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Essiac Tea

Essiac, the Canadian Indian Herbal Remedy, is one of the most remarkable stories in all of medicine." - Richard Waters, OPTIONS - The Alternative Cancer Therapy Book, Avery Publishing Group, 1993

"I endorse this therapy even today, for I have, in fact, cured my own cancer, the original site of which was the lower bowels, through ESSIAC alone." - Charles Brusch, MD, Founder of Brusch Medical Center, Cambridge, MA; Former physician to President John F. Kennedy; Notarized statement, 1990

"...But I do know that I have witnessed in this clinic (Bracebridge) a treatment which brings about restoration, through destroying the tumor tissue, and supplying that something which improves the mental outlook of life and facilitates reestablishment of physiological functions." - Dr. Benjamin Guyalt, 1930, University of Toronto, Curator & Anatomy Professor; Article "Cancer Commission was Nothing But a Farce", Bracebridge Examiner, 9 Jan. 1991

"ESSIAC is not a hoax or a fraud. To hear experiences described by the patients themselves cannot help but convince observers that the dramatic and beneficial changes definitely took place in many, but not all, of those who received the remedy. Although the focus of ESSIAC has been as a cancer treatment, it alleviated and sometimes cured many chronic and degenerative conditions because it cleanses the blood as well as the liver and strengthens the immune system." - Article, "Old Ontario Remedies", Canadian Journal of Herbalism

What is Essiac Tea?

ESSIAC is an herbal decoction with proven healing properties. Freely given by an Ojibwa medicine man in 1892, it has generated one of the most compelling stories in modern medicine. Rene M Caisse, the woman who spelled her name backwards to give it a name, cured her mother of terminal cancer with it in 1924 and then proceeded to successfully treat thousands of cancer patients over the next 54 years. The government and the medical establishment in both the U.S. and Canada reacted with vindictiveness, surveying her, sabotaging her research and threatening her with arrest and imprisonment. She persisted but so did the establishment, and today Essiac is only slightly closer to legalization as a treatment for cancer than it was in 1924 when Rene Caisse cured her mother with it. There is change afoot, compelling change in public attitudes about personal choice in health care. There are new laws on the books in several states, laws that legalize the use of unapproved therapies by physicians (IE Oregon) Typically pioneers like Rene Caisse do not see their work come to full fruition in their lifetimes, but we believe she will not have missed it by much.

Burdock Root	Sheep Sorrel	Slippery Elm	Indian Rhubarb

BURDOCK - Arcticum Lappa

In 1984, Japanese researchers at Nagoya U. named the ability of this root to reduce cell mutation the "B-Factor". Animal experimentation has suggested tumor inhibition and estrogenic activity. Historically, burdock's been used for its curative properties: purifying the blood & diuresis (elimination of toxins), diseases of the skin and stimulant of metabolism, circulation & energy. Along with a number of the anti-oxidant vitamins, the principal ingredient in the root is inulin - the powerful immune modulator, rich in essential minerals. Inulin may strengthen the vital organs and regulate blood sugar metabolism.

SLIPPERY ELM - Ulmus Fulva

The mucilages of the inner bark have long been revered for its soothing, healing and strengthening effect on the mucosa and tissues of the body. Its nutritional substances rejuvenate debilitated conditions. It eliminates excess mucous in all the body's systems. It hastens healing and cellular repair, neutralizes the G.I. tract as a natural antacid, and may have systemic antibiotic and antimicrobial effect.

SHEEP SORREL - Rumex Acetosella

Aside from the high vitamin and mineral content, the presence of carotenoids, chlorophyll and several organic acids and their effect on the human body has stirred clinical interest in sheep sorrel. As early as the 1740's, a woman in Williamsburg, Va. was legally permitted to use the plant as a treatment for cancer. There are a number of documented accounts of sheep sorrel's use on cancer. Rene Caisse claims to observe the herb to be effective in breaking down tumors and alleviating the symptoms of some chronic and degenerative diseases. The oxygenating properties of the chlorophyll and anti-oxidant properties of the carotenoids make this little plant vital to the synergistic formula in ESSIAC?.

