Category Archives: Burzynski

Burzynski , charged by the Texas medical board.

Dr Stanislaw Burzynski is a scammer operating out of Texas, United States who sell bogus cancer cures to the desperate and vulnerable. I first found out about Burzynski when he used hired thugs to try and intimidate a 17 year old Skeptical blogger back in 2011. Rhys Morgan was contacted by a person called Marc Stephens;

A few weeks ago, Rhys received an email from a Marc Stephens who stated that his post and tweets were “in violation of several state and federal laws.” and that he “immediately cease and desist in your actions defaming and libeling my clients.”

The letter gave Rhys a bit of a lecture of US law on libel seemingly unaware that they were talking to a 16 year old school boy who was not resident in the United States. The letter ended with the threat, “ I suggest you remove ALL references about my client on the internet in its entirety, and any other defamatory statement about my client immediately, or I will file suit against you.”

“GOVERN YOURSELF ACCORDINGLY.” Andy Lewis, Quackometer

Ever since this incident I have kept an eye out for this particular scammer so it is a great releif to finally see him charged by the medical authorities.

Fans of Houston doctor Stanislaw Burzynski love him for defying the medical establishment and offering alternative therapies to terminally ill patients.

The latest charges against Burzynski by the Texas Medical Board, which has tried and failed to take away his license for more than two decades, paint a very different picture.

Burzynski has long lured patients from around the world to his Texas clinic by promoting his unapproved drugs as safe, effective and available from nobody else. Yet Burzynski knew that most patients were ineligible for the experimental therapy, according to a 200-page complaint that describes problems with the care of 29 patients. USA Today

Burzynski has escaped justice for far too long. May we finally get rid of this repugnant fraud.

The official complaint can be downloaded here.

The Burzynski video that Eric Merola wants censored..

A recurring theme amongst people who sprout bullshit for a living is their utter hatered of anyone who calls them out on it. The Burzynski Clinic in Texas is no exception.
Here’s Eric Merola producer of Burzynski’s infomercial telling people to report Burzynski’s critics to Facebook as a means of surpressing their opinions.
Not only is Merola advocating abuse of Facebooks automated banning system but his company even sent a fradulent DMCA notice to YouTube in order to censor a short video criticising the clinic.
Apparently, someone thinks that they are the only person allowed to have a public opinion about Burzynski in a moving picture, as false takedown order attributed by Google to Burzynski movie director Eric Merola’s production company has been issued against c0nc0rdance, who posted a very good video about the Clinic in February. Whoever did this, well, they done somethin’ ornery. Skeptical Humanities
As I normally do when I find content being censored by people like Eric Merola I have created a mirror of the video on my own site away from the automated takedown systems of YouTube. Nice try Eric but your censorship tricks won’t work here. 

Burzynski clinic told to stop promoting unproven drug.

The Burzynski Clinic in Texas which sells false hope to the sick and desperate has recently been told by the FDA to stop misleading the public. Dr Burzynski’s Antineoplastons “treatment” is being marketed by his clinic despite not having the approval to do so within the United States.

Promotion of an investigational new drug is prohibited underFDA regulations at 21 CFR 312.7(a), which states, “A sponsor or investigator, or any person acting on behalf of a sponsor or investigator, shall not represent in a promotional context that an investigational new drug is safe or effective for the purposes for which it is under investigation or otherwise promote the drug. This provision is not intended to restrict the full exchange of scientific information concerning the drug, including dissemination of scientific findings in scientific or lay media. Rather, its intent isto restrict promotional claims of safety or effectiveness of the drug for a use for which it is under investigation and to preclude commercialization of the drug before it is approved for commercial distribution.”

…..

OPDP requests that you immediately cease the dissemination of violative promotional materials for Antineoplastons such as those described above. Please submit a written response to this letter on or before November 1, 2012, stating whether you intend to comply with this request, and explaining your plan for discontinuing use of such violative materials.

Office of Prescription Drug Promotion, United States Food and Drug Administration.

Despite all the marketing promotions on the Burzynski Clinic website Antineoplastons have never been proven to be efficacious. The FDA is allowing the Burzynski Clinic to experiment with the drug to produce evidence that it works. So far no conclusive evidence has been found to support Antineoplastons but that won’t stop a crook like Burzynski from charging people for his “treatment”.

