Why is Laetrile “illegal” or “banned” in the United States?
It has not shown to be effective in treating or preventing cancer, but it can metabolize into cyanide upon ingestion so if taken in large amounts you can get cyanide poisoning.
Here is a link to one of many articles you can read about it; this one talks about some of the testing that has been done on it and it is an interesting read.
http://www.encognitive.com/node/2576
There is no federal law against Laetrile, nor does Laetrile appear on an official list of proscribed items. The State of California has specific laws against the use of Laetrile for human cancer, as long as cancer is defined as a “space-occupying new growth” or neoplasm. A number of other states make the use of Laetrile in cancer indirectly “illegal” by giving cancer advisory committees the power to regulate the use of any remedies, proven or unproven. The Food and Drug Administration has used regulations, not law, to ban the interstate shipment and sale of Laetrile by alleging that it is either an “unlicensed new “drug” or an “unsafe or adulterated food or food additive.” Though it is neither, the de facto (but certainly not de jure) “illegalization” of Laetrile springs from the FDA’s regulatory ban, the specific California laws, and the pressure brought against physicians by state boards of medical examiners which control the licensing of such physicians. It is virtually as inappropr