INDIAN RHUBARB - Rheum Palmatum

Affecting the digestive system, this herb stimulates bile production, liver detoxification, relieves constipation, improves digestion, ulcers and hemorrhoids, in general, balancing and tonifying the G.I. tract. This acidic plant is also high in mineral content and an anthraquinone present in the root, rhein, has been studied at the Oriental Medicine Research Center in Tokyo for its bacteria inhibiting and anti-inflammatory properties. Later studies have been done on the antitumoral and antimicrobial properties as well.

Also contains other proprietary herbs as per the original Rene Caisse Formula.

The Case For Essiac

or The Little "Food" That Could

by Elaine Teune

For more than seventy years now, the acclaim and testamentary praise for Essiac - an herbal remedy based on a traditional Ojibway Indian decoction - have continued to pour in from doctors and patients alike. Touting its well-documented record of dramatic successes in the battle against cancer - not to mention its general effectiveness in such diverse disorders as AIDS, diabetes, arthritis and others - are an impressive array of researchers and medical institutions. Among the supporters Essiac has garnered over the years are Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, the Brusch Medical Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Sir Frederick Banting, the discoverer of insulin.

These impressive credentials come despite an equally lengthy history of legal and political hurdles from the governments and medical establishments of both the United States and Canada. From its early days of widespread support by both medical practitioners and the general public (Canadian doctors in 1926 petitioned the government to allow it to continue to be tested on patients) to its ongoing battles for legalization (in 1938 it missed being legalized by the Ontario Parliament - by a mere three votes), Essiac continues today to present its case to the Food and Drug Administration - and to the court of public approval. Having recently been declared a food by the judiciary in Canada, Essiac is currently unapproved for marketing as a drug in both the U.S. and Canada.

The history of Essiac traces back to 1922, when the herbal formula was given to a Canadian nurse named Rene Caisse by a hospital patient whose breast cancer had been healed forty years earlier by an Ojibway medicine man. After curing her aunt's inoperable stomach cancer with it in 1924, the nurse named the remedy Essiac (her last name spelled backwards), and spent the next fifty years of her life treating countless patients and attempting to prove the efficacy of this herbal decoction. Since her death in the late 70's, the battle for acceptance by the medical establishment has been carried on by the handful of people Rene Caisse entrusted with her original formula.

Essentially, Essiac is an herbal combination made by decocting (boiling down) more than half a dozen different herbs. The active ingredients are prepared according to the original Ojibway legend, ancient wisdom and modern proprietary technology coming together to form the powerful herbal remedy. Chief among the herbs present is burdock, which has been extensively studied by Hungarian and Japanese scientists, amidst reports of considerable antitumor activity and the reduction of cell mutation in the absence or in the presence of metabolic activation.

Another of the herbs in Essiac, turkey rhubarb (or Indian rhubarb), has been demonstrated to have antitumor activity in the sarcoma-37 animal test system. The gathering of these herbs and the decoction process are very complicated and precise. One of the herbs has to be picked when there is no dew on the plant; another must be no more than one year old, while still another is one of over 180 species of the same plant.

Currently marketed as a "food"..., Essiac is careful to avoid making any claims to be a cure for disease. Despite its past history of saving or prolonging the lives of many for whom nothing else could be done, this herbal formula maintains a reputation for promoting wellness and general good health. Traditionally it was used as a tonic for increasing stamina and well-being. It has also been shown beneficial in strengthening the immune system.

Its supporters have taken to using Essiac on a seasonal basis, consuming several bottles as a tonic at the change of every season, and attributing to it their continuing levels of good health throughout the year. This Ojibway Indian gift appears to have a positive effect on normalizing imbalance anywhere in the body, and its use has been recorded in the treatment of PMS, sexual dysfunction, thyroid conditions, ulcers, and even learning disabilities.

