How web giant Amazon ‘endangers’ the sick and vulnerable by ‘peddling bogus miracle cancer cures’
A Sun investigation has found the company misleading customers on a number of products which supposedly cure Autism, HIV and cancer
WEB giant Amazon is today accused of endangering the sick and vulnerable and illegally peddling bogus snake-oil “cures” for cancer.
A Sun investigation has also found other dangerously misleading products for sale on the site.
These include electronic “zappers” that claim to treat HIV, instructions on administering bleach enemas for autism and tablets made from animal glands aimed at people with thyroid disorders.
Health experts and a leading MP last night welcomed our investigation and demanded Amazon withdraw the items from sale.
Details for the Dr Reckeweg R17 Tumour Drops, at £35 for five vials, claim they treat “all tumours, malignant or benign” including breast and stomach cancer, and that they act as a “regenerator of diseased tissues”.
Yet The Cancer Act 1939 bans the advertisement of cancer treatments, with the threat of a fine or up to three months in jail.
Not only would this put Amazon and retailer SiddMed eHealth Pvt Ltd in breach of the Cancer Act, the listing is also likely to fall foul of the Consumer Protection From Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, which outlaw “falsely claiming that a product is able to cure illnesses, dysfunction, or malformations”.
This is punishable with an unlimited fine, imprisonment for up to two years or both.
After being alerted to our findings, MP Sarah Wollaston, chair of the Heath Select Committee, branded the listings “shocking” and called for an urgent investigation.
Dr Wollaston said: “Amazon should immediately withdraw all adverts which are exploiting people at their most vulnerable with false claims and quack therapies.
These products exploit fear and sell false hope
Oxford University cancer researcher Dr David Robert Grimes
“It is particularly shocking that some of these adverts have links to products which are putting children at risk. These ads should also be urgently investigated by Trading Standards.”
Also on sale is a £20 book, The Cure For All Cancers, by Hulda R. Clark, which wrongly claims that all forms of the disease are caused by “a certain parasite” and can be prevented by taking a herbal mixture.
The site also offers Parasite Cleanse pills at £49.90 for an 18-day course.
While similar controversial products are available elsewhere online, Amazon is believed to be the largest retailer to offer them.
Oxford University cancer researcher Dr David Robert Grimes said: “These ‘alternative’ treatments for cancer simply do not work and Amazon should not be selling or profiting from them.
“When people are diagnosed with cancer, they are often desperate for a miracle cure and these products exploit that fear. Such sellers have essentially commodified false hope.
“Books suggesting that cancer is caused by a mysterious parasite have been around for decades, along with herbal mixtures or electronic devices which claim to treat it. These claims have been thoroughly debunked by science time and again.
“In a best-case scenario these products will do nothing.
"But very sick individuals may stop receiving vital medical treatment that works in order to take these treatments instead.
“It is wrong for a huge website such as Amazon to give sellers a platform to hawk such ‘false hope’ products.
“Cancer survival rates have never been higher and modern medical treatments are far more effective than these potentially dangerous ‘cures’.”
Another book claims tumours can be shrunk with cannabis oil, while a £2.50 e-book suggests using black salve, a corrosive paste that burns skin tissue, to treat skin cancer.
Black salve has been banned by the US Food & Drug Administration.
Dr Emma Smith, of Cancer Research UK, said: “There is no evidence that black salve helps treat cancer and we urge people not to use it. It is an extremely dangerous substance.”
In addition, certain items including the Parasite Cleanse pills are “fulfilled by Amazon”. This means they are dispatched from the firm’s own warehouse, while Amazon also deals with customer service queries.
Often with “fulfilled” products Amazon takes a greater cut of the profits. Internal analytics on the site show that of the pills’ sales price of £49.90, Amazon will earn £9.23 per sale.
Other books available claim to offer a cure for Aids. The Cure For HIV And Aids, £19.21, claims the conditions can be overcome using an electronic device called a zapper and by harnessing the “newly discovered force” of “body electricity”.
The website carries a listing for a £589.91 Diamond Shield Zapper Professional. It does not explain what conditions it treats, but a link to an external website claims it can “assist with the reversal of many chronic diseases and ailments”.
Of the purchase price, Amazon will take just under £90 per zapper.
Dr Michael Brady, medical director at Terrence Higgins Trust, said: “There is no cure for HIV and anything claiming to be a ‘cure’ is unproven. I’d strongly advise anyone considering any other form of treatment to discuss it with their HIV doctor first.”
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While Amazon guards the exact percentage it takes as a cut of each sale, a typical profit is about 15 to 20 per cent — meaning the annual total from all quack health products would easily run into the thousands.
Shockingly, Amazon also allows the sale of books on how to administer “Miracle Mineral Solution” (MMS) autism cures, where children and babies are given enemas of BLEACH.
Healing The Symptoms Known As Autism, by Kerri Rivera, is on sale for £26.70, while The MMS Handbook, by Dr Antje Oswald, is £21.95.
These tablets are a danger to the public
London GP Dr Surjya-Deb Ghosh
This bogus MMS “cure” has been linked to a death and serious injuries in America. Last year Thames Valley police investigated reports that a mother was using the method on her autistic son.
Jane Harris, of the National Autistic Society, said: “Miracle Mineral Solution is a dangerous product.
"It isn’t a miracle, it contains bleach. No one should use it under any circumstances. More than one in 100 people in the UK are autistic, autism is part of them. It’s not something to remove or ‘cure’.
“No responsible retailer should be giving a platform to people who promote dangerous products to vulnerable families. We are writing to Amazon to ask them to take action.”
Comments on the listing for one book say that children have suffered “prolapsed bowels, vomiting and fitted colostomy bags” because of this “sick bleaching cult”. The listing for one book also carries a “sponsored link” to a site selling equipment to do similar treatments.
Amazon rakes in cash every time a user clicks the link to pronatu.com and is taken to the website, where they can buy a “parasite excretion kit” — an enema bag and a chlorine dioxide bleach solution.
Amazon also offers products containing animal thyroid glands, including 1,000 tablets labelled Thyroid Support Supplement, for £34.50. These pills are often touted by quack doctors as helping to “balance” the gland.
Dr Surjya-Deb Ghosh, a London-based GP who has examined the product pages, said: “These tablets are a danger to the public.
"This medication and other products on Amazon — such as tablets containing cow’s glands — can mask thyroid symptoms, subsequently leading to inappropriate treatment being prescribed by medical professionals.
“It is outrageous that these products are being sold in this way.” Professor Ashley Grossman, consultant endocrinologist at the London Clinic, said: “One would guess these tablets contain pig thyroid but it could be absolutely anything.
“This medication should clearly not be available.
“Such tablets could have an impact on thyroid symptoms and therefore sick patients could get misdiagnosed.”
Referring to the Dr Reckeweg R17 Tumour Drops, an Amazon representative said last night: “All Marketplace sellers must follow our selling guidelines and those who don’t will be subject to action including potential removal of their account. The product in question is no longer available.”
Amazon had no comment on the other items.