FDA hits fake cures for cancer on Web

WASHINGTON - In an effort to crack down on fraudulent remedies, the government has warned 25 companies to stop selling cancer cures online. Health officials say such commerce could disrupt legitimate treatment and harm patients.

Food and Drug Administration officials, who said yesterday that they are investigating fake cancer remedies, said warning letters had been sent to Internet sellers of products that purport to cure cancer. The companies could have their products seized or face prosecution if they don't stop marketing them within 15 days, according to the FDA.

Officials couldn't point to any particular examples of harm to patients, but said one product, Black Salve, can burn healthy skin. Officials also expressed concern that patients, by taking one of the 125 unapproved products, might not get legitimate treatment.

The moves underscore the power of the Internet as a marketplace for fraudulent remedies. Similar problems in the pre-computer age led Congress to pass a 1938 law that gives the FDA the power to bar sales of unproven products that could cause injury or death.

Earlier this year, authorities in Canada and Mexico and at the US Federal Trade Commission sent warning letters to representatives of 112 websites used to hawk unproven cancer treatments. FDA officials said they have been working with those agencies.

The products were made from materials such as shark cartilage, red raspberries and burdock root.