Sellers of false cancer cures may face criminal charges

DUTY-of-care laws may be expanded to penalise individuals promoting bogus cancer treatments online, day Telegraph can reveal.

Practitioners who administer fake treatments could face criminal charges under the newly proposed legislation.

Jo Churchill, the health minister, told the House of Commons last week that the Government planned to act to protect the most vulnerable people from “dangerous and cruel” cancer cure propaganda.

Chris Matheson, the shadow culture minister, told MPs he had raised the issue because he had lost a constituent in “horrendous circumstances” following bogus cancer treatments. “The plan is to bring in new legislation as part of the Online Harms Bill,” Mr Matheson said.

“Talks have been ongoing with the health minister and I am very pleased. My view is that these bogus practitioners are charlatans and con artists.”

Mr Matheson told The Telegraph that he was now “seeking guidance” from the Crown Prosecution Service with regards to the legislation needed to criminalise practitioners providing treatments when unqualified to do so. He said that based on the injuries sustained by his late constituent, the alternative practitioners who administered the fake medicines should be liable to “GBH or manslaughter charges”, and new legislation was being examined to make such prosecutions available to authorities in the future.

The Government has said the Online Harms Bill will contain the “most robust action” to counter illegal content online and keep the public safe.

News that the bill could help protect cancer patients was last night welcomed by relatives of victims who have died following bogus treatments.

“I’m pleased to hear that new legislation is being considered that will help to protect patients from the dangers of alternative medicine,” said Lorna Holiday, whose mother Linda died after taking fake cancer medicines.

The Telegraph revealed last month that a large cross-party coalition of MPs had united in an attempt to overhaul cancer-cure propaganda legislation.

Dr Aseem Malhotra, a consultant cardiologist and professor of evidencebased medicine, said: “These new measures are a welcome blessing.”