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Thursday 31 May 2018

The rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes ...

The rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes, who started Theranos when she was 19 and became the world's youngest female billionaire before it all came crashing down



 14/05/2018


Slide 1 of 30:  These days, blood-testing startup Theranos is on its last legs.  But in 2014, the billion-dollar company and its CEO, Elizabeth Holmes, were on top of the world. Back then, Theranos was a revolutionary idea thought up by a woman hailed as a genius who styled herself as a female Steve Jobs. Holmes was the world's youngest female self-made billionaire, and Theranos was one Silicon Valley's unicorn startups.  Then it all came crashing down. The shortcomings and inaccuracies of Theranos's technology were exposed, along with the role Holmes played in covering it all up. Theranos and Holmes were charged with massive fraud, and the company was forced to close its labs and testing centers.  This is how Holmes went from precocious child to ambitious Stanford dropout to embattled startup CEO.

These days, blood-testing startup Theranos is on its last legs.
But in 2014, the billion-dollar company and its CEO, Elizabeth Holmes, were on top of the world. Back then, Theranos was a revolutionary idea thought up by a woman hailed as a genius who styled herself as a female Steve Jobs. Holmes was the world's youngest female self-made billionaire, and Theranos was one Silicon Valley's unicorn startups.
Then it all came crashing down.
The shortcomings and inaccuracies of Theranos's technology were exposed, along with the role Holmes played in covering it all up. Theranos and Holmes were charged with massive fraud, and the company was forced to close its labs and testing centers.
This is how Holmes went from precocious child to ambitious Stanford dropout to embattled startup CEO.


Slide 2 of 30: Source: Elizabeth Holmes/Twitter, CNN, Vanity Fair

Elizabeth Holmes was born on February 3, 1984 in Washington, D.C. Her mom, Noel, was a Congressional committee staffer, and her dad, Christian Holmes, worked for Enron before moving to government agencies like USAID.


Holmes' family moved when she was young, from Washington, D.C. to Houston.

Slide 4 of 30: Source: CBS News

At the age of 9, Holmes wrote a letter to her father: "What I really want out of life is to discover something new, something that mankind didn't know was possible to do."

When she was a teenager, Holmes started her own business: she sold C++ compilers, a type of software that translates computer code, to Chinese schools.

Slide 6 of 30: Source: San Francisco Business Times

Holmes was inspired by her great-great-grandfather Christian Holmes, a surgeon, to go into medicine, but she discovered she was terrified of needles. Later, this would influence her to start Theranos.

Holmes went to Stanford to study chemical engineering. When she was a freshman, she became a "president's scholar," an honor which came with a $3,000 stipend to go toward a research project.

Holmes spent the summer after her freshman year interning at the Genome Institute in Singapore. She got the job partly because she spoke Mandarin, which she learned as a teenager.

Slide 9 of 30: Source: Fortune, Wired

As a sophomore, Holmes went to one of her professors, Channing Robertson, and said: "Let's start a company." With his blessing, she founded Real-Time Cures, later changing the company's name to Theranos.

Holmes soon filed a patent application for "Medical device for analyte monitoring and drug delivery," a wearable device that would administer medication, monitor patients' blood, and adjust the dosage as needed.

Slide 11 of 30: Source: Wall Street Journal

By the next semester, Holmes had dropped out of Stanford altogether, working on Theranos in the basement of a college house.

Slide 12 of 30: Source: Wall Street Journal

Theranos's business model was based around the idea that it ran blood tests using proprietary technology that required only pinprick in your finger and a small amount of blood. Holmes said the tests would be able to detect medical conditions like cancer and high cholesterol.

Slide 13 of 30: Source: SEC, Crunchbase

Holmes started raising venture capital money for Theranos from prominent investors like Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Larry Ellison. To date, Theranos has raised more than $700 million.

Holmes took investors' money on the condition that she wouldn't have to reveal how Theranos' technology worked. Plus, she would have final say over everything having to do with the company.

That obsession with secrecy extended to every aspect of Theranos. For the first decade Holmes spent building her company, Theranos operated in stealth mode. She even took three former Theranos employees to court, claiming they had misused Theranos trade secrets.

Holmes' attitude toward secrecy was borrowed from a Silicon Valley hero of hers: Steve Jobs. Holmes started wearing black turtlenecks like Jobs, decorated her office with his favorite furniture, and like Jobs, never took vacations.

