Morning:
20°c
Johnny Depp has become, in his young middle age, like a star of the movies’ golden period
Secret deal hatched by News of the World to hush up details of phone-tapping was sealed in a tiny room at the Royal Courts of Justice
More...
Experts call for crackdown on 'vile' alternative cancer medicine industry
Last updated at 23:22pm on 23.11.06
Professor Jonathan Waxman has hit out at alternative medicine for cancer
Cancer patients are victims of 'vile and cynical' exploitation by the alternative medicines industry, claims a top specialist.
Professor Jonathan Waxman, of Imperial College London, is calling for legislation against 'the snake oil salesmen that peddle cures and exploit the desperate.'
• 'Patients with less glamorous diseases suffer over decision to fund Herceptin'
He says patients are being encouraged to try faddy diets and herbal remedies that don't work and may weaken them, sometimes delaying the use of scientifically tested conventional therapy.
Around four out of five cancer patients take a complementary treatment or follow a special diet in a bid to beat the disease.
But almost 60 trials have failed to show any benefit from different dietary regimes, said Prof Waxman, who is professor of oncology at London's Hammersmith Hospital.
Alternative therapies taken by patients include shark cartilage, blessed thistle, slippery elm, sheep sorrel and potentially toxic doses of vitamins, he said.
Writing in the British Medical Journal, Prof Waxman said patients were being offered false hope and could end up damaged.
He said "Some of these things do dreadful harm. Patients are made thin by their cancer, and then become thinner still because they follow diets that evidence shows cannot help their recovery.
"There is an entire planetary mass of information that shows Western diets are associated with an increased risk of cancer and vegetarian diets and traditional Eastern diets are protective.
"However we also know that once cancer has been diagnosed no change in diet will lead to any improvement in cancer outcomes."
Prof Waxman said Prince Charles's advocacy of complementary medicine had focused attention on treatments that some patients hailed for helping their recovery - while ignoring the chemotherapy which actually cured them.
He said: "How can it be that treatments that don't work are regarded as life saving? It isn't logical."
Among famous cancer sufferers who turned to complementary therapies were TV broadcaster Caron Keating and world motorcycle champion Barry Sheene.
Gloria Hunniford, in a moving account of her daughter Caron's battle with breast cancer, told how she fell under the thrall of alternative therapists - some of whom were charlatans.
She resisted medication while "straddling two worlds - orthodox treatment and complementary" before dying two years ago at the age of 41.
Barry Sheene who rejected chemotherapy, saying he could beat the disease with a diet of vegetables and fruit juice, died at 52 from throat and stomach cancer.
Prof Waxman said patients often did not know what they were taking, as some herbal remedies have been doctored with drugs or dangerous ingredients, that have led to public health warnings.
He said: "Why not subject the alternative medicines industry to the level of scrutiny that defines pharmaceuticals?"
Currently alternative treatments are not subject to pharmaceutical testing because they are classified as food supplements.
But Prof Waxman said these products - which get hyped on Internet sites - should be reclassified as drugs because they are being marketed with claims for efficacy.
"These treatments may often delay the institution of conventional therapy" he warned, adding "the claims made by companies to support the sales of such products may be overtly and malignly incorrect."
He also attacked the way in which patients are put under pressure by the complementary therapy industry, which comes to a head when treatments don't work.
"The pressure there is on the patient who has failed to be cured by the shark cartilage - because sharks allegedly don't get cancer.
"The patients has failed, not the alternative therapy, and the patient has let down the alternative practitioner and disappointed his family who have encouraged his treatment" he added.
A recent study found patients who follow alternative therapies can spend almost £200 a month, he said.
He said the EU was paving the way to bring in legislation to better regulate the alternative medicine market, which has an estimated value of £250m a year in the UK alone.
He said: "We need to protect our patients from vile and cynical exploitation whose intellectual basis, at best, might be viewed as delusional."
Reader views (5)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
Rose shut up you vile human being. If my Parents had listened to evil charlatans like you I would be dead.
Chemo and radiation only way to beat it.
- M27yroldsurvivor, London, England
I have recently started a course in Naturopathy and our teachers have stated repeatedly that we must always stress to patients that we offer a complimentary service only. It should never be seen as an alternative to conventional medicine and anyone we treat should always be under the guidance of a GP already.
Many in the industry would agree with Professor Waxman's points regarding regulation and scrutiny of the sector and would welcome this, and indeed are campaigning for it.
Those seeking support are at their most vulnerable and should be able to do so with the peace of mind that they won't be exploited.
- Marie, London, UK
Rose, the evidence is overwhelming that conventional medicine is effective in curing cancer and new advances are made all the time. This has been shown countless times using properly controlled double-blind clinical tests and measuring survival rates after five years. You undoubted would argue that these are "biased" because they show that such treatments are effective, whereas the kind of nonsense that you apparently peddle, under the same testing regime, is shown to have no effect. Alternative therapies for cancer cost lives by encouraging people to delay potentially life-saving treatment in favour of quackery, and are a way for their promoters to make money from the desperate and vulnerable in society. They should be regulated forthwith, and required to show proof of their claims to proper scientific standards.
- Ollie, London, UK
I think we need to protect our cancer patients from toxic chemotherapy and the traditional medical approach to curing cancer. Dr Waxman, show me some good unbiased studies on how chemotherapy, radiation and your traditional approach cures cancers.
- Rose Stevens -- Holistic Pratitioner, Kelowna, B.C Canada
In times of extreme stress and hardship, people will turn to any sort of quackery in the off chance that it might cure. This includes homeopathy, religion, snake oil etc.
More regulation is needed to stop the fraudsters from ripping off these vulnarable and gullible people.
One more thing - Prince Charles should stick to gardening and keep his nose out of medicine. He clearly has no idea.
- Adam Spencer, London, UK
