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Cancer Treatment Scams Prey On Fear

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 9, 2008

Updated: 10/09/2008 05:12 pm

A cancer diagnosis is difficult enough. Getting scammed as a result is tragic.

The Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning about online health fraud, specifically medicinal products and devices intended to treat cancer but that have not yet gained FDA approval.

"Anyone who suffers from cancer, or knows someone who does, understands the fear and desperation that can set in," Gary Coody, the National Health Fraud Coordinator and a Consumer Safety Officer with FDA's Office of Regulatory Affairs, said in a statement. "There can be a great temptation to jump at anything that appears to offer a chance for a cure."

The bogus treatments are marketed in pills, tonics and creams, and pitched as natural treatments or dietary supplements, the FDA says. A regimen called the Hoxsey Cancer Treatment, for example, is a so-called remedy proven to be harmful. Many appear completely harmless, but may cause indirect harm by delaying or interfering with proven, beneficial treatments, the FDA says.

Here are some red flags identified by the FDA: claims that a product is a quick and effective cure-all or a diagnostic tool for a wide variety of ailments; suggestions that a product can treat or cure serious or incurable diseases; and the use of terms such as "scientific breakthrough," "miraculous cure," "secret ingredient" and "ancient remedy."

For details, visit www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2006/606_fraud.html.

The Tampa Tribune

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Cancer Treatment Scams Prey On Fear