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Partly in response to repeated arrests of Laetrile distributors under California's tough "anti-quack" laws, some of the drug's boosters have been insisting that Laetrile, even if it is not a cure for cancer, produces a euphoric effect, relieves a victim's pain and has cancer-preventing nutritional value. But cancer specialists do not regard it so benignly. Said an American Cancer Spciety spokesman: "It is thoroughly disingenuous to say Laetrile is harmless, because when cancer patients rely on it, they are often substituting it for treatment that might really help them."
*Short for LAEvo-mandelo-niTRILE-β-glucuronic acid.