Consumer Health Digest is a free weekly e-mail newsletter edited by William M. London, Ed.D., M.P.H., with help from Stephen Barrett, M.D., It summarizes scientific reports; legislative developments; enforcement actions; other news items; Web site evaluations; recommended and nonrecommended books; research tips; and other information relevant to consumer protection and consumer decision-making. The Digestās primary focus is on health, but occasionally it includes non-health scams and practical tips. Items posted to this archive may be updated when relevant information becomes available. To subscribe, click here.
Consumers register complaints about cancer genetic testing. Consumers filed 17 complaints to the AARP Fraud Watch Network last month after being billed thousands of dollars for DNA test kits promoted as providing information about oneās risk of developing malignancies. They were solicited largely through telemarketing calls or online ads. Test kits for swabbing the inside of the cheek for DNA were then mailed out but, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, many consumers have reported that they never received test results or were given incomprehensible lab readouts. [Mulcahy N. One of the biggest healthcare frauds ever is ongoing. Medscape, May 4, 2021]
Before the pandemic, seniors were typically offered āfree” cancer genetic tests at health fairs, senior centers, and through telemarketing as part of schemes to defraud:
- In April 2019, AARP reported that: (a) the network received 15 reports from consumers who were offered such free tests; (b) several U.S. states issued alerts about scammers using the test offers to steal victimsā insurance and personal information in order to be reimbursed by Medicaid or Medicare.
- In September 2019, the the U.S. Office of Inspector General warned the public about scammers offering Medicare beneficiaries free screenings or cheek swabs for genetic testing in order to obtain their Medicare information for identity theft or fraudulent billing purposes. āIf Medicare denies the claim, the beneficiary could be responsible for the entire cost of the test, which could be thousands of dollars,ā the warning stated.
- By September 2019, the fraud hotline of the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services received as many as 50 calls weekly complaining about genetic testing.
- In September 2019, it was announced that 35 individuals were indicted for conspiracy to commit health care fraud, conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks, and health care fraudāthey were alleged to have participated in a scheme that fraudulently billed Medicare more than $2.1 billion for medically unnecessary cancer genetic tests. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Center for Program Integrity took adverse administrative action against cancer genetic testing companies and medical professionals who submitted more than $1.7 billion in claims to the Medicare program.
The American Society of Clinical Oncology has noted that: (a) with few exceptions, Medicare does not cover genetic testing in individuals with no personal history of cancer; and (b) multigene panel testing for cancer susceptibility can give results of uncertain significance and lead to inappropriate medical intervention and psychological stress. Amy Nofziger, who directs the AARP Fraud Network, believes that perpetrators of genetic-testing schemes for cancer may change their focus to heart disease, which, as a complication of COVID-19, is more sellable.
Ideological bias in āalternative medicineā research noted. Dr. Edzard Ernst, who was the first Chair in Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter, UK, has reported that acupuncture enthusiast Dr. Adrian White authored 24 acupuncture research publications while working under Ernstās supervision from about 1994 until 2005, none of which had favorable conclusions, Despite this, Dr. Ernst reports, White authored 24 acupuncture research publications since leaving the department, none of which had unfavorable conclusions. [Ernst E. A longitudinal study of āideologicalā bias in research of āalternative medicineā. Skeptical Inquirer, May/June 2021] Dr. Ernst concluded:
Of course, this analysis is merely a case study and therefore its findings are not generalizable. However, in my personal experience from twenty-five years of SCAM [so-called alternative medicine] research, the described phenomenon is by no means an exception. On my blog (edzardernst.com), I regularly publish a growing list of SCAM researchers who managed the extraordinary feat of never publishing any negative conclusions about their specific SCAM. Iāve christened it āThe Alternative Medicine Hall of Fame.ā As of January 2021, the list contains just seventeen names, but is expected to grow steadily. āIdeologicalā conflicts of interest seem to have a more powerful influence in SCAM research than financial ones.
As the influence of ideological bias can be so dominant in SCAM, it is important to know about it. Consumers need to be aware when SCAM research originates from unreliable sources, and funders of SCAM research would be wise to stop supporting researchers who are prone to generating findings that are false-positive.
In the final analysis, research by hopelessly biased SCAM researchers is worse than no research at all.
āEnergy medicineā paper retracted. A paper āEnergy medicine: Current status and future perspectivesā by Christina Ross of Wake Forest University has been retracted by the āintegrative medicineā journal Global Advances in Health and Medicine, published by Sage Publishing. [Paper on āenergy medicineā retracted after reader complaints. Retraction Watch, May 5, 2021] The retraction notice states:
The conclusions stated in the article were not based on peer-reviewed literature. After careful consideration of the identified concerns and determination that the articleās findings were insufficiently supported and therefore unreliable, the Editors have determined that retraction is necessary. The journal apologizes to the author and to readers that these concerns were not identified prior to publication. Further, the Editors wish to clearly state for the record that this retraction is based solely on the articleās content and honest error. At no time were the actions of the author in preparing the article called into question or under review.
Complaints by Drs. Edzard Ernst and Les Rose about the validity of the paper initially led to the journal editors and publisher to publish an āExpression of Concernā about the paper:
- Ernst questioned the appeal to quantum physics to justify energy medicine and the descriptions of āalternative medicineā modalities such as acupuncture, as working through energy medicine. [Ernst E. A quantum-physics perspective on acupuncture and other SCAMs???Ā EdzardErnst.com, Oct 23, 2020] Ernst noted, for example, Rossās assertion that, āEnergy medicine, whether human touch or device-based, is the use of known subtle energy fields to therapeutically assess and treat energetic imbalances, bringing the bodyās systems back to homeostasis (balance).ā
- Rose described the paper as āa curious mish-mash of scraps of real science and a large volume of speculative and invented garbage.ā [Rose L. This is what happens when pseudoscience is called out in academia. EdzardErnst.com, March 27, 2021]
- Rose also noted that Ross is a āBoard Certified Polarity Practitioner,ā and that polarity therapy āis a personality cult, which combines various evidence-free modalities.ā
Ross has a Ph.D. from Akamai University in Hawaii, which is not accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
CFI calls for COVID-19 vaccination for teenagers. On May 5, 2021, the Center for Inquiry (CFI) sent a letter to the Attorneys General of California, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, and Texasāall states with a CFI branch locationāasking them to ensure that teenagers who show themselves mature enough to make the decision to be vaccinated for COVID-19 are not prevented from doing so by anti-vaccination parents. The letter ended with a warning:
By preventing mature minors from obtaining vaccinations without parental consent, your state is both hampering its ability to bring COVID-19 (and any future pandemics) under control, as well as violating the fundamental rights of teenagers in the state. To prevent the need to vindicate such rights through litigation, we are hereby requesting that either through legislative action, or through a determination by your office that existing law already requires, that an alternative process to obtaining parental consent through judicial proceedings or a juvenile court or an administrative agency or officer . . . Ā be established whereby mature minors can be vaccinated without parental consent or notification.
In absence of such action, CFI will be compelled to bring action on behalf of individuals prevented from being vaccinated and medical professionals prevented from administering those vaccines. It is of paramount importance that as many people are vaccinated as soon as possible. Let us not allow parents operating on misinformation to prevent those children who are capable of providing informed consent from taking such a major step in protecting their own health and the health of others.
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