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Few oppose Laetrile more strongly than Grant Leake, chief of the fraud section of California's bureau of food and drugs. In late February, his agents arrested five people, including Krebs and a woman who ran a rooming house catering to Dr. Contreras' patients. All the suspects were charged with conspiracy or violations of the state's drug laws. The crackdown is described as a necessary action to protect the gullible. Says Leake: "We're going to protect them even if some of them don't want to be protected."
Refused Test. Krebs and others have repeatedly appealed to the FDA for permission to conduct controlled tests of Laetrile's effectiveness. But few scientists have supported the request. An exception is Dr. Dean Burk, head of the cytochemistry section of the National Cancer Institute. He has tested Laetrile on mice, and concludes: "The stuff is absolutely harmless, so why not give it a try?" Why not indeed? A test could resolve, once and for all, the question of Laetrile's effectiveness. In the absence of such a test, the debate—and the accusations —can only continue.