Taking coral calcium, bloodroot, or shark cartilage to cure cancer?  What about Cat’s Claw, the herbal tea Essiac, cesium, or ellagic acid?  Or any varieties of mushrooms touted as cures for cancer?  If so, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wants you to know these products have not been proven to live up to their marketing claims and they may even be bad for your cancer and your overall health.

The FDA recently issued warning letters to the manufacturers and distributors of these products that their fraudulent claims as cancer cures or prevention agents is considered a health scam and that they are being called upon to stop the sale of them or stop making unfounded and sensationalist claims.  The FDA has posted a list of all offending products on its website.

As further warning against the sellers of these bogus cures, the FDA wants consumers to beware using them.  Anyone currently taking them is advised to seek qualified medical help before discontinuing their use, especially if any adverse effects have developed.

A proliferation of web sites selling these so-called cancer cures on the internet has raised the degree of concern at the FDA, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and with various government agencies in Canada.  Many companies engaged in these fraudulent medical claims were identified by a joint task force of the FDA, FTC, and The Mexico-United States-Canada Health Fraud Working Group.

The FTC recently issued 112 warning letters to web sites promoting bogus cancer treatments and referred a few others to foreign officials.  Today’s FDA warning letters were sent to 23 companies in the US and two foreign entities.

Failure to resolve these issues can lead to enforcement actions that include seizure of illegal products, injunction against a company and its officials, and the possibility of criminal prosecution.

Source: FDA