228 of 232 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Life Saving Book, September 24, 2004
This review is from: World Without Cancer: The Story of Vitamin B17 (Paperback)
Though I know Griffin is a credible researcher, I nonetheless tracked down several cancer survivors who have used laetrile to cure their condition, and vitamin distributors who have had B-17 seized by the FDA. There is no substitute for primary sources, and those I interviewed substantiated Griffin's main claims.
Individuals unfamiliar with B-17's remarkable results often scoff at such alternative medical "lunacy". Two caveats may aid the hard-nosed skeptic. As Griffin admits candidly, B-17 isn't a magic cure-all; it is a key component in a holistic regimen that requires serious lifestyle changes and genuine sacrifice. The mere fact that the FDA outlawed laetrile is not prima facie proof that it fails to cure cancer; an open minded individual might ask, "Does scientific evidence proving that laetrile cures cancer exist?"
Griffin provides this evidence. His thesis is that cancer is a vitamin deficiency disease analogous to scurvy and that mainstream "treatments" such as chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery are quackery analogous to colonial bloodletting. The book is divided into two sections, one which defines cancer and its cure, and a second that explains how and why this knowledge was suppressed.
Some complain that the first portion of the book is boring, excessively technical, and textbookish. This isn't Harry Potter or Danielle Steel! It is an explanation of complex biological processes. Amazing claims require stringent proof, and Griffin takes the time to make his case fastidiously, in terms laymen can understand.
Griffin explains that cancer is caused by fast-growing quasi-embryonic cells which are used by the body in healing. The body uses enzymes secreted by the pancreas to turn this process off when healing is completed, but these enzymes are also used in digestion, and moderners who deviate from our intended hunter-gather diet squander them breaking down processed food. In the absence of these prohibitive enzymes, the quasi-embryonic cells grow unchecked. This is cancer. To cure or prevent it, one reverts to a diet that does not drain the enzymes, and supplements their supply by ingesting an external source--B-17. Mainstream treatments are a failure because they do not address this underlying cause of cancer; Griffin explains why chemo, radiation, and surgery victims who survive do so spite of these procedures, not because of them.
Griffin does an excellent job of synthesizing many divergent factors into a coherent biological summary of cancer. B-17's active ingredient is cyanide, and he debunks the myth that the vitamin is the equivalent of a secret agent's suicide capsule. He also provides damning statistical comparisons of holistic and conventional treatment methods.
The second part of the book is much drier, but it is necessary. Griffin journeys back to WWII and documents the evolution of IG Farben, the Nazi supercorporation which was the largest business structure to ever exist. This portion is a long, often boring read, but I can't envision anything shorter driving home the truth: that modern chemical corporations which are Farben's scions used tax-exempt foundations and government agencies like the FDA to hijack the medical education and physician treatment selection process, creating a drug-biased system that maximizes pharmaceutical profits.
It is easy to chant the power-and-profit-stifle-more-viable-treatments mantra, but it is a much more difficult task to prove what so many suspect. Griffin succeeds, proceeding like a prosecutor and systematically documenting causalities. His discouraging conclusion is that there will not be a world without cancer until pharmaceutical corporations can create a synthetic B-17 drug which offers profit levels comparable to those earned by chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery.
Many individuals dogmatically refuse to believe that there are individuals who would suppress a low-priced, natural, highly-effective cancer treatment merely to make money. This emotional people-can't-be-that-evil response is unscientific. Such behaviors are reminiscent of individuals who refused to believe the stories of NAZI concentration camps--even after seeing pictures. Griffin cites everything, and any diligent researcher can confirm his claims, as I have.
Enzyme supplements. Juice fasts. Detoxification. Robert Becker's Nobel-nominated work with dedifferentiation in salamanders. Pleomorphism. Pondering these potential additions to the cancer picture, I find myself agreeing with others who consider the work somewhat dated. This does not mean that Griffin's theory is disproven or obsolete, but cutting-edge holistic treatment utilizes other components that he mentions only briefly. Griffin's intention doesn't seem to be a "Treat Yourself" manual, but rather a summary of the biological and political mechanisms that have created the cancer holocaust. In this mission World Without Cancer succeeds admirably.
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187 of 195 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book is a MUST READ for anyone, May 9, 2000
This review is from: World Without Cancer: The Story of Vitamin B17 (Paperback)
My brother died of cancer in 1978. Shortly after he died, I heard the tape "The Politics of Cancer Therapy", which is based on the second half of the book "World Without Cancer". That tape was one of the best done presentations I've ever heard--about anything. It is about the takeover of the field of medical education by the drug industry, and explains why cures for cancer aren't really of great interest to the medical field.
The tape was so fascinating that I immediately went out, bought the book, found that even better, and made the trip out to interview Mr. Griffin.
Mr. Griffin is extremely well informed, writes and speaks clearly and makes his subjects very easy to understand.
If you have any interest in either an effective treatment for cancer, in world politics, or in politics and the medical field you simply have to read this book. I cannot speak too highly of it.
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187 of 197 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
American Medicine Revealed !, May 8, 2001
This review is from: World Without Cancer: The Story of Vitamin B17 (Paperback)
As a physician, trained at one of the premier medical schools, I applaud this book. Only several decades ago, private medical researchers went to distant lands to find out why certain tribes never died of cancer. These researchers found that seeds, almond, apple and others were full of a vitamin: B-17, which is totally absent in our American diet due to processing. These researchers were silenced and the major pharmaceticals, Rockefeller, et al, took the lead on any further research, thus ending independent research as we know it. Small groups of doctors still exist and believe in the anti-aging concepts of preventive and nutritional health as a prevention for many of the maladies facing man today. Seek us out - we are there - still fighting.
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