Nobel Laureate Alexander Solzhenitsyn was awed by the healing powers of Chaga to treat cancer during the 1950s in his investigative research of patient treatment in provincial Siberian hospitals in his famous work, The Cancer Ward.
Very few westerners had heard of chaga before Solzhenitsyn introduced it in his 1968 novel The Cancer Ward.
“He could not imagine any greater joy than to go away into the woods for months on end, to break off this chaga, crumble it, boil it up on a campfire, drink it and get well like an animal. To walk through the forest for months, to know no other care than to get better! Just as a dog goes to search for some mysterious grass that will save him . . .”
From "The Cancer Ward" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Stone Age First Aid Kit
"On September, 19, 1991, an extraordinary discovery took place in Austria’s Otzal Alps, when two hikers came upon an ice mummy preserved by freezing. The analysis of samples of organic tissues has determined that the "Iceman" lived between 3350 and 3100 B.C. and died approximately 5,200 years ago. At death, he was between 40 and 50 years old, and he appears to have suffered from a number of medicinal conditions. He turned into a mummy by chance, due to freezing weather conditions. The Iceman’s possessions have given scientists a better look at what life was like during the Neolithic Age in Europe. Perhaps the most valuable possession, according to many scientists, was his "medicine kit". The Iceman wore on his left wrist two walnut-sized pieces of birch fungus, drilled through the middle and held in place with twisted fur strips. Also known as Chaga (Inonotus Obliquus), the fungus is antibiotic and is known by modern science to be highly active against some types of mycrobacteria such as tuberculosis. I have researched Chaga in Siberia, where it has been studied for its anticancer properties."
Excerpt from - Hot Plants: Nature’s Proven Sex Boosters for Men and Women - by Christopher S. Kilham, the Medicine Hunter
Soviet State Secret
Since the 1950's, the government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), in conjunction with approximately 1200 prominent scientists, conducted over 3,000 experiments involving over 500,000 people to study the effects of Adaptogens. The results of these studies were a protected Soviet Secret for 40 years. The Soviet government commanded athletes, astronauts and other Soviet elite to take Adaptogens on a daily basis to improve physical and mental work capacity.
King of Herbs
The Chinese Monk Shen Nong proclaimed Chaga as a superior class medicinal herb, for its diverse and homeopathic properties, in his work Shen Nong Ben Cao Jin; the first of the three ancient medical books that serve as the foundation of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners have applied Chaga as a remedy for serious human virus and disease including anti-viral applications such as influenza and anti-inflammatory treatment of stomach ulcers.
In the folk medicine, chaga is also called “black birch fungus” of “birch lip” (in old Slavonic, “gaga,” which probably explains the origin of the word “chaga”). Throughout history, Chaga has indeed been recognized as a true remedy. Documented as early as 4600 years ago, ancient Asian folk medicine practitioners relied upon Chaga, a medicinal mushroom, to maintain a healthy life energy balance (“Chi”), preserve youth, promote longevity, and boost the body’s immune system to fight viral, bacterial, fungal and parasitic maladies. As a folk medicine, Chaga was ingested by the local people of the Siberian mountain regions in tea or powder form, inhaled from smoke, and applied to the skin for healing of injury or rash. Indigenous people from that area have been documented to live beyond 100 years of age.
Chaga in Russia
Russian culture has embraced the medicinal uses of Siberian Chaga, and its uses have spread westward to the Urals and Baltic regions of the European continent. Chaga tinctures were among the most popular preparations in the North and Middle Russia, which were used as remedies for the prophylaxis and treatment of gastric disorders and even cancer.
In the 12th Century Tsar Vladimir Monamah was treated with Chaga (for symptoms most probably of lip cancer). Today, Chaga tea is commonly used in Russian cultures as a family cupboard remedy to support a healthy immune system and as a powerful antioxidant.
Chaga (in combinations with other herbs) was used for the treatment of gastric and duodenal ulcers and various gastritis. Under forest conditions, “chaga tea” can be used for the treatment of stomach upsets and intestinal pains. Such a decoction is especially popular among hunters and foresters, since this drink assuages hunger, removes tiredness, refreshes, improves general tone, and increases work capacity. In some regions where the population widely consumes such infusions instead of usual teas, the available statistics shows a lower incidence of cancer as compared to the adjacent regions.
Chaga tea is used as a means of increasing the general tone. Patients are frequently recommended to use chaga extracts when it is necessary to reduce the arterial or venous blood pressure. Chaga infusions are also used for the treatment of periodontitis, eczema, dermatitis, and psoriasis. Inhalations of chaga with other herbs reduce inflammations in the nasopharynx and facilitate breathing. Abrasions, scratches, and cuts can be treated with powdered chaga to arrest purulent wound development. Chaga is nontoxic, well tolerated, and has virtually no counerindications for medicinal usage.
Modern Science
In 1958, scientific studies in Finland and Russia found this mushroom provided an epochal effect in uterine, liver, breast, and gastric cancer, and hypertension and diabetes.
The publications of several key clinical and scientific papers in 2000 and 2002 with regards to the role of "Antioxidants" and "Medicinal Mushrooms" and focusing on Inonotus obliquus better known as "Siberian Chaga Mushroom" and its role in curtailing of Oncological Expressions, Cancer Cell reproduction and as a natural defense for multiple other maladies created a worldwide renewed interest in this rare and highly prized "King of the Herbs"
In 2004 there was a study done at Department of Medical Nutrition in South Korea. The Chaga Mushroom was evaluated for their potential for protecting against oxidative damage to DNA in human lymphocytes. The study found that the Chaga Mushroom treatment affords cellular protection against some DNA damage.
Chaga is used today as the base natural product in over fourty six (46) oncological pharmaceutical medications and compounds. For the past forty (40) years 1,600 modern scientific studies have demonstrated and proven the pharmacological effects for the immune, hormonal and central nervous system.
Nobel Laureate Alexander Solzhenitsyn was awed by the healing powers of Chaga to treat cancer during the 1950s in his investigative research of patient 
The analysis of samples of organic tissues has determined that the "Iceman" lived between 3350 and 3100 B.C. and died approximately 5,200 years ago. At death, he was between 40 and 50 years old, and he appears to have suffered from a number of medicinal conditions. He turned into a mummy by chance, due to freezing weather conditions. The Iceman’s possessions have given scientists a better look at what life was like during the Neolithic Age in Europe. Perhaps the most valuable possession, according to many scientists, was his "medicine kit". The Iceman wore on his left wrist two walnut-sized pieces of birch fungus, drilled through the middle and held in place with twisted fur strips. Also known as Chaga (Inonotus Obliquus), the fungus is antibiotic and is known by modern science to be highly active against some types of mycrobacteria such as tuberculosis. I have researched Chaga in Siberia, where it has been studied for its anticancer properties."
