textfiles/science/essiac.txt

From: Posted for Dr. Gary L. Glum 1 310-271-9931
Subject: Essiac: a natural herbal alternative cancer treatment
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Date: 10 Apr 93 17:03:41 GMT
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		  	---   *   ---
This file containes four sections:
	1. An Introduction to the book Calling of An Angel by Dr. Gary L. Glum.
	2. The Essiac Formula.
	3. Address and phone number for more information.
	4. An interview with Dr. Glum from "Wildfire" Magazine. 
			---   *   ---
Section 1. 
	Introduction chapter to a book called ____"Calling of An Angel"____
"The true story of Rene Caisse and  an indian herbal medicine 
called ESSIAC-Nature's cure for cancer." (isbn# 0-9620364-0-4)
By Dr. Gary L. Glum. Published by Silent Walker Publishing, Los Angeles
(c) Copyright 1988, all rights reserved.  Permission to copy, transmit, 
and share the _introduction_chapter_ has been granted by the author.
Dr. Glum can be reached by telephone at 310-271-9931 For further information.

		Introduction (to book):

	This is the story of a woman named Rene Caisse. For
more than 50 years, until her death in 1978 at the 
age of 90, she treated thousands of cancer patients,
most of them written off by doctors as terminally ill,
with her own secret herbal formula. She called it 
Essiac - Cassie spelled backwards - and she brewed the tea herself,
alone in the kitchen.
	Her patients swore by her. They were devoted. Men and 
women who believed she cured them of cancer told their friends
and families, wrote letters to doctors and politicians, swore affidavits, 
testified before the Canadian parliement and pleaded
with Rene Caisse to supply them with more Essiac when they
needed it. Some husbands and wives of patients who died wrote 
Rene letters thanking her profoundly for making life easier - free
of pain - and longer for their loved ones. Her funeral in the
village of Bracebridge, about 170 kilometers north of Toronto, was 
attended by hundreds of people, including former patients Rene
had treated for terminal cancer as far back as the 1930's and who
were still on their feet to bury her and tell her stories.
	I'm convinced that Essiac works. It has potent - and
preventive - power. It is a gift from nature. I've seen a small part
of the evidence with my one eyes, and I've experienced Essiac's 
power as a healthful tonic in my own life. I suffered from chronic
bronchitis until a few years ago when I first heard of Essiac and 
tried it myself. Within a few days my cough disappeared and it hasn't 
returned. I still drink the Essiac. It tastes like what it is, an herbal
tea. About as plain and mild as any of the other herbal teas from 
around the world you can buy at any supermarket. I've never 
felt better. All though Canada and in parts of the United States today
there are people of all ages who are absolutely convinced that Essiac 
saved their lives or the lives of friends and loved ones.
But you can't buy it in any supermarket.
	 Claims have been made - since about 1925, in fact - that Essiac
is an effective treatment for cancer. So the governments of North America
have classified it as a "drug." The Canadian government almost legalized
its use by Rene in 1939, and has gone through fits and starts ever since
in deciding how to handle the situation. The policy has ranged from 
threatening to arrest Rene if she didn't close her clinic to promising
her publicly - on the record, in the press - that she wouldn't be arrested
if she would agree to keep her clinic open, thus quieting the public clamor
that arose after the government threatened to shut her down.
	In the last decade, the Canadian government has classified Essiac
as an "experimental drug," and then an "experimental drug that failed to 
show promise", and today - as Dr. Hendrick's letter shows - the internal
battles are still going on in Canada over the future of Essiac.
	In the U.S., A 1978 class action suit in federal court in Detroit
seeking to authorize the importation of Essiac for cancer treatment 
was defeated by the government. Other than that, the  U.S. government
hasn't faced that much pressure about Essiac. There are probably high
level officials in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration - and the 
National Cancer Institute - who make life and death decisions about 
cancer drugs who could honestly say they've never heard of Essiac. 
I hope they'll take the time to read this book.
	 I don't claim that Essiac is a miraculous panacea, capable 
of curing all cancers in all people, nor do I believe that. Rene Caisse 
didn't even believe that. She didn't claim Essiac as a "cure for cancer." 
Her former patients were the ones who put forward that claim, strenuously 
and over many decades. What Rene maintained was that Essiac caused regression 
in some cancerous tumors, the total destruction of others, prolonged life in
most cases and - in virtually every case - significantly diminished the
pain and suffering of cancer patients.
	If the testimonials of Rene's former patients, including those
sworn under oath, have any credibility at all - and when I present
then, I think you'll agree they do - then Essiac's powers as a pain 
reliever in cancer patients are nothing short of phenomenal. In
sixty years of personal accounts, the easing of agony and an increased
sense of well-being - often to the point of getting through the day 
without narcotics - is one of the predominant themes. You hear it over and 
over again, and always told with a deep sense of gratitude.
	Rene fought almost her whole adult life against overwhelming
odds and under incredible pressures, some of them self-imposed, 
to establish those simple facts as accepted wisdom. She never
gave up her fight. But for one woman many years ago to persuade 
the medical and legal institutions of North America that a 
natural treatment for cancer - based on herbs that grow wild - 
might make more sense than the accepted means of surgery, radiation
and chemotherapy...she might as well have been telling them 
in an earlier century that the earth is round.
	Remember: Rene was fighting cancer with a natural treatment
in an era when the conventional wisdom of the medical establishment 
denied even that diet might be a factor in causing cancer.
It's hard to believe, knowing what we know now - and what
has become conventional wisdom - but for generations those 
doctors who preached dietary causes of cancer were dismissed 
by most physicians as quacks. So was the medical establishment 
to make of this woman - who wasn't even a licensed doctor - 
who preached that a cancer treatment was to be found in 
plants that grow in the wild?
	My goal in this book is simple: I want to tell people the
story of this ordinary woman's extraordinary life and share the knowledge
of Essiac so that people can make their own informed decisions
about what its future should be. I don't pretend to have all the
