• caveat emptor

    FTC: These Eleven Companies Cannot Cure Cancer

    We're sorry, but there is no cure for cancer. The FTC is going after eleven companies that claim otherwise by selling potions, herbs, and a "systematized program of thinking good thoughts" masquerading as cures. You shouldn't need a federal agency to tell you that the "Miracle Water for Cancer" doesn't actually cure anything, nor does it reverse weight gain and aging. Bummer. Six of the snake oil companies agreed to settle, but five will crawl before a judge and argue that they can cure cancer. Let's look at the list... More »
  • Surprising Settlements

    Potato Chips: Now With Fewer Carcinogens!

    Four major potato chip makers have agreed to use less of the carcinogen Acrylamide under a settlement with the California Attorney General's office. Frito-Lay, Heinz, Kettle Foods, and Lance Inc. also agreed to pay a $3 million fine for flouting state laws that require companies to place warning labels on products with carcinogens. More »
  • Your Health

    10 Practical Tips To Keep Your Cellphone From Killing You

    Have you heard, cellphones are deadly. Science told us so this week when Dr. Ronald B. Herberman of the esteemed University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute realized that cellphones emit death rays that fry your brain and turn you into a baby-eating Communist, or give you cancer or whatever. Dr. Despair isn't a downer though! Inside, 10 practical ways to keep your precious little brain safe from those ubiquitous chirping cancer slabs... More »
  • creepy

    Fun With Warning Labels: Beware The Mickey Mouse Cancer Lamp

    Reader Mike directs our attention to the above lamp. The warning label reads: More »
  • heroes

    Leukemia Survivor Who Had Identity Stolen By Lab Tech Tells His Story

    We wrote about Eric Drew a few weeks ago—his personal information was stolen by a shady lab technician while he was undergoing treatment in 2004. Even after the lab tech was convicted, Drew still had to fight with the credit reporting companies to prove he existed and to clear up his credit record, so he filed lawsuits against TransUnion, Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, Equifax and Experian. He settled with TransUnion earlier this year, and as part of the settlement they will now accept doctors' notes for the hospitalized and the elderly, as well as offer free credit freezes to victims of ID theft.
     
    So why are we rehashing this? Discover magazine just published a detailed account of Drew's story, from his battle with leukemia and subsequent remission to the lengthy battle he waged against the credit industry to clear up his credit history.
    More »
  • conflict of interest

    Liggett Cigarette Company Paid For 2006 Lung Cancer Study

    CT scanning, a promising approach to detecting lung cancer at early, treatable stages, has been dealt a setback with the revelation that the most prominent study so far in support of it was funded almost entirely by a cigarette company—with the funds funneled through a foundation set up by the study's author, Dr. Claudia Henschke, reports the New York Times. Although the funding revelation doesn't negate the results of the study, it raises huge conflict of interest flags and reveals how a tobacco company secretly influenced professional opinion by funneling $3.6 million into the foundation over a three year period. More »