Essiac is a four-herb decoction administered to cancer patients that has been believed to cure cancer. Rene Caisse refined and studied this herbal cure from 1922 until her death in 1979. Today, essiac is still used to treat cancer, though it cannot be legally considered a cure until the government confirms that it has been clinically tested and proven.
Many seekers of essiac may also find the cure under such names as "four-herb tea" or "Ojibwa tea."
Rene Caisse and Her Herbal Cure
Rene Caisse (pronounced "reen case") learned about essiac from a patient when she was head nurse at the Sisters of Providence Hospital in Ontario. The patient, an elderly woman, had a mass of scar tissue on her breast and when Caisse asked about it, the patient explained that 30 years prior she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Rather than having her breast removed, the best treatment at the time (and still a response to breast cancer today), the patient decided to take the advice and healing of a local Native American medicine man.
The medicine man made a tea for the patient and had her drink it every day. Thirty years later, there was no recurrence of cancer. The patient was nearly 80 years old when Caisse saw her and Caisse, very much interested, wrote down the herbs that the medicine man had given the patient.
One year later, Caisse was given word that her aunt was diagnosed with cancer and was given what amounted to a medical death sentence. Caisse requested the doctor's permission to administer the herbs, which he gave seeing that there was nothing more that allopathic medicine could do.
The herbs apparently cured Caisse's aunt, who lived 21 years after being diagnosed without a recurrence of cancer. This so astonished the doctors that they requested the herbs be administered to other patients, thus the essiac treatment was born.
The Controversy of a Cancer Cure
Fifty-five thousand signatures were collected in a petition that asked that patients have access to essiac without legal interference. In 1938, essiac came three votes from being a legal remedy for cancer patients in Ontario, Canada.
The Ministry of Health claimed that essiac could not be considered a cure for cancer since there were no extensive clinical studies done to prove as much. In reference to the studies done by Caisse and other members of the medical profession that supposedly prove the anti-cancer properties of essiac, the Ministry said that those said to be healed by essiac actually were misdiagnosed by their previous doctors and did not have cancer to begin with.
In an interview with Dr. Gary Glum by Elisabeth Robinson of Wildfire, Glum explained that the government (both Canadian and United States) didn't want people to know that essiac was indeed a cure for cancer because cancer and its treatment was the second leading revenue for the government, with oil being the first.
Glum continues to address the government's anti-cure actions, such as burning Caisse's research after her death and confiscating his book on essiac and Caisse by using IRS loopholes. He even warned Robinson that simply interviewing him will be like opening a can of worms.
The Essiac Herbs
Originally there were eight ingredients for essiac as given to Caisse, all of which were native to the region or were transplanted very early and readily available to and used by the Native Americans in the late 1800s. Caisse discarded three of them early on in her trials but kept a fifth ingredient for a few of her patients. This fifth ingredient is said to be golden thread (Coptis trifolia), which is slowly becoming extinct due to its native habitats being destroyed by modernization.
Sheep's sorrel (Rumex acetosella) is said to be the most important ingredient. Caisse insisted that the whole plant must be used; leaf, stem and root. There are also many herbalists that recommend the plant be used fresh rather than dried when available.
The main constituents of sheep's sorrel are beta-carotene, tartaric acid, oxalic acid, the anthraquinones emolin, rhein and chrysophanol and glycosides like hyperoside and quercitin-3d-galactoside. The herb's main actions are diuretic, refridgerant and diaphoretic, which most notably aid in kidney and urinary tract diseases.
Slippery elm bark (Ulmis fulva) is very mucilaginous, which offers many healing abilities due to its demulcent and emollient properties. The inner bark is best used since it is the most mucilaginous.
A powerful lung healer and aid for inflammed mucous membranes, slippery elm aids in colitis, ulcers and bronchitis. It is also an aid for wounds when used as a poultice that not only prevents infection and aids healing but can also draw out infections already present.
Burdock root (Arctium lappa) is an alterative, meaning it gradually alters the body towards health, also known as a blood cleanser. Called a super food by many, burdock is filled with nutrients like chromium, magnesium and inulin, which all help regulate blood sugar as well as high iron supplies that aid the kidneys and strengthen the liver.
Due to its ability to regulate blood sugar, many believe that burdock is one of two essiac ingredients (with turkey rhubarb being the second) that cured some of Caisse's patients of diabetes notably before the patient was cured of cancer.
Turkey rhubarb (Rheum palmatum) is a common Chinese herb used to relieve diarrhea and constipation as well as diabetic neuropathy. Other chemicals in the root have been shown to the Hepititis B virus antigen.
The main chemicals of turkey rhubarb are anthaquinones like rhein and emodin as well as tannic acids, calcium oxalate, and sennosides A, B, and C. This herb also is anti-bacterial as well as anti-cancer and is a diuretic like some of the other essiac constituents.
Only the root is used in essiac, as the leaves are poisonous due to their high levels of oxalic acid. The best time to use turkey rhubarb root is after it has been aged 12 to 18 months so that it's purgative agents have their maximum effect.
December Fields - I am a student of herbalism, aromatherapy, alternative health, alternative subculture, and life. I Chose Health ...
