PREFACE
This book is long overdue, as I have wanted to write it for many years. Why?
Because I am a cancer survivor who survived acute myeloid leukemia in
my mid-20s by using herbal medicine and other natural healing modalities.
My personal knowledge garnered in my own personal journey with cancer is
that herbal medicine and medicinal plants can have a very beneficial effect for
cancer patients; just like they did for me. This experience eventually propelled
me into creating a company called Raintree Nutrition Inc. in Austin, Texas,
in 1995. The establishment of this company resulted from finding a botanical
drug that was being used in Europe as an adjunctive therapy for cancer. Once I
determined the product was just a natural plant extract of a Peruvian rainforest
plant called cat’s claw (featured in this book), I knew I could import the plant
directly from rainforests and sell it as an herbal supplement (for a lot cheaper
than the herbal drug cost in the European Union [EU]). I also knew that a
botanical drug, such as the one in the EU, would never be approved for use in
the United States, and you’ll learn why in this book.
I directed this company, which focused on the medicinal plants from the
Amazon rainforest, for 18 years. Traveling down to the rainforest regions, I
set up harvesting programs with Indigenous peoples and local communities
in the Amazon for cat’s claw and about a dozen other medicinal plants I
learned about. I started researching and documenting all the herbal remedy
uses of the plants, and I collected relevant scientific research performed
on them. I created a database of information on these traditional uses and
research, which was initially called the Rainforest Medicinal Plant Database
on the Raintree website, and added to it as my research continued.
I wrote my first book on rainforest plants in 1998 called
Herbal Secrets
of the Rainforest on about 60 plants, which basically came from all the information
in the database. Research on Amazonian rainforest plants took off, and many research organizations were publishing new studies on them. I published a new book in 2005 called
The Healing Power of Rainforest Herbs to share all this new research on 76 medicinal plants from the Amazon. It’s been so popular that it is still in print 20 years later and sold today (see the link in the “Resources” section, page XXX).
Herbal supplements were and are regulated in the United States by the
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under a law called the Dietary Supplement
Health and Education Act of 1994 (called DSHEA for short). Congress
passed legislation to create the law, which was mostly intended to stop
the FDA from blocking factual and important information from Americans
that educated consumers on the benefits of healthy organic foods and food
supplements. It was a huge consumer and natural products industry grassroots
movement and a big fight in Congress to get the legislation approved. It established
a new regulatory framework for dietary supplements by amending the
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) and prohibited the FDA
from regulating supplements in the same fashion as drugs or to prohibit new
supplements from being approved by them prior to being marketed.
The challenge for those in the natural product industry was in educating
those in Congress that herbal medicine systems have existed for thousands
of years, and that these treatments worked. As it turned out, Congress
agreed that consumers of herbal supplements should be entitled to that
information and manufacturers should be able to provide this information
to their customers. Along the same lines, if there was scientific research
that could explain these traditional uses, there should be some legal way to
disclose that information as well. Back then, vitamin and mineral natural
products were called food supplements, and plant products were called
herbal supplements; and the legislation lumped them all together using the
term “dietary supplements” (after much discussion).
Since I started Raintree just a year after the FDA started issuing the first
regulations to enact DSHEA, I made sure I followed all regulations. The
Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the agency that regulates advertising of
all products sold in the United States, also weighed in on the new law and
published a guidance document to the natural products industry on specific
ways manufacturers could refer to traditional uses and scientific research
when advertising and marketing their products. Writing these books and
compiling the plant database were a part of that. The first regulations were in
keeping with Congress’s intent in providing factual, non-misleading information
on the traditional uses of plants used as herbal remedies, and how
to comply with sharing research in an allowable manner as well as how to
refer to “third-party documentation” on both. Many other natural product
companies did the same, and dietary supplement sales boomed.
Soon after starting my company, I ended up with two product lines: a retail
product line of mostly single plant capsules and extracts, and a practitioner line
of more remedy-specific multi-plant formulas that combined different plants
together. I formulated products based on the research and the traditional uses
of how they were used in herbal medicine systems. I also knew the type of
information I could provide to a health practitioner was more extensive than
what could be shared in the consumer market under DSHEA. Since rainforest
plants were not known very well, I had a lot of teaching to do.
The company made the rounds exhibiting at all the natural products conventions
where we educated retail customers as well as manufacturers on the
benefits of rainforest plants. Some of these became major herbs of commerce
and are now available under many different company labels. I always encouraged
competition because these were wild-harvested plants that had direct
rainforest conservation benefits. Sustainable harvesting of medicinal plants in
the Amazon directly competed with the profits of lumber companies chopping
down the rainforest. That was another principle my company was founded on.
