Via: MonroeNews.com

Since the days of the traveling medicine show, consumers have been the target of pitches for miraculous elixirs – cure-alls that could make the sightless see or the lame walk again.

All forms of marketing, of course, rely in part on supply and demand. And there’s probably no greater demand than that generated by people desperately looking to cure a terrible illness.

Cancer is a terrible illness. Second only to heart disease as America’s most common killer, it robs families of loved ones often with little notice or through a long, lingering ordeal that also saps some life from those close to the victim.

Although cancer survivor rates have improved over the years, the disease still takes a horrendous toll and touches countless lives. One need only attend any of the area’s annual Relays for Life to understand the pervasiveness of the illness. When the names of cancer victims are read, it’s akin to a public reading of the telephone directory.

Being stricken with cancer is awful enough. Being a cancer victim as well as a victim of hucksterism can be doubly devastating. But with the advent of the Internet, various merchants of false hope have found cancer victims easy prey for their health frauds.

That’s why, a couple of weeks ago, the Food and Drug Administration launched an initiative designed to crack down on bogus cancer cures.

Full Story