What if there were a cure for cancer, or at least a way to slow its devastation, and one man stood between it and the world? That’s exactly what’s going on in the efforts to unravel the mystery of a plant grown in the Ecuadoran forest, known as ‘Bittersweet’ by locals who say it fights cancer, lupus and maybe even AIDS.

Scientists have been able to test an extract of the plant in vivo (meaning: on lab rats injected with cancerous cells who were then administered the plant extract). The results are phenomenal: half the rats never developed a tumor at all, while fewer tumors appeared in the treated rats (and grew more slowly) than in those not given the extract.

There’s only one problem: the Ecuadoran doctor who obtained a patent on the extract won’t identify the specific plant it comes from, and there are many in the area that share the same name. He also won’t say whether it grows wild or must be cultivated. So, rather than fast-tracking the substance as a possible cancer-fighting medication, researchers must instead spend time and money locating other compounds with similar chemical makeup in the hope of finding one that works just as well.

Ecuador’s “Bittersweet” isn’t the only plant that cancer patients are hoping proves capable of wiping out the deadly disease.

For over a century now, folk remedies have touted the marvels of a black cancer salve, based anecdotal reports claiming the key ingredient — usually bloodroot — “ate away” cancerous tumors and lesions. Now, aging Baby Boomers passing on their memories of grandma’s cures, are fueling renewed in “herbal” remedies like cansema black salve and other concoctions containing escharotic — corrosive — agents like zinc chloride.

Proponents of these salves, including one known as CanX claim a 97% true cure rate. But unlike the Ecuadoran plant extract, scientists haven’t been able to replicate these results with in vivo testing, and there are as many horror stories about disfiguring burns as there are claims about the balms’ curative effects.

Meanwhile, who knows how many disfigurations could be prevented, and cancer patients cured, if it weren’t for the greed of one man in Ecuador who seems to have forgotten his oath to share such knowledge as is his for the good of those who are to follow.

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