answers  about how Essiac works, or the final scientific
proof that it dose. There are large gaps, as I'll explain, in my
own knowledge of this story. Much of it remains a mystery to me,
raising deeply intriguing questions which I would love to see answered.
	But I do know that there is already enough evidence that Essiac
has benefited cancer patients in the last 60 years to warrant
those controlled clinical studies that some physicians - such as
Dr. Hendrick - have advocated for decades.
	The risk to the public would certianly appear to be minimal.
There seems to be universal agreement among the doctors and
scientists who have done investigations of Essiac - and the
patients who have used it - that Essiac is non-toxic and without 
harmful side effects. Rene Caisse drank it every day for half a
century and some of her family and close friends always made
sure they had had their daily cup. Not even Rene Caisse'e worst
enemies ever put forward the argument that people were hurt by
drinking the tea.
	This non-toxic nature of Essiac is an important consideration
in making it a treatment worthy of serious investigation. Many
of the conventional accepted chemotherapy drug actually come
with toxic warning labels. One of the commonly administered
cancer drugs is the chemical Fluorouracil(5FU). Note this warning
on the manufacturer's brochure: "Precautions: Florouracil is
a highly toxic drug with a narrow margin of safety. Therefore,
patients should be carefully supervised since therapeutic response
is unlikely to occur without some evidence of toxicity....Severe
hematological toxicity, gastrointestinal hemorrhage and even
death may result from the Fluorouracil despite meticulous selection
of patients and careful adjustment of dosage."
	As if that weren't bad enough, the officially accepted
"experimental drugs," on which the government and the drug companies
lavish huge sums of developmental funds, can be even worse.
According to a 1981 Washington Post story, a major
American drug company spent significant amounts of money and
years of research on a weed from India they hoped would have a
beneficial effect on certian forms of leukemia - even though it
was known in advance that the weed caused severe liver damage
in livestock. And sure enough, when the weed was synthesized
into a chemical and given to cancer patients, there were reports
that it was helping some people - and killing others.
	But there was nothing unusual in that. "We knew from the
beginning that this caused toxicity in animals," the Post quoted a 
U.S. Food and Drug Administration official as saying "Almost
all investigational cancer drugs as highly toxic." As you read this
story and wonder - as I did many, many times while I was researching
it - if an herbal compound developed by one one woman could 
possibly - even possibly - be safer and more effective than
the best of what medical science is already bringing us, please
keep this quote in mind from that 1981 series of Washington
Post articles:
	"Over the last decade, more than 150 experimental drugs have
been given to tens of thousands of cancer patients under the sponsorship 
of the U.S. Federal Government's National Cancer Institute.
Many of these drugs have come from a list of highly toxic
industrial chemicals, including pesticides, herbicides and dyes....
those who take them, the experimental drugs - along with leading
to hundreds of deaths - have elicited a nightmarish list of 
serious adverse reactions. including kidney failure, liver failure,
heart failure, respiratory distress, destruction of bone marrow so
the body can no longer make blood, brain damage, paralysis, 
seizure, coma and visual hallucinations.
	"So little is known about many if these chemicals that doctors
have found these ironic results: In some cases the experimental
drug actually stimulated tumor growth rather than stopped the
cancer - and in other tests, doctors and researchers found that
the exprimental drug itself caused cancer."
	Rene Caisse wouldn't have been surprised to read that. Her
own feelings about the use of these toxic drugs, after a lifetime
spent fighting cancer, were blunt and nasty: "Chemotherapy 
should be a criminal offense," she told one reporter.
	Though the medical establishment has not recognized Rene 
Caisse's herbal treatment for cancer as legitimate, there is more 
than ample precedent for the approach she was taking. According 
to a 1987 NOVA documentary on "The Hidden Power Of Plants."
aired in the Public Broadcasting System: "Indeed, the
history of medicine has been largely the story of plants and the
potent chemicals they produce. Around the world, traditional 
healers, using plant medications, provide health care to eighty 
percent of the human population - over four billion people."
	Since the 1950's doctors have been using an alkaloid called
vincristine - which comes from a evergreen plant known as the
periwinkle - in the treatment of childhood leukemia and other
cancers. Digitalis, which comes from the leaves of the foxglove
plant, is an important heart medication. According to the NOVA
documentary, "Over 25 percent of the drugs in the U.S. 
still contain plant materials as their principal active ingredients."
	Throughout history there are countless examples of people
discovering the healing properties of nature before science could 
understand them - or even believe that they existed. South 
American Indians treated fevers, especially malarial fevers, with
an herbal tea made from cinchona bark. Scientists eventually discovered
that cinchona bark is nature'a source of quinine.
	Science didn't discover that vitamin C prevented scurvy.
English sailors discovered that without even knowing it. All they
knew was that that  they'd better take some cirtus fruits - lemons,
limes - along with them on long ocean voyages. That's why the
English came to be called "limeys." Science didn't even discover
vitamin C until 1932.
	For centuries American Indians treated various aches and
pains with an herbal tea made from white willow bark. It must 
have seemed terribly primitive to the doctors who first heard of
it. They were trusting their science the Indians were trusting 
nature. But eventually science caught up. Today, synthesized and
refined white willow bark is the basis for what we might call aspirin.
	Always, in all cultures, there was what might be called "living
proof" of the medicinal value of plants long before there was scientific
proof - and acceptance. Living proof, of course, is not acceptable
to the scientific community. Not even the testimony of ordinary
individuals sworn to oath, meets the rigorous standards of scientific 
proof. But no matter what happens in the scientific world, living 
proof will be what passes from person to person and prevents Essiac 
from dying out altogether in the modern world.
	Rene Caisse's files are filled with letters from people all over
North America testifying to life-saving experiences with Essiac.
