Thriving false and misleading cancer cures on social media platforms are ensnaring cancer patients at their most vulnerable stage. The impact of such misinformation is overwhelmingly harmful. A special report by Nabeela Khan Inayati and Dr Sobuhi Iqbal
By Nabeela Khan Inayati and Dr. Sobuhi Iqbal
The internet is awash with false and bogus cancer treatments. Online, dubious and scientifically unproven claims about cancer are rife, from outright bogus cures to spiritual healing. In May 2019, a widely circulated message on social media claimed that hot coconut water can cure cancer. “Consuming hot coconut water destroys cancer cells by releasing anti-cancer substance,” read the post. What’s worse? The video showcasing miracle cancer cure was falsely attributed to India’s premier cancer institute, Tata Memorial Centre (TMC) in Mumbai, the financial capital of India.
This prompted TMC’s director Dr Rajendra Badwe to issue an official statement which said, “There is no data to suggest that hot coconut water can provide a cure for any type of cancer. The public is, therefore, requested not to be misinformed by such false and misleading messages sent or shared on social media.”
Cancer is a life-threatening disease and such hoax cancer cures and unproven therapies can pose a severe risk to patients’ life than offering them any hope. To extent patients sometimes choose to decline conventional treatment or leave the treatment in-between for these so-called-miracle cures.
A YouTube channel Gharelu Nuskhe (homemade recipes) with a whopping 1.09 million subscribers has a video captioned “How To Cure Cancer Naturally”. Shockingly, the video has 9.9 thousand likes and has been viewed 1.3 million times. Besides, the video which highlights how bitter gourd juice can cure cancer has grabbed the attention of some 656 people who traded anecdotes as proof claiming how their cancer got cured due to the alternative treatment options.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally. And if we go by figures, “Cancer claimed 9.6 million deaths in 2018,” according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) report. In India alone one million people are diagnosed with cancer every year and over 7, 00,000 of them die, making it one of the leading causes of death in India. The GLOBOCAN 2018 report highlights that, “Asia accounts for nearly half of the new cancer cases and more than half of cancer deaths.” Therefore, such technically manipulated and fake messages which are medically proven to be ineffective pose a threat to numerous lives who are already battling the deadly disease.
“Most of the cancer cases occur after the age of 60 years, hence in some ways, it is a disorder of degeneration and poor repair in old age, therefore an accurate diagnosis with conventional therapy is crucial for the effective treatment,” said Prof. Dr Vinod Raina, Executive Director & HOD Medical Oncology at Fortis Memorial Research Institute in Gurugram, India
When experts at a recently held conference of the Public Relations and Communications Association in the UK debated on the dangers associated with fake news, they unanimously agreed how public health is at stake owing to such misinformation on health. The conference highlighted that “fake news often preys on emotions like fear, disgust or surprise to generate a reaction from people.” And the dependence on social media is encouraging people to go for clickable content even if it leads to following misleading advice.
Dr Manoj Sharma, former Director and Professor of Oncology, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi couldn’t agree more. “The cost of treatment for cancer and for that matter any disease is so high that agents try to lure people by telling the alternative cheaper remedies,” Dr Sharma told Health Analytics Asia.
The rise in cancer misinformation is part of a wider problem with online medical misinformation. A quick web search reveals there are over hundreds of such videos preaching patients about how these miracle cures work – be it coffee, salt, baking soda, bitter gourd, or cow urine, for that matter. Many videos even cite researches of non-existent universities and fictional professors to give authenticity.
Agrees Surgical Oncologist at Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi, Dr Sameer Kaul. “A decade back, treatments used to be conventional in nature. But the current scenario, with misleading information, has allowed it to be equated with sure death in people’s minds. Hopelessness is the response usually elicited in an uneducated host with the educated being only a shade more hopeful,” said Dr Kaul.
When fact-checked, we found that most of the videos propagating cancer treatment are mostly commercial-driven, intending to sell their products with no proven or scientific backing.
“These fake cancer cures are propagated through various communication channels. And, it’s lack of adequate knowledge in common people with undeveloped personalities that has resulted in fear, confusion and inability to take logical decisions regarding their treatment options” added Dr Kaul.
The Lancet Oncology has commented on the widespread popularity of some products, “How has society got to this point, where unproven interventions are being chosen in preference to evidence-based, effective treatments?”
Why fake news about health spreads faster?
Health Feedback – a network of scientists, who access the credibility of health media coverage, worked with the Credibility Coalition to examine the 100 most popular health articles of 2018 that had the highest number of social media engagements.
Of the top 10 shared articles, scientists found that three quarters were either misleading or included some false information. The study also highlighted that “much of the spread is facilitated by Facebook, which accounts for 96% of the shares of the top 100 articles, while Reddit accounts for 2% and Twitter 1%.”
However, Dr Sharma is of the view that it is a lack of awareness and people’s inability to go into the depth of the information perceived that’s making things worse. “Due to various internet facilities, people are able to learn a lot. But again, their wisdom depends on their educational background and exposure to medical knowledge,” said Dr Sharma.
Image Courtesy Health Feedback
Current scenario
It is not uncommon that cancer patients turn towards alternate treatment options. Various factors such as the exorbitant price of the treatment, frustration, lessen the side-effects of standard treatment options such as chemotherapy, etc., forces patients to choose such unproven therapies and miracle cures which often results into deadly outcomes.
According to the recent study published in JAMA Oncology (2018), and the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (2017), “patients using complementary or alternative medicine are more than twice as likely to die as those treated with conventional medicine.”
The Medical Journal, The Lancet’s paper on Oncology, fake news, and legal liability too supports the fact that greater risks are associated with alternative medicine than otherwise. It emphasised, “patients using complementary medicine are more likely to refuse surgery, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy. And, patients using complementary or alternative medicine are more than twice as likely to die than those treated with conventional medicine.”
The paper concludes, “If these challenges [fake news and public distrust] are not addressed soon, the great advances in science and medicine that have markedly improved human health worldwide could be easily undone and society will come to regret such inaction and reliance on unreliable sources of information.”
Infact, to combat the uncontrolled prevalence of misleading content on health, social media giant, Facebook and YouTube have recently announced to address the problem by taking action against medical misinformation posted on their platforms. Google has also introduced a new healthcare and medicines policy “to prohibit advertising for unproven or experimental medical techniques.”
Whether born out of a desire to help, or as a part of some marketing propaganda, the impact of medical misinformation on cancer is overwhelmingly negative and harmful. It’s time patients realise that getting engaged with such unproven treatments is only going to make their chances of survival bleak.
“We come across certain patients who come to us at an advanced stage after resorting to alternative treatment,” said Dr. Ranjit Kumar Sahoo, a medical oncologist at IRCH, AIIMS. “People don’t realise that cancer is curable when detected early.”
