I have some strong concerns about CANCERactive. I think some of the information on their website is inaccurate. Some is misleading. Some is dangerously irresponsible.
But who are CANCERactive?
In their own words,
CANCERactive is Britain´s Number 1 holistic cancer charity. (Some people call us an Integrative, or Integrated Cancer Charity).
They pride themselves on being the ‘Patient’s Champion’ and boast that they take no remuneration for the work that they do. They also point out that they
do not receive funds directly or indirectly from large corporations such as pharmaceutical companies, and so this site is truly independent with no vested interests and based on the research that is available, interpreted in a balanced way
They even claim to pride themselves on being evidence-based.
Laudable though this appears, there are some big problems here. I believe there’s an implication that those who dismiss alternative cancer treatments are doing so because they have vested interests. I believe there’s an implication that CANCERactive look carefully at all the available research while reputable medical professionals and other cancer charities only look at the research that suits them.
This conspiracy theory can drive a wedge between cancer patients and their doctors, leading them to ignore good advice, even to deny themselves essential treatment. It can drive a wedge between patients and their loved ones, at the worst possible time. It can allow the most vulnerable people to simply believe what they want to believe, spending money they don’t have on treatments that don’t work.
But I must choose my words very carefully.
CANCERactive founder, Chris Woollams wrote here
Professor David Colquhoun and his inaccuracy, lack of research, lack of attention to detail and defamatory comments of both Chris Woollams and the charity CANCERactive has prompted legal action against him and his DC’s Improbable Science blog.
This is unfortunate.
I wouldn’t say that CANCERactive are pushing dangerous quackery at the desperately ill. After all, they do state, in red:
We are an information-only site presenting you with information that is already available in the public domain; we do not give advice even though our patrons and advisors number Professors, Doctors and experts in many fields. The provision of information on the website does not constitute our recommendation or endorsement of that information or its provider.
Of course the site doesn’t advertise cancer treatments. Nor does it give advice about cancer treatments as part of any form of advertising. That would be against the law. (Incidentally, Chris Woollams isn’t a fan of the Cancer Act.)
So, there are no adverts on the CANCERactive site. They just prominently mention a couple of books by Chris Woollams and also prominently link to the Natural Selection shop. This sells a wide range of ‘health’ products, apparently chosen and used by a selection team including Chris Woollams. I must point out here that Chris Woollams is not an employee or a director of the shop, nor does he take any remuneration from it.
But what information on the CANCERactive site is misleading, inaccurate or dangerously irresponsible..?
It’s hard to know where to begin.
This is what they say about Dr Burzysnki and antineoplastons:
His work – which is non-toxic – with brain tumour patients and those with other cancers produced results that beat the statistics seen for standard radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment.
That is simply untrue.
- Firstly, despite being listed as such on the CANCERactive site, antineoplastons aren’t an ‘alternative’ treatment. They are byproducts of the body’s metabolism of sodium phenylbutyrate, a known drug. Moreover, antineoplastons are almost always given following conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
- Secondly, they are not at all non-toxic. In 1998, the US FDA noted that hypernatraemia, or an excess of sodium in the blood, was a toxicity noted in 65% of the 404 patients participating in a study and it that it may have contributed to the deaths of at least seven patients.
- Finally, Burzynski’s results do not ‘beat the statistics’. No reliable evidence of the efficacy of antineoplastons has ever been published, despite Burzynski having used this treatment for over thirty-five years.
Here is what CANCERactive say about Gerson Therapy:
The basic idea of the Therapy is to stimulate the body´s own immune defences to do what they normally do in a healthy body, whilst readjusting the balance of the molecules and atoms within the cells, returning them to levels normally found in healthy cells.
It doesn’t really matter what the ‘basic idea’ is, if that idea is based on imaginative pseudoscientific drivel.
Once both parts of this Therapy are fully established the theory is that a diseased body will be restored to full health. There is no doubt that this therapy has had notable successes, especially given that patients have often tried and failed with all available orthodox treatments first.
There is no reliable evidence that this therapy has had any successes, notable or otherwise.
In the case of cancer, diseased cells have been known to liquefy, which in itself creates a further problem. The process of breaking down tumours can be so effective that large amounts of toxins are released by the diseased cells into the blood stream. However, the largest detoxification organ, namely the liver, is often seriously impaired when cancer is in the body and so it needs to be cleansed and stimulated to deal with the extreme levels of toxins.
