Information on alternative medicine websites risk to patients, warns study

CANCER patients should exercise caution when using alternative medicines over fears that false and misleading claims on internet sites could prove dangerous.

The warning comes as research published yesterday in the British Journal of Cancer found false and misleading information on alternative medicine internet sites could be dangerous to cancer patients.

“This is an issue that we face most days. Patients are naturally looking for information and they will go to the internet, but the problem is the information there is very varying,” said Dr Michael Moriarty, a consultant radiotherapist and member of the Irish Cancer Society’s medical committee.