Even Holmes's uncharacteristically deep voice may have been part of a carefully crafted image intended to help her fit in in the male-dominated business world.

Slide 18 of 30: Source: STAT News, Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

Shortly after Holmes dropped out of Stanford at age 19, she had been dating Theranos president and COO Sunny Balwani, who was 20 years her senior. The pair broke up in spring 2016 when Holmes pushed him out of the company.

Slide 19 of 30: Source: Vanity Fair

As Theranos started to rake in millions of funding, Holmes became the subject of media attention and acclaim in the tech world. She graced the covers of Fortune and Forbes, gave a TED Talk, and spoke on panels with Bill Clinton and Alibaba's Jack Ma.

Slide 20 of 30: Source: Wired,Business Insider

Theranos quickly began securing outside partnerships. Capital Blue Cross and Cleveland Clinic signed on to offer Theranos tests to their patients, and Walgreens made a deal to open Theranos testing centers. Theranos also formed a secret partnership with Safeway worth $350 million.

Slide 21 of 30: Source: Forbes

At one point, Holmes was the world's youngest self-made female billionaire with a net-worth of around $4.5 billion.

Slide 22 of 30: Source: Vanity Fair,Business Insider

Around the same time, questions were being raised about Theranos's technology. Ian Gibbons — chief scientist at Theranos and one of the company's first hires — warned Holmes that the tests weren't ready for the public to take, and that there were inaccuracies in the technology. Outside scientists began voicing their concerns about Theranos, too.

Slide 23 of 30: Source: Vanity Fair

By August 2015, the FDA began investigating Theranos, and regulators from the government body that oversees laboratories found "major inaccuracies" in the testing Theranos was doing on patients.

By October 2015, Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou published his investigation into Theranos's struggles with its technology. Carreyrou's reporting sparked the beginning of the company's downward spiral.

Carreyrou found that Theranos' blood-testing machine, named Edison, couldn't give accurate results, so Theranos was running its samples through the same machines used by traditional blood-testing companies.

Holmes appeared on CNBC's "Mad Money" to defend herself and her company. "This is what happens when you work to change things, and first they think you're crazy, then they fight you, and then all of a sudden you change the world," Holmes said.

By 2016, the FDA, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and SEC were all looking into Theranos.

Slide 28 of 30: Source: Business Insider


In July 2016, Holmes was banned from the lab-testing industry for two years. By October, Theranos had shut down lab operations and wellness centers.

In March 2018, Theranos, Holmes, and Balwani were charged with "massive fraud" by the SEC. Holmes agreed to give up financial and voting control of the company, pay a $500,000 fine, and return 18.9 million shares of Theranos stock. She also isn't allowed to be the director or officer of a publicly traded company for 10 years.

Slide 30 of 30: Source: Business Insider Maya Kosoff contributed to an earlier version of this story.

Despite the charges, Holmes has been allowed to stay on as CEO of Theranos, as it's a private company, not public. But the company is hanging on by a thread, and Holmes has written to investors asking for more money to save Theranos. "In light of where we are, this is no easy ask," Holmes wrote.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/companies/the-rise-and-fall-of-elizabeth-holmes-who-started-theranos-when-she-was-19-and-became-the-worlds-youngest-female-billionaire-before-it-all-came-crashing-down/


List of Theranos postings on this blog :

  1. Theranos: Scandal hit blood-testing firm to shut
  2. Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes indicted for alleged fraud, out as CEO
  3. The rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes ...
  4. Lesson of Theranos: Fact-Checking Alone Isn't Enough
  5. A 31-year-old's fight to disrupt a $75 billion industry
  6. TEDMED: Elizabeth Holmes Lab testing reinvented
  7. Blood, Simpler: One Woman's Drive to Revolutionize Medical Testing


This post is on Healthwise


Tuesday 29 May 2018

Lack of These 4 Crucial Nutrients Is a Common Cause of Cancer

In a world full of toxins, pollution, bad food, and who knows what else, avoiding cancer may seem like more trouble than it’s worth. Every day it seems we’re urged to give up yet another food we love, or we learn of some new substance that causes cancer.

