http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/factsh...ncercures.html

Or you might call them snake-oil salespeople?

Gee Wiz~ Now I gotta throw out my Dried Cow Patty Salve!

Don't waste it DM! It's supposed to help with under the eye puffiness and rickets also!

is this:

The FDA has rules mandating claiming a cure for anything, or a treatment for anything, has to be backed up with studies and some kind of scientific proof.

What we have in this country are doctors who claim to be treating cancer, using mixtures of things they put together themselves. The claim that these agents cure or help cancer has to exist somewhere for those words to be used.

For example... few supplements can advertise claims.
Exceptions to this are
SAMe --which the FDA allows 3 claims for--and they appear right on the box.

Glucosamine --also had some studies on it, so you may see the package claim for arthritis/joint mobility.

But you do NOT see Vit E packages or Vit C packages say for cancer prevention or anything similar.
Vit C may say it is an essential vitamin, since there is proof that our bodies do not make it...it has to be eaten or taken in some form.

I find the names of the doctors on the FDA list more compelling than the lists of the various natural substances that the "professional" is claiming.