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Cancer Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Quackery Science

R.I.P., McKenzie Lowe. Stanislaw Burzynski failed you.

R.I.P., McKenzie Lowe. Unfortunately, Stanislaw Burzynski was no more able to save you than anyone else, his claims of great success treating pediatric brain tumors notwithstanding: HUDSON — Thirteen-year-old Hudson resident McKenzie Lowe died Friday evening after a 2-year-battle against an aggressive and inoperable brain stem tumor. McKenzie died at 10:27 p.m. in her own […]

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Cancer Clinical trials Medicine Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery

How is it that in 2018 cancer Stanislaw Burzynski is still preying on desperate cancer patients? (Update)

Earlier this week, I wrote about the tragic story of Demi Knight, and 11-year-old girl in the UK with medulloblastoma with only a few months to live. I wondered how cancer quack Stanislaw Burzynski could still be taking advantage of such patients in 2018. Here, I note the role of the press.

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Cancer Clinical trials Medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

How is it that in 2018 cancer quack Stanislaw Burzynski is still preying on desperate cancer patients?

In the 1970s, young polish expat and cancer researcher Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski thought he had found a cure for many incurable cancers. He dubbed it antineoplastons (ANPs_. Unfortunately, he left the path of science and started treating patients before he had evidence that ANPs work. Four decades later, without ever having published compelling evidence for anticancer efficacy of ANPs, he’s still luring desperate patients to his clinic. Now he’s set to branch out to quack clinics in Mexico. Why can’t the law stop him?

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Cancer Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Politics Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

The Texas Medical Board vs. Stanislaw Burzynski, round ∞: Will Burzynski slither away yet again?

It’s been a while since I wrote about Stanislaw Burzynski, the Polish ex-pat physician who is not an oncologist but treats cancer patients in his Houston clinic with a mixture of a compound he calls “antineoplastons” (ANPs) and “gene-targeted” therapy. The former are really a mixture of various chemicals he isolated from the blood and […]

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Cancer Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

False "balance" about Stanislaw Burzynski's cancer quackery rears its ugly head again

One common theme that has been revisited time and time again on this blog since its very founding is the problem of how science and medicine are reported. For example, back when I first started blogging, one thing that used to drive me absolutely bonkers was the tendency of the press to include in any […]