Burzynski swindle seeks another paycheque

The Burzynski Clinic in Texas claims to be able to cure cancer with a revolutionary new treatment. However this treatment has never been proven to work and its “pioneer” Dr Stanislaw R. Burzynski is a convicted fraud. Who also claims to hold a PhD, although my colleagues and myself have been unable to substantiate the existence of this qualification.

In fact it seems much more likely that Dr Burzynski’s PhD has been made up as a marketing tool. As Saul Green has discovered.

Burzynski’s claim to a Ph.D. is questionable. When I investigated, I found:

  • An official from the Ministry of Health in Warsaw informed me that when Burzynski was in school, medical schools did not give a Ph.D. [1].
  • Faculty members from at the Medical Academy at Lubin informed me that Burzynski received his D.Msc. in 1968 after completing a one-year laboratory project and passing an exam [2] and that he had done no independent research while in medical school [3].
  • In 1973, when Burzinski applied for a federal grant to study “antineoplaston peptides from urine,” he identified himself as “Stanislaw Burzynski, M.D, D.Msc.” [4]
  • Saul Green, Quackwatch

    While a lot of people would ordinarily see through the lies and misinformation. Cancer patients and their families often find themselves in a desperate situation where they will do anything to save themselves or a loved one. It is certainly no coincidence that cancer patients are a favourite target of fraudsters.

    Now the Burzynski marketing team has managed to convince a family in Ireland that he can cure their two year old daughter, for a price of course. They have been quoted between:  €30,000 and €100,000 Euros to attend the Burzynski Clinic, although I expect the costs will probably rise. [source]

    Even if the family do raise enough money to write a paycheque to Burzynski, they aren’t actually being charged for treatment at all. Instead they are paying for their daughter to take part in a Clinical Trial for a treatment that’s never been proven to be efficacious.

    Of course nobody can blame the parents for doing what they genuinely believe will help their daughter, but I can certainly question the ethics and morals of people like Dr Stanislaw R. Burzynski who jump at opportunities like this to make cash. The worst part about health scams isn’t the money that is stolen; but the opportunity that is lost when people give-up proven conventional healthcare for a false hope that’s been sold to them by a charlatan.

     

    Further Reading

    Hope or false hope?

    Burzynski Research Institute

    Burzynski: When is a PhD not a PhD?

    Stanislaw Burzynski and “Antineoplastons”

    Burzynski: Morally reprehensible

    The Burzynski Clinic is using libel laws to silence critics of its cancer treatment

    Disrespectful and dubious Burzynski marketing

    The Burzynski swindle changes tact.

    It appears the Burzynski Clinic has dropped Marc Stephens as their hired goon because he evidently sucked at playing lawyer. Now they are hiring a “Law Firm” called Dozier Internet Law although considering they had their marketing person misrepresent themselves as a lawyer it’s hard to tell just how legitimate Dozier Internet Law really is.

    This is what they write on their blog:

    “Attack bloggers” need to be reined in. We are having pretty good success dealing with these types without having to file lawsuits all the time, but when it comes to push, we usually will pull the trigger and sue the “attack blogger”. It’s not free speech to create outrageous lies and propagate them all over the web. So, if you get a communication from us, be it a letter, a copy of a lawsuit, or a telephone call, consider the consequences that are about to ensue.

    So, when you get a communication from us, understand the consequences. These lawsuits will show up on the front page of Google results under your name. SEO is not the sole province of bloggers, by the way. While your lawyers, particularly those involved with the public interest groups, use your case to gain attention and raise contributions, your reputation is being ruined forever. Your reputation as an employee, your reputation as a college applicant, your reputation as a job applicant, your reputation as a private person, your reputation as a husband, and your reputation as a father or mother. Maybe you won’t be confronted with it, but the impact will likely be profound, from prospective employers passing your resume by to parents avoiding you at school functions. It will happen. Dozier Internet Law

    I think there could be more to this threat than just legal proceeding. Rhys Morgan who was recently threatened by the Burzynski Clinic had google street view photos of his house emailed to him, this was intended not as a legal threat but as a general threat of “We know where you live”. Legitimate Lawyers don’t care where you live, but hired thugs who wish to operate outside of the law do.