More pseudoscience. More wishful thinking. Gerson Therapy consists of a strict diet (with a very heavy emphasis on ‘juicing’) and up to five coffee enemas a day. This doesn’t cure cancer, nor does it ‘cleanse’ or ‘stimulate’ the liver.
I could continue. Visit the site yourself. Look at the information they give on the idea of homeopathy as a cancer treatment or the theory that cancer is caused by an excess of Candida albicans and may be cured with sodium bicarbonate. More dangerous, irresponsible, pseudoscientific nonsense.
And if you thought that was bad, I’ve not even started on the list of Cancer treatment centres and clinics discussed here.
Naturally, there’s a disclaimer (on this page):
We want to make it absolutely clear, up front, that we do not differentiate between them, nor endorse them; we do not intend to ´promote´ any of them – we seek merely to INFORM. We aim to treat every one of these equally and fairly, be they alternative or orthodox.
CANCERactive are unintentionally promoting some very dubious clinics.
These include the Raphael Medical Centre – a residential clinic in Kent, based on the anthroposophic image of man. They treat cancer with mistletoe.
And before you call me narrow minded for doubting the efficacy of mistletoe for cancer, please read the systematic review.
In addition to several other unproven treatments, mistletoe therapy is also used by the Klinik St Georg, the Hospital Dr Herzog and the Parascelcus Klinik, all listed by CANCERactive. Some of these places even carry out holistic dentistry, in the belief that teeth have energy connections to different organs all over the body.
American clinics listed by CANCERactive include, naturally, the much blogged Burzynski Clinic, the Gerson Institute and the Oasis of Hope hospital in Mexico, which provides a range of dubious treatments, including laetrile. There isn’t any evidence that laetrile is an effective cancer treatment. Furthermore, laetrile contains cyanide, which means that the side effects can be severe, even leading to death.
Given the existence of the Cancer Act, you might be surprised at how much alternative cancer treatment is available in the United Kingdom, again, listed for our convenience by CANCERactive. Just to be clear, I don’t mean complementary therapies such as massage, which may help patients relax and help them cope better with symptoms and side effects of conventional treatment. I mean things like intravenous vitamin C – used by CANCERactive’s expert Dr Andre Young-Snell at his Vision of Hope Clinic in Brighton. And things like Carctol – a herbal mixture (not a licensed medicine) which is recommended by Dr Rosy Daniel, who also happens to be one of CANCERactive’s experts.
There is no reliable evidence to support the use of such treatments for cancer. And yet it’s perfectly understandable that given a stark diagnosis, people will grasp at straws. If there is the tiniest glimmer of hope, desperate parents would do anything to save their child. It is crucial that difficult decisions about cancer treatment are made based on good, accurate information, not on wishful thinking.
False hope can be very cruel indeed.
Related articles
Bad advice about cancer from ICON / canceractive David Colquhoun, DC’s Improbable Science (currently offline), 10/09/06
There’s no conspiracy – sometimes it just doesn’t work Kat Arney, Science Update blog, Cancer Research UK, 06/07/11
Hope or false hope? Kat Arney, Science Update blog, Cancer Research UK, 25/11/11
Burzynski and Patient Choice Jennifer Keane, And another thing…, 12/03/12
Charity begins……where? Majikthyse, 17/04/12
The hope that holds desperate parents to ransom Jan Moir, MailOnline, 30/06/12
Bad advice about cancer from icon / CANCERactive Chris Woollams, Junk Science?, 07/07/12
The Confusing Case of the “Cancer Active” Charity jdc, Stuff and Nonsense, 08/07/12
Cancer “cures” Guy Chapman, Guy Chapman’s Blahg, 11/07/12
____________________________________________
UPDATE
The following posts were published shortly after this.
CANCERactive Guy Chapman, Guy Chapman’s Blahg, 11/07/12
CANCERactive continuing Guy Chapman, Guy Chapman’s Blahg, 16/07/12
CANCERactive’s apparent sales of cancer “cures” Guy Chapman, Guy Chapman’s Blahg, 16/07/12
CANCERactive and Health Issues Ltd. Guy Chapman, Guy Chapman’s Blahg, 18/07/12
Josephine Jones 
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Alternative treatments more often than not also works like conventional medicine. they are even safer and cheaper too. ,“’,
Yours trully http://www.healthmedicinelab.com“>
Alternative treatments do not work like conventional medicine. If they did, they would be incorporated into conventional medicine.
