G. Edward Griffin's 1974 book World Without Cancer is as poignant today as the day it was written, and in some circles, just as controversial. That's because Griffin tells the story of a powerful substance that, despite its potential to aid in the fight against cancer, few cancer sufferers will ever know about, and that their doctors certainly will not offer them. That substance is vitamin B-17, also called Laetrile, and it is a naturally-occurring substance that has been banned for use in the control of cancer in the United States.
Griffin was first introduced to the subject of vitamin therapy for cancer control while on a fishing trip with San Francisco physician John Richardson, he said in a telephone interview. Dr. Richardson told Griffin he had seen great success in treating his cancer patients with vitamin B-17, but he faced opposition from local medical authorities who, when they caught wind of what he was doing, balked at the fact he was using a treatment that was not FDA-approved. In an effort to protect his right to administer a therapy he had seen work on so many patients, Dr. Richardson turned to Griffin for help in advancing his cause, and thus was the beginning of World Without Cancer.
Griffin, who knew nothing of the science of cancer when he began his project, soon learned plenty. His research led him to the conclusion that naturally-occurring Laetrile is indeed an effective treatment for cancer. In fact, from the time he started his research to today, Griffin says he has seen literally thousands of people benefit from treatment with Laetrile. He also learned that cancer is a disease linked directly to a deficiency of vitamin B-17, which is found in high amounts in apricot kernels. However, perhaps the most important and most troubling thing he learned was that Laetrile and its health potential were being kept out of doctors' hands for political � not scientific � reasons.
According to Griffin, the 1953 California Report continues to be the basis of most scientific or legal opposition to vitamin B-17 today. The report, written by Dr. Henry Garland and Dr. E. M. McDonald of the California Medical Association's Cancer Advisory Commission, claims there is no proof Laetrile is an effective control for cancer. (It should be noted that these two particular doctors were at the time also insisting there was no link between smoking and lung cancer.)
However, Griffin writes in World Without Cancer that Garland and McDonald actually falsified information from Laetrile experiments cited in the California Report. In fact, 10 years after the report was published, original documents surfaced that proved information had been falsified. Although the report was subsequently updated, additional problems � such as insufficient vitamin dosages used in the experiments � persisted, and the conclusions of the original California Report remained embedded in the literature and minds of many.
Additional studies conducted by well-known groups like the Sloane-Kettering Institute have proven the effectiveness of Laetrile, according to Griffin. However, those study results have not been publicized.
"When you dig into the facts, and you read the reports by the people themselves inside those institutions, you find out they found in their testing that Laetrile was highly effective, but they received directives from the top to suppress that information," Griffin said.
So why would the "powers-that-be" work so hard to suppress information that could benefit thousands of people dying of cancer? "They do that because they're trying to make a buck, and something that is found in nature, like Laetrile, cannot be patented," says Griffin. But the story doesn't stop there.
And so the extremely influential Rockefeller came to be interlocked with the drug industry, and under the guise of philanthropy, began donating large sums of money to America's faltering medical schools. Of course, the catch was that such schools were told the money had to be used for drug research, which would create a great profit for Rockefeller interests. In their time of need, medical schools readily complied. "When they accepted the money, they had to follow the dollar, and they designed their curricula so it favors pharmacy (and) pharmaceutical drugs," says Griffin.
This effectively gave birth to the conventional medical care system we know today, which is based almost entirely on prescription drugs and knows little to nothing about basic nutrition. "The medical schools of the United States now teach the students everything there is to know about their product, which is drugs," Griffin says, "And so [doctors] come out as highly trained drug salesmen, and they don't even know it!"
Since Griffin's book hit shelves in 1974, awareness of natural health has increased, but little has changed in terms of the availability of Laetrile in the United States. It remains illegal for doctors to prescribe or sell Laetrile as a control for cancer. According to Griffin, however, some clinics continue to quietly use the substance, often only after the patient has obtained it. Many other patients travel to Mexico for treatment.
Griffin worries that vitamin B-17 is not the only natural treatment for serious disease being suppressed because of political and financial reasons. "I'm convinced, and this is just my opinion now; I can't back this up with facts, but on the basis of what I've seen, I think this whole AIDS field is just a rubber stamp of the cancer field," Griffin states. He adds, "I am sure that you'll find this thing all over the medical field because they follow the buck. They have to have something that's patented to do that, and patented medicines are usually toxic."
Today, Griffin says writing World Without Cancer dramatically changed his views and may have saved his life. "It is like night into day," he says. "I am firmly convinced that had I not done this research and learned what I did, I probably would have been dead today because I was living the lifestyle of the typical American � fast foods, no exercise (and) no awareness of the fact that I had any responsibility for my health."
This core problem, according to Griffin, cannot be solved until we get the politics out of a lot of other areas as well. In the meantime, it is up to each individual consumer to take responsibility for his or her own health and wellbeing. "I think it's important for people to understand that government, in most cases, is not the solution; it's the problem," Griffin warns. "As long as people think that the government is supposed to take care of them and protect them and that they can trust their politicians � as long as they think that, they're in deep trouble. And, in fact, we are all in deep trouble because of that kind of thinking."
A second, updated edition of World Without Cancer was released in 1997 and can be purchased at Griffin's website, http://www.realityzone.com. You can also visit the Cancer Cure Foundation, an organization Griffin is a part of that promotes new information on the prevention and control of cancer, at http://www.cancure.org.