I will provide corroborative information on this subject at a later time. For now, some sources on laetrile efficacy are as follows:
As regards definitions - "The term laetrile is derived from the terms laevorotatory and mandelonitrile and is used to describe a purified form of the chemical amygdalin, a cyanogenic glucoside (a plant compound that contains sugar and produces hydrogen cyanide) found in the pits of many fruits and raw nuts and in other plants, such as lima beans, clover, and sorghum.[1-6] In body fluids and at physiological pH, hydrogen cyanide dissolves to form the cyanide anion. The term vitamin B-17 was given to laetrile by E.T. Krebs Jr, but it is not an approved designation by the Committee on Nomenclature of the American Institute of Nutrition Vitamins. In the 1970s, laetrile gained popularity as an anticancer agent. By 1978, more than 70,000 individuals in the United States were reported to have been treated with it.[2,7,8] Laetrile has been used for cancer treatment both as a single agent and in combination with a metabolic therapy program that consists of a specialized diet, high-dose vitamin supplements, and pancreatic enzymes.[9,10]": https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/cam/hp/laetrile-pdq#section/_5

The researcher Stephen Krashen has written (S Krashen. Are Apricot Kernels Toxic?. The Internet Journal of Health. 2008 Volume 9 Number 2.), "Apricot kernels contain Laetrile, considered by some to have anti-cancer effects. Critics of Laetrile warn the public that eating apricot kernels is dangerous: They can make you sick and can even be fatal. The professional literature provides some evidence that negative effects can occur if you eat a lot of kernels at once, but unfortunately it tells us very little else.
A single apricot kernel contains about ½ milligram of cyanide (Committee on Toxicity, 2006; there is variation, however; see Holzbecker, Moss and Ellenberger, 1984). Laetrile proponents claim that about ten kernels per day (5 mg of cyanide) is considered to be sufficient to prevent cancer and as many as 50 kernels is recommended to combat an existing cancer (25 mg of cyanide) (apricotseeds.com). Are these doses dangerous? [...]
Deaths from consuming apricot kernels appear to be rare. I could find only two publications describing lethal consequences (these two reports, however, are widely cited in anti-Laetrile publications).
Sayre and Kaymakcalavu (1964) report that between 1957 and 1962, two children died of cyanide poisoning in a hospital in Central Turkey after eating apricot kernels. No information was provided on how many kernels were consumed.
Lasch and Shawa (1981) report two more deaths of children in Gaza. One had been part of a group that had been “feasting on apricot kernels,” according to their parents, and another, again along with other children, had consumed a sweet prepared from apricot kernels. Once again, there was no information on how much was consumed. [apricot kernel consumption is apparently very traditional in Egypt, one blogger discusses the traditions and his personal experience here: http://egyptfarm.blogspot.com/2008/05/eating-apricot-kernel-in-egypt.html]
We are left with little idea of how many apricots there are in a “lethal dose.” It is, however, remarkable that only these cases are reported in the professional literature."

Krashen has also written,
"In my opinion Laetrile has been rejected prematurely. The case against against Laetrile rests on only two clinical studies. The first actually provides some support for Laetrile but has been inaccurately cited (Krashen, 2009). The second, a major study by the Mayo clinic, is considered definitive, but has lots of problems, including the use of terminal patients, a strong possibility that a much weaker kind of Laetrile was used (a mix of pure and synthetic), the researchers' ignoring some signs of effectiveness, and an incorrect schedule in administering the Laetrile (I have written a paper on this and have submitted it for publication. I will be happy to send copies – write me at skrashen@yahoo.com).

Milazzo, Ernst, Lejeune, and Schmidt (2006) is a formal meta-analysis, that is, an attempt to quantity the impact of a treatment in many studies and report an overall effect. The results are simple to state: No studies met the methodological standards set by the researchers, that is, no studies in the literature examining the effect of Laetrile were randomized clinical trials.

The authors concluded that "The claim that Laetrile has beneficial effects for cancer patients is not supported by data from controlled clinical studies." This phrasing is unfortunate because it can be interpreted as saying that controlled clinical studies exist and have shown that Laetrile does not have beneficial effects. What the paper really showed was that there is no evidence one way or the other from controlled studies.

Serious Laetrile supporters do not claim it is a miracle cure-all; they claim that it is helpful and can sometimes provide a complete cure. The professional literature has a number of reports of patients who did well with Laetrile, reports written by professional physicians who report the cases carefully, and are not in the business of selling apricot pits. These cannot be ignored, and there are too many of them to attribute all to fraud, misdiagnoses or spontaneous remission.

I hope a rational path can be followed with the use of Laetrile, a thorough investigation of its potential as a treatment for and preventative of cancer.

