Vitamin B-17 (laetrile) - EXISTING CURE FOR CANCER

Hi, I have purchased this vitamin which is present in apricot kernals and is available from health food stores .

Regards Angie

Yes, I have heard of this, but thought it was Vitamin B12 that the Yanks had banned because it worked. Let us know how you get on.

love

Ruth

Can we buy B12 from the health food store as well? Is everyone else in on this little secret its the first i have heard of it, would anyone advise taking B17 and B12?? all help is good, i want in on this little trick if it will keep cancer at bay once it has been surgically removed lol.

Love to all

janis

Coincidentally, the front page of today's Guardian and their comment and debate column deals with these so-called "miracle" vitamin cures. As it rather interestingly points out, the peddlers of these vitamin cures and the food supplement pill industry are not just little companies struggling to be heard, but are often as big and powerful as the multi-national pharmaceutical companies that everyone likes to take a pop at. Food supplement companies selling vitamins and herbal supplements are worth £50bn worldwide and have lobbied extremely effectively against proper safety regulation and testing. I would be very interested to see any valid research showing that cancer doesn't exist in communities which incorporate this particular vitamin (laetrile) - where is this research, who was it done by, does it in fact actually exist.

I think that people with cancer have to be incredibly careful not to be taken in by what I would classify as "snake-oil" salesmen. We might not like the side-effects of the medication we are taking (I know I don't) but they have been properly tested and evaluated - in fact, the trial for one of the drugs I am now taking, Letrozole, was stopped early in its trial stages as it proved so effective and it was considered unethical not to offer it to everyone on the trial (half the trial had been given a placebo). I am unaware that any vitamin or food supplement undergoes similar testing.

I am sorry this post is so long but I feel very strongly about this issue, again referring to today's Guardian, it featured the story of a young boy with bone cancer whose parents believed vitamins would cure him and they therefore rejected the doctors' advice - suffice it to say the poor young boy died.

I would urge people not to waste their money on a totally unproven treatment.

I am no apologist for "Big Pharma" but let's not forget their products are keeping many of us alive!

Yours

Mary

But it seems they are often written so cleverly and the more you read the more convinced you can be that things are hidden from you and really there IS a cure. Try this article, which does seem to say that there are benefits but also doesn't claim this, or anything else, to be a cure for all cancers.

{link removed} Having read a few different articles I'm not even sure it is possible to buy B17 anywhere.

It was particularly aimed at a Dr Rath who had managed to persuade many people that they should buy his vitamins and supplements for their AIDS/HIV instead of taking retro-viral. He claimed that HIV/AIDS, cancer, strokes - whatever - could be cured with his vitamins and supplements. Of course the people just died after swapping to his preparations. As Mary says, these are not little herbalists wanting to help humanity so much as mega-corporations wanting to help themselves to as much money as they can from desperate people.

"Dr Krebs" Hmm - isn't it a bit just too much of a coincidence that Krebs is the German word for cancer? We have had the laetrile/grapeseed/apricot kernel/apple seed/cyanide thing come up on here before. I have to say that I would be very very suspicious of anything that you can only buy from obscure sources on the Internet. I had a scam email advising me to buy some African preparation as well - but I was told that I must only buy it from a certain American company.

Of course it is everyone's right to buy and consume whatever they like. I'm not sure why we cannot just eat the natural food that these vitamins are found in? Are these companies selling these products also listing the potential side-effects - eg for grapeseed: headaches, dizziness, nausea, and also possible interaction with other medicines and with natural food products? After all the doctors always write down the probable and possible side-effects for your chemo, and you are under some degree of vigilance - but these internet companies are not going to be on hand when things go wrong.

I think that it sounds a lot easier to gobble a load of B-whatever tablets rather than radically improving your diet with fresh fruit and veg, giving up things that we know are toxic and harmful and getting a lot more exercise.

With best wishes xxx Penny

So glad you agreed with me - I get so cross with these internet company fraudsters taking advantage of sick people with their dodgy science and untested "cures". As you say, all the vitamins we need we can get from nice, healthy food. Actually I love Marmite, that's got plenty of vitamin B (not sure which vitamin B) - perhaps I can cure myself (I should be so lucky!)

