Australian Quack Banned

A couple of readers in Australia have been keeping me up to date on the case of Paul Rana, a Quack among quacks, who exploited people dying of cancer with his bogus "cures."

Rana failed to appear in court on May 9 to hear a federal judge ban him from making claims that he could cure cancer or prolong the life of cancer sufferers with a $35,000 package of vitamins, coffee enemas, and other so-called "alternative therapies."

The judge said that Rana and his two sons had demonstrated "consistently cynical and heartless exploitation of cancer victims and their relatives when … at their most vulnerable," according to the newspaper The Age.

Rana's Web site has been taken down and his clinic has closed.

It was the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission that originally took civil action against Rana and his sons after complaints from family members of cancer patients.

Two things make me really angry. One, that legitimate alternative medicine practioners will be lumped together with quacks like Rana in the public's mind. And two, that snake-oil peddlers of bogus “cancer cures” are allowed to advertise and sell their products in the United States with seemingly no regulation and little fear that they will be prosecuted.

Want to see what I mean? Go to Google and type in "cancer." Then check out the "sponsored links," i.e., paid ads, in the right column. Try this one: "How to shrink tumors in 5 days," and always a favorite, "What your doctor doesn't want you to know."

There is no question that desperate people will do anything. I was appalled not too long ago to read that people with cancer were buying a totally untested cancer drug through the Internet. According to the BBC, the drug had been shown to shrink tumors in rats but tests on humans are years away.

The report did not say who was selling the drug, but did say that the FDA was investigating.

Read:
Untried cancer drug bought on Web

Comments from readers

News report on Rana:
Judge bans bogus cancer therapist

@ Jeanne Sather 2007.

Comments

[Oliver]

I would certainly agree that there are people out their pushing bogus therapies but I do know that chemo is not the only option but probably one of the worst. Chemo consists of toxic drugs and drugs do not add to your health. I have cancer and I am taking an alternative approach as chemo doesn't even feature in my list. I would stay well clear of it.

[Jeanne]

I'm the last person to argue with you--everyone who has cancer gets to make their own decision about what treatments they want to do.

However, I have been taking a mostly mainstream approach to treating my metastatic disease for years now, and I know I would not be alive if I had not done so.

Jeanne

[Erin]

Paul Rana cured my mother of breast cancer over a two year period - something the medical profession was more than incredulous at. Doctors often send you home to die without any alternative, slowly destroying even your healthy cells with radiation and chemotherapy. When their patients die, in the thousands, noone bats an eyelid. The Rana program is not a guarantee but it does work at times, as it did for my mother suffering with breast cancer. The $20,000 my father paid for that comprehensive treatment was MORE than worth it. We'd do it all again.

[Jeanne]

Erin--I am very happy to hear that this worked for your mother. Jeanne

[sophie cole]

erin,

i have just read your comments regarding that*****man and the only thing running through my mind is, prove it! i just DON'T believe you.

and please don't insult people by say that the money was well spent.

It is never about the money.
it is all about decieving people that they have a cure. all doctors would love to have this magic wand and cure ALL cancer patients, but they don't have this magical wand and they certainly don't give their patient's false hope.

for all i know you could be paul rana himself, trying to drum up more business.
yours truly, sophie cole