OTA Peers Into Cancer Therapy Fog

The long-awaited, 300-page report by the US Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) concerning unapproved cancer therapies, called Unconventional Cancer Treatments, has already been criticized by supporters of both conventional and alternative treatment approaches. The OTA did not observe any 'obvious, dramatic benefit' from the alternative therapies, even when criteria that would be used to evaluate controlled clinical trials were waived (meaning that the usual standards for evaluating treatments were relaxed.) Some alternative approaches, however, may deserve a closer look; these include certain psychological and dietary therapies. The report itself generated intense controversy, resulting in interest being expressed by fully half the members of Congress to the director of the project, Hellen Gelband. This was partly the consequence of a dedicated campaign by alternative health journals against the project and Gelband. The OTA was simultaneously criticized by the supporters of conventional cancer treatments, for being too uncritical of fraud. It is ironic that supporters of one alternative treatment were the first to demand such a study. The trouble began when a clinic in the Bahamas that promoted a treatment invented by Dr. Lawrence Burton, the clinic's head, was closed by health authorities. The closing followed the detection of AIDS and hepatitis viruses in the serum Burton injected into patients. Patients complained to Guy Molinari, who was a Republican Congressman until 1990. Molinari influenced other Congressmen to petition for a review of Burton's treatment method, but the request was eventually broadened to cover all unconventional cancer therapies. Burton has not subjected his work to peer review or clinical trials; presently, it, and much else from the world of alternative cancer treatments, remains 'unproved'. The document can be obtained through the US Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)