Extracts below and a comment from me. Full text: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0m7wvpwjzeo
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Dewormer and scabies drugs being sold as cancer treatments [in the UK], BBC investigation finds
Animal dewormer and a drug used to treat scabies are being sold and promoted as unproven cancer treatments, a BBC investigation has found.
Following a tip off, an undercover journalist was able to buy fenbendazole and ivermectin from a stairlift salesman in south Wales, and also found them for sale on Amazon...
The BBC has seen videos and social posts with thousands - sometimes millions - of views, with unproven claims that these medicines could help treat cancer.
Hollywood actor Mel Gibson claimed on a popular US podcast that the drugs successfully treated three of his friends who had cancer...
While some trials exist into their anti-cancer properties, Macmillan Cancer Support said there was "zero real-world clinical evidence" to back up the claims about ivermectin.
The charity's chief medical officer, Prof Richard Simcock, said he was concerned the BBC was able to easily buy the medicines without a prescription.
"We're seeing an increasing number of people asking about these two products," he said.
"We're worried that they're not getting up-to-date, effective and accurate information about what these drugs are capable of.
"If someone is thinking about taking these drugs, we'd really urged them to talk to their clinical team or ring the clinical helplines at Macmillan where we can provide information about what safe and effective care might look like."
He added this kind of misinformation was often fuelled by the appeal of personal anecdotes, especially if they came from someone a person already knows...
Three-time cancer survivor and former surgeon Liz O'Riordan now uses YouTube to answer cancer questions and challenge conspiracy theories.
"Anecdotes and testimonials are now the strongest forms of evidence - 'my aunt on Facebook did this, therefore it must be true'," she said.
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COMMENT (NPW): This news item emphasises the fact that people are often more ready to believe anecdotes than evidence. The same can be said about some policymakers - they are more likely to be persuaded by a slick research communicator with a good story than by a systematic appraisal of the available evidence. I think even those of us who understand the importance of evidence synthesis are unduly swayed by personal experience. What can be done to help shift people to take an evidence-informed view rather than an anecdote-informed one?
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org