Under the 1939 Cancer Act it's a criminal offense for medical practitioners to even advise patients on potential cancer cures.
False. The Cancer Act 1939 prohibits advertisements promoting cancer treatments to the general public. It doesn’t prevent medical practitioners from treating patients.
False claims that legislation from 1939 makes it “illegal to cure cancer” are recirculating on Facebook.
Several of the posts claim that “under the 1939 Cancer Act, it's actually a criminal offense for medical practitioners to even advise patients on potential cancer cures”.
This is untrue. The Cancer Act 1939 is a genuine British law, but it doesn’t make it a criminal offence for medical practitioners to advise their patients about potential cures or treatments.
The act does prohibit “certain advertisements relating to cancer”. This includes any kind of advert offering to treat people for cancer, prescribing any kind of remedy for it, or giving advice on how to treat the disease. This ban includes both proven treatments and alternative therapies.
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Under the 1939 Cancer Act it's a criminal offense for medical practitioners to even advise patients on potential cancer cures. False. The Cancer Act 1939 prohibits advertisements promoting cancer t...