Burzynski clinic

rJD · #1 by **rJD** » Nov 28, 2011 1:36 pm

Peter Kay and Radiohead have raised money to send sufferers for the "Burzynski treatment", a non-peer reviewed (for 35 years!) supposed cancer cure that costs thousands of dollars and has been puffed in the Observer, and now the Burzynski clinic is threatening litigation against every skeptic blogger, including a schoolboy, who queries why no proper science is being done if they are to charge such high fees, claiming "libel" but refusing to specify what elements of the criticism are actually libellous.

Such disgraceful bullying tactics don't speak well of the Burzynski clinic's regard for proper investigation of their business.

More info: here

Please ensure this is publicised as widely as possible.

Ironclad · #2 by **Ironclad** » Nov 28, 2011 2:32 pm

Peter Kay must (surely) have been tricked into this, he's not one I'd flag as being a sucker.

rJD · #3 by **rJD** » Nov 28, 2011 2:34 pm

The Skeptics' Guide's Steven Novella is picking this up. Please ensure this story is spread - newspapers seem to be ignoring it and Burzynski is trying to pick off individuals by empty (but scary) bluster about non-existant libels.

chairman bill · #4 by **chairman bill** » Nov 28, 2011 2:58 pm

Quacks, charlatans & crooks. Lock the buggers up.

Ironclad · #5 by **Ironclad** » Nov 28, 2011 3:04 pm

Would somebody Tweet Peter Kay, @peterkay_co_uk. I imagine he'd be pretty pissed at this, maybe it's not too late for him to spend the money on this child in better ways.

Ah, crap. I think he either has two twitters accounts or a stalker. @peter_kay :eh:

EDIT: he's being bombed with this news by the looks of things. The word is out.

Darkchilde · #6 by **Darkchilde** » Nov 28, 2011 5:04 pm

There is a development with Rhys Morgan, about those quacks. It's all over twitter, and even Stephen Fry, Simon Singh and Ben Goldacre have tweeted about this. Rhys is a 17 year old skeptic.

The original blog post from Rhys Morgan: http://rhysmorgan.co/2011/08/the-burzynski-clinic/
And the story of the threats from the clinic: http://rhysmorgan.co/2011/11/threats-from-the-burzynski-clinic/

Rhys Morgan is tweeting: @rhysmorgan

There is more on threats by those quacks: http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2011/11/the-burzynski-clinic-threatens-my-family.html

I'm With Stupid · #7 by **I'm With Stupid** » Nov 28, 2011 5:34 pm

Ironclad wrote:Peter Kay must (surely) have been tricked into this, he's not one I'd flag as being a sucker.

I'd imagine that both acts mentioned did a gig "for charity" and the charity involved then decided that this was a good use of the money raised.

Paul · #8 by **Paul** » Nov 28, 2011 6:15 pm

Cancer Research UK have this on their website What is antineoplaston therapy?

Ftrom that page:

There have been a number of phase 1 and 2 trials in different types of cancer. These early phase trials test what dose of treatment people should have, how safe the treatment is, and how well it works. Early trials only give the treatment to small numbers of people. Although Dr Burzynski’s own clinic have reported positive results for these trials, no other researchers have been able to show that this type of treatment helps to treat cancer. Other researchers have criticised the way the Burzynski Clinic trials have been carried out. Despite researching this type of treatment for over 35 years, no phase 3 trials have been carried out or reported. A randomised clinical trial is the only way to properly test whether any new drug or therapy works.

Looks like a very measured way of saying "Quack!"

A BBC news article on Billie Bainbridge (the child the money is being raised for) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-14910668

Darkchilde · #9 by **Darkchilde** » Nov 28, 2011 6:23 pm

Noodlemaz has a blogpost here with additional info: http://noodlemaz.wordpress.com/2011/11/28/burzynski/

Weaver · **#10** by **Weaver** » Nov 28, 2011 7:34 pm

Threats against a teenaged kid.
Threats against a blogger's family.

Google street-view pics of bloggers freaking HOMES included in letters threatening legal action, from a PR flack who's not a lawyer.

What an unprofessional rat-fuck of an operation. And that's not even considering their quackery.

Darkchilde · **#11** by **Darkchilde** » Nov 28, 2011 7:55 pm

The internet is on fire: http://josephinejones.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/stanislaw-streisand-and-spartacus/

Rhys' blog has capacity issues. His blog posts were StephenFry'd, Goldacred and pharyngulated! All the skeptical and rational people are supporting Rhys, Andy Lewis and anyone else who has received threats from Burzynski's representative.

kiore · **#12** by **kiore** » Nov 28, 2011 9:35 pm

Rhys Morgan vs Burzynski bully boys... :thumbup:

let them prove their claims, they really must have something to hide here.

DaveD · **#13** by **DaveD** » Nov 29, 2011 12:28 am

Horwood Beer-Master · **#14** by **Horwood Beer-Master** » Nov 29, 2011 12:40 am

Ironclad wrote:Peter Kay must (surely) have been tricked into this, he's not one I'd flag as being a sucker.

Really? Why not? :dunno:

I've no idea whether-or-not he was tricked - but he seems to me as likely to be a sucker as the next guy.
Or to put it another way, he's not one I'd flag as not being a sucker.

byofrcs · **#15** by **byofrcs** » Nov 29, 2011 1:19 am

Wikipedia is not very kind to this treatment either stating that "there is no convincing evidence from randomized controlled trials in the scientific literature that antineoplastons are useful treatments of cancer"

It is one long sorry list of no evidence that antineoplastons have any beneficial effects in cancer. Looks like if you spend your money then it is wasted.

Certainly looks like a fraud if its being sold as a treatment for cancer.

Well done for Rhys Morgan for highlighting this nonsense and a special mention to the Burzynski "lawyer", Marc Stephens for being such a douche without a clue how the internet works.

I'm With Stupid · **#16** by **I'm With Stupid** » Nov 29, 2011 8:13 am

I wonder how operations like this get going. Do you think they start with honourable intentions and think they're really onto something, and then can't stand to accept that all of that time and money invested has achieved nothing? Or d'you reckon they're just frauds from the start?

Mike_L · **#17** by **Mike_L** » Nov 29, 2011 8:28 am

We had a fly-by (sum total of 3 posts) defender of Burzynski right here on Ratskep...
http://www.rationalskepticism.org/general-debunking/poison-in-energy-drinks-t25955.html#p1017641

rJD · **#18** by **rJD** » Nov 29, 2011 9:14 am

No positive results in 34 years, no results whatsoever in 5, attempts to circumnavigate Federal rules on medicines and massive fees. Scumbags.

kiore · **#19** by **kiore** » Nov 29, 2011 10:05 am

rJD wrote:No positive results in 34 years, no results whatsoever in 5, attempts to circumnavigate Federal rules on medicines and massive fees. Scumbags.

Add attempts to suppress all criticism.

Darkchilde · **#20** by **Darkchilde** » Nov 29, 2011 10:23 am

Seems like Mr. Stephens is not a lawyer, but an independent contractor doing web marketing for the Burzinslky clinic. Martin Robbins posted this response from the real lawyer Rick Jaffe of Burzinsky clinic:

On the Marc Stephens thing, that's what I need to look into and see what happened. What I can tell you now is that I believe that he is not a clinic employee but is an independent contractor doing web marketing, the exact scope of which I'm not sure of right now." [...] "I can also tell you that based on my limited current information, no one at the clinic approved of or had advance knowledge that he would be sending a google map picture of a high school kid's house to him

https://plus.google.com/111513818314552647564/posts/U5c2jEmjD5p

Seems like Mr. Stephens is just doing some scaremongering.