By Lee Euler / May 13, 2018



And, of course, usually it’s something found everywhere, something we’ve been exposed to since infancy.
But don’t give up. There’s one factor you have nearly complete control over. . .
Mounting evidence points to cancer as a disease triggered or at least influenced by vitamin and nutrient deficiencies. Critical nutrients are ‘experts’ at healing your body, protecting your DNA, detoxifying pollutants, and fighting off invaders.
While we should get these nutrients from our diet, all too often we don’t. And if you don’t make up for the shortfall through supplements and/or better food choices, you leave the door wide open for cancer.
Research indicates that the following four vitamins and minerals in particular could be closely tied to cancer risk…
Is this deficiency an incubator for breast cancer?
Vitamin D isn’t just good for your health. It could be essential to your survival. A study published in Endocrinology showed a strong link between breast cancer and vitamin D deficiency.
Brian J. Feldman, M.D., Ph.D. noted, “A number of large studies have looked for an association between vitamin D levels and cancer outcomes, and the findings have been mixed . . . Our study identifies how low levels of vitamin D circulating in the blood may play a mechanistic role in promoting breast cancer growth and metastasis.”1
In one study, mice were injected with tumor cells, then fed either a standard diet or a diet low in vitamin D… Those with lower vitamin D intake grew larger tumors, and grew them more quickly, than did the others.
The team concluded, “Our results indicate that loss of vitamin D signaling is sufficient to convert the cells from non-metastatic to metastatic.”2
Another small clinical trial of women with early-stage breast cancer showed greater levels of vitamin D in the bloodstream lowered tumor expression. But the trial was stopped early, so final data was not collected.3
Dr. Michael Holick is an endocrinologist who studied vitamin D for more than two decades. In fact, he is the guy responsible for identifying the importance of vitamin D and telling the public about it. He overcame fierce opposition from conventional scientists and doctors.
Now his findings pretty much are conventional science.
Dr. Holick believes that the evidence for vitamin D’s protective effects against cancer (and all other disease) is rock-solid. I strongly recommend his book, The Vitamin D Solution: A 3-Step Strategy to Cure Our Most Common Health Problems.
It’s worth noting that getting sufficient vitamin D requires you to be outside with exposed skin during midday. You can do this without damaging your skin. A small exposure is all that’s required.
You won’t get what you need from drinking “fortified” milk… which is generally not a good idea anyway because of dairy’s other problems.
If you work indoors or live far from the equator, getting enough sun can be a problem, so a supplement may have to suffice, especially during the winter. Make sure it’s vitamin D3 (not D2).
Don’t gyp your DNA of this forgotten nutrient…
Vitamin B12 promotes and protects your nerves, DNA, red blood cells, and more. It plays a key role in DNA synthesis, working together with folate (note: not synthetic folic acid) to help keep your DNA from mutating. Yet it could be one of the most forgotten nutrients.
According to an article published in the Harvard Health Blog, B12 deficiency can lead to many serious symptoms, including but not limited to:
  • Numbness
  • Loss of breath
  • Jaundice
  • Joint pain
  • Severe depression
  • Paranoia
  • Delusions
  • Memory loss
  • Incontinence
  • Loss of taste and smell4
It’s also linked to cancer risk…
According to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, “Increased intake of B12, folate and B6 may lower the risks for breast and cervical cancers.”
But some research suggests that in male smokers, taking B12 over a long period of time may increase the risk of lung cancer.5
A typical adult should get 2.4 micrograms of B12 per day, but many either don’t consume that much through their diet or can’t absorb what they get.6
