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TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 2011
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Science-based medicine
No magic, hidden cure for cancer PainfulTruth Matthew Claxton
O
ne of my readers called to yell at me the other day. The caller didn’t give his name, but he had apparently seen my recent column in the Langley Advance about the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. I wrote about how I’m hopeful we can actually cure cancer within my lifetime. My caller was convinced, absolutely certain, that cancer has already been cured. That these cures are, in fact, being concealed by doctors, politicians and the pharmaceutical industry. Sadly, this belief is not uncommon. There are tens of thousands of people in Canada who believe, in whole or in part, that science-based medicine is wrong. For people who have seen a relative suffer
from a serious or fatal cancer, or who have been through surgery, chemotherapy and radiation themselves, this is understandable. We are still at the dawn of effective cancer treatments. Radiation therapy dates to the turn of the last century. Chemotherapy dates to just after the Second World War. Better (but not perfect) are targeted therapies, which attack cancer cells on a molecular level. Those treatments only emerged from the labs in the late 1980s, and were not common until a few years ago. The fact that these treatments have harmful side effects is well known among doctors and nurses who work with cancer patients. They don’t like it, they want real cures, cures that come without damaged immune systems, without scars and vomiting and hair loss. To think otherwise is absurd. But there is a surprisingly large industry dedicated to the idea that doctors and nurses, researchers and bureaucrats, are evil enough to know about secret, magical cures, and to withhold
them from the public. Probably the most public example of such thinking is convicted fraud artist Kevin Trudeau, who peddled his book Natural Cures “They” Don’t Want You To Know About through infomercials. Trudeau got millions to buy his books which contained either directions to go to his website (where you paid more money) or the kind of mumbo jumbo (White clothing makes you healthier! Calcium pills make cancer go bye-bye!) that a nine-year-old could see through. There are dozens of lower-level examples, including a man in my home town who has spent years selling ozone machines, again claiming that ozone can cure cancer. Always, in their pitches, they talk about Big Pharma, or a mysterious cabal that is profiting from pain, suffering and death. Who are the “they” who are keeping us sick and dying, according to the conspiratorial view? There are, according to the Canadian Oncology Societies, about 330 medical oncologists in this country working with
cancer patients. Add to that hundreds of specialized surgeons, about 1,500 oncology nurses, more than 1,000 GPs who deal with cancer, another 1,000-plus oncology pharmacists and 500 haematologists. Just in Canada, there are thousands of people who might be expected to know that about these mythical treatments – but who keep them secret. It implies that there are tens of thousands of people who are either immoral monsters, or dupes. It’s not plausible, and it’s not true. If you get sick, and you want to clutch a crystal or chant or have your aura meddled with, go ahead. It’s your body and it’s your money and it’s your right to do whatever you please with both. But please, please go to a real doctor as well. Science-based medicine is far from perfect. But it’s the only way we’ll get to a real cure. Matthew Claxton is a reporter and columnist for the Langley Advance.
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