Almost 400 people showed up at the Canadian Cancer Commission 
hearings in 1939 prepared to be sworn to oath and state that 
Essiac saved their lives.
	Today, all over Canada and in parts of the U.S., there are
thousands of people who may not know the first thing about
scientific proof, but who may not know that Essiac benefited or even saved
them or someone else they love. For science to deny that there is a 
cause and effect relationship between Essiac and the relief of pain
and the regression of cancerous tumors is almost like saying, well,
we can see all those great huge billowing clouds of smoke, but
we haven't been able to determine with cartainy that there is a fire.
	While most Americans have never heard of Essiac, the 
controversy it inspires has raged in Canada since the 1920's, every
few years in the public glare of the press, and frequently involving
the highest medical, legal, and political circles in Canada. But
always that controversy centered on this one woman who lived,
most of the time, in the tiny village of Bracebridge, Ontario,
Population 9,000 or so.
	Rene Cassie was an unlikely figure. She was a skilled
nurse who didn't crave attention or money. " never had $100.00 I
could call my own," she use to laugh with her friends. She didn't
charge a fee for her services. She  accepted only voluntary 
contributions - in the form of fruits, vegetables, or eggs, as often
as not - from those who could afford to offer them, and she didn't 
turn away people who couldn't make any payment at all.
	One man, Ted Hale, was so grateful watching his wife recover
from cancer using Essiac that he slipped a $50 bill under a book
on a shelf when he came to pick up another bottle from Rene.
The next time he arrived at her front door , he says, she grabbed
him by the shirt collar, pulled him inside and gave him a piece
of her mind. How dare he leave her that much money? She didn't
like it one bit. He apologized and asked her if she would accept
it as his way of donating for the next people who needed her Essiac
and couldn't afford to leave anything at all. She Finally
relented on those grounds and kept the money, but Ted Hale still
laughs at his own embarrassment when he tells the story ten years later.
	Rene Cassie lived her own life in modest circumstances while
rejecting offers of vast sums of money to reveal her formula. She
refused to reveal her formula to people who wanted to help her;
she refused to reveal her formula to powerful institutions that
demanded it before they would consider legitimizing Essiac.
What Rene Cassie wanted was to heal the ill and guarantee the
legalization of Essiac for all, yet her intransigent refusal to budge
from secrecy about the formula cost her - and us - dearly.
	She refused to reveal the formula to the Canadian government,
the Memorial Sloan-Kittering Center Cancer Center in New York - the
world's largest private cancer research center - and the National 
Cancer Institiute, just to name some of the institutions that 
wanted the formula at one time or another. She wouldn't give 
them the formula untill they would admit that Essiac had merit 
as a treatment for cancer. They refused to admit ant merit until
she gave them the formula.
	There were legitimate arguments made on both sides. Rene
was fearful that the medical establishment would either exploit
Essiac, charging exorbitant prices to make a fortune and placing it 
beyond the means of the poor, or discredit it and bury it. The
doctors and politicians argued that they couldn't very well accept
the legitimacy of a cancer treatment if they didn't even know
what was in it. The result was a tragic standoff.
	We have lost tragic decades of precious research. With hindsight, 
it can be argued that Rene Cassie should have given the formula to 
anyone, anywhere, at any time, who wanted to have it for any
reason, on the grounds that the more people who have it, the 
better chance that the truth will come out. That certainly will be the 
position taken in this book. 
	I am going to release to the public, for the first time, the
formula and the procedure for preparing Essiac. I will explain in 
detail at the end of this book how I will do that, and how anyone 
who wants that information may have it.
	I believe that information should be be in the hands of the public.
People should have the right to make their own decisions about 
whether or not they will drink the Essiac tea. People can make it
themselves, if they wish, just the way Rene did. The herbs are
available for less then $50 from any major herbal distributor in
America. There is no mystery about the preparation. It must be
done carefully and accurately - as I will explain - but it finally
comes down to: Put in so much of this herb, so much of that 
herb, brew it and drink the tea.
	 The herbs themselves grow in many regions. Rene use to say
that enough of the herbs grow in Ontario to supply the whole 
world. But in revealing the formula, I share one of Rene's deep
fears that played an important role in her refusal to release the
formula until after the governing bodies of medicine and law
would admit that it had merit: Namely, that once the herbs are 
publicly identified, these inexpensive and widely available plants
will be placed on the federal "controlled substances" roster - like
some dangerous drug - and suddenly become very difficult - and
illegal  - to acquire.
	But there's nothing I can do about that. as always, those
decisions are up to the governments. But my decision is to tell
the story of how I came into possession of the formula, place it
before the public and let the people make up their own minds about
what they want to do with it. At least once the formula is in the 
public domain, the old argument that was used for so long against 
Rene - we can't do proper scientific studies until we know the
formula - will no longer have any validity at all. Sloan-Kettering,
for instance, was telling Rene Cassie at least as late as 1975 that 
they would perform more clinical studies on Essiac, if only they
had the formula. Well, now they'll have it. And so will anyone 
who wants it.  
	Rene Cassie was a sweet woman who gave her best and saw 
the worst. She was surrounded most of her life with pane and 
suffering of others. She lived under siege much of the time, with
a legion of supporters who saw her as a saint and powerful
enemies who wanted her arrested for practicing medicine without
a license. She became so fearful and paranoid about arrest that
she sometimes had to turn away dying people who were pleading
with her to help them. But more often, she found ways to 
help the people that came to her, even total strangers who had 
nothing to offer her. She said once about her situation: "I was
always just one jump ahead of a policeman. We were right across
the street from the town jail and the keeper use to joke that he
was saving a cell for me."
	The blessing of Essiac brought a curse for Rene Cassie: Her
life was never her own.
 