Plants don’t contain B12, so you have to get your daily dose from meat, poultry, dairy, eggs, and other animal foods. If you’re a vegetarian or vegan, you’re at much higher risk of deficiency and should definitely take a supplement.
You’re also more likely to be deficient if you’re over 50, have a serious health condition, or take drugs (Metformin, for example) that interfere with your ability to absorb B12.7
This single mineral lowers risk of many cancers
Magnesium is a mineral vital to many aspects of your health. Your brain, heart, muscles, and bones all depend on it. Recent studies also show a link between higher magnesium intake and lower risk of certain cancers.
The Swedish Mammography Cohort conducted a study of 61,433 women. They found that the one-fifth of these women who ingested the most magnesium had a much lower risk of colorectal cancer (CRC).8
A large study of 66,806 people found that those who consume less than the recommended amount of magnesium had higher rates of pancreatic cancer – especially those who consumed below 75 percent of the recommended amount.
A mere 100 mg per day decrease in magnesium intake corresponded to a 24 percent increase in cancer risk.9
Daniel Dibaba, the Ph.D. student who led the study, stated, “For those at a higher risk of pancreatic cancer, adding a magnesium supplement to their diet may prove beneficial in preventing this disease. While more study is needed, people should strive to get the daily recommendations of magnesium through diet, such as dark, leafy greens or nuts, to prevent any risk of pancreatic cancer.”10
Popular against the common cold, could it help prevent cancer too?
There’s no doubt other nutrients play a role in cancer development too, even if the research is somewhat sketchy. We know, for example, that some cancers are caused by pathogens. So wouldn’t it make sense that vitamin C and possibly other anti-viral nutrients would help protect your body from these pathogens?
There is, in fact, some evidence that vitamin C may protect against certain cancers. Research is ongoing in some of them. Here’s what we know so far…
Research suggests that vitamin C may be useful in eradicating H. pyloriand thus reduce risk of ulcers and stomach cancer.11
Vitamin C also seems to protect against breast cancer, especially for premenopausal women with a family history of breast cancer. Those who consumed an average of 205 mg/day lowered their risk 63 percent versus those who got just 70 mg/day.12
And eight-ounce serving of orange juice from a carton has only 65 milligrams. Freshly squeezed orange juice has more – 96. After a carton is opened the amount of vitamin C begins to decline.
The no-brainer way to find your weak points and fix them
Most of these vitamin and mineral levels can be assessed. Ask your doctor to order a blood analysis. Find out where you’re low, adjust your diet and lifestyle, and take supplements as needed.
A “rainbow” diet of organic, pesticide-free whole foods and organic grass-fed meats is a terrific defense against all disease.
Real food gives you vitamins and minerals in balance and in their natural forms – including not-yet-discovered compounds. So you can’t go wrong with getting your nutrients from food.
But because the soil your food grows in may be nutrient-poor, and because we all have dietary indiscretions from time to time and possibly even cumulative deficiencies, supplementing with vitamins and minerals is a key part of a smart prevention strategy. Plus, it’ll give you more energy and vitality to boot.
It’s very unlikely you’ll ever overdose on vitamin C. At something like 10,000 milligrams a day – a huge dose – you may get diarrhea. It won’t kill you. Merely cut back and you’ll be fine. I take two or three thousand milligrams a day.
Similarly, you’re super-unlikely to take in too much vitamin D; nearly everyone can safely take 5,000 i.u. per day. But longtime readers of this newsletter know I recommend getting a blood test to determine how much vitamin D you need. Some people may need as much as 20,000 i.u. for a time, until their blood levels are adequate.
Magnesium likewise is quite safe. Just check the directions on the bottle.
For B12, you need a blood test to be sure, but a thousand units a day is safe for all but a tiny number of people.