We also made the rounds in all the alternative/integrative physician,
naturopathic, chiropractic, and other alternative health industry conventions
and symposiums. We ended up with many practitioner clients using the
formulas in their practices, and even some veterinarians who were using
them with animals. Some of the formulated products were easy. For example,
there is more fungi and mold in a rainforest than anywhere else on earth, so
picking some effective plants with those actions for a formula for candida
and other fungal infections was easy. Other multi-plant formulas were developed
upon request by different practitioners who had hard-to-treat patients,
or some kind of condition that did not have any effective products to treat
it. Oftentimes I created a formula for a practitioner, encapsulating it myself,
and offered it for free just to see if it would help. Some worked quite well; the
practitioner would tell their colleagues, and patients would tell their friends
and relatives. I then had to add it to the product line because I couldn’t continue
handling all the requests by hand encapsulating the formula.
Some of these formulas became so popular through word-of-mouth
referrals that even the practitioners couldn’t keep up. Many of them were
moved to the retail line of products (usually with a new name and more
limited information in accordance with the DSHEA regulations). The
FDA’s enforcement of its regulations, however, changed frequently over
time. It clearly demonstrated the concept that if something really works,
you don’t have to advertise it or push it. Just allow it to flow into the market
with people sharing their experience using these products. In fact, Raintree
did no advertising at all other than exhibiting at conventions. I also set up
a company policy that allowed a full refund, with no questions asked, if
whatever the customer bought didn’t work as they thought it would.
In 2000, out of the blue, I received a phone call. It was from a cancer
researcher working for a large pharmaceutical company. He found me because
I was the only company in the United States that was using a plant that he
had been researching for the past eight years. I only used it as an ingredient
in one of my practitioner formulas for intestinal parasites. He explained that
his research team had tested the plant in animals with remarkable results on
different cancer types. They had also identified a group of chemicals in the
plant that were responsible for its anti-cancerous actions. He revealed they had picked one chemical out of more than 20 they had found that had the
strongest action against tumors in animals. He then said he had spent more
than six years just trying to copy that one chemical to reproduce it in their lab.
He explained that they were unsuccessful after many attempts mainly
because of a polarity issue (an electrical charge) and the unique manner in
which these chemicals were made inside the plant. I listened carefully as he
talked. I could hear the passion, frustration, and even sadness in his voice,
especially when he told me he had been instructed to shove all of his research
in a drawer and move on to something else. The fact was, if they could not
copy the chemical in the plant, they could not change it enough to patent it,
so that they could then test it as a new possible drug. If they were having so
many problems just copying it, then trying to change it while keeping the
same action would be even harder and more time consuming—and costly.
Despite the plant chemicals showing promise, if a potential drug wasn’t possible,
they had to move on.
I think he just felt the need to tell someone because his company never
let him publish the remarkable animal studies they had conducted using
the plant. Since my company was the only one currently using the plant, he
thought I should know. This isn’t unusual either since new cancer drugs are
highly profitable. Drug research is competitive and expensive; and many drug
companies keep quiet about what they are studying until they have a patent
in place. I could tell he was in his profession because he really wanted to
make a difference, and I think he hoped I could use the information somehow.
The plant is called
graviola, and yes, it’s found in this book.
I thought about it for several weeks, mulled it over, prayed about it,
examined all the DSHEA limitations, evaluated the risks, and prayed some
more. One of the issues was that this plant was widely used as a parasite
remedy in rainforest areas, but there were no traditional remedies using it to
fight cancer. At the time, there was only one test-tube study published on the
plant showing it killed various cancer cells, which wasn’t all that consequential.
Another issue was treating cancer with chemotherapy drugs is a big and
profitable industry with many powerful players involved around the world.
Competing with that in any way was asking for trouble.
Being a cancer survivor, and my journey with Raintree evolving as a type
of spiritual journey rather than a hard-core profit-driven company like I’ve
had in the past, I just couldn’t ignore the information (or how I acquired
it). I knew it would be difficult creating a single plant product because all I
could say to anyone was that it was a parasite remedy and refer to that type of
research. So, I began formulating my first rainforest formula for cancer for the
company’s practitioner line. I selected some other plants that were traditionally
used for cancer and had the best research on them. To avoid any DSHEA
prohibitions on product names, I called the formula “N-Tense” and described
it as “a combination of the rainforest’s most potent and powerfully intense
plants in one synergistic formula.” In the initial practitioner information, I could refer to the anti-cancer research on the individual plants specifically.
Practitioners tried the formula on their patients, and we all learned a lot. It worked great for some types of cancer, and not so great on others. Some types of cancers disappeared, some just stopped growing, and some had no effect at all. I made some adjustments to the formula based on the feedback and developed a second formula for non-tumorous cancers; and upon many requests, I made a liquid extract that could be used topically for skin cancer. All those formulas made the practitioner rounds again. And once again, after
about a year, word-of-mouth referrals came in from practitioners and patients telling others about their experiences, which required me to offer the products directly to consumers. The practitioners couldn’t keep up with demand.