Best wishes to all

Mary

Well ... If this worked I shouldn't have cancer! I've been taking B complex for about 15-20 years and while it's done me a lot of good, it certainly hasn't given me immunity to cancer. I understand that some regions are trialling vitamin B to help build up the immune system during chemo, and I'm continuing to take my daily dose, but it certainly isn't a miracle cure

Agree with the previous comments about people who prey on vulnerable cancer patients.

"Vitamin B17" is not a B vitamin at all. It is a compound which releases cyanide in the body. It has been trialled against a number of cancers and has no activity against cancer in humans or indeed animals at all. Like a lot of things (such as bleach) it kills cancer in the test tube. This does not however mean that it works in the body.

Sean
www.malignantmelanoma.com

Well thanks folks, after researching and my dear cousin who is a scientist had a look at that site and agreed with you all, he said its just am american company trying to get money from desperate people. It dawned on me that we do have to be careful. But like most of you, i have had an organic diet nearly all mu life, dont smoke, drank extremely little alcohol and looked after myself in every way, breastfed babies etc and i still got breast cancer where my mum or either grandmas never had it. So yes, you are all correct, read it and move on lol.

Love to you all xxxxxxxx

B12 can only be purchased from chemists and supermarkets where there is a dispensary, as this is a behind the counter drug. It can also be bought on prescription. Its trade name is Cytacon and has no benefits at all with cancer, as far as I know. I have taken B12 for over 25 years. Used to get B12 shots in the states by they don't like giving B12 in UK. So i take tablet form. Mostly it improves energy levels. B12 benefits are necessary for the red blood cells, and play the main role for the nervous system. Hope this is helpful.

Laetrile contains high levels of cyanide, need I say more? Scientists all agree drug is dangerous, DO NOT TAKE it.

Also, may i respectfully suggest you read more about Laetrile and autopsys on people who have succumbed to cancer whilst taking this "cure". It is not a cure. Whilst B17 may have benefits for health per se Laetrile has no cancer benefits, let alone a cure. So we have to be very careful whwen we are using the word "cure and cancer". If there was a cure we would know about it. Or tremendously wealthy people would certainly know about it and get the drug they needed! Its a no brainer, Laetrile is dangerous. Read the scientific reports on this drug. Not the quakery sites on the internet. Read Scientif America or Scientific Journal to obtain proper reliable information.

I agree with Suzie 100%. I work in the scientific arena and this drug has been proven to be dangerous. We have to be extremely careful saying cancer cure. B17 in small doses will do no harm but Laetrile has been proven to be harmful.

Thank you for all your comments, helping provide useful information about a topic that might confuse people. At least now if people search for information on Laetrile they'll find all your informed comments making them aware of the risks.

The Cancerbackup website has some information on Laetrile which might be helpful. I thought I'd highlight the link.

With any treatments you consider please discuss it with your cancer specialist before deciding to try anything. Or give the cancer nurse specialists at Cancerbackup a call on 0808 800 1234 and they'll help you find the information you need.

Words like cancer, hiv cure, herbal and whatnot seems so wrong together, probably because we've had it drummed into our heads since time immemorial. Probably because billions of dollars are made everyday when someone is being treated. Cure a disease and the largest industry of the world, looses a valuable customer.

I watched my brother cure himself from cancer in a matter of weeks when given the same time left to live. I then watched my brother coach my mother through her curing herself of breast cancer remarkably. I have been HIV positive for a couple of years now (contracted through a blood transfusion after an accident) and became quite ill last year, very ill in fact so I turned to my brother who has been cancer free for more than 10 years. I've always been a healthy person, clean living lifestyle and adhered to yoga, meditation and exercise as well as prayer. Firstly he enlightened me on crystal therapy and the benefits of colloidal silver (we now make it at home) and ozonated water. I then started taking Selenium, Liposid Acid, Co-enzymje 10, Aloe Vera, Apricots, Flaxseed Oil, Olive Leaf Extract, Stittake, Maitake and Reishi Mushrooms with some other multi-vitamins and minerals. I had a T-Cell reading of around 200 but within weeks my T-Cell count went up to over a 1500, healthier than someone living without the virus. All infections disappeared. This is basically what he used when he was sick. He then told me about the ZAPPER and ELECTRO-MAGNETIC PULSING. To my amazement there was a doctor who made these contraptions over here in Pakistan. He made me the required contraptions and in no time at all was buzzing away with health I'd never experienced before. I went for my Tcell COUNT AND DISEASE RATE CHECK and to my amazement the disease was unreadable in my body. I'm still on the medications until the end of the year and then I was told I can cease to take them altogether - forever. As far as B 17 is concerned, the Hunza Valley in northern Pakistan has a strict diet of dried fruits (because the extreme weather permits only this in their harsh winters) and Apricot is their main source of food, apricot wine, juice, dried and fresh, jams, you name it, they have it in every form. Now the thing about the Hunakush is that they seem to live forever, what I mean is that when I say most of the population live well past 100 (most claiming 130-150 years old with many registered births and death to prove it as well as a huge population still living in their hundreds today), they all pay refuge to the almighty apricot for their longevity, also their clean living and water (high in colloidal minerals, including silver and gold) CHECK IT OUT FOR YOURSELF, SCIENTISTS HAVE BEEN DOCUMENTING THIS FOR ALMOST 200 YEARS.