https://www.cancerdefeated.com/lack-of-these-4-crucial-nutrients-is-a-common-cause-of-cancer/6889/

Friday 25 May 2018

Yes, laetrile really works

The FDA has effectively shut down the purchase of Laetrile in the U.S. — even though it’s a perfectly safe and natural supplement that could save those 475,905 lives per year.
By Lee Euler / June 16, 2010


“No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States: Nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
(One of the greatest rights ever given to a people — From the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, 1868)
Suppose you discovered that a whopping 475,905 people in the U.S. alone die needlessly every year, in a manner so sinister it could be classified as criminal deception.1
You’d call that mass murder if it were intentional, right?
Such is the story surrounding Laetrile, one of the most popular and effective alternative cancer treatments — also known as purified B17, Amygdalin, or nitrilosides.
The FDA has effectively shut down the purchase of Laetrile in the U.S. — even though it’s a perfectly safe and natural supplement that could save those 475,905 lives per year.
Continued below…
You can make yourself cancer-proof with laetrile-rich foods
Members of a certain tribal people are almost totally cancer-free. But when they move from their native land and change their diet, they get cancer just like anyone else.
My good friend Ty Bollinger says it’s because they eat a diet rich in laetrile. Specifically, they grow apricots on a large scale. In their country, says Ty, a man’s wealth is measured by the number of apricot trees he owns. And — most important — they eat the pits, which are just about the richest source of laetrile you can find. That makes these folks a bit unusual. And it looks like it makes them cancer-proof.
You can buy apricot pits over the Internet, but this life-giving substance is present in hundreds of other foods, too. If you’ve already got cancer, you can receive laetrile (also called B-17) intravenously (IV) at a clinic that Ty recommends. He gives you the full story in one of the best books about alternative cancer treatments ever written. Click here and see why this valuable volume belongs on your bookshelf. Then get going and make yourself cancer-proof!
Rediscovered After 3,400 Years
Oral traditions from ancient China suggest that doctors used a highly concentrated substance from the pits of apricots and other fruits 3,500 years ago to treat tumors. It was first documented in writing 2,000 years ago.
Laetrile exists in large amounts in apricot kernels, comprising 2-3% of the kernel. It’s also found in the kernels of many other fruits, and a host of other foods such as:
1) Plums
2) Cherry seeds
3) Peach kernels
4) Nectarines
5) Apple seeds
6) Lima beans
7) Chick peas
8) Elderberry wine
9) Bean sprouts
10) Millet sprouts
11) Sorghum molasses
12) All members of the raspberry family
13) Macadamia nuts
14) Bamboo sprouts
15) Cashews
16) Buckwheat
17) Blueberries
18) Blackberries
19) Strawberries
All fruit seeds contain healthy organic cyanide — not ‘inorganic’ cyanide, which is deadly. More on that in a moment…
The primitive diet was very rich in nitrilosides, because people ate the entire fruit or grain kernel, including the seeds, which contained as much as 2% or more nitrilosides. Today it’s typical to eat only the flesh and discard everything else.
Nitriloside was “rediscovered” in 1920 by California physician Ernest Krebs. His son Dr. Ernest Krebs, Jr., named it “Laetrile” in 1952 after they discovered a connection between cancer and nutritional deficiency.
Their studies showed that a sufficient intake of Laetrile (or hydrocyanic acid in its natural form) was selectively toxic to cancer cells.
In the early 70s, Loyola University biologist Dr. Harold Manner ran a study on mice using a combination of enzymes, vitamin A and Laetrile. As reported in his book, Death of Cancer2
“After 6-8 days, an ulceration appeared at the tumor site. Within the ulceration was a pus-like fluid. An examination of this fluid revealed dead malignant cells. The tumor gradually underwent complete regression in 75 of the experimental animals. This represented 89.3% of the total group.”
Vitamin B17 is one “smart” vitamin!
On a molecular level, it has four units — 2 units of glucose, 1 unit of benzaldehyde, and 1 unit of cyanide. The cyanide unit is “locked” together with the other three units so it cannot be released on its own.
When B17 comes into contact with normal cells, a protective enzyme called rhodanase neutralizes the cyanide molecule in Laetrile on contact. On the contrary, cancer cells have norhodanase. Instead, they have another enzyme, beta-glucosidase that specifically releases the cyanide, which in turn poisons the cancer cells.
So only cancer cells possess this key that unlocks the cyanide — a process known as selective toxicity.
Those Who Do NOT Get Cancer…
G. Edward Griffin, who wrote the excellent book World Without Cancer3 , indicates that the cultures around the world that eat the most B17 in their diets are the same groups that can boast an extremely low incidence of cancer.
Take, for example, the “Hunzakuts” or “Hunza” people of the Himalayas. They have a reputation for being one of the longest-lived people in the world, often living from 100 to 120 years — with great health and vitality. They didn’t know cancer before being introduced to modern civilization.