Now, I want to stop here before going any further and repeat what I’ve
always said . . . none of these plants or formulas I created are the be-all and
end-all “Cure for Cancer.” Cancer is a complicated disease. Every type of
cancer is different. All humans are different, and many things about our health status, immune status, genetic makeup, and even our diets are different.
That means that no one will have the exact same results with any natural product (or drug) even if they have the same type of cancer. This was clearly evidenced as the practitioners used the plants and formulas with their patients. I’ve also always said that cancer is a life-threatening disease and people should review all their conventional and alternative options (and
there are many) to design an individualized game plan specifically for them. Nothing I’ve written about these plants or in this book suggests you should avoid conventional treatment and rely just on these plants. I specifically don’t recommend it. And my personal experience has been that conventional cancer treatments don’t work for all either. I turned to herbal and natural
therapies after I had exhausted all conventional medicine options, and they’ d given up on me and sent me home “to put my affairs in order.”
That said, I’ll continue. Eventually, some person who tried the multiple plant formula was interviewed on a Texas-based program on the Christian Broadcast Network. He said something like “God Bless Leslie and Raintree—my cancer is now gone.” I got to meet the folks at the Texas Department of Health the next day. I never saw the TV program or knew who was interviewed, but I got to hear all about it from them. After a long day of discussion and
thorough review of my products, website, and literature, they found no medical claims or DSHEA violations and left. But the dance had begun . . . I was on their radar. I did change the name of the plant database from the Rainforest Medicinal Plant Database to the Tropical Plant Database to appease them.
About a year later, I was interviewed by an alternative health organization that
published a newsletter and wanted to talk about N-Tense. Since the formula
was proprietary and only offered by my company, I asked them to focus their
article on the new information about graviola instead, and they agreed.
By this time, graviola was offered as a natural product under a couple of
labels from the word-of-mouth education in the marketplace and probably
from the plant database information. New anti-cancer research had also been
published on it by a different U.S. research group who had determined how it
worked against cancer, and another company had launched a topical product
for head lice with graviola. A new research group made progress by copying
the one graviola chemical. I still had no graviola single plant product—just
the multi-plant formula. Their article on graviola was rather sensationalized,
and it went viral (and I was glad it wasn’t just on my proprietary formula). It
fueled even more research on graviola by other research organizations, and in
many countries, several major supplement manufacturers launched graviola
products in capsules and liquid extracts. And yes, it prompted another Texas
Department of Health visit (turning up the volume for the dance).
After a couple more television and radio interviews/testimonials by various
cancer patients and a few practitioner articles written about their experiences
with the formula or graviola over the next few years, the Department
of Health dance became more heated. They started demanding I remove
the Tropical Plant Database from the website, even though it met federal
DSHEA regulations on third-party documentation (and Texas had no laws
or regulations over dietary supplements to enforce). I scheduled a meeting
with the head of the department who was making this demand. Her bias
and dislike of any and all dietary supplements was palpable, and I knew the
dance would continue no matter what I did. I decided to move from Texas
and landed in Carson City, Nevada. I was tired of the dance that never ended,
especially since if I spent a lot of money to sue and win, it would just perpetuate
the dance in other ways based on this department head’s bias.
During these years, the FDA changed various enforcement procedures
concerning the marketing and dissemination of factual information about
dietary supplements that basically took any education mechanism out of the
law. Some of these didn’t even write a new regulation; FDA enforcement
actions changed based on their new interpretations of existing regulations.
The end result concerning traditional uses, which is in place today, is that no
natural product company can refer to any traditional use if the traditional use
names an actual disease or condition (like constipation or diarrhea) without
facing FDA reprisals. They then made the same determination about referring
to third-party documents like research on the product or the natural
ingredients in a dietary supplement. If the researcher studied any disease or
condition, they declared it cannot be listed, linked to, or referred to in the
marketing of a natural product without reprisals.
I spent years during my direction of Raintree Nutrition changing product
labels, product names, product literature, product webpages, and the
Tropical Plant Database repeatedly to keep up with new regulations and
enforcement actions that evolved over the years. I had several discussions
with the FDA as the rules changed. They disliked the Tropical Plant Database
as much as the Texas Department of Health did. In 2012, I moved the
plant database to its own website and then jumped through the new hoops
regarding how product companies could link to factual, non-misleading
third-party documentation through their allowable series of multiple links
and pop-up disclaimers to get there.