    Now Burzynski has teamed up with Dozier Internet Law who are threatening to ruin their victims reputation as Employees, College Applicant, Job Applicant, Private Person, Spouse, Father or Mother. I have to ask ‘How does being sued for libel ruin a college application?’ (being sued isn’t a crime) unless of course you have people like Burzynski who threaten to call your school as they did to Rhys Morgan, or threaten to interfere with your family as they suggested to Andy Lewis.

    Perhaps I’m reading to far into this but if the Burzynski Clinic is willing to threaten a 17 year old blogger (Rhys Morgan) outside of the legal process by sending him photos of his house and threatening to call his school then I don’t think it is to far fetched to envision these crooks harassing employers, family members and other people connected to their critics.

    Threats from The Burzynski Clinic – Rhys Morgan

    The Burzynski Clinic Threatens My Family – Andy Lewis

    Press Release November 2011Burzynski Clinic

    Dr Stanislaw Burzynski's cancer scam.

    Their are many frauds, cheats and conmen out their to make a quick buck from the suffering of others. But there are none quite so vile as those who target cancer patients. When I first learned of The Burzynski Clinic I was immediately reminded of Penelope Dingle who was scammed into her grave by a fraud out to make a quick buck. As far as fraud goes you can’t get much lower than conning terminally ill patients and their families for easy money.

    Dr Burzynski is one of these lowest of the conmen. He sells an unproven, unscientific cancer treatment called Antineoplaston Therapy. This treatment has been criticised by scientists, doctors and skeptics alike. Dr Stanislaw Burzynski has even been on trial for cancer fraud in the past.

    At the moment, there is very little solid scientific evidence to show that antineoplastons are effective at treating cancer, and virtually all the research in this area has been carried out by Burzynski and his team – a red flag to the scientific world (as we’ve discussed before).

    To explain, scientists are not stupid – whether they work for independent organisations like a research charity or a pharmaceutical company – and they can spot a bandwagon rolling towards them from a great distance.  Once the evidence starts to fall into place about the potential effectiveness of a discovery, it’s guaranteed that the scientific community will start to pay attention and jump on.

    The fact that no other labs have managed to replicate Burzynski’s apparent success with antineoplastons or are interested in developing the treatment raises questions. Cancer Research UK

    However Dr Burzynski won’t let a little thing like lack of evidence stand in the way of some easy cash and he’s not afraid to threaten people who expose his scam. Recently 17 year old blogger Rhys Morgan was threatened by the Burzynski Clinics marketing department; which is apparently also the legal department.

    Eventually, I decided to write a rather scathing blog about Burzynski and the treatment, which you can find here. The thought of someone being promised an effective treatment when in fact, it’s at best unproven disgusts me. The blog went up on August 11th, 2011. A few comments were posted but it soon disappeared into obscurity again.

    Then, out of the blue, on the 3rd of November, I received an email from a man called Marc Stephens, claiming to represent the Burzynski Clinic. He was threatening to sue me for libel for my previous blog about the Burzynski Clinic. Rhys Morgan

    However Rhys isn’t the only blogger to be threatened by Marc Stephens. Andy Lewis has also received legal threats for criticising the Burzynski swindle. However legal threats are no substitute for evidence and so far all the evidence points to Dr Burzynski being a callous fraud who like many others in Alternative Medicine is happy to cheat the terminally and their families out of cold hard cash with empty promises and false hope.

    The bottom line is that Dr. Burzynski is not a miracle worker. He is not a doctor who sees something that mainstream science has not and who therefore has a cure for many cancers that mainstream medicine scoffs at. He is not a bold visionary. Rather, he appears to be a man pursuing pseudoscience. The reason that mainstream scientific medicine has not accepted the existence of antineoplastons or their efficacy against cancer is because there is no credible evidence to support this thrapy and no one other than Dr. Burzynski has been able to replicate his results. Orac; Respectful Insolence

    This is one scam I’ll be looking into allot further. I consider bogus cancer treatment to be amongst the most heinous of pseudo-science. Using legal threats as a means of censorship also does not sit well with me. The Burzynski Clinic has my attention.