While it would be a mistake to attribute their healthy lifestyle to just one thing, the fact is that their diet has been historically high in vitamin B17 — possibly the highest in the world — because apricot trees are their main crop. The wealth of a Hunzakut man is measured by how many apricot trees he owns. And dried apricot seeds contain one of the highest sources of B17 on earth. It is not uncommon for a Hunzakut to eat 30 to 50 apricot seeds per day as a snack.
Eskimos have also traditionally been free from cancer. You would correctly assume their diet to be very poor in fresh veggies, fruit, and seeds. But grasses are typically good sources of B17, which the Eskimos receive through eating caribou, reindeer, and other grazing animals.
Both the Hunzas and Eskimos succumbed to cancer once they adopted Western eating habits.
Today’s standard American diet is weak in B17-rich fresh fruits and veggies, nuts and seeds. In addition, most meat comes from grain-fed animals, instead of the more nutritionally sound grass-fed animals.
If Laetrile is selectively toxic to cancer cells, and prevalent in the diets of cultures with almost no cancer incidence, why don’t people know about it?
Research, Cure and Cover-Up…
Most people have never heard about Laetrile because of the massive cover-up by the FDA and pharmaceutical industry.
Regardless, there have been many tests on Laetrile over the past 30 to 40 years, including a major 5-year study at the prestigious cancer research department of Sloan Memorial Kettering Cancer Research (SMKCR) Center in New York.
In 1972, SMKCR asked its senior cancer researcher Dr. Kanematsu Sugiura — with more than 60 years experience in cancer research — to conduct tests over a five-year period from 1972-1977. He’d been with Sloan Kettering since 1917.
Dr. Sugiura’s work was trusted and his honesty was beyond dispute. He had published hundreds of research papers. The head of Sloan Kettering’s lab-testing division even wrote:
“Few if any names in cancer research are as widely known as Kanematsu Segiura’s…. Possibly the highest regard in which his work is held is best characterized by a comment made to me by a visiting investigator in cancer research from Russia. He said, ‘when Segiura publishes, we know we do not have to repeat the study, for we would obtain the same results he has reported’.”
Dr. Sugiura found Laetrile to be highly effective against cancers of all types.
At the conclusion of the trials, on June 15, 1977 the SMKCR released a press statement. Over 100 reporters and half a dozen film crews from leading TV stations were assembled to hear the long-awaited official verdict on Laetrile from the world’s most prestigious cancer research center.
Physicians with impeccable credentials shared the platform. Dr. Robert Good began to speak, condemning Laetrile and its use. He then passed the microphone to Dr. Stock, who had previously praised Segiura’s work. Stock droned on about the finer details of the testing… until it became evident to all that Dr. Sugiura was not to be given an opportunity to speak.
Suddenly a journalist shouted from the crowd, “Dr. Kenamatsu Sugiura, do you stick by your belief that Laetrile stops the spread of cancer?”
He replied, “I stick.”
Dr. Sugiura said,
“The most interesting part is metastases. Secondary cancer growth to another location. When this mammary tumor grows to about two centimeters in diameter or more, about 80% develop lung metastases. But with treatment with Laetrile/Amygdalin, it’s cut down to about 20%.”
Deliberately Designed to Fail…
The medical authorities didn’t like it and determined to prove Sugiura wrong. His data had to be buried.
But other researchers had also obtained the same positive results. Dr. Lloyd Schloen, a biochemist at Sloan-Kettering, had included proteolytic enzymes in his injections and reported a 100% cure rate among albino mice.
So what was Sloan-Kettering’s plan? Change the testing protocols and Laetrile amounts to ensure failure. Little surprise then that they failed… and that’s what they reported.
Dr. Sugiura refused to roll over and play dead.
“I see what I see!” he declared. He was hounded for doing so.
Dr. Ralph Moss, head of public relations at Sloan-Kettering at the time, protested the cover-up. He blew the whistle on the lies told by Sloan-Kettering about the Laetrile trials. He was fired the next day for “failing to carry out my most basic job responsibility, which means to lie when your boss tells you to”.
Later, minutes of a meeting of top Sloan officials obtained via the Freedom of Information Act revealed that Sloan-Kettering officials knew the effectiveness of Amygdalin was obvious.
The minutes read, “…Sloan-Kettering is not enthusiastic about studying Amygdalin but would like to study cyanide releasing drugs.”
Sloan-Kettering wanted a man-made patentable chemical to mimic the qualities found in Amygdalin. That’s where the money is.
If a very effective cancer treatment or cure were found in the lowly apricot seed, it would spell economic disaster for the cancer industry.
Laetrile has also been studied and used around the world. Hans Nieper, M.D. (Germany), Ernesto Contreras, M.D. (Mexico), and Manuel Navarro, M.D. (Philippines) were three early practitioners and researchers of Laetrile. All three achieved outstanding results.
When Philip E. Binzel, Jr., M.D. learned of their work, he was so impressed he began practicing nutritional therapy with his own cancer patients. After 20 years of Laetrile treatments, he wrote a book about his experiences.
It should be noted that Laetrile was never meant to be a stand-alone cancer treatment like a drug… but to be used in combination with supplements, diet and enzymes.