Krashen, S. 2009. Inaccurate Reporting of the Effects of Laetrile: Mistreatment of Ellison, Byar and Newell (1978) in Professional Papers. The Internet Journal of Alternative Medicine. Volume 6 Number 2.
http://print.ispub.com/api/0/ispub-article/9367

Krashen, S. Does Laetrile work? Another look at the Mayo Clinic study (Moertel et al., 1982). Submitted for publication.: http://ispub.com/IJAM/7/1/4999

Milazzo, S., Ernst, E. Lejeune, S., Schmidt, K. Laetrile treatment for cancer (review).
The Cochrane Library, 2006: Issue 3.

Moss, R. 1996. The Cancer Industry. Brooklyn: Equinox Press.": https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/a-view-to-the-past/#comment-1942036894


From Dean Burk of the National Cancer Institute, we can note the following: "The facts are, as partially detailed in the letter of March 22, 1974 from Dean Burk to Seymour Perry, that positive, statistically highly significant, anticancer activity by Laetrile in animal tumour systems has been observed in at least 5 independent institutions in 3 widely separated countries of the world, with a variety of animal cancers;

1). Southern Research Institute (Birmingham Alabama), for the NCI, in a majority of 280 BDF1 mice bearing Lewis lung cancers, treated with up to 400 mg Laetrile (Amygdalin MF) per kg body weight, with respect to increased median life span (Dec 3, 1973).

2). Sloan Kettering (New York) with CD8 F1 mice bearing spontaneous mammary carcinomas, inhibition of formation of lung metastases, inhibition of growth of primary tumours, and greater health and appearance of animal hosts, upon treatment with 1-2 gm Laetrile/per kg body weight/day. (June 13, 1973)

3). Scind Laboratories, University of San Francisco, 400 rats bearing Walker 256 carcinoma (200 treated with Amygdalin, 200 controls), with 80% increase in life span at optimum dosage (500 mg Amgdalin/kg body weight). (Oct 10, 1968) Cf. FDA-IND 6734 application, pp. 247-248, 00080-00093. NCI Director Carl Baker wrote Congressman Edwin W. Edwards on Jan 26, 1971: "The data provided by the McNaughton Foundation certainly indicates some activity in animal tumour systems" (emphasis added).

4). Pasteur Institute (Paris), with human cancer strain maintained in mice, treated at optimal dosage og 500 mg Amygdalin Marsan/kg body weight/day, increased life span and delayed tumour growth up to 100% (Dec 6, 1971).

5). Institute von ardenne (Dresden, Germnay), H strain mice bearing Ehrlich ascites carcinoma treated with bitter almond amygdalin ad libitum in addition to regular chow diet, yielded increased life span and decreased rate of cancer growth, treatment beginning 15 days before cancer inoculation (arch. Geschwulstorsch. 42, 135-7 (1973).

No iota of activity, no shred of evidence? It will be interesting to see if FDA Commissioner Schmidt will indeed soon back up his word about issuing a Laetrile IND, a form of FDA approval, incidently, requiring no prior human data." (See How They Lie, See How They Lie", Cancer News Journal Vol 9, no 3. Source: The Arlin J. Brown, Inf Centre, Inc, PO Box 251, Fort Belvoir, VA 22060. 703 451 8638. Tel: 540 752 9511.)

Ralph Moss, former Science Writer at Sloan-Kettering, describes in the documentary "Second Opinion: Laetrile At Sloan-Kettering" how the positive results of the Cancer researcher Kanematsu Sugiura were initially suppressed, and then obfuscated by botched studies from others at the institute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbgKvwKv6V4

Moss describes how he leaked the studies to the Committee for Freedom of Choice in Cancer Therapy, Inc., which were published as facsimiles in the document "Anatomy of a Coverup": http://libertytavern.org/public/Anatomy%20of%20a%20Coverup.pdf

Contemporary studies supporting the view that Amygdalin has an anti-Cancer effect are as follows:
Amygdalin Induces Apoptosis through Regulation of Bax and Bcl-2 Expressions in Human DU145 and LNCaP Prostate Cancer Cells (Biol Pharm Bull. 2006 Aug;29(8):1597-602.): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16880611

Antinociceptive Effect of Amygdalin Isolated from Prunus armeniaca on Formalin-Induced Pain in Rats (Biological & Pharmaceutical Bulletin 31(8):1559-64 · September 2008): https://www.researchgate.net/publication/23140431_Antinociceptive_Effect_of_Amygdalin_Isolated_from_Prunus_armeniaca_on_Formalin-Induced_Pain_in_Rats

Amygdalin inhibits genes related to cell cycle in SNU-C4 human colon cancer cells (World J Gastroenterol. 2005 Sep 7;11(33):5156-61): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16127745

Makarević J, Rutz J, Juengel E, Kaulfuss S, Reiter M, Tsaur I, et al. (2014) Amygdalin Blocks Bladder Cancer Cell Growth In Vitro by Diminishing Cyclin A and cdk2. PLoS ONE 9(8): e105590. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0105590: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0105590

