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ViewCOULD ESSIAC HALT CANCER?
Sheila Snow Fraser and Carroll Allen Copyright 1977 Homemaker Magazine Reproduced with permission by Essiac Information Pool This is the story of Rene Caisse, an 88 year old nurse from Bracebridge, Ont. who has been convinced for 50 years that she has an herbal remedy that’s effective against cancer. In the 20s and 30s, she defied the medical establishment to treat hundreds of cancer patients (most of them terminal) with her secret remedy, and produced remarkable results. Some of her patients are still alive today and as certain as she is that they owe their lives to her secret formula, Essiac (Caisse spelt backwards). At a time when cancer is responsible for 1 out of every 6 deaths in Canada, and will probably affect 1 out of every 4 people on this continent; when despite millions of dollars poured annually into research for a cure, it remains a mystery killer, it is fitting to examine the history of Rene Caisse and Essiac. 40 years ago, Rene Caisse and Essiac were the centre of a medical and political debate that reached right to the floor of the Ontario Legislature, and made headlines all over the continent. At that time, faced with her refusal to tell them what Essiac was, a frustrated and puzzled medical profession concluded that her patients either didn’t have cancer, or that their cures had been brought about by some previous treatment. Give us the formula and we will test it, the Ontario Commission for the Investigation of Cancer Remedies offered. Recognise that it has merit and guarantee that it will be used on cancer patients and I’ll reveal it. Nurse Caisse countered. The deadlock between the scientific community which demands controlled testing before sanctioning any new treatments, and the country nurse who maintains that the improved health of patients should be proof enough, persists to this day. According to Rene Caisse, the complex nature of its herbal ingredients makes Essiac as impossible to analize now as it was then. If it is indeed a cure, remedy or palliative, its secret is still firmly locked in her mind, and is likely to die with her. Since 1936 at least 8 offers to help her achieve recognition and distribution for Essiac have been made. Some were from scientific groups, some from interested laymen. One of them in 1937 offered her an outright gift of $200,000 cash and an annual salary of $50,000 plus royalties. Two offers have been made within the last 6 months. She rejected them all. Homemaker’s heard about Rene Caisse through Sheila Fraser, a resident of Muskoka, who had been interviewing her over a two and a half year period, gathering material for a book she is writing about Rene and Essiac. The article she brought to Homemaker’s had all the elements of a Perry Mason mystery. Had there been a cabal against her by the medical profession, as Rene claimed? Was Essiac as effective a treatment as her files and records indicated, or indeed her patients claimed? If the facts in Fraser’s story of Rene Caisse stood up, she was obviously onto something that should be brought to the attention of the rest of the world. Carroll Allen, an experienced investigative reporter was brought in to work with Fraser in checking and assembling the hundreds of facts and details connected with the story. Initially scepticism was our operative word - if the treatments hadn’t really been valuable, it would be irresponsible to revive an old controversy and raise the hopes of millions of people. We learned that Essiac was not dead and buried. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York had been testing it on mice from the summer of 1974 until the fall of 1976, when Rene withdrew her material from them because, according to her directions. And a doctor in Cambridge, Mass., Dr. Charles Brusch, who had worked with Rene in 1959, had only recently requested a supply of Essiac herbs to treat a patient with cancer of the oesophagus, and Rene had supplied them. This patient, Patrick McGrail, was in the last stages of cancer, and unable to eat or sleep. Brusch didn’t really expect to cure McGrail, but after the patient had taken 9 doses of the herbal brew, his appetite improved, his pain lessened, and he was able to sleep in some comfort. At press time (May 2nd 1977) some 14 weeks since start of treatment, McGrail had gained 11 pounds and was feeling “a heck of a lot better”. Asked for his opinion of the effectiveness of Essiac, Dr. Brusch replied, “Essiac has tremendous merit to supplement any therapy a cancer patient may be using. I can’t call it a cure, but it definitely has had and sill has important merit. I regard it as essential to back up any other therapy.” Dr. Brusch is a doctor of high reputation; a citation from the City of Cambridge, an award from the Govenor’s Council of Massachusetts for 30 years unexcelled medical practice, a life membership in the Dante Algihieri Society for philanthropic work, so his observations and endorsement of Essiac carry ...
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