I find it interesting that the same comment, from the same IP address has appeared at the same time but but under a different name here:
http://www.thetwentyfirstfloor.com/?p=4349
I find your answer to the above comment very naive indeed. Its virtually common knowledge that the pharmaceutical companies would never allow alternative medicines to be used mainstream as there is little profit in that. Secondly, regarding there being no evidence that the Gerson diet works… Perhaps you should watch the dvd Rethinking Cancer and hear the personal testimonials of the patients it did cure. Cancer is a highly Individual disease and treatment should therefore be individual to each patient. Treatments such as the Gerson diet may work gor some and not for others – just as orthodox medicine will work for some but not for others. While you state that Cancer Active are creating barriers between doctors and patients it seems that you are in danger of creating barriers between effective alternative treatments and cancer patients – equally as dangerous and irresponsible. There is room and an increasing need for alternative treatment to be used alongside orthodox medicine. The nature of what you write is simply perpetuating the senseless us and them, black and white thinking that is never going to help save lives.
Linda browne, so you, your whole family, and 2 of your friends all got cancer? Credibility out the window right there.
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Some alternative treatments work better than conventional medicine and most of the time they dont have any side effects at all. .
Our very own homepage
http://www.foodsupplementdigest.com/foods-high-in-vitamin-k/
Perhaps you would be so good as to provide some links to evidence for this claim – a peer reviewed scientific journal paper perhaps, or a meta-analysis. Or even just the reference so we can look it up ourselves.
I have been utterly unable to find any reputable evidence vitamin K has an anti-cancer effect, as you seem to be suggesting in your post. Not a jot.
One would assume that if a treatment actually worked, we’d be able to find plenty of evidence to show it.
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I don’t see any harm in giving people information. That way people can learn and take control of their own health. Many people are innocently ignorant of alternative treatments, food and nutrition/medicine etc. People in the health profession – Alternative and Orthodox should go back to the drawing board together – perhaps this action might pave the way to a cure or long term treatment for cancer , plus find ways to prevent this disease. It’s amazing how sometimes when you’re so focussed on something that you don’t realise that you had the answer all along – you just overlooked it.
Time for working together I believe, forget the sarcasm.
@pat – how about proof or evidence that “alternative” treatments actually work?
The proof is out there. Plenty should you be interested in researching…..
@Linda – how about providing some of that “proof?” Every single instance in which these “alternative” therapies have been given the same scrutiny of mainstream medicine, they are found to be ineffective.
Why is that?
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Orthodox cancer treatments are not necessarily successful and the treatment can be debilitating just when the body needs all its powers for healing. My mother, my step daughter, some friends, faithfully adhered to orthodox treatments – they all died. I have known people go down the alternative course and some, despite the odds, have survived and are cancer free. People need to carry out their own own research and make their own judgement when it comes to the course they follow.
So totally medically unqualified people should “do their own research” because they are well placed to distinguish between the truth and a load of garbage that sounds scientific? No, they should consult the experts who are there to help with this and stop letting their confidence be undermined by spurious treatments of little if any benefit peddled by people who are in many cases equally unqualified in oncology.
You are missing the point that the ‘experts’ are only trained in orthodox medicine and know little if anything about alternative medicine. Their livelihoods depend on a salary paid by a health board – rarely are they going to spend years and money going to med school only to admit that not everything they learned was the best or the most correct. Ive had cancer and I’ve done my research and been treated with alternative medicine only. Like chemo it doesn’t work for everyone but it did for me. Please do not encourage people to dismiss it just because the so-called experts don’t use it. Pharmaceutical companies are very powerful and a huge part of the economy. Governments cannot afford to upset them by promoting alternative medicines. They fund most of the studies and it is not in their financial interest to fund alternative treatments. This us and them, black and white attitude is unhelpful. A combined approach would most certainly be a logical and progressive step in the right direction
@Linda – every time these “alternative” therapies are given the same scrutiny as mainstream medicine (clinical trials, etc) we find that they are at best, placebos – at worst, they cause people to die sooner (or get substantially worse).
Why is that?