As one possible mechanism of action, we can note the following: Amygdalin induces apoptosis in human cervical cancer cell line HeLa cells. (Immunopharmacol Immunotoxicol. 2013 Feb;35(1):43-51. doi: 10.3109/08923973.2012.738688)
Abstract: "Amygdalin, a naturally occurring substance, has been suggested to be efficacious as an anticancer substance. The effect of amygdalin on cervical cancer cells has never been studied. In this study, we found that the viability of human cervical cancer HeLa cell line was significantly inhibited by amygdalin. 4,6-Diamino-2-phenyl indole (DAPI) staining showed that amygdalin-treated HeLa cells developed typical apoptotic changes. The development of apoptosis in the amygdalin-treated HeLa cells were confirmed by double staining of amygdalin-treated HeLa cells with annexin V-FITC and propidium iodide (PI) along with increase in caspase-3 activity in these cells. Further studies indicated that antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2 was downregulated whereas proapoptotic Bax protein was upregulated in the amygdalin-treated HeLa cells implying involvement of the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis. In vivo, amygdalin administration inhibited the growth of HeLa cell xenografts through a mechanism of apoptosis. The results in the present study suggest that amygdalin may offer a new therapeutic option for patients with cervical cancer.": https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23137229

According to Charles Gurchot, Ph.D., in "" [From Physicians Handbook of Vitamin B-17 Therapy, McNaughton Foundation, Published by: Science Press International, 1973, available online here: http://www.cancercure.ws/b17.htm], "Cyanide is converted to thiocyanate probably in the blood circulation, and certainly in the liver by the enzyme rhodanese in the presence of sulfur-bearing compounds.1,2 The circulating thiocyanate exerts certain physiological effects on blood pressure and thyroid action, and is not excreted rapidly. (In the absence of the enzyme or sulfur, the cyanide may form cyano-hemoglobin.)

In cancer patients some thiocyanate finds its way to the site of the cancer lesion."
Importantly, "100 μM SCN largely protects endothelial cells from the injuries caused by MPO activity."
Also, "SCN− is a natural, effective, antioxidant. Given that humans primarily derive SCN− from vegetables, is it possible that dietary SCN− deficiency underlies some health problems in a fraction of the general population.
"Previously reported plasma SCN− concentrations of the general population range from 10 to 140 μM (46–48). In our experiment, SCN− at concentrations below 100 μM does not eliminate OCl− and thus does not fully protect cells against MPO cytotoxicity (Figs. 3 and 4).
"Conceivably, inadequate SCN− levels would aggravate MPO-produced injuries in patients suffering from inflammatory diseases including asthma. MPO activity has been linked to lung cancers among smokers (49) and also implicated in the pathogenesis of many neurodegenerative diseases (50–52). We find that MPO-caused injuries to a neuronal cell line (Neuro-2A) can be greatly reduced by SCN− (Fig. 4). Also, people with congenital MPO deficiency are less likely to develop cardiovascular diseases (53). Conversely, individuals with blood MPO levels in the highest quartile are expected to have a 15- to 20-fold higher chance of coronary artery stenosis, compared with those in the lowest quartile (54, 55). MPO is a critical atherogenic factor (54), and causes endothelial cell death, which is probably involved in the superficial arterial wall erosion that precipitates thrombus formation (56).
"Here, we show that 100 μM SCN− largely protects endothelial cells from the injuries caused by MPO activity (Fig. 4). As to the LPO system, it is present in many tissue types (including the lungs and breasts) that contain exocrine glands, and an adequate SCN− concentration is needed to prevent chronic irritation of these tissues by accumulated H2O2 and resulting pathologies." ("The antioxidant role of thiocyanate in the pathogenesis of cystic fibrosis and other inflammation-related diseases." PNAS December 1, 2009 vol. 106 no. 48 20515-20519): http://www.pnas.org/content/106/48/20515.full.pdf+html1

Future versions of this review will include, updated information from the latest edition of G. edward Griffin's "World Without Cancer", Ralph Moss' text "Doctored Results", and "ALIVE AND WELL" by Philip E. Binzel, Jr., M.D.: http://www.whale.to/m/binzel2.html

Amidst the negativefact of doctors getting reprimanded, and their liscenses either threatened or removed, there are some positve signs, as indicated in the article "Doctor in Laetrile Case Wins Round in Court" (Townsend Letter for Doctors & Patients;Jul91, Issue 96, p586)

Of interest as a single case is the Sydney Morning Herald article on Paul Reid`s remarkable recovery from cancer with apricot kernels, from which amygdalin is derived: http://www.smh.com.au/national/can-apricot-kernels-keep-cancer-at-bay-20100306-pptb.html

The government and the politician doesn't want you to know about this 'Hope'. But nothing can stop the good news from being spread out like like wildfire. B17
Optimistic

That's a great book, many thanks.

Do you know which edition it is?

A world without cancer is a dream which can become true, but not in this world, i guess. Scientist may find a cure but cancer will always be there.
All cancers are painful to deal with. But oral cancer can cause serious embarrassment given it serious impact the breath of the impatient. Early diagnosis and treatment are vital. Therefore, it is wise to report to health care provider any ulcer that lasts more than two weeks for no apparent reason. This is even more important for smokers and alcohol consumers.