Will Panorama Dare To Make The Real Story About Chemotherapy?

Vernon Coleman





I had a call the other day from a researcher working for the BBC's flagship documentary programme. He was preparing a BBC programme about the new anti-cancer drugs: the ones that patients are forcing NHS doctors to prescribe even though they haven't been fully approved and tested yet.

I told the researcher that the real story isn't the efficacy or safety of a few of the latest chemotherapy drugs but the efficacy and safety of chemotherapy as a whole.

I told him to go away and read the chapter on chemotherapy in my book How To Stop Your Doctor Killing You and then to see if his producer had the guts to make a programme questioning the validity of this huge part of the cancer industry.

My bet is that they won't dare take on the cancer industry - the medical establishment, the international pharmaceutical industry and the cancer charities. I don't expect to hear from Panorama again.

Sadly, I don't think the BBC has the balls to take on such powerful forces.

And another opportunity to tell the truth about chemotherapy to a mass TV audience will be missed.


Copyright Vernon Coleman December 20th 2005 Home