----
end pt1. pt 2 follows,  Press Space to Continue
 
 
 			
				ESSIAC                                
 				^^^^^^                                
o Supplies Needed				   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
4 or 5 gallon stainless steel pot	 	
2 gallon stainless steel pot, with lid		
Stainless steel fine-mesh double strainer	 
Stainless steel funnel
Stainless steel spatula
12 or more 16 ounce amber glass bottles
	with air tight caps (not childproof caps)
2 gallons of sodium-free distilled water
 
			o Essiac Formula   
			~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
			6 1/2 cups burdock root - cut 
			  ( Arctium Lappa )
			16 oz. sheep sorrel herb - powdered
			  ( Rumex Acetosella )
			1 oz. turkey rhubarb root - powdered
			  ( Rheum Palmatum )
			4 oz. Slippery elm bark - powdered
			  ( Ulmus Fulva )
	
o Preparation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. Mix Essiac formula thoroughly.
2. Bring sodium-free distilled water to a rolling boil in a 5-gallon pot
   with lid on. (Approximately 30 minutes at sea level.)
3. Stir in 1 cup of Essiac formula. Replace lid and continue boiling for 
   10 minutes.
4. Turn off stove. Scrape down sides of pot with spatula and stir mixture
   thoroughly. Replace lid.
5. Allow pot to remain closed for 12 hours; then turn stove to full heat 
   for 20 minutes. 
6. Turn off stove. Strain liquid into 3-gallon pot, and clean 5-gallon pot
   and strainer. Then Strain filtered liquid back into 5-gallon pot.
7. Use funnel to pour hot liquid into bottles immediately, taking care to 
   tighten caps. Allow bottles to cool; then tighten the caps again.
8. Refrigerate. Essiac contains no preservative agents. If mold should
   develop in the bottle, discard immediately.
	
CAUTION: All bottles and caps must be sterilized after use if you plan to 
re-use them for Essiac. Bottle caps must be washed and rinsed thoroughly, 
and may be cleaned with a 3% solution of food grade hydrogen peroxide in water.
 
o Directions for use
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	Heat four tablespoons [ 2 oz. ] sodium-free distilled water in a 
stainless steel pot. Add 4 tablespoons of Essiac ( shake bottle first). 
Mix and drink.
	Take at bedtime on an empty  stomach, at least 2 hours after eating.


----
 Pt. 3. 
 
 
 	Questions regarding recipe and dosage,
  	information on how to obtain a good source
  	of herbs, to purchase the whole book.
  	or other questions, please
  	contact the author directly.
  		Dr. Gary L. Glum
 		c/o Silent Walker Publishing
 		P.O. Box 92856
 		Los Angeles, California 90009
 		Phone  310-271-9931
 
 
 
----
end pt. 2 and 3 - pt. 4 next, Press Space to Continue
 
  
  	This article is from __"Wildfire__Magazine"__ which is published
by The Bear Tribe Medicine Society, P.O. Box 9167, Spokane,
Washington 99209. Phone 509-233-2042.
  	Reprinted by verbal permission of the publisher.
Please call them for a copy of their magazine and information about
their other programs.
 
\\**  		Essiac: Nature's Cure For Cancer.		**
  **		An Interview With Dr. Gary L. Glum,		**
  **		By Elisabeth Robinson.				**
  **		Wildfire Magazine				**\\
 
  		Notes
  	In 1988 Dr. Glum Published __"Calling_of_an_Angel"__, the story
of Rene Caisse and Essiac. Two years ago he closed his practice and now 
devotes his time to investigative writing.
  
  		Introduction.
  	Rene Caisse was a nurse living in Canada who for a period of
almost sixty years treated hundreds of people with a herbal remedy she
called Essiac. She discovered this remedy through a patient in the hospital
where she worked who had been cured of cancer. The patient had used a herbal
remedy given her by an Ojibway herbalist. 
  	Rene left the hoispital 1922 at age 33, and went to Bracebridge, 
Ontario, Canada where she began administering Essiac to all to all who 
came to her. The majority of those whom she treated came on referral 
with letters from their physicians certifying they had incurable or 
terminal forms of cancer and they had been given up by the medical 
profession as untreatable.
  	Rene began gathering the plants and preparing the herbal remedy
herself in her own kitchen, in a building lent to her from her parents.
She administered Essiac both orally and by injection. In cases where
there were there was severe damage to life support organs, her patients 
died - but they lived longer than the medical profession had predicted, and, 
more significantly, they lived free of pain. Still others, listed as hopeless
and terminal, but without severe damage to life support organs,were cured
and lived 35-45 years (many are still living).
  	So startling was the effectiveness of this simple herbal remedy, it 
could not be ignored, and the Canadian Ministry of Health and Welfare and the 
Parliament became involved, former friends, and greatful families petitioned 
Canadian officialdom for Rene's right to administer the remedy to anyone
who asked for it without the threat of interference from authorities. 
Fifty-five thousand signatures were collected on the petition. In 1938, 
Essiac came within three votes of being legalized by the Ontario government
as a remedy for terminal cancer patients.
  	The story of Rene Caisse, her life, her work, and the effectiveness
of the remedy she named Essiac, is told in a book Sun Bear received, 
__"Calling_of_an_Angel"__, by Dr. Gary L. Glum of Los Angeles. After reading
the book and finding it to be informative, well documented and moving, I 
decided to interview Dr. Glum, I verified the basic information in his book
through Canadian sources, one a herbalist who knows of Rene Caisse and her
work and who has personally made and successfully used Essiac.
  	As I completed conservation with Dr. Glum, he said, "You're opening
a Pandora's Box here, publishing  this interview about Essiac." I disagreed,
but began thinking about Pandora's "box." In the story of Pandora most
well-known today, she is sent by the gods to curse humanity for offending 
them.
  	Pandora is given a "box" or container with instructions not to
open it, which the gods know she will disobey. When Pandora dose open the
box, famine, war, plague, disease, pestilence - all the ills of humankind -
are released. Then at the last comes hope, as antidote to despair.
  	But according to Barbara Walker's Encyclopedia, Pandora - whose
name means "all giving" - was originally an image for Mother Earth. 
She had, not a box, but a honey vase like the Cornucopia from which
flowed all life and creativity, as well as death and rebirth - Earth's 
gift to her children. Because we are natural beings in a natural world,
it seems appropriate that a simple remedy composed of four common herbs, 
gifts of Earth, would suggest so much promise for us today.
 
