Category: Alternative Cancer ‘Cures’

Ministers join our call to change legislation to better protect cancer patients from quackery (Telegraph)

‘Thermographic scans gave my son false hope’ (BBC)

BBC Three exposes dangerous cancer claims by thermography clinic

A new BBC Three documentary, “False Hope? Alternative Cancer Cures”, shows the dangerously misleading claims made by alternative cancer clinics and how ineffective thermography scans are giving cancer patients an inaccurate view of their prognosis.

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Can crowdfunding for cancer treatment ever truly work? (The Telegraph)

GoFundMe bans donations for controversial cancer treatments (The Hill)

The crowdfunding platform GoFundMe is banning fundraising campaigns for a controversial cancer treatment clinic in Germany, according to the Financial Times. The Hallwang clinic in Dornstetten charges up to thousands of euros for what it claims is a “cutting-edge, next generation medicine.” But medical professionals have criticized the clinic for offering treatments such as “ozone therapy” and …

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Covering Alternative Cancer Stories

The BMJ’s report on fundraisers for alternative cancer treatments highlights media coverage as one of the key drivers in the money being raised to fund ineffective cancer therapies. According to the BMJ’s report: Newspaper and TV reports on people with cancer drive donors to the crowdfunding sites, sometimes attracting the attention of celebrities, who boost …

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Heart-tugging tales of crowdfunded cancer ‘cures’ fuel quack medicine (New Scientist)

Media stories about people with cancer seeking controversial cures are unwittingly bolstering unscientific and potentially harmful treatments, says Michael Marshall

BMJ publishes Good Thinking’s cancer fundraising investigation

The BMJ today published the results of a year-long investigation by Good Thinking into crowdfunding appeals for ineffective cancer treatments. As part of the investigation, Good Thinking searched fundraising sites such as JustGiving and GoFundMe, looking for appeals from UK patients which referenced unproven or disproven cancer treatments, and identifying where these treatments were being …

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eBay removes fake cancer ‘zapper’ treatments from sale (The Telegraph)

Online auction site eBay has been selling quack cancer cures that involve “zapping” patients with electricity. The Sunday Telegraph found that more than 30 different cancer zapper devices were being sold through eBay, priced at up to £299. One seller in Northern Ireland had been selling the devices for over a year.

Facebook found to be promoting ‘dangerous’ homemade cancer cures (The Telegraph)

Health campaigners have criticised Facebook after a Sunday Telegraph investigation found that the social network has been promoting dangerous homemade cancer “cures” more prominently than information from charities including Cancer Research UK. Vulnerable people desperately searching on Facebook for information about cancer treatments are shown a series of groups which included adverts and discussion about …

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