Sources: Allen, Carrol and Fraser, Sheila Snow, "Could Essiac Halt Cancer", Homemaker's Magazine, June/July/August 1977

Walters, Richard, "Herbs and Plants Against Cancer", Health Magazine, March 1994

IT IS TIME TO REINTRODUCE ESSIAC TO MAINSTREAM MEDICINE.

This article is a critical next-step in Rene Caisse's work with Essiac. We publish it to thrust Essiac forward, to offer it to mainstream medicine as she attempted to do all her life. Although Essiac never gained acceptance that Rene believed it deserved, we are confident that changes in the regulatory environment are freeing physicians to look anew at an old remedy, provided there is compelling evidence to do so. Our challenge, then, is to present that evidence in compelling fashion, no small task, given that Rene Caisse's records have been scattered, destroyed, or secreted away to protect them. In presenting this article, we openly acknowledge that, compared to the many controlled studies of other medicines, Essiac today has little science to offer. We expect that what we present will satisfy few who are looking for nothing but science, but will in some way intrigue everyone. Some of you will find adequate justification to apply Essiac in your practices or lifestyle, some will choose to await further documentation, and some will reject Essiac .Our goal is to work to make Essiac available because it works. In all likelihood science per se will probably never weigh in on either side of the Essiac controversy. The role of the medical research is to remove the question of efficacy from subjective interpretation, to prove to objective intellect that conclusions rendered are immune to dispute because they meet certain statistical norms. By strict monitoring objectively quantified variables, we expect to achieve a degree of reliable truth, upon which subsequent decisions and actions can be based. But in medical research truth (read efficacy), comes with a price of ten years of research and $250 million dollars. What supporter of Essiac has such resources?

In this way, research backed by government tend to monopolize public perception. With virtually unlimited resources to air messages, science in the public interest with the government's usual support, dismisses much of the Essiac phenomenon because it does not possess reliable parameters within which to study it or the regulatory and commercial incentives to control it. Out of hand, then, it must disregard reliable accounts of people that rose from deathbeds to live another twenty years after taking Essiac. It must ignore the photographs contained in documents and the endorsements of physicians whose skepticism turned to amazement at the results Rene Caisse achieved before their eyes. It must discount the stunned amazement of a Nobel laureate who candidly admitted that Essiac was as close to a cure for cancer as anyone had ever come. And it must close its ears to the outrage of the citizens it claims to protect. But a strange thing happened on the way to the millennium. People who implicitly trusted their government conventional medicine began to find their self-awareness muted, their personal power blunted. They began to challenge the health care monopoly and to seek answers outside the mainstream. Now what medicine thought was a passing fancy has become a river of creative thought and endeavor of people questing, asking, probing and coming to terms with the fact that they, and not the practitioner, are responsible for their health. To its credit, in some quarters government and medicine are yielding to this predominately healthy trend. It is not without a struggle, though, as the FDA and proponents of health care freedom battle over who will decide how you are healed. It is within this context that Essiac and other alternative treatments for degenerative disease have exploded into the public awareness with undeniable certitude. And with their acceptance, there is commensurate diminution of public expectation that all things be scientifically proven to the degree that we have been told is necessary to render such treatments efficacious.

Of course, there are those that say this new public attitude does not mean scientific proof is less important, and is many cases we heartily agree, especially where substances are toxic, marginally effective, and extremely expensive. However, with Essiac it is preposterous to confine this remedy to the laboratory while people are ill or dying. Rene Caisse raged at this requirement by the medical establishment, saying she would never agree to cease treating people while Essiac was tested on rats - again. It is outrageous that a safe, non-toxic treatment that often nursed back to health, patients after they had been ravaged not just by cancer, but by the full armamentarium of conventional therapies, should be used not as a primary, but a tertiary treatment if at all. Rene only treated referrals from a physician, and these referrals only came after everything else had been tried and had failed. It is equally preposterous for the FDA to even now refuse permission for practitioners to use Essiac, given that its value has been documented for over 70 years in the trenches where real people fought real cancers day in and day out- and won often enough to ignite the interest of every practitioner who ever closely observed its application and the smoldering frustrations of a public desperate for effective treatment for cancer.