  		Interview with Dr. Glum.
  	Elisabeth Robinson: To begin with, Dr Glum, can You tell us a
little about how you became interested in the story you tell in 
"Calling Of An Angel", and how you learned about Rene Caisse and her work?
  	Dr. Gary Glum: A personal friend of mine knew this woman, whose
name I promised not to reveal, who was living in Detroit, Michigan. 
Twenty years ago she had been diagnosed with cervical cancer in a 
Detroit hospital where she was eventually given up as incurable and
terminal. She was given ten days to live.
  	She convinced her husband to make a trip to Bridge, Canada
where she went to see Rene Caisse. She was treated with a herbal 
remedy developed by Rene - Essiac - and in a short time she didn't
have a cancer cell in her body. So after that time this woman began
dedicating her life to disseminating information about Essiac in the 
United States. When I met her, she was the only person in possession of
the original herbal formula who would relinquish it. I got the formula
for Essiac from her.
  	That's how it began. When I started, all I had was a piece of
paper. I thought, what am I going to do with this? I decided the best way
to go would be to find the information behind Essiac and put it in book
form and bring it to the world.
  	I learned about Rene Caisse from Mary McPherson who was a very 
close personal friend of Rene's... not only a friend but a patient. Mary's
mother and her husband were all treated for cancer and cured by Rene.
	Mary worked with Rene beginning in the 1930's and she had in 
her possession all the documents that had to do with Essiac over the last
40 years Rene had administered it. All the documents Rene had were 
destroyed by the Canadian Ministry of Health & Welfare at the time of 
her death in 1978. They burned all that information in fifty-five gallon
drums behind her home.
   		-------------------
   		" Essiac is a 
   		  non-toxic herbal
  		  cure for cancer 
   		  that's been with 
  		  us since 1922."
   		-------------------
  	ER: Why?
  	GG: Because they don't want this information in the hands of
the public of the press or any body else. The indeed found out what
Essiac was in 1937. The Royal Cancer Commission hearings had then come
to the same conclusions that Rene had - that Essiac was a cure for cancer.
 
  	ER: What is Essiac exactly?
  	GG: Essiac is a non-toxic herbal cure for cancer that's been here
with us since 1922. It's a formula made from very common herbs.
 
  	RE: I would guess that virtually every person in the U.S. today has
been touched by cancer, either personally or through a loved one. If
this information is true, and the effectiveness of this remedy is actually
medically documented, many lives could be saved. Why do you think the 
information on Essiac is not more widely known?
  	GG: The information is withheld because cancer id the largest
revenue producing business in the world, next to the petrochemical
business. Money and power suppress this truth.
  	No one has ever sought to cure cancer - only to control it. I 
mean, the research institutes, federal governments, pharmaceutical 
companies, anybody that has a vested interest in the health care of cancer,
including the American Cancer Society, the Canadian Cancer Society,
any of these so-called benefactors to those who have contracted
this disease - all of these institutions are involved in the money and 
power around cancer. These institutions have influence over government and
  	These institutions have influence over the government and regulatory
agencies over government such as the Food and Drug Administration. The 
FDA recommends only allopathic treatment for cancer and other life
threatening disease. It dose not approve or make legal alternative
treatments of any kind.
 
  	ER: You're saying that Essiac is in a position similar to,
for example, laetril.
  	GG: Yes, the only reason laetril was stopped - and it couldn't be
stopped be stopped any other way - was through the insurance companies.
The insurance companies sent down a directive to all allopathic physicians
stating that they could not cover them in any malpractice suit in the 
event they were treating people with any substance not approved by the 
Food and Drug Administration.
 
  	ER: In your book you mention that the Brusch Clinic in Massachusetts 
worked with Rene Caisse and with Essiac, during the early 1960's. Is this
clinic still doing research with Essiac?
  	GG: Dr. Charles A. Brusch is not practicing at this time. he was a 
personal physician to the late President John F. Kennedy. Dr. Brusch
worked with Rene Caisse from 1959 to 1962. He also worked with the 
Presidential Cancer Commission, with others like Dr. Armand Hammer, The
American Cancer Society, and the National Cancer Institute.
  	Dr. Brusch presented his findings after ten years of research.
He has come to the conclusion  that, in his own words, "Essiac is a cure
for cancer, period. All studies done at in the United States and Canada
support this conclusion."
  	Whereupon the federal government issued a gag order and said 
"You've got one of two choices, either you keep quiet about this or 
we'll haul you off to military prison and you'll never be heard of again."
So we never heard another word out of him.
  	Brusch's Essiac patients included Ted Kennedy's son who had a 
sarcoma in his leg, and who has his amputated. He was being treated
at that time by the Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts.
Dr. Farber didn't know how to save him, because no one ever lived
with this kind of sarcoma. So what he did was go to Dr. Brusch and say,
how are we going to save Ted Kennedy's son? And Dr. Brusch made the 
suggestion to put him on Essiac, and after they did, he didn't have a 
cancer cell in his body. But all this information has been hidden
from the general public.
 
  	ER: Why?
  	GG: As I said, money and power.
 
  	ER: Do you know whether the remedy is being used or tested
anywhere in the U.S. or Canada?
  	GG: Right now Essiac is being used in every state in the 
United States, it's throughout Canada, into Mexico, it's in Australia, 
Europe, Asia, and recently, also in Africa. So the message of Essiac is 
beginning to make its way world wide. But it's still known only on a very 
limited basis.
	Of course you also have the problem of herbal companies
distributing  throughout the world that are substituting yellow 
dock and curly dock for sheep's sorrel, which is one of the critical 
ingredients in Essiac.
	The sheep's sorrel is the herbal ingredient in Essiac that was
found to be responsible for the destruction of cancer sells in the body, 
or their amalgamation where metastasized cancer cells actually return to
the original tumor site.
  	That research was done by Dr. Chester Stock at Sloan-Kettering
in New York for over a three year period. But when they gathered that 
information, they withheld it from the general public - yet they gave 
it to the Canadian Ministry of Health & Welfare. The Canadian government 
then immediately banned that herb for sale and distribution.
 
