Vitamin B17
Amygdalin/Vitamin B17 was first isolated in 1830. In 1845 it was used for cancer in Russia, and again in the 1920s in the United States, but it was considered too poisonous. In the 1950s a reportedly nontoxic, synthetic form was patented for use as a meat preservative, and later marketed as Laetrile for cancer treatment. In 1972, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center board member Benno Schmidt convinced the hospital to test laetrile so that he could assure others of its ineffectiveness "with some conviction". However, the respected scientist put in charge of the testing, Kanematsu Sugiura, found that laetrile inhibited the secondary tumors in mice without destroying the primary tumors. He repeated the experiment three times with the same results, and then three more times. In a blinded test, however, he was unable to conclude that laetrile had anticancer activity. His first three experiments were not published because, in the words of Chester Stock, Sugiura's supervisor, "it would have caused all kind of havoc". Nevertheless the results were leaked in 1973, causing a stir. Subsequently laetrile was tested on 14 tumor systems, and a Sloan-Kettering press release concluded that "laetrile showed no beneficial effects". Three other researchers were unable to confirm Sugiura's results, although one of three did confirm Sugiara's results in one of his three studies. Mistakes in the Sloan-Kettering press release were highlighted by a group of laetrile proponents led by Ralph Moss, former public affairs official of Sloan-Kettering hospital, who was fired when he announced his membership in the group. These mistakes were considered inconsequential, but Nicholas Wade in Science noted that "even the appearance of a departure from strict objectivity is unfortunate." The results from these studies were published all together.
Vitamin B17
OTHER RELATED INFORMATION
Amygdalin/Vitamin B17 was first isolated in 1830. In 1845 it was used for cancer in Russia, and again in the 1920s in the United States, but it was considered too poisonous. In the 1950s a reportedly nontoxic, synthetic form was patented for use as a meat preservative, and later marketed as Laetrile for cancer treatment. In 1972, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center board member Benno Schmidt convinced the hospital to test laetrile so that he could assure others of its ineffectiveness "with some conviction". However, the respected scientist put in charge of the testing, Kanematsu Sugiura, found that laetrile inhibited the secondary tumors in mice without destroying the primary tumors. He repeated the experiment three times with the same results, and then three more times. In a blinded test, however, he was unable to conclude that laetrile had anticancer activity. His first three experiments were not published because, in the words of Chester Stock, Sugiura's supervisor, "it would have caused all kind of havoc". Nevertheless the results were leaked in 1973, causing a stir. Subsequently laetrile was tested on 14 tumor systems, and a Sloan-Kettering press release concluded that "laetrile showed no beneficial effects". Three other researchers were unable to confirm Sugiura's results, although one of three did confirm Sugiara's results in one of his three studies. Mistakes in the Sloan-Kettering press release were highlighted by a group of laetrile proponents led by Ralph Moss, former public affairs official of Sloan-Kettering hospital, who was fired when he announced his membership in the group. These mistakes were considered inconsequential, but Nicholas Wade in Science noted that "even the appearance of a departure from strict objectivity is unfortunate." The results from these studies were published all together.
Vitamin B17
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