Simply put, the government, medical researchers, and the pharmaceutical companies would have us believe that empiricism has no place in deciding which treatments are effective and which are not. Problematic, government holds us to this standard by making it illegal to claim efficacy without sufficient clinical testing, which usually means many years and many millions of dollars. Rene Caisse herself said, "Until the public is aroused, and demands the liberty and freedom to get the treatment of their choice, this tragedy will continue for an indefinite time." We feel that this time is no longer indefinite, that the public is increasingly aroused, and that it is the right moment to introduce Essiac to mainstream medicine. Oregon and five other states have alternative treatment laws that legalize the use of unapproved treatments as long as there is some scientific basis for their use. Six other states have similar legislation pending, and public petitions are now circulating to force the federal government to match these state statutes with one of its own. This movement is unprecedented and speaks of vital change.

Rene was challenged by medical prejudice which frequently asserted what cures she might attribute to Essiac were in fact the delayed effects of conventional therapies, spontaneous remissions, or misdiagnoses of the patient's original condition. Those same prejudices persist today, but in making our case we are challenged now by yet another difficulty- the tendency of complementary medicine to use several different treatments simultaneously, thereby clouding Essiac's contribution to the healing process. How then, is one to present a cogent case for Essiac? We will present what lab test results we have. We will quote your fellow physicians who witnessed Rene Caisse's work first hand. We will present testimonials from patients and their families, and case studies from Rene's time and more recently. We will make a case for empiricism, then rely on it far more than mainstream research would even allow. Rene's perseverance ensured that this simple, safe remedy would be available to all of us, but in the last months of her life, she despaired for the survival of her legacy. She could not have known in what form her life's work would endure, but endure it has. It is not a pretty picture. The essence of her life experience with Essiac has been savaged by mercantile interests that border on fraud, and internecine struggles over trademarks and authenticity of formulas seriously challenged Essiac's survival as a genuine agent of health and healing. Manufacturers of every nature concoct variations of an incomplete, incorrectly-proportioned decoction with no rationale for doing so except the hope that flashy modifications will catch the consumer's eye and hook his wallet. Consequently, as much as we would like to sidestep this conflict, it is impossible to do so.

There is only one Essiac that is made from Rene Caisse's original formula. We possess this formula in Rene Caisse own handwriting, along with the formulas for four other products and 240 galenical variations of the basic decoction. These formulas are kept secret for the same reason that Rene Caisse kept them secret- to protect Essiac from the overwhelming power of commercial interests with the resources to bury or discredit competing products. Rene spent her life looking for an ally, a powerful, ethical entity or sufficient stature that would agree to continue her work, keep Essiac in the public eye, and unflinchingly defend it from mindless bureaucrats and the pharmaceutical cartels that so dominate public awareness. She never found that friend, although she tried up until the year before her death when she agreed to terms with the Respirin Corporation that promised her the world and delivered nothing. In a spasm of her self -serving artifice and commercialism, that company now claims that it continues Rene's work with her blessing, a claim as far removed from the truth as one could be.

