Essiac Essentials

you know, I am still interested in your project and wish you the best of success always. In addition, I am ready to cooperate with you in any way I can. I do have a few cases here who might be interested in cooperating also. Perhaps I am a little out of touch with present conditions — but do communicate with me and let me know specifically in what way you would like me to assist you.
    Best of luck always, Rene. I shall look forward to hearing from you.
    Sincerely,
    Charles A.Brusch, MD.”
     
    In 1977 he requested some of the ready mixed herbs to treat a few Canadian patients who had been referred to him by Rene after she had been cautioned about supplying Essiac to patients personally. The records of only one American patient were retained. Dr. Brusch acted as Rene’s advisor during the negotiations with the Resperin Corporation and, together with Doctor Rynard, witnessed the agreement signed on October 26th 1977. There is no evidence to suggest or to prove that Rene ever gave him the recipe. What evidence there is from private correspondence implies that she did not. Equally there is no evidence to prove that he ever entered into any form of a legal partnership with Rene during her lifetime, although mention was made in a letter dated February 21 1980 from Resperin’s lawyers to Dr Brusch denying his request for royalties, that David Fingard had previously referred to his ‘partnership’ with Rene. In a letter to Mary McPherson dated January 28th 1986, Dr. Brusch refers to a document obtained when he brought suit against Resperin which states that “Rene and I had an oral agreement”.
     
    Dr Chester Stock:
    As the Vice-President for Academic Affairs, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, he corresponded with Rene for three years during the early 1970s while he was involved in carrying out trials on mice inoculated with animal carcinoma, using a decoction of the Sheep sorrel rather than all four herbs. It is evident from the tone of her letters that Rene became increasingly mistrustful of the nature of the trials and how they were being conducted. The investigation was halted in 1976.
     
    Eleanor Sniderman:
    She was a well-known and highly respected Toronto businesswoman who came to Bracebridge to meet Rene in 1977 after the Homemakers magazine article was published. Eventually she persuaded the Lieutenant-Governor to accept a sealed envelope from Rene containing the details of the formula.
     
    The Hon. Pauline McGibbon:
    She was the Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Ontario who accepted the sealed envelope from Rene in August 1977 and deposited it in her private vault. She personally returned it to Rene when the contract was being signed with the Resperin Corporation.
     
    Dr. David Walde:
    He was the oncologist from Sault St. Marie, Ontario, who was introduced to the magazine article by his own patients. In July 1977, he persuaded Rene to allow him sufficient supplies of the dried herbs to begin oral treatment on twenty volunteer patients to whom no other conventional treatment could be offered.
     
    Dr. John Barker:
    He was a doctor from Port Credit, west of Toronto, who was persuaded to treat the Canadians who were turned away from the Brusch Clinic by the American Medical Association in 1977. He collected his first limited supply of the liquid formula from Rene at the end of July and began treating fifteen patients.
    {Both the Walde and Barker trials lasted only three months and were terminated as inconclusive.}
     
    David Fingard:
    An elderly retired chemist, he was the Head of the Resperin Corporation, a small Toronto-based drug company which had been responsible for a single product based on creosote and phenol for treating asthma. The production was closed down by the Health Department in 1970. The company was scouting for another product and became interested in Rene’s work as a result of the Homemakers article. David Fingard promised to set up clinical trials in return for having the exclusive right to market the formula.
    After Rene signed the formal agreement with the company in October 1977, Canadian doctors were invited to apply to Resperin for supplies of Essiac to treat specific patients. Initially over a hundred patients were treated with the formula but an increasing lack of interest on the part of the doctors involved meant that the results of the treatment were never fully reported. Many of the report forms were never returned and the company was reported as being