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Essiac cancer treatment
I am interested in finding out more about Essiac as a cancer treatment. Does it work on all types of cancer or will some not respond? Also, is it true it should be used with Black Walnut and strong antioxidants for best effect?
The Essiac formula is a combination of herbs said to have been passed to a Canadian cancer nurse called Renee Caisse (Essiac is her name spelt backwards) by a native American Indian healer in the 1930s. She never published her exact formula and even today, there are bitter disputes about what should be in it and who own the rights to the true formula to what has become the most popular herbal mixture used to treat cancer in North America.
Some cancer survivors swear by Essiac, which is now recommended to Cancer Alternative Information Bureau (CAIB) members. Most cancer patients in this country though, have never heard of this herbal formula which you can brew into your own tea or take as a ready-made liquid formula. It contains sheep sorrel - a cytotoxic herb - plus burdock root, turkey rhubarb and slippery elm, all of which work to purify the blood. Some practitioners add red clover.
Dr Etienne Callebout is one of just 37 leading cancer physicians interviewed in-depth for an American book I recommended last week. In The Definitive Guide To Cancer, which examines current thinking about the use of complementary remedies in the treatment of cancer, he suggests a kind of biological “guerilla warfare” is the most effective way to combat the disease. By this he means rotating different treatment protocols and not giving the cancer a chance to become unresponsive to any one treatment, herbal or nutritional.
He points out that the origins of Essiac are still shrouded in mystery and that there is even a suggestion that two of the herbs used in the traditional formula were unknown to the Canadian Chippewas Indians who are credited with having first developed the formula. Also, Renee Caisse’s treatment programme included the tea and a mystery injection that nobody has yet identified the contents of. To read the full, convoluted and fascinating story of Essiac, get a copy of Herbs Against Cancer by Ralph Moss (ISBN 1-881025-40-3). This author concludes that Essiac does have an effect but a small one.
There have been claims that the Black Walnut you ask about has anti-cancerous properties - although it is more traditionally used as an anti-parasitic herb - and you are right that antioxidants play a key role in fighting cancer but since it is always a multi-factor disease, do not, says Dr Callebout, self-dose and do not rely soley on these three ingredients for treatment.
*There are numerous versions of Essiac on sale in the UK. The cheapest way to try the formula is to make your own tea. For a three month supply of the powdered herbs, call 01225-833150.