Now with cyanide, it's Laetrile:
Which hydrolyzes to:
Please check out the laetrile entry on the old site. Various proponents of this bizzare cancer treatment (which liberates cyanide, of all things, upon hydrolysis) pop up occasionally. If anyone knows of any peer-reviewed studies on Laetrile, I'd love to see them (other than the cancer study noted below and on the old site, thanks!).
What's fascinating is that it's a structure we know liberates cyanide, and people still go crazy for it. It's not like it's some herb with hundreds or thousands of different molecules in there (although many people get their laetrile from peach pits, etc).
For your reference: the Wikipedia Laetrile entry.
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Hey, I'd like to cite an academic source if I may; in fact let me refer your readers to the definitive clinical trial conducted by the late, great oncologist Dr. Charles Moertel:
A clinical trial of amygdalin (Laetrile) in the treatment of human cancer
Just in case the link doesn't work, here is the abstract, which speaks for itself:
This paper was published in 1982. Res ipsa loquitor.
I'd also like to add this health professional summary on laetrile, citing a substantial number of references and prepared by a group of alternative medicine experts convened by the US National Cancer Institute.