Moral of the story, do not negate the fact that nature provides us with every cure to every disease (including the man-made ones like HIV and most Cancers)

Looking forward to your comments.

S x

Maybe it does help some people. I wouldn't advocate stopping the treatment from your oncologist unless you would have stopped it because it was getting too much.

Vitamin B12 though is a vitamin and has had some successes, I heard. I heard it was also banned in the USA. I don't know why. It seems harmless if taken in conjunction with a prescribed treatment from the oncologist.

I am not an expert, but I wouldn't come out and declare that it doesn't work, I would want to know what sort of scientist was making such didactic remarks. If it was a chemist, or a nuclear physicist, their opinion wouln't be all that helpful.

I don't neccessarily advocate it, but if someone wants to try it, I would suggest that they ask their oncologist.

Crystal therapy has no effect on cancer.

Source: http://breast-cancer-research.com/content/9/S2/S10

Colloidal Silver has no beneficial effetcs. Silver is poisonous.

Source: http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/PhonyAds/silverad.html

Ozonated water has no beneficial effects, ozone is a poison.

http://www.chem1.com/CQ/oxyscams.html

Selenium,Liposid Acid,Co-enzymje 10, Aloe Vera, Apricots,Flaxseed Oil,Olive Leaf Extract, Stittake, Maitake and Reishi Mushrooms, Zappers and electromagnetic pulsing have no effect on cancer progression.

Source: http://www.quackwatch.org/

Vitamin B12 is a vitamin. It has no effect on cancer progression, and it is best obtained from a balanced diet, rather than supplements.

Source: http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=18416

"Vitamin B17" is not a vitamin. It is a poison.

Source: http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=21859

HIV is not a man made disease.

Source: http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/aids.html

Neither is cancer in general

Source: http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/harmquack.html

Regards
Seanty
www.mymalignantmelanoma.com

I always say that the proof is in the pudding and instead of displaying a million websites directing you to their (propaganda), research it yourselves with an open and unbiased mind, speak to people and then decide for yourself. Even pharma co.'s claims of being able to do the things they do, granted they have some effect, usually placebo, but they are not the be all and end all of health. Thousands of years have seen the use of wonderful remedies to cure almost every known disease then earlier this century when the pharma industry held the first international health summit proclaimed if it's not manmade, it'll kill you.....Blabbing on a bit, but all this well researched material is available online in abudents, in fact has been in front of everyones eyes all along. We were just too blind to see it. Everyday things are being experimented on us for the sake of economic values, not moral ones. (whoever heard of companies giving away stuff for free with no agenda except to help - who ever got a FREE vaccination? Especially in Africa in the late 70's. God knows!

I won't patronize you and for the sake of not sounding contrived, I only know what I have experienced and it is validated with my actually still being here today. With being able to see my brother raise his son and my mother to keep my dad company, to sharing my experience with you.

Speak to people who have come back from cancer, that have been cured somehow and there you shall find your proof.

Peace:)

Why is your pic a grey head and shoulders cut-out, not a real person? I think you should put your face where your mouth is, so to speak. It's great that you have cured your family of cancer and yourself of HIV. Are you claiming that EVERYONE in this Pakistan valley gets cured of cancer by this apricot-rich diet, or that cancer is unknown in the first place?

