Claim infrared sauna kills tumours slammed
animals.
“It is easy to kill or stop growth of cancer cells in a culture flask and this cannot be used to claim that it affects cancer cells in the body.”
A study by Oxford University was published last year about a cancer treatment that uses near-infrared light, called photoimmunotherapy.
However, this was done through the injection of an antibody that binds to cancer cells, with near-infrared light used to activate a photoabsorbing chemical that damages the cell membrane.
A spokesman from the Bay of Plenty District Health Board oncology department said he believed the company website’s claims caused financial strains and false hope.
He said he believed the claim was “dangerous” as there was no evidence it helped cancer patients in any way and instead could encourage patients to pursue ineffective therapies in replacement for proven ones.
“We generally discourage patients from pursuing treatments like this as [we believe] it causes financial harm and creates false hope.”
He said most patients did this sort of thing in addition to, rather than instead of, proven therapies.
While pseudo-science therapies for cancer and tumours had always been around, he said they were becoming increasingly common in the digital world, where alternative therapies are promoted and conventional therapies are disparaged.
“So common that I have prepared a set of responses on alternative therapy which I give to patients.”
Consumer NZ head of research Jessica Wilson said traders making unsubstantiated health claims risked breaching both the Fair Trading Act and the Medicines Act.
“In our view, this trader is misleading consumers by making unproven health claims. Its claim the sauna ‘kills off tumours and mutated cells’ is a major concern,” she said.
“Unfortunately, unproven health claims are all too common.
Wilson said she believed “companies using them often prey on consumers’ genuine health concerns to hawk pricey products”.
A Commerce Commission spokeswoman said under the Fair Trading Act it was illegal for businesses to make a claim about a good or service without substantiation.
She said they had not investigated the claim specifically, however, any claims made by a business must be accurate, able to be substantiated or proven, and must not mislead or deceive consumers.
The maximum penalty for breaches of the Fair Trading Act is $200,000 for an individual and $600,000 for a business per offence. Health claims describe a relationship between the use or consumption of a product and a health benefit. Alternative health practices have the same obligations by law as traditional medical practitioners, in terms of ensuring any claims are accurate and do not mislead consumers.
A Medsafe spokesperson said unless the company could prove the claims, the advertisement is prohibited under section 58(1)(a) of the Medicines Act 1981. Advertising a method of treatment must meet certain requirements under the Medicines Act.
She said the Redefined advertisement would be regarded as advertising a method of treatment, under this Act. “In the advertisement, reference to killing off tumours and mutated cells implies that this is a treatment for cancer,” the spokesperson said. “We doubt this claim would stand scrutiny.”
There are also provisions under the Fair Trading Act 1986 in relation to false advertising, they added.
Ministry of Health Cancer Control Agency Te Aho o Te Kahu clinical director Dr Liz Dennett said she believed the claims made about the sauna were “irresponsible”.
“Many patients choose a range of supportive treatments to help them. However, claims such as the ones raised that suggest that unproven remedies might effectively treat cancer are [in my view] irresponsible, inappropriate and quite possibly illegal.
“Living with cancer is an extremely stressful experience. Everyone wants comprehensive treatment and hopes for a complete cure,” she said.
Dennett urged patients to always take the advice of their medical team regarding which treatments, medication, and other therapies were best suited to them.