What's the Alternative?

Those unfamiliar with alternative medicine have probably never heard of Essiac, a natural remedy that has been used for decades to treat cancer. Rene Caisse, a Canadian nurse, heard about the formula in the 1920s. (Essiac is her last name spelled backwards.) At the time, she was caring for a woman who years before had taken a tonic prescribed by an Ojibwa medicine man for her breast cancer that was comprised of burdock root, sheep sorrel, slippery elm bark, wild rhubarb root and water. The woman said it cured her.

When Caisse’s aunt was diagnosed with cancer of the stomach and only given six months to live, she gave her the same concoction. Her aunt lived another 21 years. The aunt’s doctor was so impressed with the outcome of the treatment, he asked Caisse to work with more of his terminally ill cancer patients. Eventually, other cancer doctors requested she do the same. Her results were so encouraging that in 1926 nine physicians wrote a letter to Canada’s Department of Health and Welfare. It began with the following statement: “We the undersigned believe that the ‘Treatment for Cancer’ given by nurse R.M. Caisse can do no harm and that it relives pain, will reduce the enlargement and will prolong life in hopeless cases.”

Despite some opposition from the medical establishment and government health agencies, Caisse managed to continue treating cancer patients for no profit. A number of prominent doctors who heard about the successful results she had achieved over the years visited her clinic. One from California who did said the following in a 1937 report: “The vast majority of Miss Caisse’s patients were brought for treatment after surgery, radium, x-rays, emplastrums, etc. had failed to be helpful and the patients pronounced incurable or hopeless cases. Really, the progress obtainable and the actual results from Essiac treatments and the rapidity of repair were absolutely marvelous, and must be seen to convincingly confirm belief."

In the late 1930s, the Ontario government formally looked into the efficacy of Essiac. A doctor who was the final witness at the Cancer Commission Hearing said the following: "It is my privilege to do all in my power to bring cancer suffers this remedy, Essiac, which has brought relief and restored health to many in the past." Although Essiac had a great deal of support from patients, doctors and citizens, it was not endorsed by the commission, and a bill in the legislature that would have allowed Caisse to continue her work fell just short of passing. Caisse felt strongly that money was the reason. Researching and fighting cancer is a big business. If a natural option worked better than conventional methods, it would have had a drastic impact on the medical establishment's profits.

Years after Caisse died in 1978, there was still much interest in Essiac, and a Canadian politician was eventually able to get it legalized as a tea and not a drug in the early 1990s. That's why the tonic is readily obtainable today in a variety forms at health stores such as Feel Rite for people who believe in the power of natural healing.