In late 2012, I was presented with a new dilemma. The FDA had detained
a large shipment of rainforest plants coming into the United States from the
Amazon during Raintree’s normal import procedures without declaring a
reason. My FDA attorney was flabbergasted by the ensuing conversation. He
told me the FDA was demanding changes to my product pages and the plant
database—not under DSHEA (which I complied with), but under the newer
(and almost unlimited) authority that was given to them in the Homeland
Security Act to protect the food supply from terrorism. This was the first time
he had even heard of this concern about terrorism; DSHEA was the law of
the land regarding herbal supplements, and my website was in compliance
with those regulations. In fact, the specific changes the FDA wanted on the
product pages would make them less safe because they demanded I remove
the information on possible contraindications and drug interactions, which
was the only thing I quoted from my book/database pages.
When my attorney called them back to relay this information, he still
met resistance. He finally asked them, off the record, “What does she need
to do to get this shipment released?” They told him that I needed to take
the plant database offline. My attorney advised that I fight it since DSHEA
regulations should take precedence, and this was the first time this new
homeland security law was being used. I recognized this was just the start of
a new dance that I had danced before in Texas, and even if I won, the dance
would continue in other ways.
The fact is, however, the information in the plant database had reached
tens of millions of people everywhere. It had helped fuel research on these
rainforest plants in laboratories and universities around the world. I know
that because I see the plant database cited as a reference in numerous
researchers’ published studies. I believed it was an important source of valuable
information on rainforest plants that exists nowhere else helping many
people looking for natural remedies to address their health concerns. That’s
why the FDA wanted it removed. Most of the regulations or enforcement
actions they had developed over the last 20 years was to limit information on
herbal supplements to keep consumers in the dark about the benefits they
may have—despite this being the opposite of Congress’s intention in having
passed the law.
So it really wasn’t that much of a dilemma after I thought long and
hard about it. I decided that the information was more important than me
selling herbal supplements. I had created a large international market for
many rainforest plants, and I had no doubt that they would continue to sell.
I decided I would continue to provide the factual information on them as I
always have. I shut down Raintree Nutrition in late 2012. I moved the plant
database back to the Raintree website and published all the recipes on the
multi-plant product pages so anyone could make them themselves. I also
added back all the information that I had removed to stay in compliance
with regulations as a seller of products. Under the law, if I sell no supplement
products, I am no longer under the authority of the FDA or DSHEA. It is
now a publisher’s website called Rain-Tree Publishers, and it will continue
to be the best place to learn about rainforest medicinal plants, their benefits,
and how to use them. I have written several articles on this subject in 2018.
See the “References” section (page XXX) for the links.
I have spent many years consulting with practitioners helping their cancer
patients with rainforest plants based on my knowledge on the subject.
And as remarkable as the effects of graviola may be, as you will learn, there
are other rainforest plants that show just as much promise. Today, there is a
wealth of new information on these plants because drug companies are now
studying some of them in their quest for new chemotherapy drugs. You’ll
read about one in the book that is in Phase II clinical trials now. See
espinheira
santa, page XXX.
In addition, scientists are now using new testing methods in cancer
research that actually explain how these plants and/or their active chemicals
are achieving anti-cancer actions on a molecular level to target cancer
cells—to kill them, stop them from growing, and/or prevent them from
spreading. This type of research has now been conducted on almost all the
plants in this book. It is really fascinating, and much of it confirms or helps
explain my practical experience with the plants. Some of this new research
is explaining how these plants or their natural chemicals are now being
combined with frontline chemotherapy drugs to reduce side effects and
or toxicity to healthy cells the drugs cause and how that is working on a
molecular level. It’s been quite inspiring reading so much new research on
the plants I’ve used for so many years.
I really wished that I might find the cure for cancer as I was trekking
through the Amazon rainforest over many years, but I haven’t. I dont think
there will ever really be one cure for all. Cancer is just too complex. Our bodies
are complicated and uniquely different. I did, however, find some really
important medicinal plants that are making a real difference in some people’s
lives. The intention of writing this book is to share this information with
you, share my personal experiences using them, and share how I combined
them together for different kinds of cancer to get better results. Some of the
natural chemicals in a few of the plants in this book will likely be turned into
new chemotherapy drugs—they are in progress now.
History shows, however, from the time they find an anti-cancerous
chemical in a plant to the time a new cancer drug is sold, it can take
between 30 and 50 years. These natural plants with their unique chemicals
are available now, and unfortunately, too many of us don’t have the time
to wait. This is why a plant like graviola has been used as a natural cancer
herbal remedy around the world. In 2018, a federal law was passed that
allows cancer patients the “right to try” unapproved drugs for diseases like
cancer. Shouldn’t Americans have a right to try herbal remedies for cancer
in the same manner?
Hopefully you’ll learn in this book the best way to use graviola and other
rainforest plants like graviola—how to combine them with other plants, or to
use other plants that might be more effective on certain cancers. I believe it’s
time to share that knowledge in a meaningful way. It is my sincere hope that
you might find information in this book that will make a difference in your
own personal journey if you are fighting cancer—and for some, the hope to
carry on and keep fighting the battle with new ammunition and resources.
