SNAKE OIL

Somewhere in Northern Wales

In geology and, I suspect, most sciences there exists something often referred to as “gray literature”.  This consists of scientific papers that have not undergone proper peer review before publication.  Often these papers are published in journals nobody has ever heard of, or even journals known to value cash over truth.  Some “gray” papers contain valuable information and/or innovative insights – but most don’t.  Bottom line:  Don’t rely on the gray stuff if you’re fighting for tenure.

Well, Google Alerts has just led me to a bit of gray stuff in the cancer field.  An article printed in “FoodConsumer” (not exactly a well-regarded source for medical research) seems to be telling us that a protein called GcMaf, if used as an immunotherapy agent  may be a “universal cancer cure”.   I don’t know what the Gc part indicates, but Maf stands for ‘Macrophage activating factor”.  As you certainly know, a macrophage is a part of the natural immune system.  They are big, ugly white blood cells that engulf bacteria, etc., and eat them for lunch.  Some people at the “Socrates Institute for Therapeutic Immunology” have been experimenting with this GcMaf stuff and claim to have cured small groups of metastatic prostate and breast cancers, with no failures and no side effects.  There is speculation that GcMaf may also be effective against other cancers, as well as autism and viral infections.

Well, I looked into it.  There really is a Socrates institute; it consists of five guys in Philadelphia.  They have published at least one paper in a reputable journal (Translational Oncology), but withdrew another under peculiar circumstances.  You can obtain GcMaf from a number of sources, and treat yourself at home.   The FDA wants nothing do with it, of course.  One “source”, aptly named Health Nut News, implies that several “Holistic Doctors” pushing this universal cure have turned up dead, under suspicious circumstances.  And so on, and on.

Folks:  You are too smart to fall for this claptrap.  GcMaf may have potential, but that has yet to be demonstrated.  At the moment the only thing it is likely to cure is the relative poverty of a few snake-oil salesmen.

Yes, we do need the FDA, much as I like to vilify it.

http://www.foodconsumer.org/newsite/Non-food/Drug/Gcmaf_a_universal_cancer_cure_1210161151.html