Asking for Evidence on claims for 'miracle' cancer cures.

[Chris_Peters]

Lots of people and organisations have been asking for the evidence behind claims for cancer curing diets, claims in health magazines and claims by clinics selling unproven treatments for thousands of dollars. We gathered these stories together to help others ask for evidence behind these and other treatment claims.

senseaboutscience.org/pages...

[JossS]

To be honest, this is such a huge topic and will only grow (taking into account the predictions for the increase in cancer - bbc.co.uk/news/health-26014693 ) that it could do with its own website.

Maybe something NHS linked that can cross reference every type of cancer with every kind of treatment so that people can get a balanced view when they start their often desperate search for answers.

[writeaboutnutrition]

cancer cure diets: so many claims, and so difficult to argue the negative ie proof that eating 'alkaline' cabbage diet does not work (because there is always a friend-of-friend who was cured this way, and of course this will not be funded by pharma industry etc). Best advice is to follow sensible 'cure' diets, if you believe in them, in parallel, but not instead of, medical advice from oncologist.

[JossS]

There is the more important argument that some people feel let down by traditional medicine and start searching for alternatives - either for themselves or for loved ones, especially children.

That is the most difficult area. Sense about science has a section arguing against the statement "what have I got to lose?"

But in truth, some of the most desperate people really do feel they have nothing to lose. It is either that or admit they have lost the battle.

Inevitably, of course, they lose the battle anyway. Very sad those circumstances and sometimes not treated sympathetically enough.

[Emily_Jesper Partner Sense About Science]

This is our guide to weighing up claims about cures and treatments, As JossS mentioned, we heard from people who lost out financially, emotionally and more...from being sold false hope: senseaboutscience.org/data/...

[Hidden]

The Sense About Science guide is a great place to start. We do tackle some of these subjects head-on, but we don't have a systematic repository for dodgy cancer claims.

Here's an example of how we tackled sonodynamic therapy/"next generation" photodynamic therapy: nhs.uk/conditions/photodyna...

[JossS]

It is a difficult area this - my partner is involved with end of life care for children, many of whom are suffering from Cancer.

Those parents who do look outside of traditional care are often looking for very specific things that they have read about in forums, newspapers and so on, rather than a general discussion. Forums in particular are problematical. Sadly, some people trust more what other "ordinary" people tell them in forums that what a distant, detached expert will tell them.