That is because alternatives are rarely trialled to the extent that drugs are. Its preominantly pharmaceuticals that fund such hugely expensive trials. They have no interest in spending money on researching a natural product that cannot be patented or make them huge profits. Governments have little interest because the drugs industry hold up economies. When trials are occasionally ‘trialed’ they are not done correctly and are misrepresentated. I shall give you just one example. High does intravenous vitamin C hass been used by several alternative health professionals – Germany for example are very advance in alternative and combined approaches – Dr Linus Pauling (twice Nobel prize winner and associate of Einstein) pioneered high dose vitamin C over forty years ago.The Mayo clinic heard of this groundbreaking treatment for cancer and ‘trialed’ it. The published results saying it didn’t work. What they hid and did not publish was that the gave it orally in smaller doses Which does not have tthe same effect. That is just one example. I know you want to be right but the truth is you are not. You are potentially pushing people towards drugs that can be counter productive and harmful. Did you know that many people die, not as a result of their cancer but because chemo wrecked their immune system so badly that they couldn’t even fight off a normally non life threatening illness. I suggest some further research and reading: The China Study, Campbell, Mum’s Not Having Chemo, Bond, Your Life in Your Hands, Professor Jane Plant, Dirty Medicine, Walker, Bad Pharma, Ben Goldacre, Food Matters, Bitman. DVD’s Rethinking Cancer…. There are huge amounts of excellent and valid information out there. I suggest you read these books, do some further research, reseach some of the German clinics, Google Dr Stanislov Burzynski, curing fatal brain cancers that chemo cannot. Yes there are quacks out there, just as there bad doctors. But there also alternative natural medicines and treatment that does work. Ideally wewwould have an integrated approach – both alternative and orthodox have there merits. One final fact: the majority of oncologists would not touch chemo themselves or allow their families to…. Enough said. You are potentially causing a lot of damage with your narrow perspective, lack of proper and thorough research (or both). Please stop. Either that or go away, read all the material and then blog with a qualified opinion.
@Linda – ah, Vitamin C – demolished here:
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-return-of-the-revenge-of-high-dose-vitamin-c-for-cancer/
Also, NCCAM, which is a branch of NIH (embarrassing, really) has spent more than 1.5 Billion dollars studying “alternative medicines” in 20 years, they haven’t found a single one that worked.
Think about that.
It’s becoming very clear that you wpuld rather argue and be ‘right’ than contribute anything intelligent and constructive. Your reply makes clear that your ‘research’ is selective and that you haven’t bothered to research in depth and examine both sides of the debate and therefore cannot offer a balanced view. Black and white thinking does nothing to bring out the best in both alternative and orthodox approaches – which would certainly be a
a step forward. I shall waste no more time here. However, let me leave you with one final fact. I have recovered from cancer. I used only alternative treatments – including one of the mentioned treatments. I am well. I kept my hair, suffered virtually no side effects. I have two friend who followed the same route. They also are now in good health. If you have a conscience at all, stop what you are doing and find something that you can contribute to in a positive way.
Something else I would like to add is that I recently did a radio interview on the merits of alternative cancer treatments and the dangers of chemo etc. A medical doctor sat in on the interview and off air he agreed with everything I said. I interviewed a medical researcher three weeks ago… His comments ‘you are absolutely right, chemo is barbaric and yes, the drugs companies are far too powerful and do stand in the way of many alternative options’.
@linda – one one side of the debate is science, evidence and facts. On the other side there are none…..why don’t you provide some real evidence Linda…like perhaps the name of the treatment you are raising money for, perhaps?
If you’d bothered to read the books and references I’ve put in a previous post….. it’s all there. Try actually reading them.. If science is so right why do drugs like the thalidomide drug get approved by scientific studies then cause damage and get withdrawn? And that’s just one example. I was raising money for ozone therapy and whatever else the clinic felt necessary after studying my pathology reports. An holistic and individual approach that orthodox medicine cannot offer. Is there anything else you would like to know. … seeing as you would rather hide behind your computer screen trying to belittle people who are simply trying to get well and show others there are alternatives, or natural medicines – mistletoe therapy for example – that will help ease the side effects of chemo. I know alternative works and if you are so convinced it doesn’t then how about you do some work and come up with some valid evidence that it doesn’t, other than your one questionable ref to intravenous vitamin C? No, it doesn’t work for some -just like chemo doesn’t work for some but does for others.
Oh, and glad to hear you’ve familiarised yourself with my blog. Feel free to comment. You clearly have far too much time on your hands. Interestingly, one can always tell the difference between those who want to offer a balanced and informed opinion and perhaps help others and those who simply get off on trying to prove people wrong. You seem like a rather unhappy individual with little else to fill your time.