Dr Binzel’s book Alive and Well documents numerous stories of those who went on to survive and thrive after Laetrile treatments, and many of the stories can also be read at http://www.cancure.org/cancer_victors.htm.
Tests revealed dramatic survival rates
After 18 years, Dr. Binzel analyzed the success of his treatments. He separated his patients into primary cancer and metastatic cancer groups… and then compared their outcomes to the American Cancer Society’s outcomes.
The primary cancer group had 180 patients with 30 types of cancer. After 18 years, 87.3 percent of these did NOT die of their cancer. Even assuming that the seven patients who died of unknown causes may have died from cancer, he still showed an amazing 83.3% long-term recovery!4
At the same time, the American Cancer Society (ACS) officially claimed that with conventional treatment including early detection and treatment for cancers that had not yet metastasized, “…85% of the patients WILL die from their disease within 5 years.”5
I think I’d bet on Dr. Binzel’s odds, not those of the ACS!
In his group of metastasized cancer patients, after 18 years 70.4% did not die, reduced to a (still) whopping 62.1% when he conceded those who died of unknown causes.
Binzel’s results are incredible when compared to ACS statistics, which show that only one person in every thousand with metastasized cancer (0.1%)will survive five years if treated with conventional means.6
This is true reason to hope…
The Two Fronts of the Disinformation Campaign
Detractors claim that Laetrile is: (1) Too toxic because it contains cyanide, and (2) Not effective in treating cancer.
The “toxic” argument is absurd. You ingest it every time you eat lima beans, bean sprouts, most seeds and nuts, berries, millet and more. And some of the healthiest people on earth eat diets high in Laetrile. What’s more, vitamin B12 — which is sold as a supplement — also contains the same type of cyanide molecule as B17.
The story above about the Sloan Kettering research casts plenty of doubt on the idea Laetrile is “ineffective.” Ralph Moss, the main source for what happened there, is a pillar of integrity, and he’s not a wide-eyed worshipper at the altar of alternative treatments. He’s much more insistent on good scientific evidence than most people who write about the subject.
Further, Griffin reports in his book World Without Cancer about studies at the Mayo Clinic that were deliberately designed to fail and not conducted according to protocol, so the results would “prove” that Laetrile is ineffective.
How to Get Started with Laetrile…
Due to the suppression of Laetrile treatments, you can’t just walk into a doctor’s office and get treated in America. Physicians have been shut down and hauled to jail for prescribing Laetrile.
So Laetrile has been pushed out of the U.S. and into Mexico. Some U.S. docs may still give Laetrile by IV (intravenously), but they probably won’t publicize it.
If you want to receive treatment in the States, the only option is to ask around at various alternative cancer treatment clinics to find out who offers it.
If you want to take “home-style” Laetrile by mouth, you can still purchase apricot seeds on the Internet, but it’s becoming more difficult. Anyway, my sources indicate that eating the seeds is effective as a preventive but less so if you’ve got cancer. IV Laetrile is the most powerful delivery method if you’ve got cancer.
Many clinics in Mexico offer Laetrile or B17, often stated on their websites. As always, check on the credibility of the doctor or clinic, and try to speak with other patients before committing to a regimen.
We publish a guide to Mexican cancer clinics called Cancer Defeated, and I strongly urge you to get your hands on this Special Report if you’re thinking of going to Mexico to get laetrile treatment. We’re coming out with an updated edition called Adios, Cancer.If you buy the older edition that we have in stock now, we’ll automatically send you a FREE copy of the new edition when it comes out. This is a great offer (if I do say so myself). CLICK HERE to get Cancer Defeated AND a free copy of Adios, Cancer in a month or two.
As mentioned earlier, Laetrile is intended to be part of a complete protocol of diet, enzymes, exercise and supplements. You should use Laetrile ONLY under the supervision of a medical professional.
For example, zinc is required for Laetrile to do its job. Ditto for vitamin C. Vitamin A interferes with Laetrile. A build-up of vitamins, enzymes and proper diet is necessary before starting Laetrile. A full stomach weakens the effect of Laetrile. Et cetera.
It’s not a do-it-yourself option.
Also, Laetrile stands for laevo-rotatory mandelonitrile beta-diglucoside. The “laevo” part references a purified form of B17 that turns polarized light in a left-turning direction. Dr. Ralph Moss states that the form of Laetrile patented by the Krebs, father and son, was purified to contain only this left-turning (laevo) form. Apparently Dr. Krebs, Jr. believed that only the left-turning form was effective against cancer. So it’s wise to check the purity of your practitioner’s Laetrile.
Robert Atkins, M.D., the “Diet Revolution” guru, said, “Amygdalin appears to neutralize the oxidative cancer-promoting compounds such as free radicals… It’s just one more key component keeping cancer from growing or spreading. Contrary to what people have said about Laetrile… it should be considered an effective, entirely safe treatment for all types of cancer.”