Beware phoney cancer cures, doctors say
Coffee enemas, shark cartilage, rattlesnake powder, bark tea and mistletoe extract not the answer
Anyone facing cancer has likely seen YouTube videos of gurus prompting patients to imagine their illness away or psychic therapists claiming to remove tumours virtually without causing skin wounds.
When it comes to cancer, the Internet is a minefield of unproven cures. Well-meaning friends send links for dubious products or practices that promote a “cancer-free life” by using laetrile, coffee enemas, shark cartilage, rattlesnake powder and copious amounts of juiced vegetables, bark tea and mistletoe extract.
At the 2012 World Cancer Congress — of international cancer specialists to be held in Montreal this week — experts say there are no credible alternatives to science. If coffee enemas could prevent, attenuate or cure cancer, the medical industry would have already found a way to market them en masse.
More than 2,000 members of the cancer community from 120 countries will share best practices and discuss the global impact of cancer, as well as prevention strategies and the role of the patient in his own care.
Cancer patients turn to many coping strategies to control their disease, said epidemiologist Eduardo Franco, professor and interim director of McGill University’s oncology department and director of the division of Cancer Epidemiology.
“We know there is a strong psychological effect on emotion and immunologic and other body responses, and you may survive longer simply because you positioned yourself to be happy with what you are doing,” said Franco, a member of the congress host organizing committee.
Some cancers are now chronic illnesses. But some, including pancreatic and liver cancers, have a poor survival prognosis.
But dubious therapies foster false hope and cause unnecessary pain and suffering, Franco said. Among proponents of quack therapies, some are charlatans while others truly believe they’ve found a solution, Franco said.
But beware stories of miracle cures because even with the most lethal of cancers, statistics show some individuals do survive, he said.
Cure claims fail to hold up to the rigours of evidence-based medicine, whose cornerstone is the double blind, randomized trial.