Burzynski: An interview with Wayne Dolcefino

Following Keir Liddle’s latest post, which suggested Wayne Dolcefino has been employed by the Burzynski Clinic, the East England Skeptical Society contacted Dolcefino to try to get some firm answers.

His name may not be familiar here in the UK, but Dolcefino is well known in Houston for his work with KTRK TV, where he exposed public corruption and cover ups.

His site boasts that

He knows how to dig…and what to dig for

And since Dolcefino advertises services such as Crisis Management using the tagline “Credibility when you need it most”, I think it entirely understandable that Burzynski bloggers like Keir and I might jump to conclusions.

We suspected that perhaps Dolcefino has been hired by Burzynski to restore credibility in the brand, partly by digging dirt on bloggers. And if the FDA have really stopped Burzynski from giving his signature treatment to new patients (as was suggested on a recent patient blog), then it is also understandable to think that the Clinic may have felt in need of Crisis Management.

So, were our suspicions correct? Has Dolcefino confirmed his role as Burzynski’s PR guy?

Burzynski: in dire need of credibility

A guest post by Keir Liddle^

The Burzynski clinic has, of late, had something of a public relations problem. No longer are the majority of sites on the internet uncritically praising the maverick doctor and his miraculous “natural” cure for seemingly ever cancer that has ever mutated.

Thanks to a high profile Twitter campaign that was supportive of a family raising funds to send a person to the clinic and a couple of UK Skeptic red flags – “groundbreaking treatment” and “not available on the NHS”, there was a marked increase in scrutiny of the Burzynski Clinic and the poorly named Burzynski Research Institute (which has to date published no results of the numerous clinical trials Burzynski has “conducted”).

The explosion of interest in Burzynski can be traced back to the efforts of Marc Stephens who reacted to this criticism by attempting a nonsensical legal chill. The high point of which was probably the red arrow email which he sent to several prominent UK Skeptics claiming they were part of a conspiratorial skeptic society funded by big pharma. The low point was sending Rhys Morgan an “I know where you live email” complete with pictures and a map showing Rhys’s house.

Burzynski: harming without care?

A guest post by Keir Liddle^

Skeptics and critics of Dr Burzynski’s antineoplaston treatment have been scratching their heads of late at the removal of all references to ANP on the clinics website.

Why did a reference to Dr Burzynskis miraculous brain cancer cure suddenly disappear? Was it because of an FDA letter regarding inappropriate and inaccurate promotion of the treatment?

That seemed the obvious explanation until @medtek on twitter discovered that the FDA had been doing a lot more than simply sending the clinic letters.

According to a Burzynski patient blog*, the clinic has been undergoing an FDA audit.

From the blog: