My Malignant Melanoma

Not so long ago, the medical profession was saying that vaccines were universally ineffective against MM, and that researchers thinking of trying vaccines should think again.

But this week the results of the Oncovex vaccine trial have come back very positive.

These are interesting times for MM treatment, with several drugs and now even a vaccine showing great promise.

There is a UK Phase III trial of Oncovex, details here.

Labels: Clinical, oncovex, Trial, vaccine

Much as I hate quack diet pushers, the latest from the EPIC study is not an invitation to go out an live on kebabs (hold the salad) as some papers have unhelpfully reported.

There is apparently a small protective effect from vegetables on certain cancer types (melanoma is incidentally not one of the types).

Vegetables and fruit aren't going to cure any cancer, and the harder you look for the effect, the smaller it gets*, but it's still worth having.

But then, so is the odd kebab. Let's not go nuts. Or vegan. As if there was a difference.

* so there is no point in sending me links to cherry-picked papers from the last century, as they have been superseded by these later, more powerful studies.

Neither is there any point sending me links to articles in "Medical Hypotheses", which is a non-peer reviewed promoter of quackery. Sorry quacktards!

Labels: epic study, vegetables, vegetarian

Simon Singh won today! Result! So now one can express the opinion that the British Chiropractic Association is a body whose purpose is to promote bogus treatments with no scrap of supporting evidence without fear of libel action.

So I'll take the opportunity to do just that. The BCA promote bogus treatments for which there is not a scrap of supporting scientific evidence.

They are not on their own- I can see no difference between them and the homoeopaths, acupuncturists, Gerson pushers, crystal healers, and the other varieties of quacks preying on melanoma patients.

Labels: libel, sense about science, simon singh

So the Sunsmart campaign has picked a good day to get started, with this press release. Are melanoma patients then all April fools?

The Sunsmart message is based in fact, and is carefully written, but the media messages derived from Sunsmart often cross the line into seemingly blaming all MM patients for giving themselves a "lifestyle" cancer.

No one can know what caused an individual case of MM, and the evidence against UV in MM is not as strong as for other skin cancers. I'm not suggesting we ignore the standard advice on UV exposure, but don't let anyone blame you for having MM.

Labels: Cancer Resarch UK, sunsmart, UV