Something this ugly: Shark Slaughter

--Won't save you from--

Something this pretty: Cancer

Last weekend at American Society for Clinical Oncology's annual meeting in Chicago, studies were presented showing that Shark Cartilage which had been touted as a cancer cure by alternative medicine "gurus" does nothing to help with the treatment of Lung Cancer--failing to prolong life, shrink tumors, kill cancer cells, or alleviate symptoms.

Read about debunking pseudo-science.

This comes as no surprise to us skeptics who over the years have cringed as millions of sharks have been slaughtered to have their spines ground up and pressed into capsules for rich and desperate baby-boomers who have been promised that shark cartilage will cure everything from cancer to arthritis to psoriasis. The data from these new studies proving the uselessness of shark cartilage as medicine is a positive step for shark conservation efforts.

It is also a positive step in the health of baby boomers. As the shark cartilage industry is not extremely well regulated, the cartilage pills are often contaminated and can make people very sick. As if on cue to the release of the cancer studies, there has been another shark cartilage recall due to Salmonella contamination.

The FDA announced today that Sentinel brand shark cartilage tablets manufactured by Action Labs Inc. of Anaheim, California, have been recalled due to Salmonella contamination.

Read about it.

Just in case you didn't click my self-referential link to previous shark cartilage recalls, read this.

Symptoms of Salmonella Poisoning:

• fever
• bloody diarrhea
• nausea
• vomiting
• abdominal pain
• infected aneurysms
• endocarditis
• arthritis
• and in the case of children and the elderly--death

My favorite is still the bloody diarrhea,

--Sharky

technorati tags: shark cartilage, alternative medicine, medicine, FDA, oncology, cancer, lung cancer, sharks, Chicago, Baby Boomers, drugs, shark conservation, science, fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, aneurysms, endocarditis, arthritis, Salmonella, food poisoning