Essiac Essentials

one of those tribes or he could have been a wandering seer from another region. There is no evidence to support the theory that the herbal formula came exclusively from the Ojibwe. In 1977 Rene wrote:
    “I want this clearly understood. I did not get my treatment from an Indian. In fact I never saw a real Indian in my life. ”
    As far as we know, Rene Caisse was the only person to receive and retain the recipe which had been freely given by the elderly medicine man to the original Englishwoman. Rene chose to develop and use it without the desire for material gain, reverencing the Native American sense of honour to the divine. Our personal experience with Essiac has continually proved the importance of retaining this sense of honour and respect in researching and handling the formula.
     
    Myth: The Canadian government burned all of Rene’s records after her death in 1978. Later it conspired to prevent terminal cancer patients from obtaining Essiac.
    Reality : The rumour about the government burning Rene’s records has been circulating for almost a decade. It did nothing of the kind! In fact, while relatives were sorting through her possessions and personal belongings, some of Rene’s papers were burned in an oil drum behind her home after she died.
    When terminal patients, now without Essiac, begged the government to provide them with the remedy, Ottawa’s Health and Welfare Department gave Dr. M. Dymond of the Resperin Corporation permission to make it for them on “compassionate grounds”. It made, however, one stipulation. The patients’ physicians had to promise to keep records of their progress and submit completed reports to the department in the early 1980s
     
    Myth: The Canadian Government directed that Rene could use Essiac to treat cancer patients subject to the following conditions:
    • that only medically certified terminal cases should receive treatment.
    • that records of all patients should be kept and be available for examination at any time.
    • that she should receive no payment for her work.
    Reality : Extensive research has failed to produce written evidence of any directive from the Canadian government pertaining to this. After presenting her cases at a hearing convened by Dr. J.A. Faulkner, Minister of Health, at Rene’s request, sometime in 1934, she was given verbal permission to carry on treating patients, directing that she “must try and get the doctor’s written diagnoses” but he did not say it was compulsory.
    She would continue to work without charge. No mention was made of the Canadian government having any legal right of interest in the written records and the patients did not have to be terminally ill in order to be treated. A lot of them came to have their ulcers treated.
    She had written to Dr. Faulkner after having yet another health officer appear on her doorstep with a warrant for her arrest for “practicing medicine without a license. ” She always said she lost count of the number of times over the years she was threatened with arrest and imprisonment for treating patients with the formula.
    By her own choice, Rene did not make any charges for the treatment.
    “The look of gratitude I saw in their eyes when relief from pain was accomplished, and the hope and cheerfulness that returned when they saw their malignancies reducing, was pay enough for all my efforts. ”
    Rene was a very organised and methodical worker, keeping records as far as the work load allowed. Patients either came to the clinic of their own volition or because their doctors, friends or family wanted them to.
     

     
    Myth: Essiac can be classified as a cure for a number of disorders, including cancer, and should therefore be categorised as a drug.
     
    Reality: Essiac has been shown to have remedial and palliative properties with various diseases, including cancer, and when used in conjunction with conventional therapies such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but the recipe is primarily a food supplement which is why it is called a herbal ‘tea’. It is not a drug and therefore cannot be classified as such. During a two-year judicial trial in Hull, Quebec, at which Sheila testified, a company manufacturing a decoction using the same herbs as those in the Essiac recipe was cited for advertising its product as a cure for cancer without applying for a Drug Identification number. The resulting adjudication classified the product as a food, not a drug. One of the defence attorneys presented