  	ER: Banned A weed like Sheep's sorrel?
  	GG: Yes, sheep's sorrel is just a common weed that grows in 
abundance throughout North America and into Canada. Just a common weed.
   (note: After this interview was completed, "Wildfire" 
  	  learned from an herbalist in Canada that the Canadian 
  	  government has recently banned St. John's Wort, also a
  	  common weed frequently used by herbalists.)
 
  	ER: Well, it seems that banning sheep's sorrel would not be very
effective if you could identify it for yourself.
  	GG: Yes, it's just a question of identifying the plant and then
harvesting it correctly and drying it properly and then putting it 
together with the other herbs.
  	Rene would harvest the sheep's sorrel - Rumex acetosella - when
it was four to six inches high. She would cut it back and it would grow
up again, and she'd cut it back again. She would do this about three times
and then let it go to seed. It will grow 14 or 18 inches.
  	She would take the herb cuttings and lay them out at room 
temperature to dry them. She'd let them sit there for three or four
days before she'd begin turning the herbs. Then she'd turn them every
two days until they were properly dry, which took about ten days to
two weeks. It takes about a bushel of harvested sheep's sorrel to 
produce one pound of the dried powdered herb which is used in the formula.
 
  	ER: Do you have the formula? it's not in your book. You 
do mention a video in the book.
  	GG: Yes, I have it. Anyone can get it from me free of charge.
We don't sell the video anymore. We simply mail the formula to anyone
who asks for it.
 
  	ER: Sun Bear told me you had problems getting the book published
and distributed. What kind of problems?
  	GG: There wasn't a publishing company that would publish it. No
one wanted to run the risk of a wrongful death suit. So I published the 
book myself. And as soon as I did, the IRS came in and slapped about a 
half a million dollars in tax liens against me and said, "You know
this has nothing to do with taxes. It's all about cancer." They actually 
started hauling the pallets of books out of my medical practice and 
confiscating them. I also had thousands of books that were confiscated
the Canadian government at customs. I have never received any of those 
books back. The only ones that I have now are hidden in storage facilities.
 
  	ER: That's incredible - why do you think they are so interested
in keeping this book out of circulation?
  	GG: Money and power, as I've said. Cancer is the largest revenue
producing business in the world next to the petrochemical business. In 
Canada the book is being held up by the Ministry & Health Welfare because 
they say it is "advertising."

  	ER: Advertising what? The video that you don't sell any more?
  	GG: No, A cure for cancer.
 
  	ER: Can you explain what you mean by the publishers' fearing
a wrongful death suit?
  	GG: What you're dealing with is giving the people a formula
that they can make in the privacy of their own homes without the 
approval of the AMA or the FDA or anybody else. If any attorney or
family member should decide, for whatever reason, that the reason
someone else expired was from the use of Essiac, then you are putting
yourself up for a wrongful death suit. The contention is that if it isn't
approved by the Food and Drug Administration, there's no legality in using 
it when you are dealing with a life threatening disease.
  	When Rene Caisse set up her clinical trials in Canada to test
Essiac, she was given government permission to treat terminally ill
cancer patients who had been given up for hopeless by the medical 
profession. That was one criteria. Secondly, this was all to be certified
by a pathology report. And third, she could not charge anything for
her services. She agreed to all these criteria with Essiac. Many she
treated were still there to bury her when she died at she 90.
	The best that anyone can do is just try to disseminate this this
information to the public and let people make their own choices. That's
all you can do. And just say, look, if you feel that Essiac has value in 
your life and the lives of your loved ones, you have the right to make
this remedy and use it in the privacy of your own home and without 
anyone's approval.
  	You know, in 1937 Essiac came within three votes of being legalized
as a treatment for cancer. People had generated over fifty-thousand
signatures on a petition to allow Rene to continue to use Essiac. The
only reason the vote fell short, she found out later, was that the 
College of Physicians and Surgeons met and said to Parliament, if you
don't respond to the political pressure and legalize Essiac, Then 
we'll take a sincere look and give this woman a fair hearing. So 
Parliament didn't legalize Essiac.
  	So following the Royal Cancer Commission hearings, Rene was
allowed to continue her practice but only within the criteria I mentioned
before, which allowed the Ministry of Health & Welfare to restrict 
people's access to Essiac treatments.
  	I know this because I have a copy of the hearing transcripts
which I got from Mary McPherson, which is the source of some of the 
Information that did not get burned when Rene died.

  	ER: You mentioned that earlier. What exactly was burned?
  	GG: All of her research for that 40-year period of time. All the
names, all her clinical data that she had collected. Her files and records.
 
  	ER: What about the records of the Brusch Clinic? It seems these
would be convincing evidence.
  	GG: As far as I know all that material has been destroyed also.
I knew that Rene had worked with Dr. Brusch from 1959 to 1962, so I
went to Dr. Brusch's home in Cambridge, Massachusetts whereuopn he 
delivered to me the only material he had left in his files on Essiac.
One of those files was his own personal file where he had treated and
cured his own cancer with Essiac. I have his personal records.
  	All the information in my book is verified by a sheet of paper
with a signature and a date on it, and those sheets and signatures are
all originals. They are not copies.
 