One more thing. Why is it that when someone on chemo dies then people like you believe cancer killed them. Yet when a person using alternative medicine dies you blame the treatment?? I’m sorry but life is not so black and white. Cancer is highly individual. No one knows for certain what causes is, how many things contribute or exactly how to treat it. Both alternative and orthodox medicine are trying to save people. Both approaches have their success stories and their failures. A combined approach is the most logical and progressive way forward. It doesn’t take an expert to work that one out. And it only takes a fool with a pair of blinkers to deny it.
A combined approach of scientifically-supported treatments is best.
Combining quackery with legitimate treatments is still quackery.
Does chemo help everyone? No.
Do we know that it works for a majority of cases because of actual testing and evidence, yes.
Ms JJones.
Go to the expert, on…
Supporting the high nutritional demands of a sick body.
Approx 19 hours on nutrition, all those years in med school, would you be content to take advice on your bodies needs.
Sadly…relying on trained medical professionals is not enough and only a fool would.
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I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer & I went to oasis of hope & had a really good experience there. My profession was a radiation therapist & I knew if I ever got cancer I would do convention with alternative. Dr. C did a great job with my surgery. I did 4 rounds of low dose chemo & no radiation. I’m cancer free & use food as my medicine eating the Nutritarian way for life! God’s healing foods!
That’s very encouraging to read. Glad you are recovered. Food is amazing medicine! I just wish there was a more holistic approach in mainstream medicine. I truly believe a combined approach would save more lives.
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Linda Brown – You go girl. I have studied this subject for quite a number of years and it is becoming more and more obvious that our health service and so called ‘conventional medicine’ has been hijacked by Big Pharma. Big Pharma who pay off Governments and Health Organisations to suppress the truth about natural products and instead champion their own synthetic treatments, brainwashing our health professionals and others into believing that is the only way forward. It is my free thinking that this is the only way backwards and whilst there are pros and cons to everything, my vote would be with nature every time. More and more whistle blowers are now coming forward to corroborate that view point and highlights to those who have looked at both sides that there is a very dark sadistic agenda being played out here for the financial gain of a few, whilst substantially compromising our lives. For those championing conventional medicine and believing everything in the mainstream, I would say, look to see who is training these professionals (Big Pharma) and just how much money they invest in the health governing bodies. Please watch ‘Cancer the Forbidden Cures’ which, incidentally has been banned on TV, and then go do some research of your own.
What a war is raging between the mainstream and the alternative medicine! Unfortunately the victims are sick people, who can’t get the best of both. Mainstream doctors who continuosly repeat “there is no evidence”, should do the trials to prove that alternative therapy does not work. It is not proven that alternative medicine does not work. I have to experiment with myself with diets and herbs for months and years until I find the best solution for my different diseases, when the experiments should have been done by the medical establishment paid for by our taxes. I have been successful at using alternative medicine on my self, but many others have died because the mainstream doctors refuse to study and experiment with alternatives to drugs.
@Rita – The National Complementary and Alternative Medicine Division of NIH has spent over $3 Billion dollars “testing” alternative therapies.
In over a decade of work, they have shown ZERO results.
“Alternative” medicine that is shown to work is just called medicine.
All financed by the pharmaceutical industry!! go figure
Of course! People are so dense.
Can ‘Jennifer Jones’ provide some personal biographic /experience history so the reader of ‘her’ website can fine-tune their evaluation of the largely negative comments about Canceractive advice.In particularpersonal motivations/sponsorship background would be very helpful.I will if you will,so will I!
Can ‘Jennifer Jones’ provide some relevant biographic/expertise details to allow the public to fine-tune their evaluation of ‘her ‘largely negative commentary concerning Cancer Active? In particular details of personal motivation/sponsorships which may energise the extensive comments?I will if you will ,so will I!
Thank goodness my relative hasn’t seen this website. She’s been following Canceractive advice and is sill alive & healthy (not alive & still sick) after being given weeks to live 2 years ago. She had inoperable cancer which had already spread and there was no hope given to her by the NHS. I’m not knocking conventional cancer treatment, but why give patients something that will destroy their immune system without giving advice on how to build it up agin. Personally, I would rather support Canceractive, than these Coffe & Cake mornings to raise funds. Eating too many coffee & cakes is probably what gave them cancer in the first place.
Well, maybe the cake 🙂 Caffeine is actually protective, at least for the liver. I am happy to hear about your relative as mine also has inoperable cancer. We find Canceractive a valuable source of information.
