BATTLE WEARY

(Page 5 of 5)

May/June 1997
By STEVEN FOSTER 
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Essiac: It is impossible to explore the field of alternative cancer remedies without running into the word “Essiac”. Essiac is an herbal remedy said to have originated with the Indians of northern Ontario. In 1922, an elderly patient gave the formula to Renée Caisse, a nurse in an Ontario hospital. (Essiac is “Caisse” spelled backward.) In 1924, Caisse tried the formula on her mother, who had been diagnosed with inoperable liver cancer. After using the formula, Caisse’s mother was said to have lived for another eighteen years. Caisse then devoted her life to treating cancer patients with the formula free of charge. By 1938, with hundreds of testimonials to its healing powers, Caisse approached the Canadian parliament for recognition of the formula but was turned down. Caisse died at age ninety in 1978, having kept the formula a secret throughout her life.

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Several persons have laid claim to ownership of the formula, reported to have been bequeathed to the Resperin Corporation and to David Fingard via Matthew Dymond, former deputy health minister of Ontario. Now the list of ingredients and various formulations for Essiac circulate widely in alternative cancer publications. The formula is prepared as a tea from various proportions of at least four (sometimes six) herbs, including Indian rhubarb (Rheum palmatum), sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella), slippery elm (Ulmus rubra), and burdock root (Arctium lappa). The most potent herb, the strongly laxative Indian rhubarb, constitutes the smallest part of the formula.

Essiac is not approved by any authority for treatment of cancer. Attempts have been made by its advocates to have it accepted into clinical trials. In 1978, the Canadian government allowed Laval University and the Toronto General Hospital to investigate the formula in cancer patients. Family practitioners were allowed to supervise terminally ill cancer patients on an Essiac regime when no other treatment was possible. The formula was apparently of no benefit in the vast majority of these cases. Evaluation of the formula in NCI’s tumor screening systems also has produced no positive results.

Steven Foster, who lives and writes in Fayetteville, Arkansas, is a member of the Herbs for Health Editorial Advisory Board. This article is adapted from “Cancer and the Plant World” in The Herb Companion of August/September 1995.

Additional reading

Cragg, G. M., et al. Journal of Natural Products 1993, 56(10):1657–1668.
Duke, J. A. Foreward in J. L. Hartwell, Plants Used Against Cancer—A Survey. Lawrence, Kansas: Quarterman, 1982.
Foster, S. Forest Pharmacy. Durham, North Carolina: Forest History Society, 1995.
Hartwell, J. L. Cancer Treatment Report. 60(8):1031–1068.
Katz, M., and F. Saibil. Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology 1990, 12(2):203–206.
Smart, C. R., et al. Cancer Chemotherapy Report 1969, Part 1, 53:147.
Smart, C.R., et al. Rocky Mountain Medical Journal 1970:39–43.
Tyler, V. E., et al. Pharmacognosy, 9th ed. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, 1988.

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