Customer Reviews

World Without Cancer: The Story of Vitamin B17

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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.

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.

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.

This book will change your life as it has changed mine - or rather my sister's. My sister was diagnosed with cancer of the uterus - stage 3 with two softball sized tumors. She's never taken B-17 before, but gave it a try as she was too weak for chemo\rediation. She's had health problems before so she's not even the heathiest person around. This was a year ago - she's alive and healthy today with a councer count of a 9!!! She had a full hysterectomy (sp?) at Mayo Clinic and they recommended Chemo\Radiation (ha!!!). Instead she continued her Laetrile therapy and takes Apricot Kernals regurlarly. I now am eating Apricot Kernals as well. It's time to wake up!!!!

For anyone with cancer, this book has all the information you need. My brother-in-law, as a last resort, went to a medical clinic that uses B17. His cancer is GONE!

As an "alternative" practitioner, it sure does get tedious to hear the question, "If it worked so well, then why isn't it all over the news and talked about by every M.D. and cancer researcher?" With the answer often being, "because it works too well and no real money can be made from it", most people grapple with the implications and ultimately write it off as some crazy conspiracy theory. This is the saddest, most frustrating, and even ridiculous type of road block to encounter when attempting to educate and help very ill people. It ultimately reveals the extent to which we've all been programmed (and I don't use that term lightly here). If you don't like the word "conspiracy", then use another, but it doesn't change the fact that a small group of greedy, powerful people are keeping vital health info from the rest of us for a variety of self-serving reasons.

This book reviews just ONE type of natural therapy (from dozens if not hundreds) that has and does work, but was felled by politics, economics, greed, corruption, and possibly plain old evil. You will find very similar accounts of Vitamin C, Rife technologies, homeopathics, magnetic therapy, ozone, chelation and many others. Same old story for the last 120 years or so. Some of us seem to get very rich, the rest of us suffer and then die. You can ask "why" all you want, but I suggest you take off your blinders, turn off the "boob-tube", and get off the sofa and do some serious research into these matters before you or your loved ones are felled by our modern health care industry.

Excellent information more about cancer prevention than cure. In depth reporting on the cancer industry and why the cure is not a high priority for many powerful groups in organized medicine. There is a great deal of money made in the cancer industry.

Gives several examples of how groups of people in remote areas do not ever get cancer. Their diet is rich in Vitamin B17. This Vitamin is not recognized by the FDA for political reasons. Vitamins can't be patended. When some of these people leave their homeland and adopt our eating habits they get cancer at the same rate as the rest of us.

This is important reading for anyone - it can save their life.

They only negative is the extreme detail the author provides.

I notice the usual few negative reviews from those who either havnt actually read the book or just dont understand how the cancer industry works and makes money. Those who believe like M. Herman that we should goto the watchdog sites. I assume he means quackbusters etc, that site is a confirmed drug company funded site! Watchdog sites are simply to keep people in the mainstream where they will only ever find expensive treatments for pain or chemo that is statistically proven to be effective in only 3% of cases of cancer. B17 has been statistically proven to be over 95% effective if u read the book! I know where my moneys going! to the supermarket and into nutrients and a good diet, not some stupid drug companys synthetic chemical that kills off healthy and cancerous cells at the same rate and which has never been proven effective in over 50 years!
Its just unfathomable some peoples attitudes to "alternative" medicine, lets call it "nutritional medicine" instead. Mainstream allopathic medicine should be renamed "Toxic Medicine" as that is what it really is!

The cancer-fighting nutrient most proven to date is selenium. A daily supplement of 200 microgram of selenium, has been shown in a large placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical study -- the most prestigious type of scientific study of nutrients and drugs -- to cut the death rate from cancer in half.

Specifically, a large group of people who were given each day a yeast tablet enriched with 200 micrograms (mcg) of selenium had only half the number of deaths from cancer over a seven year period as a similarly large control group who were given a daily yeast tablet containing no selenium. Yeast tablets enriched with 200 mcg of selenium are readily available at pharmacies as well as health stores across the U.S. for about $5 or so for a bottle of 50 to 100 tablets -- only 10 cents or less per day -- I do.

The results of this dramatic study were published in the medical profession's own journal: The Journal of the American Medical Association. Nevertheless, most doctors pay no attention to the results. Think about that, selenium (at 10 cents per day or less) has been shown in a large clinical study to cut the death rate from cancer in half and nobody tells the public about it. Incredible! In my opinion, as a research chemist, everybody in the U.S. should take supplemental selenium every day.

Other good cancer fighters include vitamin C, vitamin E, CoQ10, and lycopene.

I have not writing this review to speak against vitamin B17, but rather to advocate other nutrients known to help fight cancer.

Excellent explanation of how a simple remedy can harm the billion dollar cancer research charade. After reading, list Laetrile on any search engine for a list of places that produce B17.