We expect that empirical evidence of Essiac's effectiveness and its remarkable record of non-toxicity will justify its use at least as an adjunct to conventional cancer treatment. We are confident that with this toe in the door, Essiac will prove itself. With its documented ability to ease the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation, with its non-narcotic analgesic properties that permitted many of Rene Caisse's patients to get off pain medication, and with its extremely low price in comparison to conventional medication, there remains no rational justification for ignoring it. We also expect that practitioners of every profession will begin to acknowledge Essiac's preventive properties and to recommend that their patients promote health by detoxifying on a regular basis. We are currently talking to two alternative health care insurers who are tapping into burgeoning public demand for alternative health coverage. These companies have found that it is extremely cost-effective to provide health maintenance rather than cure. One company's premiums are typically 20% lower than conventional plans with the same coverage We must emphasize that the testimonials, comments, endorsement, and case histories presented here flow from the use of one basic Essiac formulation.-the original. You must set aside everything you have heard about Essiac that refers to 4,6,8, herb formulas, cold pressed, freeze-dried, powdered, augmented, alcohol containing, vacuum-extracted, capsules, drops, pills, colloidal etc. THESE ARE NOT ESSIAC. Many other companies have relied on Rene's story to enhance their sales. This amounts to trademark infringement because the trademark Essiac ¨ belongs to a specific company in the U.S and Mexico and other places. This is fraud because Rene did not use their formulas to treat patients.

In the years since Rene Caisse's death in 1978, but especially between 1992 and the present, a plethora of formulations has swept through the marketplace, each formula with a claim to authenticity. According to the information we possess, they are all incomplete, incorrectly proportioned, and incorrectly prepared. This is not to say they are totally without benefit. It is to say that we can only make one case- that for the authentic formulation that has saved so many lives over most of this century. We do not want the results Rene's original formula achieved to be associated with any other product in your mind. The others must stand on their own. We cannot comment on their efficacy with any degree of accuracy, and truthfully, neither can their producers and marketers, for they have little or no depth of experience, and nothing to compare with 72 years that Rene's original formula has been in use. Therefore, one of our goals is to educate you about Essiac is about what is not. Essiac is produced by Essiac Products Services Inc in Florida, and by Easy-Ac in Canada. Gilbert Blondin and Dr. Pierre Gaulin own and operate the two companies. Both companies produce all five products mentioned and have access to the 240 galenical formulations. Gilbert obtained the formulas directly from Rene Caisse in 1977, after her massive disappointment with Respirin Corporation. Fearing her secrets would die with her, she turned to the one person she trusted the most at that time and did something she had never done before- she capitulated.

She surrendered to the fact that she was 90 years old, sick, overweight, exhausted, and angry. All the years of caution, suspicion and paranoia, of handing out parts of the formulas for fear that she'd be betrayed if she played her hand fully, had conditioned and hardened her. But that was finally outweighed by her mortality. Gilbert had devoted himself to Rene since his wife Noella had been cured of cancer with Essiac. Out of gratitude, he drove hundreds of miles each weekend to her dilapidated Bracebridge home where he repaired it, painted it, fixed the plumbing and wiring etc. and helped Rene prepare her brew for the patients. No one had ever treated her this way before. No one had demonstrated such gratitude and devotion, and it was for this reason that one day she said to him, "Here Gilbert, you are honest and hard working, I want to give you this formula. Do what you can with it." With those simple words, she gave him the sealed envelop containing everything she had developed over 55 years. It contained the formulas for the Essiac decoction, Essiac Salve, the powerful Essiac injectable, Essiac RMC Kidney Pills, Essiac Enema, and the 240 individualized formulations. Rene Caisse died December 26, 1978.

This article is posted because we have been satisfied by our research on the authenticity of products and for the continuation of the LADY and her achievements.
Author: Ted SusuMago
Ashland Orego

FURTHER READING

1. ESSIAC? Rene Caisse Developer of Essiac, Friends of Rene Caisse, 1998
2. OPTIONS - The Alternative Cancer Therapy Book, by Richard Waters, Avery Publishers
3. I Was Canada's Cancer Nurse, The Autobiography of Rene M. Caisse
4. "Could Essiac Halt Cancer?", Homemakers Magazine Article 6/77 by Sheila Snow Fraser and Carrol Allen
5. The Essence of Essiac, by Sheila Snow, 1993
6. Calling of an Angel, by Gary Glum, D.C., Silent Walker Publishing, Los Angeles
7. The Cancer Solution, by Robert E. Willner, MD, Ph.D.
8. Essiac - A Special Report; An Herbal Treatment for Cancer, by Tom Valentine, Associated Partners West, 1989
9. Ontario Commission on Cancer, Ontario Government Hearing

