Laetrile: A Persistent, Dangerous, and
Fraudulent Cancer Remedy
Preface
On October 25, 2000, the Dunn County News ran a story with the
title Cancer: Why We're Still Dying to Know the Truth. It was about
Phillip Day and his efforts to sell laetrile as a cancer remedy. My
response to the letter is below. On November 12, 2000, the Dunn
County News (DCN) ran a half page Letter-to-the-Editor from Phillip
Day criticizing my letter. It had the title Dr. Scott: Censor or
Sinister? This letter accused me of working for the pharmaceutical
industry and suggested that I was involved in a vast conspiracy to
withhold the truth from the public for profit. It was a sophisticated,
well-constructed paper that was probably in his files. It wasn't the first
time he had to defend himself. This paper prompted another Letter-tothe-Editor appearing in the DCN on November 19, 2000. It was
written by Ken Parejko from the Biology department at UW-Stout and
had the title Consequences of Marginal Belief Systems. Parejko is
highly critical of Phillip Day and states "Portraying modern cancer
treatment as 'the same toxic treatments for cancer with little change in
their modality for over forty years' is simply blatantly false." In
response to Parejko's letter, Phillip Day responds with another letter in
a few days with the title Can Majority Ever Be Tragically Wrong?
(The editor of the DCN then establishes a moratorium on any further
letters-to-the-editor regarding laetrile.)
Hero or Villain?1
The Dunn County News printed a very interesting article this past
Wednesday (October 25). It was about Phillip Day and his efforts to
convince people of the cancer fighting strength of Vitamin B17 (or
Laetrile). He states “…Vitamin B17 is vital to the health of the
general public…(it) has the ability to selectively kill cancer cells and
even prevent them from spreading to a deadly secondary state.” He
even encourages people to “Come and learn how to ‘prevent’ cancer,
as well as treat it at home for just dollars a day.” The article goes to
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great lengths to describe Day as a crusader against the monopoly of
big chemical industries. The article indicates Day is fighting a big
business and government conspiracy to “…withhold this life-saving
information…”
Wait a minute  Phillip Day is charging $5 per person to hear his
statements and he never indicates the full costs of Vitamin B17
treatments. Are we only hearing one side of the story? Perhaps Phillip
Day is really a sophisticated snake oil salesperson masquerading as a
great crusader against the establishment?
I did a little research on the web to dig deeper into this issue. The
National
Cancer
Institute
(at
http://search.nci.nih.gov/search97cgi/s97_cgi) has done several studies
on the substance of Laetrile as a cancer treatment. The results of the
most recent study “indicated no significant patient benefit in terms of a
decrease in the size of the tumor, a decrease in or relief of cancerrelated symptoms, or a longer lifespan. Several patients displayed
symptoms of cyanide poisoning, including muscle weakness and
impaired reflexes, or had life-threatening levels of cyanide in their
blood. (Laetrile can release cyanide, which is a highly toxic
chemical.)” The National Cancer Society has proclaimed “After study
of the literature and other available information the American Cancer
Society has found no evidence that Laetrile results in objective benefit
in the treatment of cancer in human beings. Lacking such evidence the
American Cancer Society strongly urges individuals with cancer not to
seek treatment with Laetrile.” Another good web site that discusses
Laetrile is the National Council For Reliable Health Information at
http://www.ncrhi.org/. These web pages stated “Laetrile Doesn't
Work” and “Laetrile is Dangerous.” What was most revealing was the
statement “Laetrile is most interesting because of its success as a
fraudulent remedy for cancer. Janssen noted that just about every
decade from the 1940s forward saw a quack cancer remedy capture the
public's fancy. In the 1970s, Laetrile eclipsed all other previous
substances in its political success as at least 27 states legalized its use
in some manner as a response to a well-organized publicity campaign
by proponents.” The British Columbia Cancer Agency has some good
information
about
Laetrile
on
its
web
pages
at
http://www.bccancer.bc.ca/uct/laetrile-amygdalin-vitaminb17sarcarcinase-nitriloside.shtml. On these web pages it was noted that
“An inquiry reported in the New York Times in 1977 revealed a profit
of $150,000 to $200,000 a month to one Laetrile promoter…”.
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With all this said, I would like to ask the Dunn County News a
question. Was this article a news story or an advertisement? An
advertisement used to promote the sale of a consumer product. Isn’t
Phillip Day trying to sell an unproven and even dangerous cancer
treatment? What is your policy for differentiating between news
stories and advertisements?
1
Scott, A., 2000, Hero or Villian?, Dunn County News (local newspaper),
Wisconsin, November 1
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