When you have cancer and told your cancer can not be cured and left for end of life I can tell you it is not very nice you and your family. I decided has I was now on my own I look for natural foods and stopped eating meet ,milk and sugar and processed foods and eat 10 fruit and veg a day it took 6-8 weeks and I was cancer free
You can contact me on the web
alltay@talktalk.net
Allan Taylor I still cancer free
Please read the full story how I became cancer free. You can e-mail me and I will be only to glad to give you any info.
Allan Taylor. alltay@talktalk.net
I would like to know what evidence there is for chemotherapy treatments. All 17 of my friends/associates whose family members used chemo have mourned their loss. Why? Because chemo can only kill off the weaker cancer cells, leaving cancer stem cells, which are far more virulent, to do their evil work. Most chemotherapy treatments have been shown to demonstrate only a 2 – 4 month survival benefit in clinical trials. Yet writers such as this continue to bash alternative/complementary therapies as somehow taking away someone’s chance to live through the use of approved chemicals. I even heard one oncologist speak of chemo as a “possible cure” to a patient! She had stage three breast cancer and died seven months later. It is a very sad state of affairs. There is as much, if not more, mendacity within the confines of conventional medicine as outside of it.
I wish it was possible to remove all your comments from circulation, people like you are exactly why we don’t have access to alternative medicines and choices and instead are bullied into chemical treatment which makes the pharmaceutical families rich. I agree there isn’t a conspiracy theory because its all true, there is no theory but money has power in this world. However the tide is changing and having experienced (and got in writing) the sort of bully tactics these so called ‘marvellous cancer doctors’ used on my Mother, I have never felt more strongly against chemical medicine. My entire family has done nothing but research for 6 months and the evidence is there, Chemo kills more than it cures and is responsible for causing secondary cancers in those that survive. These doctors are ignorant of diet and everything that cured humans for centuries before we have chemical medicine so they are simply pharmaceutical agents. You only have to read these responses to see how unwelcome your comments are. There is a whole other world of people who now understand that chemicals are targeted at the consequential tumour, alternative therapies attack the route cause. This approach isn’t supported for pharmaceutical companies because it could actually help the world eradicate cancer….and we wouldn’t want that, would we!!
I am sorry about your mother, Susan. I lost mine to cancer, and, more recently, my wonderful husband. When I told the oncologist that I did not believe chemotherapy worked as it killed off the weaker cancer cells, leaving the more virulent stem cells to multiply ad infinitum, he actually agreed with me. I think that the average human needs to believe in something or someone as saviour. They are frightened and mostly incapable of doing their own research, so they go along with what the doc says, not understanding who pays for and establishes the curriculum in medical schools. There is massive money in chemotherapy drugs. Massive. If I am not mistaken, a study showed that, on average, people who did nothing at all (other than maybe palliative treatment) lived longer than those who did chemo.
Just admit that you’re financed by the pharmaceutical industry to come up with this crap you silly tart..
Josephine Jones, or should I say Laura, an ex nurse, you really know very little about so called alternative meds….. so please stop speaking with great authority on a subject of which you know nothing. . Guess the pharmaceutical industry pays you better than the NHS (although really now one and the same…) Did you know that Bayer built and funded the gass chambers in the concentration camps which it also built/?Any Jewish people out there supporting Bayer/??
After reading all of the above blogs, my sister in law, mother, two uncles, two friends, several colleagues from work all died from cancer, and they all had conventional cancer treatment. So chemo and radiotherapy work well then? It’s true, had they had alternative treatment and died, they would have been criticised for not having conventional treatment, but no one says anything when they die after conventional treatment, it’s just accepted. There is no criticism, no one asks questions, hey why are we putting something in a sick human with cancer that causes cancer? Should we not focus on the causes? No that would upset far too many big company’s profits. Like stopping pesticides, parabens, and other carcinogenic ingredients added to all sorts of household products, toiletries, etc.
Poor diet, processed foods, lack of exercise, alcohol, smoking and drug abuse are all causes of cancer too.