I can hardly be bothered to rebut your entire post but one sentence is so idiotic that I couldn't let it pass. I quote "Thousands of years have seen the use of wonderful remedies to cure almost every known disease then earlier this century". This statement is preposterous. Cholera, scarlet fever, syphillis, smallpox (now eradicated), polio - I could go on and on - the list is endless of diseases which in the past would kill you and can now be treated due to advances in modern medicine. I doubt whether I myself would be alive without the drugs I am taking.

Speaking as someone who has the misfortune to have two terminal cancers, I get extremely annoyed when people post such unsubstantiated rubbish. And as for your claims that your mother cured herself of breast cancer and you eliminated the HIV virus from your blood - I'm sorry to say I don't believe a word of it.

Yours

Mary

I think that Thingsofnature forgot something. I heard that if you run out the front door of your house with absolutely nothing on, have a rose (a red one) clenched between your teeth, then run up the street and back without dropping the rose (or tripping on the front step), you can be cured of ANYTHING.
I lost the web link for that but I am keeping my mind open.

Oh Lindy

You did make me laugh and I think your post came at just the right time ...... thinking of trying it so watch the Scottish news!!!

Lesley xx

You've given me the first laugh since I watched an extract of "I Love Lucy" this morning (the one where she is advertising the wonder health drink Vitameatavegemin, and doesn't realise that it also contains 23% proof alcohol). Thank you xxxxx Penny

Yes, well, I figure that there are more important things to get your knickers in a knot about, even if one's knickers are tie-died cheesecloth (which theoretically means that they've been knotted somewhere along the line in the first place).
Glad you girls got a laugh out of it.
I've been spun the laetrile line, alarmingly from a very well educated friend who has a child with autism. I humoured her and looked at a few web sites (I have to stress that even though I wasn't wearing cheesecloth knickers while i was doing this, my mind was open). My conclusion was that the whole thing is rubbish, rubbish, rubbish.
You really need to laugh at this stuff.
In fact, there have been times that i have thought it would be great to keep a list of all the ridiculous miracle cures we have been told about. The list could be pulled out at dinner parties for entertainment. The best I heard was while I was volunteering in the tuck shop at my children's school. As I was spreading butter on sandwiches and trying to keep a straight face, another mother (a very shy woman who had never spoken much to anyone) told me of an scientifically proven cure for cancer from the 1800's - the 'drink your own urine' cure. Yes, scientifically proven. Yes, my son should really try it. She had never spoken much before, but she went on for a full half an hour about this urine business. After listening to all this I think I would rename the therapy as 'drink your own urine to cure shyness'.
I suppose here is good intentions behind most of these suggestions.
Anyway, from sunny Downunder I will keep an eye out for Lesley in the Scottish newspapers (remember that the rose needs to be red), and Penny, you should get back to your Vitameatavegemin!
Cheers,
Lindy

I have an "Enquire Within Upon Everything" dating from the 1890s. It recommends champagne and laudanum (ie a form of opium, but then commonly available) for my type of cancer. Actually I am rather impressed by this, as it sounds a heck of a site more fun than Cisplatin and radiotherapy, and as I'm terminal anyway. ...Don't much fancy the urine, although people in the desert or shipwrecked have done that to survive.

I think your idea of Preposterous Cancer Cures is a GREAT idea. I think I'm going to have a bit of a surf. I was sent a junk email early on from an African witchdoctor type urging me to buy a ground up root of something.

I think that Champagne and Laudanum is the best suggestion yet! We would have to think of a name for this special cocktail.
Then we could have a wonderfully bohemian pyjama cocktail party thingy, complete with jewelled turbans, false lashes and bring-your-own IV stand. After a few champagne laudanum cocktails we could later use the IV stands for pole dancing. What do you think?

Do the men get fezes and smoking jackets?

Could well be an idea for a future What Now meet-up - we'll all have to grow some poppies in our gardens next year LOL.!

Seanty - darling, you can wear the Fez if you want (you can't wear the jacket with the hood!). And a bloke always looks good in a smoking jacket, I think all the girls would expect a cravat, too (tip: the papers here intimate that that Hugh Hefner is closing shop - maybe he will be having a garage sale soon, you could snap up some of his attire). So you're in. But you don't get out of the pole dancing. And Penny, since I'm so far away and I wouldn't make it to a What Now meet up - how about I just send a fruit basket and a fabulous bunch of flowers (poppies, of course!). I would have you in charge of distribution and display.
LOL