Federal agency warns of bogus cancer products
Published 1:30 am Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Associated Press
Regulators are warning consumers to avoid 65 bogus products hawked on the internet with false claims that they can cure, treat, diagnose or prevent cancer.
The Food and Drug Administration says these products, mostly sold on websites and social media sites, can be harmful, waste money and result in people not getting approved, effective treatments.
The pills, creams and teas are untested and not approved by the FDA, which called them a “cruel deception.” Some ingredients can be risky or interact dangerously with prescription drugs.
“Anyone who suffers from cancer, or know someone who does, understands the fear and desperation that can set in,” FDA consumer safety officer Nicole Kornspan said. “There could be a great temptation to jump at anything that appears to offer a chance for a cure.”
Many of the treatments are touted with illegal claims, such as “miraculously kills cancer cells in tumors” or ”more effective than chemotherapy,” the FDA said.
The FDA said it has issued more than 90 warning letters over the past decade to companies selling fraudulent cancer products. It said many stopped selling the products or making fraudulent claims, yet numerous unsafe products are still for sale.