Certificate of Authenticity

This certificate of authenticity guarantees that the products made by Essiac Products Services Inc and by Essiac Manufacturing Ltd. Are the ONLY authentic ESSIAC products made and exactly as per Rene Caisse's original formulations. This certificate assures the consumers that by this certificate declares that they are the ONLY company which produces the ONLY TRUE COMPLETE ORIGINAL FORMULAS of Nurse Rene Caisse the discover of ESSIAC.

This certificate assures the consumers that the products are made exactly as Nurse Caisse made them in her own kitchen. The DECOCTION (liquid) is NOT a tea, but truly a decoction as made by the Ojibways and Nurse Caisse. The SALVE is made with the same ingredients as made by Nurse Caisse, The ENEMA is produced in the same fashion as the Rene Caisse made it in her kitchen. The RMC KIDNEY PILLS are made at Rene Caisse's home and encapsulated in the same fashion as she did it in her kitchen.

The INJECTABLES are made as the development made to the original formulation and the changes were made by Nurse Caisse and Dr, Charles Brusch (President Kennedy's personal physician). The modified formulation developed in the late 50 and early 60's. The ESSIAC Injectable is available in both forms, since Nurse Caisse obtained good results from the original, and also obtained good results from the modified injectable, These injectables are made in the Bahamas. All other products are made in the USA and Canada.

This certificate assures the consumers that all products produced by Essiac Products Services Inc. and made in an all natural way and that no preservatives, colorants, additives, are used in the making of all the products of this company.

Nurse Caisse always delivered the ESSIAC TREATMENT to all her patients, therefore she attended and cared for each individual patient, it is now recommended that the consumers obtain the attendance of a practitioner who knows the ESSIAC TREATMENT and that he or she obtains the caring of that practitioner. Some practitioners have taken special courses and seminars on the uses of the ESSIAC TREATMENTS.

This certificate assures that if the product(s) are labeled "Essiac Products Services Inc or Essiac Manufacturing Ltd." and bear the TRADEMARK # 1,625,600. These markings assure the consumers of the authenticity of this certificate.

IF YOU DO NOT SEE THE TRADEMARK NUMBER 1,625,600 IT IS NOT ESSIAC. IT IS A FRAUD AND COUNTERFEIT.

Ingredients

16-ounce bottle

A quantity of herbs of which the 4 primary are BURDOCK, SLIPPERY ELM, SHEEP SORREL & INDIAN RHUBARB which provide:

Vitamins: A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, B12, B17, C, D, E, K, P, U, Biotin, Choline, Inostol, and Paraminobenzoic Acid.

Minerals: Calcium, Chlorine, Chromium, Cobalt, Copper, Fluorine, Iodine, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorous, Potassium, Selenium, Silicon, Sulfur & Zinc.

Natural Compounds: Aloe-emodin, Anhydrides, Caffeic Acid, Chrysophanol, D-galactose, Emodin, Galacturonic Acid, Lapalol, Matairesinol, Nortracheloside, Pentose, Phytosterol, Quertietin, Rheldine, Rhubarbrin, Sennidine, and many more.

Usage

For Maximum Benefit: From 1-ounce - 4 ounces per day may be taken according to severity of health concern or advice from healthcare practitioner. Take on an empty stomach and divide dosages between morning and right before bed. According to amount of Essiac taken, add double that amount of hot distilled water and mix. Sip 1/2 hour before breakfast or 2 hours after meal.

For Maintenance and Prevention: 1 ounce in the morning on an empty stomach. 5 days on, 2 days off. May be mixed with 2-ounces of hot distilled water and sipped.

After opening, keep refrigerated.