Lorraine, thank you for posting such a level headed comment. My husband would not go for chemo. We knew it would make him worse. He had stage 4 aggressive prostate cancer. He passed away November last year. At the same time, a friend with the same condition (they met in hospital) also passed – in hospice. He had chemo and went rapidly downhill and was on Fentanyl patches for pain, tubes all over, and lord-knows-what. My husband was only on natural meds and other non-conventional substances that I was giving him through his PICC line. The cancer was in his skull, spine, ribs and hips, and cancer in the bones producing significant pain. He died on the sofa, laughing, on no meds at all as he had NO pain. Two 70-year-old community health nurses showed up after I called them when he slipped peacefully into a coma. They said that, in all their years nursing, they had never seen anything like it. One had asked me if he needed “more morphine.” I told them he was not on morphine. He was not even on aspirin, but he was taking a combination of Plains Indian herbs that came in a pot and was supposed to prevent all pain and cure cancer. He died from the fact cachexia, which he got very early on in the game, caused his organs to close down. He had a huge meal the night before and thoroughly enjoyed it. I truly believe the way he left us was due to the fact he said no to conventional therapies. But of course, the guy who died in hospice died because – well – he just died. But my guy died because he “didn’t do as the doctors told him.” Eight months later, I had a call from one of those community health nurses “wanting to see (how I was) doing.” I told her fine, thank you and she then said again that she had never seen such a lovely, pain free passing in a cancer patient.
That should read “…and cancer in the bones PRODUCES considerable pain. He had no pain when he died or for months before.
Josephine Jones is her pen name, you can find her on the website of the Good Thinking Society, she looks about 20 something, clearly has lots of life experience and probably not lost any family to cancer yet. She has a degree in biology. The whole group of them spend their time dismissing things they don’t believe in.
Yes, they’re paid by the pharmaceutical industry
Just had a look…Laura Thomason…actually she looks about 15, no one can possibly take her seriously!!!! or that society.!!!..the president is Simon Singh for God’s sake..he’s a complete wanker, seriously deserved that hammering from the chiropractor association…
I must be getting old. They both look like babies. The problem with science is that it can only go as far as someone pushes it. Someone gets a hunch (as many scientists describe it), sometimes based on existing results, sometimes not, and does an experiment and records the results. If it is sexy to the media-happy public, the outlets will promote it. Someone then comes along to “prove” it again or to refute it. We see this over and over with all the twaddle about fat and carbs. The fact is, most times, science is “wrong.” The scientists are pushing up a very heavy ceiling without any clue about or consideration of what lies above that ceiling. It is truly unintelligent! I have a biology degree but I also use my observations and experience to make informed decisions.
I would just like to clarify a couple of points.
Firstly, my identity is not a secret. Yes, I’m Laura. I updated my ‘About’ page at the time I started working for Good Thinking. Secondly, we are not funded by the pharmaceutical industry. I personally started blogging in order to simply share information, motivated by a desire to protect the public from misleading and potentially harmful health claims. I now work part time for Good Thinking, which is a charity, funded by donations from the public. We do not receive any funding from the pharmaceutical industry.
As you can see if you look at the top right of my blog, I am proud to support the All Trials campaign, which is challenging the pharmaceutical industry, aiming to stop companies from failing to register or failing to report clinical trials, if the results don’t suit them. Simon Singh, who set up Good Thinking, was involved in setting up the All Trials campaign.
Well most of your posts seem to support research funded by the pharmaceutical industry ….these are usually set up in such a way that they will not succeed, just as pharm industry control trials are set up to succeed….or disregarded if they fail. Maybe look into non pharmaceutical sponsored trials of so called alternative medicine…you have to be rigorous as the industry has infiltrated many organisations..speak to people who know about homeopathy, osteopathy etc…the colleges that train the practitioners maybe…try it.
Laura, ‘all trials’ is run by Ben Goldacre……say not more…a disaster…hes anti everything non pharmaceutical…particularly homeopathy…an incredibly effective form of medicine that’s endured for hundreds of years.
I’m surprised you haven’t heard of the book Bad Pharma, especially if you know that Ben is involved with All Trials.
I have but not impressed with his writing generally …. he used to write for the Guardian and read him there. Not happy about some of his views re homeopathy etc which have no knowledge behind them
Also Simon Singh was sued by the B.A. of Chiropractors after making libelous comments….for no apparent reason.. Chiropractic therapy is a great form of medicine also. Its really necessary to have indepth knowledge of something before criticising it…which none of you do..that is very clear
My MD sent me to a chiropractor after x-raying my hip twice (the hip is perfectly healthy and I was in excruciating pain for six weeks. The chiro immediately showed me how hip rotation had trapped two nerves. He told me the pain would start to get better after three sessions and the hip would be back to where it should be after six. He was spot on.
