Amygdalin found in apricot kernels and in laetrile contains
benzaldehyde and cyanide, two potent compounds against cancer. You heard that
right! Cyanide is actually one of the substances that makes apricot kernels a
potentially effective modality for cancer.
Unfortunately, the presence of cyanide in Laetrile was also the
excuse the FDA used to ban it in the US in 1971. Prior to this time,
laetrile was readily obtainable in the United States.
In fact, scandal surrounds the reasons why laetrile is still
banned in this country, and discerning eyes point to the deep pockets of Big
Pharma and its bought-and-paid for partner research institutions. In the
mid-70s, investigative journalist G. Edward Griffin did in-depth research into
the circumstances surrounding around the FDA ban. What he discovered was
shocking. He uncovered documents buried by Sloane-Kettering Cancer Institute
which proved that laetrile was “highly effective” against cancer.
The fact is that many healthy foods such as bitter almonds,
millet, sprouts, lima beans, spinach, bamboo shoots, and even apple seeds have
quantities of cyanide in them, yet they are still safe to eat. This is because
the cyanide remains “locked” within the substance in these plants. The cyanide
is harmless when bound within other molecular formations. In addition, the body
has its own safety mechanism in the form of the rhodanese enzyme, whose job is
to “catch” any free cyanide molecules that may have escaped and render them
harmless.
Cancer cells, on
the other hand, are not normal cells; they contain a substance
called beta-glucosidase (which healthy cells do not contain). Beta-glucosidase
is the enzyme that “unlocks” cyanide and benzaldehyde in amygdalin molecules.
When the beta-glucosidase in a cancer cell unlocks an amygdalin molecule, a
toxic synergy is created that specifically targets cancer cells and leaves
healthy cells untouched and unharmed.
It seems that nature has created the perfect cancer-targeting
mechanism in amygdalin − and science as well as antecdotal evidence since the
mid-1850s has proven this. It also seems a little odd that the National Cancer
Institute itself decided to conduct human clinical trials with laetrile in the
early 1980s, suggesting a precedent of at least some prior scientific evidence
as to the cytotoxic (i.e. cancer-targeting) effects of the substance.
And very recent research is beginning to coming out that again
sheds light on the anti-tumor effects of cyanide in the specific form that it
presents itself within naturally-occurring substances. This new research
includes a 2017 Bulgarian study that found evidence of “higher cytotoxic
effect” for amygdalin in fast-developing tumors.
Yet still, conventional medicine sticks to its same old rhetoric
when it comes to B17/laetrile/amagdylin. According to the National Health
Institutes (NHI) webpage on laetrile/amagdylin, which was revamped in March of
2017:
Laetrile has shown little anticancer activity in animal studies
and no anticancer activity in human clinical trials.
In addition, they state that:
The side effects associated with laetrile toxicity mirror the
symptoms of cyanide poisoning, including liver damage, difficulty walking
(caused by damaged nerves), fever, coma, and death.
Yet on that same page, they also acknowledge that “Laetrile was
first used as a cancer treatment in Russia in 1845, and in the United States in
the 1920s.” Confused yet?