Laetrile ‘not effective’ as cancer cure

Press, 29 January 1982, Page 4

Laetrile ‘not effective’ as cancer cure

NZPA Washington Laetrile Is not effective in the treatment of cancer and can be highly poisonous, according to a Governmentfinanced study reported in the “New England Journal of Medicine.”

“Laetrile is a toxic drug that is not effective as a cancer treatment,” the report said. A separate editorial in the respected journal said: “The time has come to close the books on laetrile."

The drug first .became popular in the 1950 s and, although it has never been accepted by the United States medical establishment or approved by the Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A.), 27 American states have legalised its use. The new study, financed by the National Cancer Institute, involved patients with advanced forms of cancer. All 178 patients were treated with the same type of laetrile, a derivative of apricot kernels, advocated by many of its supporters; 152 of the patients have died, surviving no longer than would normally have been expected. The study found no evidence that the drug stemmed the normal progress of cancer.

A radiation oncologist at Christchurch Hospital, Dr C. H. Atkinson, said last evening that laetrile was certainly not being used within the hospital or within the board’s district. “This is not stated board policy, but haematologists in the hospital do not use it,” said Dr Atkinson. Laetrile had been marketed on the basis of two properties claimed by its advocates; that the drug was useful and that it was nontoxic. “I think it has been shown pretty categorically that laetrile is of no value and is toxic in high doses,” said Mr Atkinson.

Most of the laetrile used in ■■ North America came from . Mexico, because it was not . widely available in America. >. Dr Atkinson said that lae- ,r. trile was riot available in New Zealand as a prescription drug. “If it has been regarded as a drug worth using, it would have been available,” he said. “I do not think it is worth using."

Laetrile was the most widely talked about drug that was not available on prescription, said Dr Atkinson, and he believed that this .: was why pressure had been • applied by lay people to have ’ laetrile subjected to more testing. “The biggest crime with 2 laetrile is that a lot of people < have made a lot of money • out of it at the expense of desperate people who are • grasping at straws.” An executive member of. the Canterbury-Westland • Division of the Cancer Society, Dr P. R. Kelleher, - said that the results of tests done on laetrile showed that < people should be very wary of using it until the matter was clarified in New Zealand.