Categories
Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Integrative medicine Quackery

Belief in alternative cancer cures: We have a lot of work to do to combat quackery

Earlier this week, a new survey from the American Society of Clinical Oncology showed that belief in alternative cancer cures is common, with roughly four out of ten Americans believing that “natural” alternative treatments alone can cure cancer, without any conventional oncologic therapies, like chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation therapy. This survey points to just how ingrained misinformation about cancer is in our society and how much work advocates of science-based oncology have ahead of them to combat it.

Categories
Cancer Clinical trials Medicine Popular culture Surgery

Suzanne Somers “grew a new breast” with stem cells plus fat transfer? Not so fast…

Suzanne Somers is back in the news, claiming that she “grew a new breast” with stem cells and fat transfer. But did she? Did she really? A careful look at what’s public about her story suggests nothing other than a bit of self-promotion during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Categories
Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Computers and social media Integrative medicine Naturopathy Quackery

How online crowdfunding supports cancer quacks

Patients with cancer frequently use online crowdfunding to pay for trips to quack clinics. The Good Thinking has undertaken an investigation that is the first to suggest the extent of the problem. The question is: What to do about it?

Categories
Bad science Bioethics Cancer Medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Clínica 0-19 and IDOI: Not making DIPG history in Monterrey (part 4 of 4)

Orac has finally located the abstract published by Dr. Alberto Siller and Alberto Garcia, who are selling intra-arterial chemotherapy for the deadly brain tumor DIPG. Let’s just say that he’s…less than impressed by the results. Shades of Burzynski!

Categories
Bad science Medicine Popular culture Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

60 MINUTES Australia broadcasts an infomercial for Bioss Stem Cells, a quack clinic in Mexico

Last Sunday, 60 MINUTES Australia broadcast a story about a very sympathetic girl with cerebral palsy and her family, who traveled to Bioss Stem Cells, a stem cell clinic in Monterrey, Mexico, for unproven “stem cell” treatments. The story was nearly completely devoid of skepticism and played, in essence, as a 20 minute advertisement for quacks. It is one of the worst examples of boosterism and false balance about unproven treatments I’ve ever seen.