On another tangent, I have written on the ridiculous nature of trials, how the drug developers cherry pick their candidates (my husband was excluded from a few cancer trials because the prognosis wasn’t good). I was told this by the oncologists in charge of his care. Also, I laugh at this attitude of the public, fostered by the pharmaceutical firms, that something is “just the placebo effect.” The placebo effect is the true response of the body without drug interference.
@lighthealer2013: I agree that there are some issues with the way some clinical trials are designed. I also agree that there are several problems with the pharmaceutical industry. I can recommend the book Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre if you are interested in reading more on those issues.
Prob with Ben is that hes too into pharmaceuticals generally and too anti anything else.
@Daisybel: Indeed. I suggest you look into what happened during Simon’s libel case with the BCA.
I have….went on for 2 years but acquitted prob due to assistance from wealthy backup somewhere
Chris woellams has provided balanced information for no personal gain.
Just follow the money trail and you do not need to look any
further. Knowledge is power and despite the machinery designed to keep us in the dark we are not bowing to the white coats any more.
The liverpool care pathway was a legal killing machine, i witnessed its
application with horror, paying institutions to pop off the weakest without consent. We all know people on both sides of the divide and can figure out what is poison to the body and who benefits!
I got better from Stage IV melanoma using the services of a naturopathic doctor who prescribed pretty much what Chris Woollams recommends on the CancerActive website. He is a biochemist by training and as someone I have met and worked with I know him to be a man with high integrity and a passion for finding the absolute best in alternative treatments. Someone in the string talked about giving false hope. I don’t think there is such a thing. To quote Sophie Sabbage, “There is hope and there is no hope.” False hope is a ridiculous concept and how many allopathic doctors peddle false hope with their chemo treatments? I really want to stand up in support of Chris Woollams and all who seek to give us information and therefore power to be accountable for our own healing and well-being.
Whilst doing some research on cancer treatment, I’ve just stumbled on this ancient and selfrighteous ‘Josephine Jones’ opening blog of 11 July 2012, villifying alternative cancer therapies and the work of CANCERactive. First off, I cured myself of prostate cancer in 2010, by following a cross section of life style changes and natural therapies, suggested variously by Michio Kushi and also Gerson. Secondly and finally, I’ve not previously heard of either Ms Jones or CANCERactive.
I have personally witnessed cancer cured from alternative treatments some of which have been dismissed here as hocus pocus.
I have also have experience of people who at the last minute decided to give them a try and have since passed on. One being my husband.
There are successes and failures of course as each human being is unique and it’s a complex issue in each case.
I would never suggest though as you do that alternative cancer treatments are at best an adjunct to conventional treatment and are at worst useless.
This in itself is incredibly misleading and quite frankly innacurate. It also robs people of hope and life.
Ofcourse. Youtube is awash with videos of tumours being expunged with black salve.
There is less than there used to be. Many removed.
Sanguinarine seems to have the most potential as a cure imo, yet of course it is constantly suppressed.
Why would they kill the goose that lays golden eggs?
The following is a quote from your article in which contains a link to the Cancer Active web site. Such a pity you didn’t read the information yourself otherwise you would not have written it in such an insinuating way.
“the theory that cancer is caused by an excess of Candida albicans and may be cured with sodium bicarbonate. More dangerous, irresponsible, pseudoscientific nonsense.”
What Cancer Active actually says about “sodium bicarbonate” is in the following quote fom the web site!
“Now, there are people like a former Italian Doctor, who think that cancer is a fungus, and that it is really Candida. He kills it off with Sodium Bicarbonate. We don´t agree with his theory, but we do believe you have the right to know about it.”
Yes, exactly, Completely out of context and misquoted, as the ignorant tend to do…
I like to be informed and empowered why condemn such great information
I read with interest Josephine Jones / Laura comments on Cancer Active.
She is like all people in this country entitled to her views, however such viscous and prolific criticism has to be backed up by more convincing proof .
Chris Woollams in my view provides a much needed supply of information for those keen enough to look for it, those people who like me are running out of time, I have mCRPC was given 2yrs and am still here 4 yrs later having mixed Pharma meds with my own selected alternatives from info gained from Cancer Active.
God bless Chris 3 sites now, I look forward to his monthly mails and any comment he may have on my disease. He has got me to 72yrs of age got 2 grand children how many sufferers would love to have said that including my wife who sadly died 6 years ago also from cancer.
Josephine remove your page, it is so negative and may be doing more harm than you think.
A prime case of agnotology.
This article that is. Twisting and misleading.