  	ER: Have you had any personal experiences with Essiac?
  	GG: Yes, I can give you an example. He was a twelve-year-old
boy named Toby Wood. He had acute lymphpblastic, which is one of the
most virulent of all leukemias. He had been on chemotherapy for four
years and radiation for three. His mother's only home in life was to
find a cure for him. She went every where. She tried every alternative 
treatment.
  	Her last stop was Dr. Alvazados in Athens, Greece, where her
son's white cell count was 186,000. He had few red blood cells and no
platelets. He was hemorrhaging to death. So they transfused Toby in
Greece and put him on a plane to Alaska where he was given less than 
five days to live.
  	I met his mother's sister in Los Angeles while I was putting 
the book together and she asked if there was any credibility here. We
sat down and talked. She then borrowed the money for a flight to 
Anchorage, and delivered a bottle of Essiac. By the time she got there
Toby was given three days to live. He was in a state of complete
deterioation. He was given the Essiac and all the hemorrhaging stopped
within 24 hours. Within three months all of his blood tests were normal.
I arrived in Alaska later that year and met with him.
  	Toby Wood did die, and we finally found a pathologist who would 
do an exhaustive autopsy. We knew that he didn't have leukemia any more.
We wanted to find out what was the cause of death It took four months
to get the report back. The pathologist autopsied the brain, testicles,
and all life support organs, including the bone marrow. No blast cells
were found in any support organ. There were a few stray cells in the 
testicles and the brain. Cause of death was damage to the myocardial
sac of the heart, a result of the chemotherapy.
  	This was the first report anywhere in medical history history
of anyone surviving lymphoblastic leukemia. That information was taken
to AP and UPI but they said it was not newsworthy.
  	Our information on Essiac has been sent around the world twice
through a Publisher's Weekly magazine in a huge two-page ad. We received
no responses from any publishing company worldwide, no producers, no
talk show programs, none of that. We can't access the media.
  	In fact we talked to Philip Scheffler, producer of 60 Minutes.
He read the book and we called him to ask what he was going to do about.
He said nothing. I said, all the information in the book is verifiable.
In other words, the truth. I said, if you're 60 Minutes why don't you
expose me and Essiac as a fraud. He said, nope, can't do it.
  	We took it to Joe Donally who's the executive news producer for
ABC in New York. We said why not give it to Peter Jennings, 
Geraldo Rivera, Ted Koppel, one of those. He said nope. We asked why
not. He said because his phone lines would be invaded with 65,00 phone
calls. We said, how sympathetic do you think a parent whose child 
is dying of leukemia, would be to your 65,000 phone calls. He went on to 
say he's got a mortgage on his house and he's looking towards retirement.
SO that's the problem. no one wants this information disseminated.
And it's not just the media, either. It includes the herbal companies 
who are now substituting the curly dock for sheep's sorrel, So people
are getting the wrong ingredients for Essiac, not to mention the five
or six other formulas that are circulating which are different from
the ones I send out. These false formulas are being disseminated. There
is a disinformation campaign going on here, somehow.
 
  	ER: Has this disinformation campaign started just since your 
book has been out?
  	GG: Previous to my book, none of this information was available
to the general public at all. The public had no information outside of a
few assorted articles. Certainly the Essiac formula was not available 
to the general public at all. All that information was held by the 
Resperin Corporation in Toronto, Canada, which supposedly is a 
private institution.
  	However, they work hand in glove with the Canadian Ministry
of Health & Welfare, who works directly with the American Food and
Drug Administration and the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, 
Maryland. The Essiac Formula was never given to anyone by Resperin.
 
  	ER: Did the Resperin Corporation do any research on Essiac?
  	GG: They've done research since 1978 when the formula was 
relinquished to them by Rene for the purchase price of one dollar.
As soon as they got the formula, they told rene they had no further
use for her. She had been under the distinct impression from the 
Ministry of Health & Welfare and the Resperin Corporation that she
was to lead the research activities that they so desperately wanted
to put together.
  	But Rene had already done clinical trials. She had names
and records. she thought the Resperin Coporation was politically 
powerful and had money enough to get Essiac in to the public sector
without compromising her values. Then she found out the Corporation 
was working closely with the government and administration and the 
Ministry of Health & Welfare. 
  	So now people who were terminally ill and given up as
hopeless had to go through a federal bereaucratic maze to get the
remedy. By then it was too late. But even when people were cured,
that information was not released to the public.
  	Resperin ran research tests in Essiac. One test was conducted
in Northern Canada and the documents were falsified. For example,
one man was listed as dead who a few months later knocked on Rene's door
and said, you know I want to thank you for the Essiac and being part of
the experimental program. Yet he was listed as dead in the research 
project findings.
 
   	ER: It's beginning to sound amazing to me that any information
at all about this remedy has survived the "conspiracy of silence" or 
outright destruction of records and so on.
  	GG: The only Essiac is known is by word of mouth and because 
Essiac is what it is. What will keep Essiac known is its effectiveness.
Rene said it years ago. She said, look, if Essiac dosen't have any merit
let me put it out there. If it dosen't have merit, it will kill itself.
Of course she knew full well if people has the correct herbs, the remedy
would stand on its own. And that is exactly what Essiac has done over this
period of time that we've been disseminating the information.
  	Rene also found that Essiac was a strong preventive. These findings
were substantiated by Dr. Albert Schatz at Temple University who
discovered the cure for tuberulosis.
  	Rene also found that Essiac would normalize the thyriod gland.
My wife was on two grains of thyriod since the sixth grade. After I
met her, she started taking Essiac, and she hasn't taken a thyroid since.
  	Rene also found that Essiac would heal stomach ulcers within
three or four weeks. She felt that ulcers were a precursor to cancer.
  	Sir Fredrick Banting, the co-discoverer if insulin, wanted to
work with Rene. She has clinical cases where a person on insulin 
discontinued it with the essiac, since no one knew how Essiac would
interact with the insulin. Apparently Essiac regulated the pancreas in
cases of diabetes mellitus. So these people then became insulin-free.
  	Another thing I've found with Essiac is that I've experienced
almost perfect health. As you get older you think, I'm forty now,
these things happen. Well, these things don't have to happen. Since
I've taken Essiac, I've experienced almost perfect health. It's amazing. I
sleep like a baby, have all kinds of energy, and no sickness, not even a
cold or flu.
  	I also worked with the AIDS Project in Los Angeles  through 
their Long Beach and San Pedro districts. They sent 179 patients home to
die. They all had pneumocystis carinii and histoplasmosis. Their
weight was down to about 100 pounds. Their T-4 cell counts were
less then ten. The Project gave me five of these patients. I took them
off the AZT and the DDI and put them on Essiac three times a day.
Those are the only ones alive today. The other 174 are dead.
 
