Laetrile, alternatively referred to as amygdalin or vitamin B17, has been in use as a healing agent for thousands of years. Claimed by many to be an almost miraculous cure for cancer, Laetrile has been the subject of court battles and controversy for decades. While proponents point to ancient Egyptian and Chinese documents that refer to its therapeutic properties, the medical and pharmaceutical establishment denies that it has any healing properties and is, on the contrary, a toxic compound that can be dangerous to health.

In the 1920s, an immigrant German doctor in San Francisco, Ernst Krebs, created a curative liquid called amygdalin from the extract of apricot kernels. Authorities stopped him from selling his medicine, stating that the cyanide content made it too toxic. Thirty years later Krebs' son, Dr. Ernst Krebs, Jr., formulated a less toxic form of the compound which he named Laetrile. He continued...