With the rampant use of technology and social media apps and sites, online fraudsters are on the prowl for unsuspecting victims with promises of miraculous cures for the most dreaded of diseases. Modernization has also led to a lot of lifestyle diseases such as obesity, diabetes, or chronic diseases such as cancer or AIDS. There are a lot of fake news and fraudulent claims all over the media that claims to cure these deadly diseases. The sadder part is that the people, in spite of being educated fall into its trap out of utter desperation, to save their own lives or the lives of their loved ones. This article tries to expose the fake cures for the horrible disease called Cancer and as well as other diseases and why we should not believe these miraculous cures.
What one should remember about Cancer
It is best to call Cancer a slow poison, because it kills a person slowly, and then all of a sudden. There is no ready drug or medicine available to cure a victim completely of Cancer. However, early diagnosis and treatment can prove to be the key to cure and help patients not succumb early to the disease. One should remember, that if and when the treatment is delayed, cancer can spread throughout the body from organ to the other, damaging them. However with timely and ideal treatment, even the most dreaded forms of cancer or cancer that has spread, can be brought under control to a certain extent or even be cured.
Some notorious cases and notable examples of false claims prevalent on the net.
- Belle Gibson used her wellness app called “the whole pantry” to share her story which read that she had terminal brain cancer, which got cured with a natural remedy that she knew about. This story made her earn huge profits. She is an Australian wellness blogger who claimed to be a cancer patient who got free from its chains by using the product. However, later it was found that she never had cancer, and was also sued with a big amount for doing so. She fooled an entire generation of people and millions of her followers on social media.
- You will find a lot of posts in social media stating that if one eats a particular fruit or a mixture of fruit juices, or follows a certain diet, he/she can be free from cancer or other diseases without chemo or radiation.
- Hair growth for people growing bald is another scam that is spreading like wild fire in social media.
- There is another interesting example, this time about the Ebola disease, that proved to be a hoax later. A message spread via Social Media that if a person drinks warm salt water and bathes in it, he can be free from the Ebola virus. Most people in the Ebola stricken areas did so out of sheer desperation. Later it was found, it was only a WhatsApp message sent to a friend by an African student as a joke, which was believed to be true by thousands of victims. Sad but true!
- One may also find posts that claim no one has to undergo angioplasty or bypass, and may alternatively treat the ischemic heart disease by applying a few home remedies.
What one should take note of.
- A new drug before coming up in the market has to pass rigorous lab tests performed on animals, small group of humans, and so on, and have to come up with complete proof before being accepted or rejected by the drug authorities. All the side effects, contradictions, usage instructions, drug interactions with other medicines, ingredients used, must be written in detail in the label of the packaged drug.
- The patients should always trust health professionals for any kind of treatment, and must never believe in media posts blindly to treat their diseases. The doctors can be held accountable for any development or failure, but the fraudsters cannot. So beware! It is always safe to consult two or more doctors before opting for a particular treatment. One must thoroughly research about the same, and take good advantage of the internet in this regard instead of believing in false claims by fraudulent people.
- One must remember that it is a crime to post, share, or retweet a post or an image that endorses false claims of treating diseases, without any prior knowledge about the same. This negligence may cost someone his/her life, and therefore, should not be practiced.
- The Food and Drug Administration or FDA has listed 187 fake cancer cures that an individual must be aware of, and should also avoid.
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