Essiac

Essiac

One of the alternative treatments for cancer that has been in use for the longest time is Essiac, an herbal tea that was developed in the 1920s, although it may have been in use for hundreds of years. That is because it is believed that the formula for Essiac was revealed by an old Native Indian healer.

The person who named Essiac was a Registered Nurse in Canada, Rene Caisse. The name Essiac is Caisse spelled backwards. According to Ms. Caisse, she was told about the formula by a woman who claimed it cured her breast cancer. Furthermore, she told Caisse that she was given the formula by an elderly Ojibwa medicine man in Northern Ontario.

Whatever the source for the formula may have been, it utilizes four herbs to produce an herbal tea. Caisse said she used the tea to cure her aunt of cancer. After this success, her aunt’s physician, Dr. R. O. Fisher of Toronto, asked Caisse to treat some of his other patients with the herbal formula, and, Caisse related, other medical doctors “were impressed with the results.”

Caisse was encouraged to open up a cancer treatment clinic in Bracebridge, Ontario, where she treated thousands of patients with the formula she named Essiac. Although the clinic was closed in 1942, Essiac continues to be available as an herbal dietary supplement. It has been reported that Dr. Charles Brusch, who was President John F. Kennedy’s physician, used Essiac successfully on his own cancer.