Thanks to social media, we’re seeing an explosion of conspiracy theories these days. Let’s face it, behind the veil of freedom of speech, anyone can publish anything they want online with no requirement that it be based in fact. Today, I continue my Breast Cancer Awareness Month series with a reality check on one of my pet peeves—cancer cure conspiracy theories.
Freedom of speech is a good thing. It’s one of the reasons blogs like this one can exist. Everyone is entitled to state their opinion. However, when someone doesn’t have a shred of credible evidence to back up their point of view, they need to clearly state that it is just an opinion and not based on fact.
This post was originally published in October 2021 and updated in December 2024.
What are these cancer cure conspiracy theories?
I’m sure you’ve heard them. There are different variations, but they usually go something like this: “There’s a cure for cancer, but cancer is big business. Doctors and “Big Pharma” make too much money from treating cancer, so they are suppressing the cure.”
Reality check time
If you give this more than a moment’s thought, there are more holes in these cancer cure conspiracy theories than Swiss cheese! Let’s take a closer look at why they make no sense.
Medical advances cure many cancers
As I shared in Breast cancer survival stats and trends, we have seen significant progress in the fight against cancer. A generation or two ago, a cancer diagnosis usually came with a very poor prognosis. Today, many cancers can be cured, and survivors go on to live long and productive lives.
This progress didn’t just happen by accident. Pharmaceutical companies spend hundreds of billions of dollars on research and development every year. For every drug that makes it to market, there are thousands of others that don’t. I got a closer look at what it takes to develop a new drug when I took part in a clinical trial after my cancer treatment. The pharmaceutical company paid for quarterly doctor visits and lab testing, and annual scans and diagnostic testing, for me and thousands of other patients around the world. After seven years, they abandoned the trial when they didn’t get the results they hoped for.
As personalized medicine becomes the norm, we need these pharmaceutical companies to be profitable enough to continue their life-saving research and development efforts.
Cancer does not discriminate
Despite the progress that has been made, cancer is still a deadly disease that does not discriminate. Cancer counts doctors, pharmaceutical company employees, and their families among its victims every year. If these smart people really were hiding a cure, don’t you think they would use it to cure themselves or their loved ones?
A cancer cure would be very lucrative
Yes, doctors and pharmaceutical companies make money treating cancer. But all you have to do is look at the new drugs that have appeared on the scene that successfully treat and cure many other diseases to see that a miracle drug to cure cancer would be very lucrative from a financial point-of-view.
“Big Pharma” is a competitive business
Conspiracy theorists talk about “Big Pharma” like it’s some sort of evil mega-corporation, but it’s a whole industry made up of many different companies. Bottom line—it’s a competitive business so the chances of these companies colluding to suppress a miracle cure that could make one of them billions upon billions of dollars is not only illegal, but highly unlikely.
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Cancer is not just one disease
Finally, and most importantly, there will never be a single cure for cancer because cancer is not just a single disease. A quick glance at the National Cancer Institute website reveals a list of over 100 different kinds of cancer. And there are multiple variations of each of those kinds of cancer.
To look at one example, according to Breastcancer.org, there are 15 different types of breast cancer. And for each of those 15 types, there are different combinations of receptors for estrogen, progesterone and HER2. Doctors treat breast cancer with different drugs based on its type, stage and receptor profile. During my cancer treatment, I received a cocktail of three different chemotherapy drugs. Each drug attacks cancer cells in different ways. The drug combination I had would have been ineffective against breast cancer with different characteristics.
So, if just one type of cancer has hundreds of variations, we are literally looking at thousands of different kinds of cancer. If anyone honestly believes there is one single magical drug that would cure them all, I’d love to see the purple unicorns they have prancing around in their garden.
Be skeptical and check your facts
Don’t give conspiracy theorists a voice by spreading their message. They’re counting on you falling for their clickbait, lies and deceptions. Over the years, I’ve learned to question everything. Before you share that outrageous story you see online, take some time to fact check. You’ll probably find there is no truth to it.
What’s the most outrageous conspiracy theory you’ve heard? Tell us about it below.
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Conspiracy theories are so aggravating to me. And cancer cure conspiracy theories are just downright insensitive. It is puzzling to me how some people can come up with this stuff and then think it’s a good idea to spread it around.
Right. It really makes you wonder if they have nothing better to do. If they put as much energy into researching as they did spreading misinformation, we’d be a lot better off.
good post. people often say that they wish they could find a cure for cancer — though without understanding what that would mean or how far we’ve come already in terms of medical breakthroughs and other advances. they just say find a cure for CANCER as if it is just one disease when really it is a lot more complicated that than that
So true! When I started writing this post, I tentatively titled it “Cancer – Not one disease” because that’s the key point that so many people don’t understand. I’ve even talked to other breast cancer survivors who were surprised that I wasn’t taking Tamoxifen or similar drugs. When I explained that they wouldn’t work for my type of cancer, the response was “but you had breast cancer just like me”. That’s the point. Yes, I had breast cancer. No, it wasn’t just like you.
Great points! I always meet one or two people who inevitably bring up the idea that the cure for cancer is being secretly stored away bc there would be no money made if there was a cure. And then I roll my eyes and make a note in my head to distance myself lol… It can be frustrating!
It is frustrating, but you can’t argue with people who think that way. Well you can but you’d just get even more frustrated.