; P.O. Box 51186, Seattle, WA

          98115-1186.

        *  Glum, Gary, D.C. ``Another Suppressed

          Cure,'' Unusual Alternatives for Health,

          Aug/Sep, 1992.



     * Other sources used in compiling this article:



        *  Fraser and Allen, Homemakers Magazine,

          June/July/Aug. 1977.

        *  ``Cancer Hope Reborn,'' Mia Stainsby, The

          Vancouver Sun ``Saturday Review'', May 16,

          1992.

        *  ``Rene Caisse: Essiac,'' Sheila Fraser Snow,

          Canadian Journal of Herbalism, summer, 1991.

        *  ``Essiac,'' Body, Mind & Spirit, Jan/Feb

          1991.

        *  ``Essiac: Nature's Cure for Cancer,'' an

          interview with Dr. Gary L. Glum, Elisabeth

          Robinson, Wildfire, V.6,1.

        *  Rene Caisse Story, Ted Britton

        *  ``Could Essiac Halt Cancer?'' Sheila Fraser

          and Carroll Allen, Homemakers Magazine,

          June/July/August, 1977.

        *  Creating Herbal Remedies, by Barb Mowbray,

          Box 962, Redmond, WA 98073



---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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