Unproved cancer remedies. A survey of use in pediatric outpatients
C. Faw, R. Ballentine, L. Ballentine and J. vanEys
Sixty-nine patients or parents of patients were interviewed during a
five-week period. Each interviewee was given a questionnaire listing
commonly recommended unproved drugs, diets, and miscellaneous treatments,
and was instructed to respond to each remedy as follows: Have you tried it?
Have you considered trying it? Has it been recommended by someone else? Six
patients (8.7%) had tried at least one unproved remedy, four (5.8%)
considered trying some other remedy, and recommendations to seek other
remedies had been made to 17 patients (24.6%). Laetrile and assistance from
faith healers were the remedies named most frequently.