  	ER: That is incredible - but what kind of lives are they
leading today?
  	GG: They're exercising three times a day, eating three meals
a day. Their weight is back to normal. For all intents and purposes you
wouldn't know that they were sick. But this information is not 
being disseminated either, because AIDS is on the horizon as another
big money maker. The chairman of the AIDS Project makes over $100,000.00
a year.
  	Even the alternative health care professionals are out there
to control, not to cure. Alternative medical practice is just as 
mercenary and deceptive as the allopathic. No one wants a cure for 
cancer or AIDS.
   		    -----------------------
   		    Nationwide in the water 
   		     we drink over 2,100 
		    organic and inorganic 
   		chemicals have been identified,
   	     and 156 of them are pure carcinogens.
  	     -------------------------------------
  	The alternative people are also in it for the money. What you're
finding with Essiac is that it is not even allowed into the arenas of
alternative health care. So what you've got out here is people
continually perpetrating these lies against mankind. For money. For
money and power. It's that simple.
  	Really once you think about it, the only reason we don't have
solar power is that no one figured out a way to sell Exxon the sun. it's
true. If they could, you'd have solar power, You know you'd have it.
 
  	ER: So, in your own personal experience, this herbal remedy works
to - I'm going to just quote you here and say "cure" - cancer, thyroid
conditions, diabetes, AIDS, ulcers...
  	GG: It also cures the common cold. Essiac elevates the immune 
system. I've been taking an ounce a day for seven years, and in seven
years I haven't had a cold, flu, or virus.
 
  	ER: And all of this from a simple Native herbal remedy?
  	GG: Yes. Although Rene did alter it. She altered it with Turkish 
rhubarb root (Rheum palmatum). Turkish rhubarb has a 5,000 year
history. It actually came up from India into China and then was 
taken by the British.
 
  	ER: Turkish rhubarb root is not native in this country,
more available here. Herbals from foreign countries are fumigated and 
irradiated, so is it a good idea to use the Turkish rhubarb?
  	GG: You can subsitute rhubarb root. The other two ingredients
are burdock root (Arctium lappa) and the inner bark of the slippery
elm (Ulmus fulva). They are easy to obtain, usally. Sheep's sorrel,
Rumex acetosella, is what destroys the cancer cells. The other three
herbs are blood purifiers.
  	Essiac elevates the enzyme system and gives all cancer patients
and all AIDS patients the enzymes that have been destroyed. Essiac
elevates the enzyme system; it elevates the hormone system, which
elevates the immune system, so the body can cure its own disease.
 
  	ER: What about the quantities? Some herbal are toxic.
  	GG: Even its worst enemy could never lay claim that Essiac
had any deletrious side effects whatever. You can take Essiac safely,
through all the clinical trials that have been done, up to six ounces 
a day. That's two ounces in the evening, two in the morning, and two 
around noontime. That's a high dosage. Rene had the correct herbs and
she used as little as one ounce a week.
  	But look at the difference between then and now. The food
didn't have carcinogens in it, and neither did the water, nor the air.
So that have we done? We've killed the air, killed the water, killed
the food. So what's left?
  	Nationwide in the water we drink, over 2,100 organic and inorganic
chemicals have been identified, and 156 of them are pure carcinogens. 
Of those, if you have a tumor, 26 are tumor promoting, so they make the
tumor larger. But of course this information is not available to the
public either. Those figures are from tests conducted by the Environmental
Protection Agency which have never been distributed to the public.
 
  	ER: How did you get the information?
  	GG: From a Ralph Nader organization out of Washington D.C.	
The media has not disseminated this information. Another problem is
that very few people read books any more. We can only hope they'll read
Calling of an Angel. Of coarse, the problem right now is people getting
the right herbs.
 
  	ER: Anything you'd like to add before we close this interview?
  	GG: I would like to say that I didn't do all this research because
I feel I have a responsibility to other people. I did because I have a
responsibility to myself. I know that I've done all I can to disseminate
this information and bring it to the people.
  	I was the first person to release this information on Essiac,
how to make it, to the general public and say, here it is, here's the
formula, here's the story. So now the story is out there and look what's
happening -- it's getting killed through a disinformation campaign. I mean
Harvard, Temple, Tufts, Northwestern University, Chicago -- all these
institutions have tested Essiac with the right stuff, and they all came
to the same conclusions as Rene Caisse. But all that information has been 
buried.
 
  	ER: Gary, it's been very interesting to speak with you.
  	GG: It's been a pleasure. You're opening a Pandora's Box, 
you know publishing this interview.
 
  	ER: I think you're the one who's done that. Would you tell
people how to get your book and the information on Essiac?
  	GG: They simply call me in California at 310-271-9931.
The book is $35.00. The formula is free.
  
    		  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
  	In july 1991, the Canadian Journal of Herbalism published
an article, "Old Ontario Remedies,"
about Essiac. The article gives specific information on the ingredients
of Essiac and includes descriptions of the herbs. Sheep's sorrel,
for example, is a folk remedy for tumors. 
  	The article also warns of high oxalic acid content in two
of the herbs making the remedy unsafe for persons with kidney ailments
or arthritic conditions.
  	This article concludes: "Essiac is not a hoax or fraud.
To hear experiences described by the patients themselves cannot help
but convince observers that dramatic and beneficial changes definitely
took place in many but not all those who received the remedy.
Allthough the focus on Essiac has been as a cancer treatment.
It alleviated and sometimes cured many chronic and degenerative 
conditions because it cleanses the blood as well as the liver and 
strengthens the immune system."
  	Write: Ontario Herbalists Association, M.J. Pimentel MH, 7
Alpine Ave., Toronto, Ontario, Canada  M6P-3R6  for information
on obtaining a copy of the july 1991 issue, Vol xii, No iii of the
Canadian Journal of Herbalism.
  
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